Making Sleep Less Elusive and More Doable

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Nalli Muthiah

Last week, I went to Rose Cafe to listen to the talk about success during finals week. We’ve all heard it before: go to bed early, take breaks from work, schedule out your day, exercise, don’t subsist on chips. However, what I did find interesting is what was said about the nature of sleep itself. Sleep, apparently, should not occur in multiple sessions (taking four two-hour naps during the day to get your full 8 hours). Sleep is supposed to be an all-eggs-in-one-basket, one-time shot kind of activity. I thought about this for a while and it didn’t make much sense to me. Either way you still get the same quantity, so why would it actually matter how you split it up? So, I asked. Of course it makes sense. Sleep resets our circadian rhythms; all the way down to a neurochemical level, sleep allows our bodies to replenish resources. Only in the 7th hour of sleep do our bodies carry out the process of muscle repair. If we sleep for 2 hours at a time, then our bodies can’t possibly accomplish all the resetting that needs to be done in order to function optimally.

It also makes sense to go to sleep earlier and wake up earlier than to go to sleep later and wake up later. Again, this has to do with our circadian rhythms–sleeping in darkness and waking up with light is a natural process that allows us to maintain a more rejuvenating and effective sleep cycle than staying up in darkness and sleeping through light. It’s important to keep in mind that humans are not just a part of nature; humans are nature; we have physiological responses to our surrounding world and we need to take into account the bigger picture. Psychological stress takes years off of our lives. Finals are important, but in the long run we’re not going to remember what grade we got in that one class during spring semester of sophomore year of undergrad. We sure will remember the fact that we killed ourselves (and I mean this in as literal of a sense as possible) to study for it though.

With that said, good luck with this last round of prelims and all the best for our upcoming finals!

Displacing Carbon into Soil: It’s a Win-Win

Posted on April 13, 2016 by Nalli Muthiah

After Dr. Solomon’s lecture about soil last Wednesday I approached him, absolutely humbled by the work he has been doing, with a question. To provide some background: it turns out soil can trap a lot of carbon. This carbon actually makes soil significantly more fertile, but when disturbed, the soil releases some of its carbon in the form of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Apparently soil emissions account for ~25% of all carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere (is that alone not mind-boggling?) But to apply these findings to a practical and effective plan of action, researchers (including Dr. Solomon) have found ways to convert atmospheric CO2 into usable carbon sources for soil. My question, from the perspective of a girl who just happens to really love chemistry, was why carbon that is actively added back into soil would not simply be released into the atmosphere through some sort of soil-disturbing process, especially with our current population.

Dr. Solomon’s response was probably the coolest thing I have ever seen come out of chemistry. Researchers have apparently found a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to bind atmospheric CO2 into cyclic organic compounds and put those back into the soil. I love organic chemistry, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned in this class, it’s that carbon-carbon bonds are hard to form (let alone forging rings out of linear molecules as nonpolar as carbon dioxide). And more than that, aromatic rings are even harder to break–they are incredibly stable and certainly won’t react spontaneously. This means that even if the soil is disturbed, all of this “manufactured” carbon will stay in the soil in the form of aromatic rings, keeping it out of the atmosphere and allowing it to further fertilize the soil.

Research has progressed so far over the last few decades, but I would never have imagined organic chemistry to have such cool implications. This just goes to show that we need to encourage creativity in society because divergent thinking is not something that can simply be taught. We have to actively engage the future generation in current problems so that they can be better prepared to come up with such innovative solutions as researchers have in the field of soil science.

Humble Beginnings and The Art of Persistence

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Nalli Muthiah

Last Wednesday, I went to Coach Tanasoiu’s lecture about persistence, motivation, and determination in the realm of tennis. As an avid player myself (I’ve been playing for the last 12 years), I understand how incredibly taxing a match can be (not just physically, but also–and probably more so–mentally). It is exhausting when a match ends in a third set tiebreaker, knowing that you have fought so hard for over 2 hours, only to either win or lose with a 2 point margin. As fun as tennis is, it can also be incredibly stressful. And I’m sure this goes for every sport.

What Coach Tanasoiu spoke about that really struck me, though, was the fact that the intensity on the court can be paralleled by the intensity in the classroom. The men and women on our varsity tennis team are students too–they sit through classes, have prelims, and study just like the rest of us. However, on top of all that, they dedicate 5 hours each day to tennis (even more on weekends). How they do it is beyond me, but I think we can all learn a heavy lesson in time management from our athletes. Coach Tanasoiu explained how he prepares his players to juggle all their responsibilities: intense, in-detail, rigid scheduling. These players have time for sleep, food, socializing, academics, and sports because they prioritize their time and work effectively. Apparently the team’s GPA is somewhere around a 3.6 (WOW!) They don’t make excuses because they know what they need to get done.

The other thing I really think is important to mention from last Wednesday’s talk is the fact that Coach Tanasoiu is perhaps the most humble individual I have ever met. He has accomplished so much in the course of his life and I think it is unbelievable that he can credit so many other people for his success. In a sense, it is reassuring. Coach Tanasoiu began with nothing more than a dream and he persisted through the obstacles with which he was faced to fulfill it–who is to say that we cannot do the same?

We have a bigger impact than we might perceive

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Nalli Muthiah

Last week, I went off campus to Cornell’s Ornithology Lab. The experience was so far outside the realm of Rose events I usually attend (I generally prefer the discussion sessions, debates, and lectures). With that said, this was probably my favorite Rose event thus far. We took a lovely nature hike (on a beautiful day, I might add) to see if we could identify some birds.

As a side note: those geese swimming in the water were rather aggressive.

Our tour guides were actually Cornell students, and it’s unbelievable how knowledgeable they were. They let us in on some pretty cool facts too: apparently male and female chickadees have very similar color patterns, so they’re difficult for humans to distinguish. However, they can do so quite readily because they perceive more than just visual light. They can sense the EM waves radiating from their fellow flock members. How ornithologists figured that out is beyond me, but it’s definitely a really cool ability!

After our nature hike, we took a tour of labs and exhibits. What I found unbelievably striking was the fact that this bird’s nest:

is lined with several blue fibers. Those are the plastic threads of a construction tarp. Birds are literally making nests with human garbage. Is that not sad? I guess this trip not only helped me learn a bit about ornithology, but it also gave me insight into how much of a realistic and extensive impact humans have on our environment.

Diversity is more than what we see on the outside

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Nalli Muthiah

Last week, I went to the student activism event thinking that it would be structured more as a conventional leadership workshop. I’ve been to about 10 of these workshops and while they do preach important messages, they get to be very “cookie cutter” after a while. This event was different. We did not sit down and talk about networking or handshaking; we talked about an issue specifically relevant to Cornell campus (an issue I really never thought about before). We talked about undocumented students. We talked about the fact that the US government ultimately is looking for reasons to deport them out of the country; we talked about how they work so much harder for fundamental rights most of us seem to take for granted; and most importantly, we talked about what people are doing to combat the negative stereotypes surrounding undocumented students.

In fact, we were introduced to a a panel of students who formed a club to combat these negative stereotypes. They work to create a welcoming community for others facing the same situation. And honestly, I cannot see why they must be labeled differently from the rest of us. If nobody told me about the stereotype, I probably would not have known about it. These students are no different from the rest of us–They attend college. They value education. They work hard. They are people too. Is it even necessary to label them as “undocumented?” Does it matter whether or not they are officially labeled to inhabit a specific region of land in this entire world? We are all people. Isn’t it enough that their parents worked so hard to get into this country and they’ve worked so hard to get to the place they are right now? I guess I think this is a much bigger problem than it needs to be, and these students are paying for it. It’s just plain unfair. Our country preaches equality and justice, but I guess it’s important to consider the qualification: equality and justice for whom?

Maybe we’re all just Puddles of Emotions

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Nalli Muthiah

The first time I watched Inside Out, I perceived it very much as a children’s movie. Fun colors, exciting characters, a very heartbreaking climax, and a sweet ending–classic Disney. However after Dr. Kushnir, a Cornell faculty specializing in child cognition, led our discussion about the movie, I was in a bit of shock as to how realistic the plot actually might be. Disney portrays the story of an 11-year-old girl finding her way through a relatively traumatizing event. From start to end, it appears as though her emotions drive her behaviors. This is scientifically accurate (I asked): one cannot separate his/her actions from emotions, and this is something that children tend to do even more poorly than adults.

Ultimately by the end of the movie, the main character is able to find a balance in which she can hold some control over her emotions. She begins to the see the world in a more complex light; she finds a way to remember sad memories in a more positive light (and vice versa). In Positive Psychology, we also discussed the fact that positive emotions are significantly less clear-cut than negative emotions in that one can have the same facial reaction to feelings of joy, content, and happiness. However, the reactions associated with fear, anger, and disgust are all incredibly distinct from each other. For every one positive emotion, we have roughly 3-4 negative ones (another accurate fact–go Disney!), and negative emotions tend to narrow one’s mindset, while positive emotions broaden perspective. In states of depression, which may or may not have been intentionally depicted in the movie, the main character had a lot of difficulty broadening her mindset, perhaps due to the lack of joy in her emotional regulation center.

Of course I might be looking too far into the science of the movie, but it’s very interesting to think about! What still remains unclear though is what causes psychological illnesses, like depression: our brains are ultimately just soups of chemicals. What accounts for the incredible diversity in human behavior if we function on the same neurotransmitters?

Sometimes Healthy Food is more than just Veggies

Posted on February 27, 2016 by Nalli Muthiah

Last week, I learned how to cook. Yes–you read that correctly. Me, a 19-year-old college student who voluntarily eats dry cereal at home just so I don’t have to wash my bowl, prepared soy sauce/ginger/garlic seared salmon with a side of veggie quinoa. It’s true. Yes. Honestly, I’d love to tell you that I spent an hour perfecting the dish and cutting the vegetables. But, this entire meal took me a solid 25 minutes to make, including the time it took me to cut the onions, celery, and walnuts. It turns out that fish cooks really quickly and you can literally just throw quinoa in a bowl of water for 15 minutes and leave it alone. Here’s a picture of my workstation!

See if you can read the recipe…. Hehehe it’s a secret! No, I’m just kidding. Feel free to leave a comment on this post and I’ll give you the recipe!

And everyone prepared dishes too, so our entire meal tasted AMAZING. Big shoutout to the people who made the lasagna and the casserole: it was phenomenal. Unfortunately, I was too excited about all the food to take a picture before I ate it, but here are some of the remnants.

Here’s a one of the one-pot pasta (yes, fewer dishes to wash!!) and the broccoli + mushroom casserole. Healthy, quick, easy, delicious.

And here are my salmon + quinoa dishes! Or…well, what they used to be. That yellow plate houses the very last piece of salmon. There are also some really amazing looking tacos and omelets in this picture too. All the food went really quickly and was so yummy; honestly I’m pretty proud that I remembered to take pictures in the first place.

In all seriousness though, this food was so easy to make. I think that’s really important because we’re all college students are we’re going to be entering the real-world pretty soon. We have to learn how to feed ourselves because there’ll come a day when we can’t use our BRBs to buy a quick snack before class. I highly recommend looking into meals like these (everyone who attended this event has a whole packet of recipes, so if there’s anything you’re interested in, just let one of us know!); cooking isn’t nearly as intimidating as it seems.

What is anything, really?

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Nalli Muthiah

Love. We’re all familiar with the concept, and some of us might actually know what it feels like. But there’s more to this vague, abstract notion, as we discussed at last week’s dinner conversation. I think it’s also very important to share with you that I am absolutely the world’s number one enemy of all things sappy. To my delight, this event did not include much about romantic connections. Instead we talked about love in general: love for places (home), objects (that sentimental old stuffed teddy bear from our childhoods), and people (both family members and life partners). Love, just as is almost every other concept we can define, can be viewed as a social construction. What we seem to think of love is shaped by the world around us–what we observe from others’ lives and what we want for our own lives.

After having been at college for a couple years now, I’ve developed pretty strong feelings about love. I never really saw a value in the concept as a result of the experiences of those around me. I based my entire definition of love on what everyone else thought of it. However, Professor Alvarez pointed out that love is what we make of it (it is a social construction after all). While I do consider myself to be optimistic, I didn’t realize how closed my perspective was. It’s important not to fall into the trap of confining your beliefs due to socially constructed philosophies. Things never should be anything; things simply are. How we perceive them is on us. So I guess this brings me to the point: what is anything, really?

We Have the Light

Posted on February 7, 2016 by Nalli Muthiah

This past Thursday, I went to the Johnson Museum to attend the reception for the new collection of artwork they’ve displayed. While the exhibit had a modern flare (pun intended: much of the work was symbolically burned. A picture is attached below), it showed a lot of refinement. The set was painted a wispy, light blue and the burn marks gave off this charred, rigid feel; however the feeling I got was not one of destruction, but rather one of freedom. I took the exhibit to represent the act of breaking free from the confined nature of beauty in elegance in order to discover a new beauty in the chaos of fire. The wild nature is more exciting and more liberating than the social norms to which we, as a society, blindly abide. However, I’m not much of an art critic so I’m not sure how accurate my interpretation is; this is just a reflection of the feeling I got from the collection.

An image from the new exhibit and the inspiration for the title of this post.

However, my eye was drawn to the ancient artifacts room–the beauty and functionality in such simple objects was breathtaking. My favorite was this rather large assortment of elegant, porcelain, *what looked to be* perfume bottles.

Guess what these really are before reading the below text:

However, upon further research apparently these were intended to be snuff bottles for tobacco usage. I just find it interesting that each culture has its own standards of beauty, of acceptance, and of cultural values. When they are all placed in the same room together, one can really contrast the needs of each culture with the artistic representation they have created.

My absolute favorite art display of the day: a haunting image really.

An African mancala board (the marbles game) shaped like a crocodile!

A tea set because I can’t help myself. I’m a tea fanatic.

Voice of the Unheard

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Nalli Muthiah

We live on a college campus. We may come from different backgrounds, may have experienced different ups and downs, but we are all here. And honestly, there’s no place I’d rather be–aside from the academic and social aspect of college, the city of Ithaca is wonderful. I feel safe walking down the slope at midnight by myself, or trekking to Collegetown with some friends for late night bubble tea. How privileged is that? It’s not something we think about on a daily basis, but it’s true. I only started thinking about it after having watched Straight Outta Compton, easily one of the best films I’ve ever seen. Sitting through that movie was tough for me: I can’t stand to watch people suffer. But these events, more or less, happened and it is so important for people to see that, even if it is hard to watch.

What I’ve learned is that we should be humbled by how much previous generations have fought for the rights we take for granted today. I’m sitting in a heated room in a key-card locked building on a comfortable bed, finishing up homework because I know that tomorrow I’ll wake up to my impending education. I don’t think about people kidnapping me or beating me and I can’t pretend to know what that fear must feel like. But I can try to relate; I can do all I can to fight for what I believe in, just like Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Easy E. Even when things might not go the way we plan–if we get a bad grade–are we really any worse off? Are we going to remember the second organic chemistry test in our sophomore year of college that we just didn’t do that well on? Probably not. We are privileged and of course it’s not a bad thing, but I think it’s important to take off our invisible knapsacks and keep fighting for what matters because there is so much left to fight for.

Rose Scholars Spring 2016

Explore, challenge, connect

Author Archives: Nalli Muthiah