Category Archives: Uncategorized

What are you doing to the microbes in your gut?

Posted on November 26, 2014 by i | Leave a comment

Lactobacillus casei, a microbe found in dairy products, the human intestine and mouth. Source: Flickr, user: ajc1

There are a hundred trillion cells in our body. You might think that most of the cells are human, but in fact, 90% of these cells are tiny microorganisms like bacteria that we can’t see with the naked eye! But where do these microbes come from, and what are they doing in our body?

Source: Wikimedia Commons, user: BruceBlaus

All mammals, including humans, are usually born free of bacteria and other microbes. However, shortly after birth, babies become colonized by microbes that come from their parents, the food they eat, and the environment. The colonization of our gut by microbes continues throughout our entire lifespan. The population of microbes in our gut tends to become more complex as we get older and start consuming solid food.

Now that we know a bit about how we obtain these microbes, how are they affecting us?

Most of us reading this blog have “Westernized” or modern lifestyles, where we have access to clean water, processed food, modern medicine, and hygiene. This does not mean that our environment is completely sterile, but as it turns out, the gut microbe population is less diverse in people in Westernized populations compared to rural populations.

So why is this important?

Lower diversity of microbes in our gut is associated with autoimmune diseases like Crohn’s disease and irritable bowel syndrome, as well as conditions like multiple sclerosis and autism. It may also explain why there is a higher prevalence of conditions like asthma and allergies in modern society.

Watch the following video which showcases our interview with Dr. Laura Parfrey, a researcher in the Departments of Botany and Zoology at UBC, to find out more about how our lifestyle influences our gut, and more importantly, what we can do to make our gut microbes more diverse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8NqMXPjFRM

Source: own work

Dr. Parfrey recently found that the diversity of gut microbes differs between Westernized populations and rural populations. She specifically looked at eukaryotic microbes, which are essentially all the microbes that aren’t bacteria, and found that the Western population had a much less diverse set of microbes! This may help explain the increasing prevalence of autoimmune diseases and allergies in modern society. According to Dr. Parfrey, there is still a lot that we still don’t know about how microbes affect our health, and she explains further research questions and why she finds her research interesting, in the following podcast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2deTthuR8ZA

Source: own work

So, there are lots of microbes in our body, especially the gut, and they’re affecting our health more than we’ve thought previously! In order to keep our gut microbes healthy and diverse, people can avoid overemphasizing hygiene with their kids; and as for adults, people can incorporate more diverse sources of food into their diets, especially diverse sources of complex carbohydrates.

Acoustic Noise Pollution in Toothed Whales

Posted on November 26, 2014 by Jenna Bains | Leave a comment

Sound is energy. The louder the sound an animal can hear, the greater the potential for damage to their ear. Whales and other marine organisms rely on their hearing for everyday functions like communicating, searching for food, and finding a safe shelter for protection. Therefore, they are very sensitive to hearing. When we go swimming or sailing many people find the experience to be relaxing and quiet, however for marine life, the noise in water can be so loud that it can lead to death. Odontocetes (toothed whales such as dolphins or porpoises) have ears that are separated from the skull and placed well apart, which assists them with localizing sounds so they can find prey. As humans, we are only sensitive to approximately 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz whereas whales are sensitive to from 16 Hz to 200,000 Hz. We have the ability to cause noises (acoustic noise pollution) in the ocean that can cause serious damage to whales and other marine life in the ocean.

Example of a Odontocete (toothed whale) under water. Source: Flickr Commons

Dr. Maria Morell and her fellow research team conducted a study in several European countries and investigated the effect acoustic noise pollution has on Odontocetes in the ocean. They want to address if Odontocetes have acoustic trauma due to underwater mining or sonar exposure, which is important for the species to function properly. They specifically looked at the organ of Corti (element in the inner ear) of Odontocetes to look for any damage such as scarring using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The organ of Corti is based on a spiral system of hair cells. It is formed by inner hair cells and outer hair cells, and it is surrounded by other cells and membranes. When they hear a sound, this membrane vibrates, which makes the hair cells vibrate and eventually sends away the signal.

Example of proof of scarring in the organ of Corti. The places where there is no hair cells is where the scarring occurs. Source: Image by Marc Lenoir, modified by Alison Fung

In our video, we set up the story by focusing on the “HOW” aspect of this research study. We wanted to know how they detected any trauma and the methods they used to find results. We started off by introducing a quick summary of the research by Dr. Morell. She then explained the importance of her research with regards to marine life in the ocean. In order to explain the concept of the damage caused by acoustic noise pollution for Odontocetes, we introduced the main structure examined called the organ of Corti in which Dr.Morell explains the importance of the organ using language the general public will understand. Next, we explained the methods how Dr.Morell examined the damage using SEM and TEM. To wrap up the video, Dr. Morell explains the importance of her research and summarizes the main message she wants to deliver to the audience.

Video on Acoustic Noise Pollution in Odontocetes
Source: Youtube
Author: Alison Fung

In our podcast, we set up the story by focusing on the “WHY” aspect of this research study. We wanted to know about the motivations for this study and what effects acoustic trauma has on Odontocetes. We asked Dr. Morell four key questions regarding the research. We started off asking Dr. Morell to briefly explain what she would like the general audience to know about her research. We know many people may not be familiar with what noise pollution is, so we also asked Dr. Morell to provide us with some examples of this as well as how it affects Odontocetes. To wrap up, we asked a powerful question asking Dr.Morell what motivated her to begin this study in the first place.

Podcast on Acoustic Noise Pollution in Odontocetes
Source: Sound Cloud
Author: Alison Fung

https://soundcloud.com/alison-fung/outreach-podcast-accessing-acoustic-trauma-with-drmaria-morell

– Alison Fung, Jenna Bains, & Jack Yoon

Stay away from Giant hogweed

Posted on November 10, 2014 by shjegal | 2 comments

Giant hogweed is invasive and noxious weed that can grow up to 4-5 metres tall and blooms in mid-May through July. This beautiful tall plant was originated from Asia and Eastern Europe and was brought to Ontario as an ornamental plant; now it is becoming more common in Southern and central Ontario.

Giant hogweed Source: wiki common

Giant hogweed has a sap that contains toxin and the toxin in the sap can cause painful blister when the sap is on the skin and when it is exposed under sunlight your skin is going to experience serious skin burn. If the sap gets in you eyes, it can cause temporary or permanent blindness. Therefore, it is best to stay away from the plant. However, if you have made contact with this toxic plant, find shade or shelter that can block you from sun immediately because the sap is very reactive when it is exposed to sunlight.

symptom Source: wiki commons

It is best to go to hospital right away after contact with the sap but if you can not go to hospital right away, use water and soap to wash the skin and contact hospital as soon as possible. When you have to handle giant hogweed, wear protective clothes, gloves and eye protection to avoid the sap.

This is video of removing giant hogweed.

Source: Youtube uploaded by UTRCA

-SungHoo Jegal

2 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Particle Accelerators are Really Expensive

Posted on November 10, 2014 by billycromb | Leave a comment

Plasma inside of a Plasma Lamp, from Wikimedia Commons

Particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) or the TRIUMF facility here at UBC are massive projects. The LHC cost roughly 7.5 Billion Euros to build, and has a circumference of 27 kilometers. These facilities allow scientists to perform all kinds of experiments about fundamental physics, but they take years and incredible amounts of money to construct. Ars Technica reported on an experiment at SLAC National Accellerator Laboratory at Stanford that could help reduce the cost of these projects by helping to accelerate particles faster in a shorter distance. All current particle accelerators work by using electromagnets to give energy to a stream of particles. Different designs arrange them in different ways, but the basic design involves a electromagnets arranged around a cavity which the particles pass through. Because the various particles that are accelerated are charged, they can be manipulated by electromagnets. Speeding them up is really not all that different from spinning up an electric motor or any other electromechanical device. The most powerful particle accelerators are large circular tunnels which pass the beam through the same cavities multiple times. The bigger the tunnels can be, the more speed can be added to the particles, which is a big part of why they’re so expensive. Building a 27 kilometer tunnel is expensive in and of itself, and the cost only grows when that tunnel needs to be built with incredibly precise dimensions. With science funding flagging in most developed countries, these costs might make it difficult for researchers to get the kind of investment they need to keep making progress on fundamental physics research using particle accelarators. What the SLAC group proposes is instead to use a field of plasma to transfer energy to particles. A state of plasma occurs when atoms are stripped of their electrons, leaving electrons and positively charged atoms floating freely around each other. The SLAC group found that when a group of electrons was passed through plasma, a “wake” (not unlike the wake of a ship on the ocean) followed them, pulling more electrons with them. These wake electrons were accelerated to nearly the speed of light, drawing energy from the surrounding plasma. This technique is far less straightforward than accelerating particles with electromagnets, but it is also far more efficient, so it could allow us to build more powerful particle accelerators without requiring as much space or money. There is still a great deal of research to be done on the dynamics of plasma, but this is a promising discovery.

Fsih Framign in Birtsih Colmbuia… wait, there’s something wrong here!!

Posted on November 5, 2014 by aleggo | 2 comments

Fish Farming, or aquaculture, as Fisheries Scientists call it, is a burgeoning industry around the World, especially in China. It does however, come with a whole host of problems that we, as smart consumers, should be aware of. This blog post will focus on a few of BC Aquaculture’s problems and combines data from a wide variety of sources, however a good overview of the global industry can be found here!

8318727123_d3cdfaa8c4_o

Image Source: Flickr User World Wildlife Fund.

The first major problem that we see in marine-based open system aquaculture facilities (where fish live in the sea water and there’s no filtration of that water) is the nutrient load added to the water. When we’re growing fish we want them to grow as quick as possible with as little food as possible (to maximize profit), so we use very, very high nutrient feeds. These nutrients leach out in the water around the pens and encourage algal and bacterial growth in the water. This can have some not fun consequences for the surrounding oceans! See very simplified YouTube video. Moreover, it really messes with the sediment underneath the pens, changing the ocean floor there chemically which can have very long lasting repercussions on the plants and animals that live there. We’re talking centuries long-lasting!

Now where do all those nutrients in the food come from? That itself is a big issue. They come from fishmeal, which is essentially small fish, ground up into pellets. These fish are caught in quantities that just boggle the senses (around 30 million tonnes every year). This fishing results in overexploitation and an undermining of the food web in an ecosystem. This happens because the little fish (that previously we hadn’t eaten) are removed in a huge quantity, leaving no food for the slightly bigger, predatory fish. When you combine this undermining (bottom-up) fishing with top predator (top-down) fishing, you leave a lot of BC ecosystems in a very precarious position. Around 30% of fishmeal is made of small fish, although efforts are being taken to reduce its usage.

Finally, we have to think about where we are putting these potentially harmful fish farms. Around 90% of BC fish farms are in the Broughton Archipelago on the North Coast of BC (see Fig. from Leggatt Inquiry) . This is an area that has traditionally been held by many, varied BC First Nations, who have an ancestral right to live and harvest there without interference. Often fish farms are provincially approved without their permission, leaving these people, who historically have ‘lived off the landscape’ (usually sustainably), to absorb the negative effects fish farms have on their environment. Further effort should be taken to actively involve and empower BC First Nations in the aquaculture decision-making process.

I hope this post showed you why Salmon Farming is such a contentious issue, although of course I only covered a tiny part of that huge debate. It is your choice on whether farmed Salmon is a good buy, but one thing is for sure, it ain’t going away any time soon! With World population increasing so rapidly, aquaculture needs to fill those mouths as the already overexploited wild-caught fish stocks can, and should, not.

Al Eggo

2 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Public Engagement, Science in the News, Uncategorized

Tagged Aquaculture, BC, BCSFA, Cermaq, Ecology, environment, Environmental Damage, Eutrophication, First Nations, Fish Farming, Fishmeal, Greig, Marine Harvest, Norway, Pacific North West, Salmo salar, Salmon, Salmon Farming, Science Communication, Wild

sick? eat s###!

Posted on October 26, 2014 by jliu | 1 comment

Recently, Scientists and Researching physician have made poop pills a viable therapy against C. Difficile infections.

Frozen pills of fecal matter, ready for ingestion. – NPR/ Hohmann Lab

Why would anyone in their right mind want to ingest pills filled with poop? according to the lead researcher, Dr. Elizabeth Hohmann, it’s a big step from the previous methods of enemas and nose drip-tubes, which were accident-prone, especially “if people gagged and vomited, they could inhale fecal matter. “

Yikes. Why are people taking such grotesque (if not extreme) methods for treatment? what exactly is a C. difficile infection, and why is it so difficult to treat?

Clostridium difficile is a type of bacteria that is known to cause “opportunistic infections”, or infections when the host is able to be infected easily, usually with the host being in a weakened/compromised state; in this case, most of the cases of C. difficile infections are caused by the lack of other, more benign bacteria colonizing the intestines, usually due to antibiotic treatment. This is akin to introducing wolf packs onto a sheep farm, where there are no competitors/predators for the wolves. As a result, the wolves prosper, at great cost to the sheep and the sheep farmer – a fitting metaphor for both the person infected by C. difficile , and the physician treating it, since C. difficile infections are especially antibiotic-resistant, and are prone to recurrent (i.e: multiple and returning) infections.

How C.difficile spreads- Wikipedia/CDC

The purpose of undertaking fecal transplants is to re-populate the patient’s colon and intestines with benign/helpful bacteria, thereby out-competing the harmful C.difficile. In an extension to the wolves/farmers metaphor, this would be akin to introducing more farm workers, scaring away the wolf pack and ensuring the prosperity of the farm.

Of course, the draw-back to this form of therapy is the “ick-factor”, effective though it may be. This is why scientists have been working on a synthetic version of the bacteria flora populating our gut- dubbed appropriately, “rePOOPulate”. Research is still on-going in the field of bacteria flora colonizing our gut; hopefully, one day someone can invent a form of therapy with all of the benefits of faecal transplants, and none of the “ick-factor”.

Source:Mary Greely Medical Centre, Via YouTube

– James L.

1 Comment

Posted in Biological Sciences, Outreach Project, Science in the News, Uncategorized

Tagged Bacteria, c.difficile, faecal transplant, Health, infection, Science Communication

We cannot live without drinking water.

Posted on October 26, 2014 by shbak | 3 comments

How much water do you drink a day?

Your body is composed with about 60 percent of water: Muscle consists 75%, brain consists 90%, bone consists 22% and blood consists 83% of water. However, body loses water every moment through sweating, breathing and urinating. Therefore, you should drink enough water everyday to keep adding up the amount of water you lose!

There are so many benefits to drinking lots of water a day. Water helps you lose weight. Water stops headaches, dizziness and clears skin. Also, water helps organs to be healthy. Water regulates body temperature and helps with metabolism. Are you a big fan of coffee? You can try to drink more water and stop drinking coffee. Water can make you feel energetic just like coffee, but water is healthier!

By Jorge Barrios (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

If you do not consume enough water, you will see some dehydration symptoms. There are several symptoms of dehydration: Increased thirst, dry mouth, swollen tongue, decreased urine output, dizziness and more. If you feel any one of these symptoms, drink water. It will solve relieve your symptoms.

There are many ways you can consume water. Drinking any kind of drinks such as teas, coffees or soft drinks will help your body be hydrated; however, water is the best drink than any other drinks because it has no calories, no sugar and no food color. Also, eating water-rich foods such as lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, watermelon and grapefruit can keep you hydrated.

Photo of watery Grapefruit.
Photo by Flickr

It depends on your weight, sex and your current health conditions, but it is recommend to drink eight 8-ounce glasses, which is about 1.9 liters, of water a day. I started two weeks ago to drink at least 1.5 liters of water a day and I try to drink a glass of water right after I wake up, to keep myself awake. Also, I try to carry a water bottle so that I can drink water anytime, anywhere. I really recommend downloading an app that helps you keep up the amount of water you drink a day. Moreover, if you cannot drink plain water, try to slice in some lemon or lime.

This video made by HealthiNation summarizes this post and reminds you the importance of drinking water.

Drink water and keep the doctors away.

Michelle Bak

3 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Uncategorized

Tagged Benefits of drinking water, Dehydration, Hydration, water

Are you drinking too much water?

Posted on October 13, 2014 by Audrey | 2 comments

Our bodies are mainly made up carbon, but second to that is water. Water is essential to staying alive. Not drinking enough water leads to dehydration, which in turn will lead to other undesirable things. One result of dehydration is a decline in cognitive performance. According to a 2012 article in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, even mild dehydration (defined as a 1 to 2% decrease in water levels in the body) in young adults can lead to a decrease in the performance of tasks that require immediate attention like psychomotor skills and immediate memory. Fortunately, long-term memory and executive function (tasks that require planning and emotional control) all seem to be unaffected. For young children and the elderly, the risks involved with dehydration are even more serious.

Staying hydrated. Image source: Wikimedia Commons–Tomasz Sienicki

Since staying hydrated is important in maintaining normal body functions and good health, it may seem like a good idea to drink as much of it as you can. Unfortunately, that is not the case. While drinking water to stay hydrated is important in avoiding negative effects of dehydration, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. In early 2007, a California woman died of drinking too much water. She was competing in a radio station contest to win a Nintendo Wii, the contestant who drank the most water would be the winner. While she may have won a Wii, she lost her life.

This condition that she died of is called “hyponatremia” or in common words: her blood salt levels were too low. This means having salt concentration levels of less than 135 millimoles per litre of blood. When you drink too much water, the kidneys can no longer remove the excess water from the body fast enough. The bloodstream overflows with water which in turn dilutes the salt content. The water has no where else to go so it overflows into the surrounding cells. Most cells in the body are able to expand and swell to accommodate the incoming water.

Brain cells on the other hand, do not have such an ability. This is because brain cells are located in the skull (duh!) and share skull space with other things like cerebrospinal fluid and blood. The skulls is hard and does not expand. There is simply no more extra space for the brain cells to expand into. So when there is an excess of water entering the skull, the brain swells causing an edema. This brain swelling, or edema, leads to several problems like coma, seizures, damage to brain stem, and even death.

Cerebral edema surrounding brain tumor.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons.

Drinking water daily is important to maintaining good health, but too much may lead to poorer health outcomes. To keep within safe water intake levels, remember that the kidney (healthy and at rest) outputs 800 to 1,000 mL of water each hour. So it’s safe to consume this much water each hour.

Jade Lu

2 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

The bugs in your guts are making you fat.

Posted on October 8, 2014 by jliu | 1 comment

Generally when we think “bacteria” and “guts”, we think of nasty things like food poisoning or the stomach flu. But in reality, there are large amount of bacteria living in our lower digestive system – what scientists call the Gut Microflora. In fact, some recent research has shown that the bacteria living in our guts aren’t simply enjoying a tenant-landlord relationship; in fact, they may actively contribute to our overall health. A good example of this is the much-hyped “probiotics” recently being promoted as the new “superfood” essential to successful diets. As Yogurt companies have been advertising left and right, “an exclusive probiotic culture … has been shown to survive passage through the digestive tract in sufficient amounts for Activia to help regulate the digestive system”. But is there any truth to this?

Some research has indicated that certain species of bacteria may contribute to the overall efficiency of energy extraction and affect overall levels of host obesity; and in fact, studies in mice have shown that mice with differing levels of obesity has different compositions in their gut microflora, showing quite the correlation between bacterial colonies in the gut and obesity. This begs the question, Would changing the bacteria help make you skinnier?

Scientific American-Volume 310, Issue 6.
“How Gut Bacteria Help Make Us Fat and Thin”

To make a long and complicated answer short, We don’t know. Though there has been trials done confirming the short-term effects on things related to obesity, so far no study has proven effective, as the gut microflora is a complicated subject with many facets to watch. That being said, There are current studies in the works, so keep an (critical) eye on your news feed, and feel free to eat all the yogurt you’d like.

– James L.

1 Comment

Posted in Biological Sciences, Science Communicators, Science in the News, Uncategorized

Tagged Bacteria, Health, obesity, probiotics, Science Communication

Go to Bed and Don’t Study! – Sound Familiar?

Posted on October 6, 2014 by linoue | 1 comment

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I’m sure many of you have entered the dreadful midterm exam season. I know I have with 4 exams all crammed up in one week. From assignments and projects to exam study, our normal timetable is more likely to change at this time of year. So let me ask you a question: what do you do when you realize that there is an assignment due the next day, along with 2 more? Most likely, “sleep at 3 am” or “pulling an all-nighter” comes into option. Turns out, this option is not so great at all.

In a recent study in the Child Development Journal, researchers address the impact of giving up sleep for study. Andrew J. Fuligni, one of the researchers and a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences state, “sacrificing sleep for extra study time is counterproductive”. This does not suggest that we should not study at all, but specifies that someone who chooses study over sleep is more prone to academic problems, such as low productivity, short-term memories, and lower grades.

This research was conducted through 3 public high schools in Los Angeles, with 535 students in the 9^th, 10^th, and 12^th grade. Participating teens were given a diary checklist to complete everyday, for 14 days. The results show that students in all grades spent the same amount of time (approximately 1 hour) to complete the checklist however, students in the 12^th grade slept 41.4 minutes less on average compared to the other grades. With the decrease in sleep, the 12^th grade students had a lower frequency in completing the problems provided. This study suggests, “across the years of high school, the trade-off between daily study time and sleep becomes increasingly associated with academic problems”.

Now some of you may wonder: if this is a study based on high school students, how does this relate to us, university students? Dr. Philip Alapat, a medical director at the Harris Health Sleep Disorders Center, claims that university/college students break free from the protective parental guidance once graduating from high school, which can lead to late-night activities like hanging out with friends or going to a party. These other distracting factors may contribute to the sleep deprivation of non-high-school students.

Can I fix this? –Yes!

There are a few recommendations from mail online:

1) Teach someone else! Describing this to someone else can allow you to get a better grip on the topic

2) Study in chunks –short bursts of studying followed by a break is a more effective system than cramming information hour after hour

3) Find a calm and comfortable study area

4) Look for metaphors in subject material to help better understanding of the study topic

And a few from Dr. Alapat:

1) Make sure to get 8-9 hours of sleep regularly

2) Study during periods of optimal brain function (6-8 pm)

3) Don’t overuse caffeinated drinks like coffee

Now, it might not be easy for all of you to transition into the process of sleeping early however, just keep in mind that chronic sleep deprivation can possibly cause long-term diseases for example, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

If you are one of those with insomnia, my advice to you is to go seek help at a local sleep specialist.

Once again, don’t study too hard. Instead, sleep well. But while you’re at it, here is a video of studying music from RELAX CHANNEL:

Good luck to all those soldiers out there battling with every student’s worst nightmare: EXAMS.

-Lilly Inoue

1 Comment

Posted in Biological Sciences, Public Engagement, Science in the News, Uncategorized

Tagged Academic Problems, Exams, Insomnia, sleep, Study

Category Archives: Uncategorized

What are you doing to the microbes in your gut?

Acoustic Noise Pollution in Toothed Whales

Stay away from Giant hogweed

Particle Accelerators are Really Expensive

Fsih Framign in Birtsih Colmbuia… wait, there’s something wrong here!!

sick? eat s###!

We cannot live without drinking water.

Are you drinking too much water?

The bugs in your guts are making you fat.

Go to Bed and Don’t Study! – Sound Familiar?

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