Animal studies confirm that the relief some of us get from eating sugar is not just psychological—it is an actual brain-chemistry reaction. In one experiment, Blass and colleagues studied two groups of baby mice who were separated from their mothers and left alone for six minutes. Their resulting “isolation distress” was considered to be a kind of animal equivalent to our human version of depression. The depressed mice who were given sugar water cried only seventy-five times during their isolation—as compared to the more than three hundred cries that came from the mice left 

alone with no sweet treat to alleviate their emotional pain. Apparently, the young mice were literally “medicating” their depression with sugar. 

        Why did sugar have this remarkable effect? Researchers thought that perhaps the sweet food stimulated the release of extra beta-endorphin molecules. Since these molecules help us cope with physical and emotional pain, the sugar had a literally soothing effect. Researchers confirmed their theory by giving both groups of mice Naltrexone, a drug that blocks beta-endorphin receptors. If you take Naltrexone, it does not matter how many beta-endorphins you release—you will not get any relief from pain. Sure enough, when the sugar-fed mice were given Naltrexone, they lost all interest in the sweet substance, suggesting that their only reason for their sweet tooth had been to stimulate the release of beta-endorphins. 

        Numbed by Naltrexone, both groups of mice cried equally often. The poor baby mice were still depressed—but now even sugar could not make them feel better. 

       Have you ever been troubled by the question of whether to buy a wine with a cork  or a screw top? In fact, the way to seal wines is also a tough problem for the wineries. 

       The root of the problem lies in “cork taint.” When some wine is sealed with a bad cork, there will be cork taint. Corks are made from a special oak tree growing around the Mediterranean. In the process of making corks and sealing wine bottles, a certain type of mold may start to grow in some corks. Over time, this mold may make the wine taste musty. Since cork taint affects one out of every ten bottles of wine, no packaging industry in the world would put up with such a high rate of failure. 

       Some wine makers try to solve the problem by sealing bottles with screw tops. However, many wineries are still playing it safe and sticking to corks for two reasons. First, cork users believe a small amount of oxygen is able to penetrate corks, not screw tops, and the oxygen is necessary for the proper aging of fine wines. The other problem arises from the image screw tops have with the public. In most people’s minds, screw tops are only found on cheap, low-quality wines. In addition, there is the problem of losing the romantic mood produced by the popping of the cork. 

       For the reasons above, it will take a lot of efforts for wineries to re-educate the public if they want to change the habit of the public.

   Do you have difficulties getting work done because computer games or online chatting occupy a great deal of your time? Do you value chat-room friends more than real friends because most of your friends are from online contacts? The habits you develop from your computer use may cause significant problems in your life. For instance, feeling irritable or depressed when not using the computer, losing jobs or failing courses due to the lack of productivity on work or school assignments, and finally, feeling socially inept, since you lose the ability to interact with people face to face.

   Symptoms, such as obsessively checking e-mail, losing track of time while on the computer, and neglecting family, work, friends, or even personal health and hygiene, are all indications of computer addiction. This addiction can be described as compulsive.

   Not all people who spend hours each day on the computer, however, are considered addicted. That is, a person who spends 8 hours or more a day on the computer may not automatically be regarded as a computer addict while another person who spends less than 6 hours a day could suffer from an addition. It is important to note each case is distinct and, therefore, the number of hours spent on the computer is not considered to be the main factor in identifying computer addiction. Rather, the kinds of activities, the level of compulsion, and other ways of using the computer are the real determining factors.

   A person who is obsessed with the computer is likely to have the following experiences or feelings: craving for the use of computer excessively; feeling anxious or gloomy when computer time is interrupted; telling lies to hide that you are actually playing games online; and neglecting friends, family, or responsibilities when online. Physical discomfort, such as back and neck aches, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, difficulty focusing your vision, dry eyes, and severe headaches may also be observed. Look out for these signs and get proper treatment, so you will regain control of your life.

    Having a seven-day week seemed strange to sociologists since there was no corresponding geophysical event as there was with the solar day or the lunar month. They tended to attribute it to our cultures and not to biology. However, other organisms also have a seven-day cycle, and a week is, after all, a quarter of a lunar circle. At the end of the French Revolution, the revolutionary government wanted to establish a ten-day week, but the attempt failed to work. In the former Soviet Union, the rulers also experimented with modifying the week by trying five-day and six-day weeks. Again, people rejected to change the length of their week. They seemed to need to have one day out of seven in order to rest their body clocks. Weekly rhythms show up most strongly during times of stress. For the body to fight off a cold, it needs about a week. The symptoms of chicken pox show up about two weeks after the patient’s being exposed to disease. Health care workers expect to see patients with pneumonia and malaria at greatest risk after one week of fighting these diseases. By these evidences, sociologists have had reasons to reconsider their previous ideas about the origin of the seven-day week.