Youth Are Awesome, commonly referred to as YAA, is a blog written by youth for youth.
YAA provides the youth of Calgary a place to amplify their voices and perspectives on what is happening around them.
Youth Are Awesome is a program of Youth Central.
Any views or opinions expressed on this blog belong solely to the author and do not represent those of people or organizations that the blog may be associated with, unless explicitly stated. All content is for informational purposes only.
Many people think being bilingual means having a “different kind of brain.” Some even believe bilingual kids get confused, or that bilinguals are automatically smarter than everyone else. But what does science actually say? Based on research by Dr. Ping Li and a major neuroscience review by Albert Costa & Núria Sebastián-Gallés, here’s what we really know about the bilingual brain, explained simply.
1. First things first: bilingual and monolingual brains are more similar than different
Whether you speak one language or five, you’re still human, and humans all use the same brain structures to process language. There is no such thing as:
a “bilingual brain area”
a “monolingual cortex”
or a special “language gene”
The brain doesn’t assign one language to one location. Instead, the same brain networks are reused, but they’re trained differently depending on language experience.
Think of it like this: Everyone uses the same gym, but bilinguals train more muscle groups, more often.
2. Language is processed across the whole brain
Language is not handled by just one small area. Research shows it involves:
the frontal lobe (planning, grammar)
the temporal lobe (sounds and meaning)
the parietal lobe (word connections)
both hemispheres of the brain
This is why learning a language takes time, you’re training many systems at once.
3. Do bilinguals use the left or right brain differently? Not in a simple way
In the past, scientists thought bilinguals might be more “right-brained.” New research shows this idea is too simple.
For example:
When English speakers first learn Chinese tones, they treat tones as sounds → more right hemisphere
Once they become fluent, tones become meaningful → more left hemisphere
So the brain changes as learning progresses. It’s not about being bilingual vs monolingual, it’s about experience and proficiency.
4. Learning two languages physically changes the brain
Bilingualism is a powerful example of neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to change with experience.
Studies show that bilinguals often have:
stronger connections between brain regions
more gray matter in areas related to language and control
stronger white matter pathways that help different brain areas communicate
Even students learning a new language for just a few weeks show measurable brain changes.
5. Bilingual babies are not delayed, they just adapt differently
A common myth is that bilingual infants are “slower.” Research shows:
Bilingual babies learn sounds, words, and grammar on a similar timeline as monolinguals
They can tell languages apart from a very young age
They develop special attention skills to manage two systems
Bilingual infants don’t get confused, they become better at noticing patterns and differences.
6. Bilinguals may know fewer words in one language, but more overall
Because vocabulary is split across two languages:
A bilingual child may know fewer words in each language
But their total vocabulary across both languages is similar to that of monolinguals
This is not a weakness, it’s a different distribution.
7. Managing two languages trains the brain’s control system
Here’s one of the most interesting findings:
Bilinguals constantly:
choose which language to use
suppress the other language
switch depending on context
This trains the brain’s executive control system, which helps with:
attention
task switching
conflict resolution
That’s why bilinguals often perform better on tasks that require focus and flexibility, even when language isn’t involved.
8. Bilingualism and aging: a surprising benefit
Research suggests bilingualism may:
delay symptoms of Alzheimer’s and dementia by 4–5 years
increase cognitive reserve, helping the brain cope with damage longer
This doesn’t mean bilingualism prevents disease, but it may help the brain stay resilient.
9. Important warning: bilingualism only helps when both languages are supported
Not all bilingual experiences are equal.
If a child:
loses their first language
or doesn’t get enough meaningful input
Some benefits may disappear. Balanced, rich language exposure is key, especially for immigrant and minority communities.
10. So, what’s the real takeaway?
Science shows that:
Bilingual brains are not confused
They are adaptable
They are trained by experience, not magically different
Bilingualism doesn’t make you automatically smarter, but it reshapes how your brain works, from infancy to old age.
And most importantly, it proves that the human brain is incredibly flexible.
We often take for granted the basic human rights that allow us to obtain education, live in a safe and secure environment and freedom to have an opinion. However, many people across the world have their fundamental rights stripped away from them for a variety of reasons. In this blog post, we will take a deep dive into the details of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including examples of its implementation, instances of its violation, and what we can do to advocate for and promote human rights.
What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a document which outlines the fundamental rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled, regardless of race, religion, nationality, or gender. This document was adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948.
This document comprises a total of 30 articles that serve to explain these fundamental rights and serve as a standard for all countries and governments to follow. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created after World War 2 to prevent future atrocities and severe human rights violations from happening again. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is recognized as a symbol of peace as it is viewed as a guideline for a peaceful, free, and civil society that prioritizes the dignity and equal rights of all people.
The core principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights include:
Universality: These human rights are universal and apply to everyone regardless of nationality, religion, gender and any discrimination is not tolerated.
Inalienability: These human rights and freedoms are guaranteed for all humans and are not something that is earned or given away. This means that even if a person commits a crime, they still possess these fundamental rights.
Indivisibility: Emphasizes that all rights are equally important and interdependent.
Examples where UDHR principles are upheld?
There are some examples around the world where the principles and articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are followed. Here are some examples:
Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canada: Grants the majority of the human rights stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including the freedom of expression, religion, and equality.
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR): Allows individuals to file complaints against states for violations of human rights. This ensures that these rights are protected and established everywhere.
Examples Where UDHR Principles are Broken
Though in an ideal world, all articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should be protected, in the real world, there are many cases in history where the articles have been violated. Here are some examples:
Discrimination: In some countries around the world, citizens are significantly discriminated against based on race, lacking the fundamental principle of equality before the law.
Inequality: In various countries around the world, regime Loyalty is prioritized over equality. In this system, many citizens are systematically targeted on the basis of social, political or gender grounds.
How can we promote Human Rights?
Human rights and the principles outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are violated in a lot of places across the world where humans are commonly persecuted and discriminated against. In this day and age, there are lots of steps that we can take to promote human rights and advocate for our views. First and foremost, we can spread awareness about incidents which violate human rights and explain what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is to others through social media. You can also volunteer with local organizations that promote basic human rights and donate money or items to various non-government organizations aimed to solve issues faced by many across the world.
Volunteering is a powerful way to give back to the community while also growing as a person. I used to despise going outside and really just trying new things, along with my confidence being at its lowest level. One day a friend had dragged me to a full day of volunteering with her, and I hated to admit it but, it was one of the best days I had. Volunteering didn’t just support those in need, but it also helped me develop new skills, build confidence, and form meaningful connections.
Building Confidence
One of the many ways volunteering helped me was building my self confidence, at one point in my life it was so low, I never believed in my capabilities. As I did more volunteering projects, I got the opportunity to try new things and succeed in real-life situations. As I got to complete more tasks, solve problems, and most importantly saw the positive impacts in my self, I started to trust my abilities much more. Working with others and being appreciated by my efforts also helped me feel more capable and comfortable speaking up and taking initiative.
Improved Mental Health
As I entered high school, I felt so much more stressed and isolated. I always thought I never had the time to do anything else but school and extra curriculars. When I did my first volunteering project, it gave a sense of purpose and accomplishment and my mood was so much better. Now whenever that stressed and isolated feeling comes back, I sign myself up for any available project I see and get active in the community.
Sense of Responsibility
Whenever it came to time management and commitment, I never could do it. I never showed up on time, whether it was school or events I made a commitment to help out on, and it took me many volunteering projects to figure it out. I learned through each project that as other depend on you, you learn the importance of reliability and accountability. Overtime, I gained the ability to manage time and commitment, whether it was schoolwork or every day life, it was a skill that helped me be into the person I am today.
In Conclusion…
Volunteering is so much more than helping others, it can help grow confidence, responsibility, and emotional well being. From meaningful service to gaining a sense of purpose, volunteering can create a change in the lives of those who choose to give their time.
When I first started learning Bharatanatyam, I thought it was just another form of dance. I already enjoyed movement, rhythm, and performance, so I assumed I would pick it up quickly. I was wrong. Bharatanatyam demanded something I wasn’t used to giving so deliberately: patience and precision.
Unlike styles where movement can feel free-flowing, Bharatanatyam is exact. Every hand gesture, every eye movement, every bend of the knee has meaning. At first, this was frustrating. I wanted to move faster, to feel graceful immediately, but instead I found myself stuck repeating basic steps, correcting posture, and holding positions longer than felt comfortable.
Patience was the first lesson Bharatanatyam forced me to learn. Progress was slow, sometimes painfully so. I would practice the same adavu again and again, only to be told it still wasn’t quite right. My legs would ache, my ankles would burn, and my arms would feel heavy, but stopping early was never an option. Over time, I realized that improvement didn’t come from rushing. It came from showing up consistently, even on days when nothing seemed to click.
Precision was the second lesson, and perhaps the harder one. In Bharatanatyam, small mistakes stand out. A hand turned slightly the wrong way or eyes that move a moment too late can change the entire expression of a piece. I learned that precision is not about being stiff or perfect. It is about awareness. Every movement must be intentional, connected to rhythm, expression, and storytelling.
As I improved, I began to understand why this level of detail mattered. Bharatanatyam is not just movement set to music. It is communication. The dancer carries responsibility for the story, the emotion, and the tradition behind every piece. That responsibility made me more mindful of my body and more respectful of the art form itself.
This mindset slowly began to shape other areas of my life. I became more careful with my work, more attentive to feedback, and more willing to revisit things I thought I had already mastered. Bharatanatyam taught me that repeating the basics is not a step backward. It is often the foundation for growth.
Perhaps the most important lesson was how patience and precision work together. Precision cannot exist without patience, and patience becomes meaningful when it is directed toward something specific. Bharatanatyam showed me that growth is quiet. It happens in repetition, correction, and persistence, not in sudden moments of perfection.
Even now, every performance carries reminders of those early lessons. The stillness before movement, the control behind expression, and the discipline beneath the beauty all reflect what Bharatanatyam has taught me. The stage may show confidence, but it is built on hours of slow, deliberate practice.
Learning Bharatanatyam did not just teach me how to dance. It taught me how to slow down, trust the process, and value precision in everything I do. Those lessons stay with me long after the music ends.
Artificial intelligence is everywhere. It recommends what we watch, helps doctors analyze medical scans, filters job applications, and even assists in driving cars. As AI systems become more involved in decisions that affect real people, an important question keeps coming up: who is responsible when AI makes a mistake?
At first glance, it might seem simple to blame the technology itself. If an algorithm makes the wrong call, shouldn’t the algorithm be at fault? However, AI does not exist on its own. It is designed, trained, and used by humans. Because of this, responsibility is much more complex than it appears.
Understanding What AI Really Is
Despite how advanced it seems, AI is not conscious. It does not think, feel, or understand consequences the way humans do. AI systems work by identifying patterns in large sets of data and making predictions based on those patterns. If the data is biased, outdated, or incomplete, the results will reflect those problems.
A real example of this can be seen in facial recognition technology. Studies have shown that some facial recognition systems are far less accurate at identifying women and people of colour. This is largely because the data used to train these systems contained mostly images of white men. The AI did not choose to be biased. It learned bias from human-made data.
The Role of the Developers
Developers play a major role in AI mistakes. They choose the training data, decide how the system learns, and set the goals the AI is meant to achieve. If something goes wrong, those early design choices often play a key role.
One well-known example occurred at Amazon, where an experimental AI hiring tool was found to disadvantage female applicants. The system was trained using resumes submitted over many years, most of which came from men. As a result, the AI learned to favour male candidates and penalize resumes that included words like “women’s.” Amazon eventually scrapped the tool, but the incident showed how developer decisions can lead to harmful outcomes.
Developers have a responsibility to test AI systems carefully, question their data sources, and anticipate potential harm before releasing products to the public.
The Responsibility of Companies and Organizations
Companies that deploy AI systems are also responsible. Even if an AI tool is well designed, using it carelessly can cause serious consequences. Organizations decide whether AI is used as a support tool or as a replacement for human judgment.
A strong example of this is self-driving car technology. In 2018, an autonomous Uber vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona. Investigations showed that the AI system detected the pedestrian but failed to react properly. Uber had also reduced human oversight during testing. While the AI made the immediate error, the company’s decisions about safety protocols played a major role.
When companies benefit financially from AI efficiency, they must also accept accountability when the technology causes harm.
Can Users Be Responsible?
In some cases, responsibility extends to the people using AI systems. Professionals often rely on AI tools to assist their decisions, but problems arise when AI is treated as infallible.
For example, some doctors use AI systems to help detect cancer in medical scans. While these tools can be extremely helpful, they are not perfect. If a medical professional relies solely on an AI diagnosis and ignores warning signs that contradict it, responsibility becomes shared. AI should support human judgment, not replace it.
Users must understand the limits of AI and remain actively involved in decision-making.
Legal Responsibility and the Law
One of the biggest challenges with AI responsibility is that laws have not kept pace with technological advancement. Most legal systems are designed to hold people or organizations accountable, not machines. Since AI cannot be punished or held morally responsible, humans must bear the responsibility.
Some governments are beginning to respond. The European Union has proposed regulations that would require companies to ensure transparency and accountability in high-risk AI systems, such as those used in law enforcement or healthcare. These laws aim to prevent companies from avoiding blame by claiming that “the algorithm made the mistake.”
Clear legal frameworks are essential to ensure fairness and protect the public.
So, Who Is Responsible?
AI mistakes are not harmless. They can deny people jobs, misidentify suspects, spread misinformation, or put lives at risk. When responsibility is unclear, those affected may have no way to challenge decisions or seek justice.
If society allows companies to hide behind technology, trust in innovation will decrease. On the other hand, clearly assigning responsibility encourages ethical design, careful use, and safer outcomes.
The most accurate answer is that responsibility is shared. Developers are responsible for how AI is built, companies are responsible for how it is deployed, and users are responsible for how much trust they place in it. AI itself is a powerful tool, but it reflects human choices at every stage.
As AI continues to shape our world, responsibility must be treated as a core part of technological progress, not an afterthought. Only then can AI truly serve society without causing unnecessary harm.
Sources:
Buolamwini, J., & Gebru, T. (2018). Gender Shades: Intersectional Accuracy Disparities in Commercial Gender Classification. MIT Media Lab.
Dastin, J. (2018). Amazon scraps secret AI recruiting tool that showed bias against women.
National Transportation Safety Board. (2019). Collision Between Vehicle Controlled by Developmental Automated Driving System and Pedestrian.
European Commission. (2021). Proposal for a Regulation Laying Down Harmonised Rules on Artificial Intelligence (AI Act).
Topol, E. (2019). High-performance medicine: the convergence of human and artificial intelligence. Nature Medicine.
If Oreos and chocolate chip cookies had a very serious meeting and decided to become one dessert, this would be it. These cookie bars are soft, chewy, slightly gooey in the middle, and hiding a full layer of Oreos inside. They look impressive but are honestly hard to mess up, which is my favourite kind of baking.
Why you’ll love these
No mixer required
One pan, minimal cleanup
Crispy edges, soft center
Oreos. Enough said.
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 family-size pack of Oreos (you’ll use most of it)
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a 9×13 pan with parchment paper or lightly grease it.
In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth.
Add the eggs and vanilla. Whisk again until fully combined.
Stir in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix just until the dough comes together. Don’t overmix. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Press about half of the cookie dough evenly into the bottom of the pan.
Lay Oreos on top in a single layer. You can break some in half to fill gaps, but don’t stress about perfection.
Drop spoonfuls of the remaining dough over the Oreos and gently spread it out so most of the cookies are covered.
Bake for 25–30 minutes, until the top is lightly golden and the center is just set.
Let cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing. This part is hard, but worth it.
Tips
For extra gooey bars, slightly underbake them.
Sprinkle a little flaky salt on top before baking if you’re into that sweet-salty thing.
These taste even better the next day, somehow.
Final thoughts
These are the kind of desserts that disappear fast, so if you’re bringing them somewhere, maybe make two pans. Or don’t. Self-control is optional.
In the awful and dull winter, it is easy to forget how beautiful summer is. The yellow and gold hues that shine through the trees, cute jean cut-offs, and sweet ice cream. However, one of the most memorable moments from my childhood was sleep-away camp.
I first started attending when I was eleven years old, much older than the vast majority of summer camp goers. At the time, I was incredibly shy and fearful about being away from my parents for the first time. I remember clinging to my carseat as we drove up to this large grove of trees sat aside a babbling brook, before the camp sign came into view.
It wasn’t until I met my camp counsellor that I began to unwind and become more comfortable in my new environment. My camp counsellor was the coolest person I had ever met, with pearly blue sunglasses and ribbons in her hair.
Throughout that week, I learned how to be independent and brave in a way that I had previously never been and made friends who are still in my life today. From then on, every year I waited patiently for summer to arrive. To return to the wilderness where the smell of campfire and the twinkling of stars awaited me. I continued to go to camp up until I was too old to attend.
Last year, I got hired to work as a camp counsellor at another local sleep-away camp. I got to fall back in love with the outdoors and camp. I saw camp from a whole new perspective, staying up late with my co-workers and getting to be a kid again.
During this, I started thinking about why exactly sleep-away camp is so important and has played such a large role in my life.
Summer camp is an environment where kids can make their own decisions, often for the first time in their lives. There is nobody there babying them in the same way a parent does. You can be who you want. The confidence that children gain from camp, and the sheer unapologetic authenticity that it encourages, are so important.
Additionally, the silence and slowing down that being in nature facilitates is vital to childhood development and an appreciation for the outdoors.
Sleep-away camp has made me into who I am today, and is a core childhood memory that I will cherish forever. Even in the dead of winter, I continue to long for the summer and know that the gentle hum of the campfire awaits me.
At some point in the school year, things get quieter. The second semester begins, and the corridors are less loud, the classes are more of a routine, and everyone basically knows where they’re going. There’s less craziness than when school first started. However, even though things are less loud, it somehow feels more heavy.
The second semester is just easier when looking from the outside in. There’s a routine to the schedule, the teachers aren’t new anymore, and most people have found their cliques. There’s less small talk and first impressions to be made. Everything is more predictable, which should make everything feel lighter.
However, the weight begins to build. Grades become more important now, especially as finals approach and talk of next year begins. Even if it’s not said directly, there’s this sense that you should have your stuff together by now. This is a time of year when people are supposed to “lock in” even if they’re running on fumes.
Motivation shifts as well. The first semester is full of excitement and new beginnings. The second semester is full of expectations but not a lot of motivation. Burnout isn’t always an extreme thing. Sometimes it’s just feeling exhausted all the time without anything necessarily bad happening.
Emotionally, second semester can be a lonely time. It seems like everyone is managing just fine, so it’s easy to feel like you’re the only one struggling. Stress becomes comedy, and exhaustion becomes normal. The burden is there, but it’s a quiet one, which makes it easy to ignore.
The quietness of it is part of what makes second semester so much heavier. There’s less external craziness, but more internal pressure. It’s easier to let stress build up when nothing is “bad enough” to talk about.
Just because second semester might be a heavy time doesn’t mean you’re struggling. It’s possible to have quiet weeks that are still difficult weeks. Just making it through this part of the year, even if you’re not feeling motivated or inspired, is still an accomplishment.
Most of my free time goes into musical activities, whether its practicing the piano, band rehearsals, or pedagogy. Through these experiences, I’ve interacted with musicians of various ages from different backgrounds and lifestyles. Speaking with some of my peers and students made me realize that youth today are struggling with streamlining their practicing. I’ve heard stories of students practicing for hours on end, but making minimal progress on their music despite all their efforts.
As someone who has faced similar struggles in the past, I have learned from my mentors the art of practicing efficiently. Soon enough, I realized that using these methodologies allowed me to make years’ worth of progress over the span of a few months. I was flying through concertos, inventions, preludes, and etudes at lightning speed!
The truth is, many music students tend to think that relying on sightreading, repetition, and their wits alone is the fastest way to learn a piece. This method of playing through your music until you get it perfectly can get frustrating incredibly fast, resulting in students wasting away for hours at their instrument. In order to maximize the amount of progress you make and shorten the time you take to learn a piece, you can use some of the techniques highlighted in this blog post below! These techniques are what work for me, and I hope they assist you on your musical journey as well.
The 80/20 Rule
The 80/20 rule helps students focus on the 20% of effort that creates 80% of their progress using strategies like focusing on tricky bars and playing with dynamics. This rule helps you stop “surviving” your pieces and start mastering them. This principle was brought forth by Vilfredo Pareto, an economist who claimed that “roughly 80% of results come from 20% of efforts.” [1]
This principle can be applied to your practicing, helping you maximize progress with manageable efforts. Here are some strategies you can use in order to incorporate this rule into your musical endeavors:
I will die on the metronome hill, fighting everyone who disagrees with me. This is advice I’m very passionate about, and its shocking seeing the sheer number of musicians who don’t utilize a metronome during their practice. The metronome is not for getting your pieces in tempo once you finish learning them, but must be used WHILE you learn them. Learning with a metronome may seem frustrating at first, making mistakes while hearing the clicks in the background may seem annoying, but I’m striving to end the propaganda and hate against metronomes! I used to be a part of the piano student v.s. metronome rivalry, but after realizing how much it changed my practicing, I can’t live without it.
When you learn a new piece, set the metronome at a low tempo (this is targeted towards all of you who let your ego decide the speed) usually around 60-80 = the quarter note. Begin sightreading the piece with the metronome, ONLY increasing the tempo once you can play the piece smoothly and slowly. When increasing the tempo, go up in increments of around 5-15, depending on the difficulty of the piece. I suggest using an app like Soundbrenner or the Google metronome, as physical ones can be unreliable and expensive.
The metronome isn’t only for learning new music, but should also be used during warm-ups and technique exercises as well. Whether its scales, chords, or arpeggios, using the metronome during every step of your practice will train you to learn new music faster, smoother, and always stay on beat during performances.
Learn in 2-4 Bar Sections— Never Run Through The Whole Piece
This one may seem obvious for some, but you’d be surprised at how common it is for musicians to lose patience and decide to stumble through the whole piece instead of repeating the same 2 measures till perfection. This is detrimental in the long run, because even if you may feel accomplished for surviving the song, you’ll soon realize that you’ve made no progress. All the mistakes you had in the first run-though will be made again!
When you first receive your music, learn it line by line, or even measure by measure depending on the difficulty. Move onto the next section only once you manage to play the previous one in tempo smoothly, with minimal slips. For piano, learn these mini-sections hands separately, and come back once you’ve learned the whole song hands separate and repeat the process to put it hands together.
Play Difficult Sections FIRST
That one section you’ve been dreading going over all week? Do it first when you have the most energy in your practice session. You’ll make the most progress this way, and end off feeling accomplished and motivated to play again the next day. Rather than playing through your piece and stumbling during the hard section, fix the difficult measures the second you open your piece before a full run-through.
As you work through the difficult parts in your piece, go in small, 2 measure sections at an achingly slow tempo, WITH your metronome on. It’ll be annoying at first, but you’ll end up thanking me later! Using your metronome during difficult sections forces your fingers and your brain to think faster without stopping in the middle, allowing you to learn the correct notes quickly.
Play Warm-Ups Related To Your Music
This seems obvious when you first hear it, but it truly changes how fast you can learn your music. Look at your music and point out the patterns you see, are there lots of chords, arpeggios, or runs? If so, consider warming up with V7 chords, arpeggios and all their inversions, or running through a few chromatic scales. This warms up your fingers and lets them prepare for your music.
ALWAYS Play With Dynamic Shape– Including In Warm-Ups
Playing with dynamics and expression isn’t something you work on after you finish learning your music or the notes to an exercise, you have to do it while you’re struggling through the initial learning phase. For example, as you play your scales, ensure you play with a dramatic, exaggerated crescendo on the way up, and decrescendo on the way down. Same with chords and arpeggios, train yourself to instinctually play each note with a different musical colour and dynamic.
When you’re playing your music, look for patterns in the notes where they go higher up the staff or lower, and create your own dynamics in the sections where the composer hasn’t already given you some. Play these dynamics as you learn the piece, ensuring that every note you play is different in musicality from the previous one. This allows you to play with more expression, and once you finish learning the piece, you’ll have already done most of the work in terms of dynamic shape. If you’re stuck in terms on expression, take into account the context of the piece (e.g. When was it written? What was going on during this time? What does the title mean?) or listen to a recording of it online. Think about what you want to convey with your music, what imagery are you creating for the audience?
If you’re skimming through, here’s the key takeaway for this tip: Everything on your instrument should be played with dynamics in mind. ALWAYS!
Memorize Your Music As You Learn It
Do yourself a favour and don’t leave memory for after you finish learning a piece. Along with dynamic shape and the metronome in the background, try to actively memorize your music as you learn the notes. For example, whenever I’m learning a new song, I try to memorize it hands separately as I learn it. Whether it’s saying the notes out loud, writing out the music on a separate piece of paper, or talking to myself about patterns I recognize, this has helped me learn my music at breakneck speed.
This may seem daunting and difficult at first, but memory is a lot easier when you do it slowly and consistently, with the right tools and strategies. If you’re relying on pure muscle memory to get through a performance, I’m both terrified for you and slightly impressed. Don’t do it.
Learn your music so its burned into the back of your mind, learn it so well that you could play it in your sleep or visualize yourself playing it without your instrument in front of you!
Conclusion/TL;DR
No musician is perfect, we all have those days when practicing feels like running a marathon. This is completely normal and proves that we aren’t machines, but humans. Setting realistic goals, such as sitting with your instrument for at least 10 minutes a day, is the key to building consistency.
Most students waste hours playing through entire songs, repeating the same mistakes and hoping for a different result. To make years of progress in just months, you need to isolate the 20% of your music that causes 80% of the friction. You can do this by:
Everyday, we hear about how much our world is progressing. But despite all of these innovations and research obtained, women’s health— something that affects half the world’s population, has been neglected for most of medical history.
Dismissing Concerns
In healthcare, female patients continue to get gaslighted. Labelling their complaints as something hormonal, or something completely made up in their head, they get their concerns pushed aside as something nonexistent.
According to research from the University of Chicago, women are twice as likely to be dismissed when reporting pain, but yet, they pay 30% more for healthcare. And on average, it takes 6-10 years to diagnose endometriosis- a chronic condition that affects 1 in 10 women.
“It’s a man’s world”
For a long time, medical research and experiments were done on men, for men. Medications, and medical devices went through trial and error being strictly tested on male anatomy— whether it was a human or rat.
You’d think this would all be different as we’re in the 21st century now. Right? Well, it is. But, instead of using men as a reference to produce new medical knowledge, entire researches are carried out about male balding patterns that are funded more then those about chronic conditions related to female organs.
How to help Women’s Health research
A crucial part to improving women’s health is by advocating for it. You can do this by demanding proper care when you or a woman in your life feels neglected by doctors, support organizations like “Women’s Health Collective Canada”, or by volunteering to help research studies to ensure diversity as-well.
And just because knowledge on women’s health isn’t fully developed doesn’t mean it hasn’t come a long way. In just 50 years, access to contraceptives have become widespread, cervical cancer mortality’s been dropped by 50%, and understandings of the female hormones have increased.
For over a century, the humble fruit fly has been a surprising giant in the world of science, aiding in our quest to decode genetics and behavior. Recently, in 2024, it offered its greatest gift ever: a complete wiring diagram of its entire brain. Scientists have mapped every one of its roughly 140,000 neurons and the staggering 50 million connections between them, creating the largest and most complete brain “connectome” of any adult animal ever. This map of a fly’s mind is now a revolutionary blueprint that illuminates the intricate architecture of a complex brain and provides an unprecedented tool for exploring our own.
How They Built the Ultimate Brain Atlas
The creation of this map was a monumental feat of technology and global collaboration. It began with a minuscule brain smaller than a poppy seed, sliced into over 7,000 ultra-thin sections, and imaged with electron microscopy to generate a mountain of data. An artificial intelligence program performed the initial, Herculean task of tracing the branches of each neuron through this microscopic maze.
However, given AI’s propensity for errors, the global FlyWire Consortium needed to step in. Hundreds of scientists and even trained citizen scientists joined a massive online effort to proofread the AI’s work. They spent an estimated 33 person-years checking and correcting the neural tracings and adding vital labels. This collaborative “crowd-science” approach turned a raw, AI-generated sketch into a finely detailed and accurate atlas.
The Power of the Map: From Street View to Circuit Logic
Thus, the result is far more than a static diagram. It is a dynamic, searchable database that functions like a “Google Maps for the brain”. Now, researchers are able to navigate from a single neuron to the brain-wide circuits behind intricately complex behaviors, including navigation and memory.
The map reveals a brain built with remarkable consistency. It details a hierarchical “parts list” of over 8,400 distinct cell types, providing a standardized catalog for neuroscientists worldwide, acting as an extensive guide. These trailblazing discoveries are letting researchers see not just the “streets” (neurons), but also the “traffic rules”, gaining knowledge on how different types of neurons, using chemicals like dopamine or serotonin, are wired together to process information. Now, we have a complete reference manual for what “normal” wiring looks like in a healthy, functioning brain!
Why a Fly’s Brain Map Matters to Humanity
You might wonder, “Why on earth does a tiny insect’s brain matter to us?”
Well, the answer actually lies in deep biological conservation. The fundamental principles of how neural circuits are built and how genes guide brain development are shared across various species. Therefore, the fruit fly serves as a powerful genetic model, as about 75% of human disease-related genes equally have a counterpart in the fly genome.
Conclusion: A New Chapter for Neuroscience
In conclusion, the completion of the fruit fly connectome marks the end of one extraordinary journey and the exciting beginning of another. One that transforms the fly from a model for studying individual genes or cells into a complete system for understanding how entire networks generate thought and action. It proves that by charting the intricate landscape of even a small mind, we illuminate the path to understanding our very own, one unimaginably larger!
If you take a look at your surroundings, chances are, you will find at least 5 products made out of plastic; whether it be a phone case, TV remote, a bottle of lotion, or the wrap of a granola bar. While plastic has become one of the most popular materials available, there are several repercussions- especially related to health and consumption. In this article, we will take a deep dive into the microplastics within our food in order to truly understand what we are eating.
Where it Came From?
While most manufacturing processes ensure safety measures are put in place to protect food items, microplastics infiltrate your food in the initial stages of crop growth. In other words, farmlands are the largest reservoir of microplastics. A study at Cardiff University claims that ” 86 trillion to 710 trillion microplastic particles, contaminate European farmland each year”. The soil holds the highest amounts of microplastics through the use of fertilizers (via biosolid from sewage sludge), atmospheric dust, irrigation, and the breakdown of litter. Furthermore, livestock consume crops and water, eventually storing the microplastics within their tissue. Such tissue is then transferred into meat for human consumption.
Another, more common way microplastics may enter your food is through the plastic cutting boards, plastic containers and dishwasher pods in your kitchen. Several research articles claim that plastic cutting boards add microplastics into vegetables and meats when cut on plastic surfaces. Plastic containers contaminate your food when microwaving, scrubbing harshly or even storing food for long periods of time.
Unsplash. By Ries Bosch. Published on June 2, 2023.
How it Impacts Us?
Now that we know where it comes from, we need to understand how it affects us. Many studies claim that microplastics affect the endocrine system by limiting growth hormones. Other research suggests that microplastics are linked to cancer, heart diseases and cellular damage. Researchers found that ingesting microplastics can activate immune responses which can be harmful overtime. While research is ongoing, preventing microplastic contamination is becoming increasingly important with the rising connections to health risks.
How Do We Track It:
While there are many ways researchers identify microplastics in samples, the most common way is by chemically separating the components. This method is called Pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (also known as: Pyrolysis GC- MS). In this method, the sample is heated at high temperatures in order to break down the ingredients. Afterwards, the mass of the microplastics is measured to make conclusions about the amount and type of microplastics present. Such processes are difficult to perform and many researchers are consistently attempting to create new, effective techniques of determining how microplastics contaminate food. Additionally, we have found many ways of removing microplastics from water however, removing them from food is more difficult. For this reason, it is we need to prevent contamination in the first place.
Unsplash. By Da-shika. Published on May 4, 2023. Microplastics
How We Can Avoid Microplastics:
Not heating food in plastic containers
Choosing non-plastic materials for long-term food storage
Avoid plastic cutting boards ( use alternatives like wood or glass cutting boards), nonstick pans and plastic wraps
Avoid the use of tea bags (generally woven with plastic thread)
Disposing broken/damaged plastic utensils
Use dishwasher pods without PVA
TL;DR
Microplastics enter our food through farmlands and plastic use in the kitchen
They may lead to many health issues including cancer, damage to cell walls, hormonal imbalance, etc.
Scientists identify microplastics using Pyrolysis-GC-MS where a sample is heated to separate the ingredients and analyze the mass of plastic
We can prevent microplastic contamination in our food by: not heating plastic containers, disposing damaged plastic utensils, avoiding plastic cutting boards, etc.
Pixabay. By StockSnap. Published on September 4, 2015. Wood Cutting Board
Have you ever woken up and your parents called you a zombie? Well that happens to me quite a lot, and no I don’t have the stereotypical green skin or want to eat brains. Sometimes when I wake up, my under eyes are dark. And when I mean dark, I mean extremely dark. In this post, I’m going to tell you about the 4 most common causes behind them and some ways you can get rid of them!
Fatigue and eye strain
Basically, your under eyes are one of the most prominent parts of your body that gets affected because the skin is very thin and sensitive. The blood vessels dilate which makes the skin have a pale look and an increased visibility of “dark circles”. The lack of sleep reduces the blood circulation in your face, which can lead to certain fluids storing up that create the “puffiness” that your eyes usually have in the morning. This puffiness creates a shadow, which also helps emphasize the dark circles. This is why it is super important to get a good night’s sleep. Teenagers need at least 8 hours while adults can go off 7. As you’ve probably heard 100s of times before, the blue light emitted from screens drastically affects not only your eye and psychological health, but even your appearance. When you stare at a screen for prolonged periods of time, your eyes become stressed which affects the blood vessels in your under eye.
Dehydration:
The human body is made up of 70% water, meaning that water is super important for your body to function properly. When your body is dehydrated your skin doesn’t appear as plump as it usually is. This makes the skin under your eye appear to have “shrunken” , which emphasizes the darkness under your eye.
Genetics:
Sometimes, having dark circles under your eye isn’t even your fault. You can reduce your screen time and sleep 10 hours a day, yet if they are still on your face, you may not be able to get rid of them. Take a look at your family members, and if they all have pretty apparent dark circles, chances are it’s genetic and there’s not too much you can do to fix it. However, there are always some ways to reduce these dark circles so you don’t look too much like a “zombie”.
In terms of natural treatments, you can use:
Ice cubes or a cold compress: Apply cold spoons to your eyes to help shrink dilated blood vessels. This can reduce puffy eyelids and the appearance of dark circles.
Cucumbers: Just like in movies, you can lay cucumber slices on your eyes. This can help with puffiness because cucumbers are full of water and vitamin C.
Teabags: Place cold tea bags under your eyes. This can increase circulation because tea contains caffeine and antioxidants
Facials. Facials that include massage around the eye area can help improve circulation
In addition to these natural remedies, you can always use makeup to cover it up for the day! You can buy pretty affordable concealers from your closest drugstore and they can do the trick.
There have been cycles where democracy has thrived, such as in the mid-2000s in most of southern Europe, Latin America, and East Asia, where political regimes transitioned to democratic governments. However, as of today’s date, we are in a democratic erosion. It officially began in 2006, where many countries saw a decrease in freedoms and acquired socio-political climates which would be deemed illiberal. The erosion began from the smallest acts, such as polarization and extremism on social media or discriminatory language, and that gradually threatened the freedom of the press, integrity in judicial systems and checks and balances in the legal/political systems. It begins when the rights of the few are imperiled, and someday it becomes the rights of the majority. When democracy is endangered, and trust in democratic institutions and the state is inadequate, it becomes the personal responsibility of citizens to uphold and rebuild it.
So Can We do, Now?
>>>>> Using your critical thinking skills and accumulating perspectives from various sources is imperative, because in this day and age, where the integrity of truth is traded for user engagement, you must be wary. When media becomes engineered, nuance and reality are ripped from headlines and from discussions, and short-form content infiltrates news with misinformation and scapegoating optimized for clicks. It dissolves critical thinking, civic responsibility and intellectual freedom, all core values that uphold democracy. Investigate, because only then can a citizen truly be empowered to resist manipulation, therefore avoiding the possibility of consolidation of power. By reading (non-fiction, social commentary) books, learning from historical patterns and connecting with the experiences of marginalized people, you are equipped with the skills needed to support democracy in the spread of tyranny.
For example, Meta, a global tech giant as of early 2025, informed that there will no longer be continuation of fact-checking on their social media platforms. With many youth making social media their primary source of news, the absence of fact-checking seems to be the start of fake headlines promoting extremism for views.
To exercise democracy, citizens must share reality and know when and whom to hold accountable; ignorance is NOT bliss. In an era where falsification becomes economically or politically incentivized, and investigative journalism has become archaic and dangerous, citizens must make it their individual responsibility to investigate the truth and question, dig deep and dissent against injustice to maintain the state of democracy and resist tyranny. Passively continuing to consume extremist media and false and unbalanced information creates long-term consequences for critical thinking, endangering rights and freedoms.
What more?
Our language shapes reality; it molds perception, behaviour and thought patterns. Every word is laced with intention, implications and history, whether we are consciously aware or not, it shapes our surroundings and what sort of society we are subject to. Due to being such an entrenched part of our identities, and hence, our ideologies and the manner of our civic engagement, discriminatory and polarizing language can redefine our perception of “normal”, further the presence of prejudice, and justify the repression of minorities.
The loss of rights and, consequently, democracy, often begins small, with words that can evade accountability and serve as dog whistles. By avoiding the implications of our language and being unaware of the vocabulary that surrounds us, it is an imposition of hostile environments that can create policies/laws that restrict civil rights, limit freedom for minorities and justify, if not promote exclusion. It is imperative to deconstruct words from our history that carry negative connotation, and continue to be intentional with our choice of words. Authoritarianism aims to utilize discriminatory language to scapegoat and polarize, redirecting popular discontent, often normalizing the dehumanization of minorities. Our daily language is embedded with misogyny, colonial roots, discrimination, and hate towards minorities of all kinds. To create moral boundaries against certain phrases and terms is to avoid harmful narratives gaining traction and making discrimination socially acceptable. To avoid restriction of rights, a surge in racial violence/hate crimes, one must avoid and call out language that is hostile and discriminatory. Prevention of the concern becomes imperative in avoiding a “democratic” society that doesn’t truly protect the rights of all.
Conclusion
Democracy only thrives through collective effort; elections only work to reflect the will of the people, public policy is shaped by what the public demands and society functions through active civic engagement.
Without upholding democracy, rights and freedoms become empty symbols. Politics isn’t one day at the ballot box. It is every day, a burden to bear; however, a cause worth defending, worth fighting for.
Today, the city of Gaza is the ‘world’s largest open-air prison’, subjecting the Palestinian people to nearly a century of systematic dehumanization and oppression. This is not a byproduct of conflict, or a sacrifice of freedoms, but a deliberate series of actions by the state of Israel to erase the Palestinian people.
How It Started: 1948
This campaign of ethnic cleansing is traced back to 1948, when over 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly removed from their rightful land and shattering communities. This event, the ‘Nakba’ set place generations of unjustified displacement, occupation, and ethnic cleansings. Homes destroyed, olive trees uprooted, and identities erased by the genocidal regime of Israel, that in turn has perpetrated propaganda against the Palestinians, fueling and spewing hate within Israel against the victims of their bombs.
This created the identity of a Palestinian, to be able to stand firm in the rightful land of your ancestors, even as the world attempts to erase you.
Why People Spoke Up- Especially Students!
In turn, protests erupted across the world in support of Palestine, and in the face of genocide and global silence, students rose. With chants, posters and banners, held by the fundamentals of a ‘democratic’ country, they demanded a ceasefire to stop the support of this genocide, while mourning the children lost by the bombs of the Israeli regime.
Freedom Has ‘Limits’
The right should have been protected by the constitutional freedoms of the West that preach freedom, but it failed to be utilized in this scenario as it comes at the support of a Muslim country. It is through this that the West exposed the limits of their ‘liberal democracy’, as the only crime the students committed was that of having compassion.
Such was imposed on protestor to maintain power and control over the voice of students, not peace. The West, branded with their supposed values of democracy, is challenged by its citizens for exercising democratic freedoms, to demand them to defund and denounce Israel for its actions. Even failing to even call these targeted actions a genocide, protecting political alliance and corporate interest over constitutional rights of its people.
Detaining of Protesters
During such protests, detaining citizens and arresting them without cause were all undemocratic and illiberal acts perpetrated by the government, as protesters, mostly students did NOT threaten safety nor disrupt any civil rights, but challenged complicity in this genocide. Governments often justify such acts with the balancing of freedoms, or need to protect national security, or most importantly prevent hate-speech.
Many say these acts are being done to prevent the spread of antisemitism, to protect the same genocidal regime responsible for literal ethnic cleansing. A singular life, cannot equate to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian lives. These acts are examples of the US government selectively providing rights and freedoms, showing their true ‘dedication’ to maintain freedoms, while suspending them to project their own interests.
What This Says About Democracy
Reflecting upon the last year of Pro-Palestinian protests, and the current state of foreign affairs and their impact on the application of democratic rights, it has made me realize the role of the citizen is much further than obeying laws within democracy to maintain ‘peace’.
Democracy, each time fails to stand beside injustice when it does not provide gain, leading to the establishment of the role of the citizens to challenge such beliefs when governments are complicit with injustice.
Students standing for Gaza did not call for destruction or hate, nor did they carry out attacks to the level of police they were met with. They simply asked the tough questions. “Why are the Western governments funding this?” “Why are Palestinian lives disposable?”.
Democracy celebrates these actions, it demonstrates the right to freedom of speech, peaceful protest, and is the basis of change. The government met this with hate, highlighting how The West is only a democracy in name, and reverted to control, surveillance, detention, and fear.
These are NOT values of a democracy but of an authoritarian regime. The role of students became a representation of action when the government fails to, to speak to individual beliefs, and to fight for injustice supported by your ‘democratic’ nation.
