Author Archives: isabelle lee

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Does climate change result in an increase of wildfires?

As the temperatures get warmer and the days start getting longer, you may be excited for the summer season to start. However, the arrival of summer also means dryer weather, water shortages, and wildfires.

Poor air quality in Vancouver due to the raging wildfires.         Photo Source: flickr

Wildfires can occur anywhere, but are most prevalent in the forests of Canada, the United States, Europe, and throughout the vegetated areas of Australia and South Africa. These wildfires are capable of destroying entire areas of up to 2.5 million hectare per year in Canada and can travel at speeds of 23 kilometers per hour! The main causes of wildfires are lightning and humans (surprise!), with lightning caused fires making up 45% of all fires and 55% of all fires being connected to human activities.

Historical wildfires across Canada. Photo Source: Natural Resources Canada

Although lightning caused wildfires occur naturally every year and are essential for the environment, wildfires should still be a concern for all of us. The smog that visits Vancouver every summer seems more severe year after year, could climate change be increasing the occurrence of wildfires?

According to science, climate change does result in an increase of wildfires. Climate change is the result of human activities, such as, fossil fuel burning, which produces large quantities of carbon dioxide. Just like methane and ozone, carbon dioxide is also a heat-trapping molecule, which you might know as a greenhouse gas. With greenhouse gas concentrations increasing, the heat radiated from earth cannot leave earth’s atmosphere. Over 90 percent of this trapped heat accumulates in the ocean and as a consequence, ocean heat contents rise and cause increases in global ocean temperatures. The increase in global heat content also causes ice to melt and sea levels to rise.

Global ocean heat content (OHC) for the top 2000 m of the ocean. Uncertainty estimates are shown in pink. Source: Science Advances

Aside from an increase in global ocean temperatures and higher sea levels, temperatures on land are also raised due to the trapping of heat by greenhouse gases. This results in more droughts and dryer weather, which are perfect conditions for wildfires to pick up.

So, other than knowing the reason for an increase in wildfires, how can we do our best to prevent wildfires from occurring?

First of all, always obey fire bans and signs that indicate the wildfire danger ratings. Next, never leave a campfire unattended & completely extinguish the campfire when leaving the area. Furthermore, any smoking material should be properly disposed of and most importantly, be sure to report any signs of wildfires.

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Posted on March 27, 2019 in Uncategorized

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The Link Between Stress and Technology

Posted on March 6, 2019 | 3 comments
Whether it is stress over a failed exam, or feeling stress when put in a new environment, we have all experienced stress before and know that being stressed is not a good feeling.

Figure 1. Participants rate their stress level on a scale of 1-10, where 1 equals “little or no stress” and 10 means you have “a great deal of stress”. Photo source: American Psychological Association

Although stress usually has a bad connotation associated with it, there is also positive stress. For example, positive stress can motivate you and help you complete tasks more efficiently. However, high levels of stress can lead to anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, and other chronic illnesses. Stress levels found in humans have increased drastically over the years and may be a concern to a high percentage of the human population. There are many factors that can explain the increase in stress over the generations, but let’s focus on one that we are all familiar with: technology.

Could the increase in stress over the years be linked to technology use?

Let’s first look at smartphone ownership over the recent years.  In 1992, the first smartphone, the Simon Personal Communicator by IBM, was introduced and 15 years later, the first iphone was produced. The popularity did not start immediately and only began increasing around 2011, where approximately 35% of U.S. adults owned a smartphone. The percentage quickly ascended over the next 6 years to 77%. With more advances in technology, people are now overly dependent on their smartphones. But, who can blame us for being overly dependent on our smartphones? Not only can it take high quality videos/photos, but you can even pay with smartphones nowadays – it’s all just one tap away.

                             Figure 1. Smartphone Ownership                                Adapted from: Pew Research Center – Internet & Technology

So, what evidence is there that proves that technology adds stress to our lives? Well, sleeping patterns can be easily affected by technology, one second you’re getting ready for bed, and the next second you are asking your friends whether the dress is black and blue, or white and gold and then you realize it’s way past your bedtime. The constant distractions our smartphones present make us less efficient when completing tasks as simple as going to bed at an appropriate time.

Image result for blue light screens

Photo source: Lifewire

Furthermore, the blue light emitted from our phone screens can reduce melatonin production, which reduces your sleep quality. When sleep quality is reduced, one then becomes less resilient and stress levels and anxiety increase.

In conclusion, it is evident that the accessibility and convenience of technology can negatively affect our living qualities by causing stress levels to rise. As stated above, sleep is easily affected by technology use and sleep is crucial for out bodies to function properly. Therefore, although technology can be very handy, one should be aware of the effects of technology on your stress levels.

Watch the following video for more information on the effects of technology:

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Monosodium Glutamate (MSG): What is it and how harmful is it really?

Posted on January 28, 2019 | Leave a comment

Most of us have probably come across the term MSG while eating at a restaurant or when using canned food, but what is it, and how harmful can it be?

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a crystalline powder that is widely used in the food industry as a flavour enhancer that intensifies the meaty/savoury flavour found in certain food items. It was discovered in 1908 by the Japanese chemistry professor Kikunae Ikeda, where he extracted MSG from seaweed.  MSG is the sodium salt of glutamic acid (also known as glutamate), a non-essential amino acid that can be found in our bodies.


                                         Photo source: BUSINESSINSIDER

MSG can either be synthesized or found in certain foods. These foods contain different amounts of glutamate. For example, Parmesan cheese, soy sauce, and fish sauce all contain more than 1000mg/100g of that food item. If you’ve ever wondered why these food items are so mouthwatering, this may be why!

Unfortunately, MSG is suspected of causing certain symptoms such as, headaches, heart palpitations, chest pain, nausea, and others. The substance first got its bad reputation when Robert Ho Man Kwok experienced abnormal heart rates, weakness, and numbness after eating excessive amounts of Chinese food. His colleague later decided that MSG was the cause of these symptoms without any scientific evidence. Further studies have since been done, for example, Ohguro et al. have done tests on rats before, the results showed damaged retina when 10 grams of sodium glutamate was added to a 100 gram diet. However, a simple search on the safety of ingesting MSG will result in find articles that state that there is no link between MSG and health hazards. Hence, the potential risks associated with MSG remain controversial.  For now, MSG has been classified by the food and drug administration (FDA) as “generally recognized as safe.” This said, the FDA still requires manufacturers to label any food items that contain MSG.

To conclude, further studies need to be conducted to conclude whether MSG is a potential risk to one’s health. Although it may seem that there is a certain “catch” to flavour enhancers, our bodies can’t actually distinguish between naturally occurring glutamate and glutamate from MSG. As a matter of fact, today’s technology can’t differentiate between the two either. That being said, it is not a challenge to avoid food containing MSG for those that are concerned.

For more information on MSG, consider the following video:

Produced by the American Chemical Society

 

-Isabelle Lee

References

  1. Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Food Additives & Ingredients – Questions and Answers on Monosodium glutamate (MSG). .https://www.fda.gov/food/ingredientspackaginglabeling/foodadditivesingredients/ucm328728.htm (accessed Jan 27, 2019).
  2. Katherine Zeratsky, R. D. How does your body react to MSG? https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/monosodium-glutamate/faq-20058196 (accessed Jan 27, 2019).
  3.  Bright Tribe, I. Glutamate in Food – The Glutamate Association https://msgfacts.com/glutamate-in-food/ (accessed Jan 27, 2019).
  4. The Truth in Labeling Campaign is all about knowledge. https://www.truthinlabeling.org/ (accessed Feb 14, 2019).

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