The afternoon after the rain stopped

RIP, Ukraine

Their sacrifice won't be in vain.

Topical Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid)

Why vitamin C for skin?

It’s not unusual to see the claim that topical vitamin C solution helps improve skin condition and prevent premature ageing.

According to some research, one of the most important functions of vitamin C is to help generate collagen, a protein responsible for skin strength and elasticity (OSU). By increasing the collagen level, vitamin C helps prevent and reverse wrinkles. Vitamin C is also one of the most powerful antioxidants, which helps restore and prevent UV damage like discoloration, age spots and fine lines. 
* Click the OSU, which is the website of Oregon State University to see more information supported by the researches of the benefits and efficiency of topical vitamin C solutions.

How about efficiency?

But the efficiency of topical vitamin C has been questioned. It is said that the natural form of vitamin C, L-ascorbic acid is unstable in room temperature, and it could easily decrease its function. So vitamin C in usual skin care products doesn’t deliver its benefits as much as expected. Synthetic derivatives of vitamin C like ascorbate phosphate and ascorbyl palmitate are relatively stable, but these agents are considered to have absorption limitation (OSU). According to some research, however, topical vitamin C could increase its stability by adding other antioxidants like ferulic acid, phloretin or vitamin E (OSU). 

Possible benefits

·  Wrinckles & Photodamage

I have enjoyed some benefits from using topical vitamin C solutions: brightening skin tone, smoothing out fine lines and evening out skin texture. I tried several different topical vitamin C solutions including vitamin C serum from La Prairie, high potency evening repair from Perricone and high potency serum from Cellex-C, but I have been sticking to the topical vitamin C solution from Skinceutical since 2009. The formula of the solution has changed over the years. As of 2014 its active ingredients include L-ascorbic acid, vitamin E and ferulic acid. 

·  Acne & Dry Skin

Besides wrinkles and photodamage, topical vitamin C might work for acne or dry skin. But studies show that the effects of topical vitamin C for acne and dry skin are in questions, and more researches are required (OSU). I read a lot of reviews of many different topical vitamin C solutions before I tried out. Some consumers enjoy the benefits from using topical vitamin C. Others claim that they got dry skin or breakouts after using some topical vitamin solutions. 

There are so many topical vitamin C solutions at the market. When you choose the right one which agrees with your skin condition, you’ll enjoy the benefits. If you invest time to look into reviews of skin care products with some discretion, you can find the right one that is worth every single penny.   

Tips for usage

1. Vitamin C easily oxidizes as it exposes to air, light or heat. As time goes by, the color of topical vitamin C solutions turns into yellow and then orange. So choose the topical vitamin C solution with the stabilizer like ferulic acid, phloretin or vitamin E. After opening the solution, you’d better use it up as soon as possible minimizing the exposure to air, light and heat. 
2. You can use topical vitamin C morning and/or night. But you'd better follow the direction on the insert of the product you are using. 
3. Especially when you use topical vitamin C and retin A solution at the same time, you'd better follow the direction of the products you are using. It has been said that retin A might limit the absorption of vitamin C. But according to some experts, there is no real reason not to use retin A and vitamin C at the same time. The bottom line is to avoid applying one right after another. Or use one in the morning and use another at night.

Rosehip Oil & Acne

Can people with acne-prone skin get benefits from using rosehip oil? 

It depends on the type of acne. According to reviews of people with acne-prone skin, they got more breakouts in most cases. In general, using rosehip oil is not recommended for acne. However, some who tried rosehip oil for acne report that they benefited from using it. I am one of the consumers who enjoy benefits for acne. I have been almost free from acne due to hormonal imbalance or bacterial infection since I used pure rosehip oil daily.

  

Why is rosehip oil effective for some type of acne? 

Retinoid acid, one of active ingredients in rosehip oil, is considered an agent to treat certain types of acne. This property in rosehip oil might help prevent and clear acne quickly. Another hypothesis is that rosehip oil contains the property to prevent bacterial infection that could bring about acne.  

Even though rosehip oil is not recommended to treat for acne in general, fatty acids in rosehip oil are considered to be effective for clearing acne trace.  

I have got these benefits most prominently. Besides, I have enjoyed more benefits such as brightening skin tone, softening skin texture and hydrating skin. In almost every case, the effect of skin care products varies with a user. I read many good reviews about pure jojoba oil for cleansing and pure argan oil for moisturizing, and I tried them out. But they led to breakouts. Now I’m using the pure argan oil for hair treatment instead. It is very effective to have sleek hair.  

Benefits of Rosehip Oil

In April 2013, I got very tiny bumpy rashes similar to goose bumps around my left chin. The affected area was flaking. I combed through internet to figure out what might cause this and what I could do to fix it.

Despite my thorough research, I couldn’t single out the cause. I just narrowed down to a few ingredients of the toner and natural facial mask that I tried at that moment: organic honey with pollen, apple cider and witch hazel. When I tried the facial toner with witch hazel and other botanical ingredients, such as calendula flower extract and lavender oil, I had the almost same symptom on my left chin 4 years ago. It looks like that my skin doesn’t agree with some of these natural ingredients.

I stopped using the toner and facial mask, and I tried raw Shea butter to keep moisturizing the affected area right away. One day after, it got less dry, but the skin condition looked about the same. With a little concern, I tried the rosehip oil based on its benefits for skin care which I came to know during the research. 2 hours after applying the oil, I found the rash bumps were almost gone. It was a real surprise. The affected area came back to normal over night.

Since then, I have been using the rosehip oil every day. The benefits of the rosehip oil could vary with a user’s skin condition. I’m enjoying a few benefits from using the rosehip oil: brightening skin tone, softening skin texture, hydrating skin and preventing acne and discoloration. Especially, I like the oil because since I used it, I have been almost free from a skin rash due to hormonal imbalance or allergic reaction. I sometimes get a skin rash, but it easily goes away and rarely leave discoloration.

Active Ingredients & Possible Benefits

The case varies according to a user, but there are several active ingredients in the pure rosehip oil which might help improve some skin issues.  

1. Essential Fatty Acids

Linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid which is essential for the structure of membrane cells to keep moisturizing skin, helps prevent premature ageing. It helps mitigate and prevent fine lines by keeping the skin hydrated. 

Linoleic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid and Oleic acid, an omega-9 fatty acid help regenerate skin cells and repair damaged skin. 

2. Vitamin A, which is a topical trans-retinoic acid helps prevent premature ageing caused by sun exposure.

It could help prevent acne and repair the trace of acne by balancing skin oil and moisture.

3. Lycopene, which is an antioxidant helps protect and repair skin from premature ageing. 

4. Beta-carotene, which is a source of pro-vitamin A helps improve sun damaged skin. 

Tips for Usage  

● Apply 1 or 2 drops of the pure rosehip oil directly all over the face after using a toner or mix 1 or 2 drops of it with your daily moisturizers and apply the mixture to the face morning and/or night. When you use the rosehip oil in the morning, don’t forget to apply a sunscreen.
● If you want to improve your skin tone, try a topical vitamin C solution after applying the rosehip oil. 

Toner → Rosehip oil → 5-10 min. → Vitamin C solution → Routine skin care products. You'd better apply a vitamin C solution after the rosehip oil is completely absorbed. 

You can use the rosehip oil and vitamin C solution morning and night unless there is a special direction on the insert of the skin care product you are using.   

● Avoid the area close to the eyes. The eyes might sting.  

● Do the patch test under your arms or ears before using it.

 

  

Effects of ‘Marrying for Love Model’ on Marriage in the US

            The two words, marriage and love often appear together. This leads people to perceive that these two words go hand in hand. According to Stephanie Coontz, however, love has not been compatible with marriage throughout most of human history (“The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love” 251). In the essay “Marriage and Love,” Emma Goldman, a Russian-born American writer, even describes “[love and marriage] are, in fact, antagonistic to each other” (Goldman). Nevertheless, the marriage model which advocates the idea that marriage should be based on love and companionship has prevailed in most Western societies and motivated changes in marriage-related issues, such as meaning of marriage, divorce rate, and family structure in the US (Coontz, “The Origins of Modern Divorce” 9; Amato 961).

Coontz traces the history of “marrying for love” (“The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love” 250), and she reveals that Enlightenment signaled the advent of this marriage model (257). According to Coontz, Enlightenment and individualistic philosophy fostered freedom, individual rights, equality, justice, and market economy in Western societies through the eighteenth and nineteenth century (257-58). These social changes encouraged people to choose their partners based on love (257). In the paper “Tension Between Institutional and Individual Views of Marriage,” Paul R. Amato also points out that by the end of the nineteenth century, urbanization, industrialization, and revolutionary ideas, such as equality and freedom, were widespread in the US; subsequently, individuals were increasingly free from the influence of family, community, and traditional norms (961). Especially, as young people’s socioeconomic status grew, individual preference expanded in determining whether to marry, whom to marry, and when to end the marriage throughout the 20^th century (961).

As love increased its significance in marriage, the transition from institutional to individual views of marriage occurred (Amato et al. 18). In the book Alone Together, Amato et al. state that marriage has been referred to as a social institution which regulated individuals’ behaviors and organized interpersonal relationships in the US for a long time (1). Specifically, according to Coontz, people married to expand resources which help their family and race thrive regardless of cultural differences until social, economic, and political changes affected people’s behaviors (“The Origins of Modern Divorce” 8-9). Marriage was, at times, used as a tactic to make alliances or an opportunity to improve socioeconomic status in the past (8). However, as marriage based on personal preference prevailed, marriage became a lifestyle choice rather than social institution and a path through which individuals achieve self-development rather than a goal in life (Amato at al. 2; Cherlin 853).

In the paper “Tension Between Institutional and Individual Views of Marriage,” Amato points out that marriage-related social phenomena have also notably changed in the US over the last several decades (959). Amato et al. characterize the changes in marriage that have occurred in the US over the last several decades as follows: “[t]he growing popularity of nonmarital cohabitation, the increase in  the percentage of children born outside marriage, the rise in age of first marriage, the continuing high divorce rate, and the declining of remarriage rate” (1). Specifically, as of 2004, statistics of marriage show that the divorce rate has doubled since 1960 and the number of unmarried cohabitating couples is steadily increasing in the US (Popenoe and Whitehead 268-72).

Regarding divorce rate, in the paper “The Origins of Modern Divorce,” Coontz notes that the marrying for love model is responsible for the increasing rate of divorce (9). Marrying for love has developed the “recipe for marital happiness” (Coontz, “The Radical Idea of Marrying for love” 254) and has led people to have expectations to fulfill happiness by pursuing the recipe: true love, intimate and egalitarian relationship, mutual communication, and faith and loyalty to each other (254-57). Even though the recipe was rarely practiced in reality, the expectations to realize happiness by following this recipe were getting higher throughout the 20^th century (Coontz, “The Origins of Modern Divorce” 11). The more people pursued their expectations, the more people were disappointed with marriage (11-13). This led to the reality that divorce rate steadily increased in the US by the late 20^th century, points out Coontz (14).

Another considerable marriage-related social issue that the marrying for love model brought about is changes in family structure in the US. In the paper “The Deinstitutionalization of American Marriage,” Andrew J. Cherlin, professor of sociology and public policy at Johns Hopkins University, describes the trend that marriage is becoming a personal choice as “deinstitutionalization of marriage” (848). Cherlin then discusses two aspects of deinstitutionalization of marriage. One is the emergence of same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriage has received much attention from the public since the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that a law limiting marriage only to opposite-sex couples was against the Hawaii state constitution in 1993 (850). The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts accepted marriage between same-sex couples on November 18, 2003 (“Same Sex Marriage, Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships”). In 2007, New Jersey passed civil union legislation which provides same-sex couples with state-level rights (Nelson). As of 2010, according to National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), Massachusetts, Iowa, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and District of Columbia issue marriage license to same-sex couples. Besides these legal changes, citing the statistics of the US census, Cherlin points out that family structure in the US has been changing (851). As of 2000, 33% of women and 22% of men in same-sex partnerships lived with children (851). According to Cherlin, same-sex couples already describe themselves as ‘family’ even though, by the definition, they do not mean traditional family based on legally married opposite-sex couples (851). The other aspect is the growth of unmarried cohabitation. The figures in Popenoe and Whitehead’s paper “The State of Our Union” show the number of unmarried cohabitating couples has steadily increased in recent decades (272). Moreover, the population of unmarried cohabitants living with children has grown (Seltzer 1247). California, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington have laws that provide unmarried couples with almost all spousal rights within the states (NCSL). As Cherlin points out, cohabitation is gradually considered to be an acceptable union in the US (849). In the study “Families Formed Outside of Marriage,” Judith A. Seltzer also notes that cohabitation has become one of family types in the US (1247).

According to the studies mentioned above, marriage in the US has been in noticeable transition for the last several decades. Marriage as an institution is losing its meaning and authority it used to have in the past. Today, marriage is not just a goal in life but is considered to be a lifestyle choice and a path through which individuals achieve self-development. The change in points of view on marriage has led to the trend that union formation and family type are gradually getting diversified. These changes in marriage followed the expansion of individual rights and socioeconomic changes like the improvement of woman’s socioeconomic status. Especially, according to Coontz, it is marrying for love that has been the epicenter of the changes in marriage (“The Radical Idea of Marrying for love” 260).  

Works Cited

Amato, Paul R. “Tension Between Institutional and Individual Views of Marriage.” Journal of

            Marriage and Family 66.4 (2004): 959-65. Print.

Amato, Paul R., et al.  Alone Together: How Marriage in America Is Changing. Cambridge:

            Harvard UP, 2007. Print.

Cherlin, Andrew J. “The Deinstitutionalization of American Marriage.” Journal of

            Marriage and Family 66.4 (2004): 848-61. Print.

Coontz, Stephanie. “The Origins of Modern Divorce.” Family Process 46.1 (2007): 7-16. Web.

            26 Mar. 2010. .

---. “The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love.” Writing and Reading Across the

            Curriculum, 10^th ed. Eds. Laurence Behrens and Leonard Rosen. New York:

            Pearson/Longman, 2008. 250-61. Print.

Goldman, Emma. “Marriage and Love.” Anarchism and Other Essays, 2^nd ed. New York:

            Mother Earth Publishing Association, 1911. 233-45. Anarchy Archives. Web. 25 Mar.

            2010. .

Nelson, Christine. “Civil Union & Domestic Partnership Statutes.” NCSL.org. National

            Conference of State Legislatures. Mar. 2008. Web. 1 Apr. 2010. .

Popenoe, David, and Barbara Dafoe Whitehead. “The State of Our Unions.” Writing and

            Reading Across the Curriculum, 10^th ed. Eds. Laurence Behrens and Leonard Rosen.

            New York: Pearson/Longman, 2008. 263-75. Print.

“Same Sex Marriage, Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships.” NCSL.org. National

            Conference of State Legislatures. Mar. 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2010. .

Seltzer, Judith A. “Families Formed Outside of Marriage.” Journal of Marriage and Family

            62.4 (2000): 1247-68. JSTOR. PDF file.

Mirror Neuron

나는 지금 네가 무슨 생각을 하고 있는지 알고 있다?

        Mirror neuron의 발견

문득 바라본 친구나 가족, 가끔은 전혀 모르는 낯선 사람의 얼굴에서, 그 사람이 뭘 느끼고 생각하고 있는지 감이 올 때가 있다. 흔히 직감 혹은 육감의 형태로 다가오는, 이 근거를 댈 수 없는 앎의 근원은 뭘까? 이런 직감 혹은 육감으로 다가서는 다른 사람의 감정과 생각에 대한 이해는 의외로 과학적 근거를 기반으로 하고 있다. 그중의 하나가, 인간은 그렇게 다른 사람을 이해할 수 있는 능력을 가진 존재로 진화해 왔다고 말해주는 세포, mirror neuron의 발견과 의미다.

        흉내는 다른 개체를 이해하는 첫 걸음

원숭이(monkey)가 다른 개체-사람이나 다른 동물의 동작을 흉내 내거나 바라볼 때, fMRI로 보면 유난히 왕성하게 활동하는 부위(F5: mirror neuron)가 있음을, 흉내와 깊은 인연이 있는 원숭이와 함께 실험을 하던 연구팀이 처음으로 발견한 것은 우연이 아닐 것이다. 이 발견에 이어, 원숭이의 뇌에서 발견된 mirror neuron과 같은 역할을 하는 neuron이 인간의 뇌에도 있음을 알아냈다. 하지만 특이하게도 인간에게서 발견된 뇌세포는 원숭이에게는 없는, 인간의 언어를 담당하는 Broca’s area와 연관되어 있다는 것이다. 

        언어는 어떻게 시작되었을까?

Broca’s area는 언어능력을 담당하는 부위로 알려진, 좌측 전두엽(frontal lobe) 내에 있다.  mirror neuron의 Broca’s area와의 관련성을 놓고 보면, 간단히 말해, 인간은 다른 이간을 이해할 수 있는 능력을 가진 존재라는 것이고, 이게 언어라는 매체를 통해 이루어진다는 것이다. 어느 구절 하나 새로운 것이 없어 보이는 결론이다. 하지만 언어가 관찰과 모방에서 시작되었고, 인간은 사회적 존재로 진화해 왔다는 가설을 뒷받침할 수 있는 과학적 근거를 찾았다는 것 외에, 인간사회의 생성과 진화에 결정적인 역할을 해온 언어의 습득에 대한 연구에 새로운 방향을 제시한다는 점에서, mirror neuron의 Broca’s area와의 연관은 충분히 흥미로운 발견이다.

        언어습득 능력과 Mirror Neuron

언어습득이론은 언어의 발생과 습득과정에 대한 확실한 물적 증거가 없는 가운데, 1950년대 후반에 시작된  Noam Chomsky vs. B. F. Skinner의 공방으로, Skinner의 학습이론(conditioning)만으로는 어린아이들의 빠르고 광대한 언어습득 과정을 설명하기에는 부족하다는 결론에 이르게 된다. 한동안 Chomsky의 ‘Universal Grammar’ 이론이 언어학자들의 중심에 있어 왔지만, 여전히 어린아이들의 빠른 언어습득 과정을 똑 부러지게 설명할 수 있는 이론이 없다. mirror neuron 의 발견은, Chomsky의 생래적 언어습득이론에 의문점을 제시하면서 언어습득이론에 새로운 접근을 요구하고 있다 .

Discussion Point:
빠르게 변하는 사회에서 진리란 공동체의 의견일치인 지식일 뿐인가?