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This former student earned a 4.0 GPA but pass/fail classes could've helped with her only regret
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Students fear taking courses that might hurt their GPAs, though they can potentially find new skills and enjoy school more if they take these classes they avoid. That might be where a pass/fail grading system could help. - photo by Payton Davis
Rachael Larimore maintained a 4.0 GPA and garnered 12 varsity sports letters during high school but whenever she struggles to use a camera at vacations or sporting events, she does have some regret about her experience as a student, she wrote for Slate.

Why? Because in Larimore's pursuit of perfection, she passed on electives, including photography, that could've "opened up whole new worlds, satisfied my curiosity, and kept high school from being such a demanding slog," according to Slate.

Larimore's article indicated the path she chose ultimately reaped benefits as she earned scholarships and received admittance to the university of her choosing. However, if a third path existed, between taking chances potentiallly harmful to her GPA and the route Larimore took, she might be proficient in "f-stops and shutter speeds and aperture."

That's where pass/fail class options in high school come in, she wrote.

And Slate reported now's the best time.

"Todays students face an even more powerful pressure-cooker situation than I did in the early 1990s," Larimore wrote. "More students are going to college, and the demands this heightened competition places on the application process with elite schools rejecting 70 percent or more of the applications they receive lead high school students to sign up for ever-more extracurriculars and crazy summer internships. Sadly, once they get to college, they are more likely to need mental health services to help them cope."

According to Slate, even if high schools offered students one pass/fail option a year, kids would take courses to uncover new talents and help shape their world views.

An NPR article indicated entities like the U.S. Air Force are shifting to pass/fail for more straightforward reasons: Said grading scale reduces need for officers to cheat.

In fact, a cheating scandal among officers spurred the Air Force's transition. Anything less than 90 percent on tests used to mean failure and even that score wasn't impressive, according to NPR.

"I was told that if I got a 90 on a test, I was a D student and I would be treated that way," Lt. Daniel Sharp told NPR, referring to a culture where officers often turned to cheating to avoid scrutiny.

According to NPR, the Air Force's new approach replaced paper tests with exercises that measure "practical skills." Now, the new pass/fail testing instills in officers that "as a team, they need to make the right decisions, but as individuals they're not required to be perfect," Lt. Col. Barry Little told NPR.

A Campus Explorer piece cited pass/fail classes as great in allowing students to take risks with their schedules and enroll in classes they normally wouldn't consider.

However, students must take these course options as seriously as those with traditional grading, according to USA Today.

"Pass/fail classes can help to alleviate the stress that comes with taking a course for a traditional letter grade," USA Today's report read. "But taking a pass/fail class is not an excuse to exert minimal effort, and doing so is almost certainly a recipe for failure."

According to USA Today, in a pass/fail course, establishing a regular study schedule, staying up-to-date on homework and always attending class yield success.
Its toxic: New study says blue light from tech devices can speed up blindness
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A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers. - photo by Herb Scribner
It turns out checking Twitter or Facebook before bed is bad for your health.

A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers.

That process can lead to age-related macular degeneration, which is a leading cause of blindness in the United States, according to the researchs extract.

Blue light is a common issue for many modern Americans. Blue light is emitted from screens, most notably at night, causing sleep loss, eye strain and a number of other issues.

Dr. Ajith Karunarathne, assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, said our constant exposure to blue light cant be blocked by the lens or cornea.

"It's no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye's retina. Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration, such as a new kind of eye drop, he said.

Macular degeneration is an incurable eye disease that often affects those in their 50s or 60s. It occurs after the death of photoreceptor cells in the retina. Those cells need retinal to sense light and help signal the brain.

The research team found blue light exposure created poisonous chemical molecules that killed photoreceptor cells

"It's toxic. If you shine blue light on retinal, the retinal kills photoreceptor cells as the signaling molecule on the membrane dissolves," said Kasun Ratnayake, a Ph.D. student researcher working in Karunarathne's cellular photo chemistry group. "Photoreceptor cells do not regenerate in the eye. When they're dead, they're dead for good."

However, the researchers found a molecule called alpha-tocopherol, which comes from Vitamin E, can help prevent cell death, according to Futurism.

The researchers plan to review how light from TVs, cellphones and tablet screens affect the eyes as well.

"If you look at the amount of light coming out of your cellphone, it's not great but it seems tolerable," said Dr. John Payton, visiting assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "Some cellphone companies are adding blue-light filters to the screens, and I think that is a good idea."

Indeed, Apple released a Night Shift mode two years ago to help quell blue lights strain on the eyes, according to The Verge. The screen will dim into a warmer, orange light that will cause less stress on the eyes.