Category Archives: Issues in Science

Drug Sponge: Absorbing up the problems

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQsYw5brVw8&t=7s

Chemotherapy is a well-known treatment for cancer, using drugs to destroy cancer cells. However, doctors administrate these anticancer drugs with caution because they are also considered poisonous. After cancer treatments, excess drugs can stay in the human body, causing damage to healthy cells, resulting in unwanted toxic side effects. What if there was something that can absorb these drugs like a portable filter?

Various chemotherapy treatments on the growth of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). MSC is found in bone marrow cells, that contribute to regenerating bone and muscle tissues. Source

Dr. Steven Hetts from the University of California Berkeley initially thought of an idea, to introduce a  sponge-like polymer that can absorb excess chemotherapy drugs. Sponges have immensely grown in popularity in the pharmaceutical field, as the metabolites produced hold biologically active natural products. Approximately 5300 different natural products extracted from sponges have shown pharmaceutical properties, such as anticancer and antibacterial active properties.

Schematic diagram of the developed 3D printed porous absorber. Source

In early 2019, he shared this concept among researchers from other American universities, eventually publishing a paper that describes the development of a porous absorbent polymer. The researchers built the lattice structure using 3D printing that allows the blood to circulate through the bloodstream. In addition, they coated the polymer with a polystyrenesulfonate copolymer, essential for absorbing the chemotherapy drug, doxorubicin.

Doxorubicin: a chemotherapy medication used to treat cancer. Source: Wikimedia Commons

This innovative biomedical device showed great promise, as the polymer efficiently absorbed 64±6% of the drug. Even though this was tested on pigs with healthy livers, the understanding of this device allows researchers to focus on improvements. Lattice size, the type of coating, the thickness of the coating, and the number of absorbers are all possible approaches to a more effective drug sponge.

With this in mind, doctors can potentially administrate higher doses of drugs for more aggressive tumors. In addition, modifications to the drug sponge’s coating can absorb other types of powerful chemotherapy drugs. Although testings on humans are not yet approved by the FDA, the drug sponge is a huge step towards minimizing chemotherapy toxic side effects.

Is Westernized Food Killing Our Gut?

Well not really killing your gut, but the vast and diverse biome of microbes that live in your gut. That’s right, you have around one hundred TRILLION helpful bacteria living inside of you! They have many jobs, ranging from helping break down food, helping with the production of vitamins, are a key component in our immune system and much more.

Studies have shown that when humans migrate from less westernized cultures to North America, their gut’s microbiome was significantly reduced in diversity and was predominated by two bacteria, Bacteroides and Prevotella. This decrease in diversity is shown to increase the inflammation in your gut, leading to gut-related diseases that are skyrocketing in modern society. Some of these are obesity, diabetes, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, allergies, and asthma, to name a few. This change in our microbiome was shown to be due to the Westernized high protein/fat/sugar diet whereas more developing countries have diets of very high fibre with fewer meats and fats.

source: Phys.org

Dr. Dan Knights, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, has done research on this change of microbiomes using wild monkeys and their captive counterparts to see if there were any differences. He found that the monkeys had much higher microbe diversity in the wild than when they were confined in a zoo.

Shows that the diversity of the primates microbiome decreases significantly when removed from the wild. Error bars indicate SD, and asterisks denote significance at **P<0.01, and ***P<0.001. Source: PNAS

Another exciting result he found was that two different wild monkey species with very different gut microbiomes converged to similar lower diverse microbiomes when captive, even though they did not live in the same zoo, never mind the same continent. They were converging towards the microbiome that modern humans have today.

As primates move from wild to captive, their microbiomes converge in the direction of modern humans. Non-western humans also have higher gut microbiome diversity than humans living in westernized areas. Source: TED

The data also showed that non-western humans followed this trend of having higher microbe diversity and subsequently losing this diversity when moving to the USA. This results in these migrants increasing their risk of obesity, diabetes and other gut-related diseases. These results beg the questions on what this ultimately means for our health? Further, this really makes you wonder, are captive monkeys becoming more like modern-day humans or are we just an example of super-captive primates??

~ Amanda Fogh

Gravitational constant G, the one value that behind “everything”

New equipment for the measuring the gravitational constant G is reported by Li on Nature using two techniques TOS and AFF.

As we all have studied in High school science class or physics class, the reason that an apple will fall from trees, a rocket needs to thrust hot air to the ground to take off and even how can astronauts can ‘fly’ in the middle of air all have to do with gravitational constant G.  The gravitational acceleration is often been mistaken as gravitational constant just as mistaking gravity as the only gravitational force. The gravitational force is the attractive force between any two objects and the force is proportional to the weights of the two objects(assume the distance is a constant) and this proportion is the G. Just like the most common noticed gravitational force we are experiencing, gravity, is actually the attraction between us or an object with earth.

Nowadays, even though there are still some strong arguments on G should not be treated as a constant, it is generally been accepted that Newton’s law of universal gravitation is ‘true’ and gravitational constant can be measured.  Starting from this point of view, getting an accurate gravitational value is crucial since this value has been used for lots of daily life technology and precise aerospace calculations in astronomy.

Uncertainties of current and previous experiments. Made by Stephan Schlamminger

This passage will compare the traditional way of measuring G and a new improved way of doing it developed by a research group lead by Qing Li. The measurement of G is affected by lots of factors such as air, magnetic field and more importantly other objects that are near the equipment. For the reason of presenting so much factors, the uncertainty of the results is very large as reported by Mohr the uncertainty is 47 parts per million. While in Li’s group, they achieved recorded the smallest uncertainty of 14 parts per million while the largest uncertainty is 550 parts per million larger.

In the early days, the first successful measurement of G was done by Cavendish in 1798 and the part that is hanged by string is two connected spheres in a dumb-bell shape as you can see from the video below.

But in Li’s group, they built a “two plate-containing torsion balances” which uses two plates to replace the spheres to improve the precision. Also what worth mention is they used a fused silicon dioxide (silica) fibers with high-quality factor of the torsional oscillation mode (Q) to reduce the anelastic effect. And with all the other improvements together they managed to obtain the smallest uncertainty.

The instruments made by Li’s team. Source

This experiment can potentially benefit a lot of area of work by providing a more accurate fundamental constant value. The accuracy of work and research from the benefited field can also be improved.

The Return of Measles

Why Parents Fear Vaccines | Tara Haelle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggtkzkoI3eM (Accessed Mar 20, 2019)

Can vaccines cause autism? A question posed by many uneducated masses, the fear of an article read online far outweighing the scientific backings of hundreds of research studies1. For the majority of people, the answer is simple, vaccines are completely safe, but it only takes a small group of people to make a huge negative impact on the rest of society. By being entrenched in the mindset that vaccines are harmful, it creates a backdoor for the re-introduction of various harmful and deadly diseases, like measles2.

                              Infographic of measles cases in the United States                                Blount, E. Misinformation on Vaccines Causes Measles Outbreak. https://gmhslancerledger.com/5508/news/misinformation-on-vaccines-causes-measles-outbreak/ (accessed Mar 21, 2019).

Measles is a highly contagious and highly preventable disease. Symptoms can lead to high fevers and body-wide rashes. Complications with the diseases can arise including pneumonia. They are also responsible for infecting 20 million people each year and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands3. The disease is airborne so passing it on person to person is quite easy. Once a person is infected there is no specific treatment, only supportive care. Measles is most common in developing parts of the world such as developing parts of Asia, but with the return of “anti-vaxxers” it is making its comeback to many developed parts of North America. As shown in the provided figure, the number of measles deaths was expected to rise after continually falling.

A figure of estimated worldwide deaths of measles and projected worst-case scenarios
Global Measles Mortality, 2000–2008. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5847a2.htm (accessed Mar 21, 2019).

Herd immunity is a form of indirect protection in which a large portion of a population is immune to disease through previous exposure or vaccines, thereby providing a measure of protection for those that are not immune4. It works by having a large portion be immune, therefore containing a breakout from spreading person-to-person. This is one of the best forms of protection for those that can not be immune due to medical reasons. This system falls apart though if more and more people decide against vaccinations. The fewer people that are immune, means the more opportunity for the outbreak of diseases to spread and infect those who are not immune5.

                                                 An infographic of herd immunity                                      Herd immunity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity (accessed Mar 22, 2019).

Imagine a world where polio is still a prevalent disease affecting millions or a world where smallpox is still around and active. The eradication of these diseases was only possible due to the worldwide vaccine movement and subsequent herd immunity that followed6. Most adults are set in their stubborn ways, as such explaining to them the importance of vaccines usually falls on deaf ears. The best solution to prevent further outbreaks and help create a world eradicated of preventable diseases is to start young and teach kids the importance for future generations.

1Dixon, G. N.; Clarke, C. E. Science Communication 201235 (3), 358–382.

2Chang, L. V. Health Economics 201827 (7), 1043–1062.

3Moss, W. J. The Lancet 2017390 (10111), 2490–2502.

4Fine, P.; Eames, K.; Heymann, D. L. Clinical Infectious Diseases 201152 (7), 911–916.
5Betsch, C.; Böhm, R.; Korn, L. Health Psychology 201332 (9), 978–985.

6Phadke, V. K.; Bednarczyk, R. A.; Salmon, D. A.; Omer, S. B. Jama 2016315 (11), 1149.

~ Danial Yazdan

The Search for Exoplanets: A New Frontier in Astronomy

Have you ever wondered how many stars there are in our universe? The number is anywhere between ten thousand trillion (1022) to one quadrillion (1024). The fraction that fall within the same classification as our sun, a G type star, is about 7.6%. Additionally, it is estimated by NASA that 1 in 6 stars will contain an Earth-Sized planet. Further, detecting Earth-sized planets hundreds of trillions of miles away is a non-trivial feat to say the least, leading to possible underestimates and uncertainty. Human curiosity of space and the intrinsic challenge of finding these seemingly hidden planets in the vastness of space has led astronomy to a new frontier.

The discovery of new exoplanets canidates by the Kepler Space Telescope as of June 2017. Source: Wikimedia commons

Astronomy is constantly reminding us that earth and our solar system is minute. While much is known about our immediate solar neighborhood, gaps in knowledge and improved technology has driven a strong surge in detection of astronomically small objects. In particular, there has been a growing interest in exoplanet detection. Exoplanets are simply planets outside of our solar system. So far, we have discovered 3926 exoplanets, with the Kepler space telescope launched in 2009 claiming 2338 with another 2423 living in limbo yet to be confirmed. While stars emitting immense amounts of light may occasionally be detected directly, exoplanet detection often relies on indirect techniques.

Artist depiction of Pegasi 51 b. Source: Wikimedia commons

The first exoplanet detection was made in 1992 by astronomer Aleksander Wolszczan orbiting around an exotic type of star called a pulsar at 2300 ± 100 light years away. Another breakthrough occurred in 1995 when the exoplanet 51 Pegasi b was discovered orbiting around a star more comparable to our sun. 51 Pegasi b since has been extensively studied alongside it’s star Pegasi b. Using the radial velocity technique which takes advantage of changes in the wavelength of light by a phenomenon called the doppler effect and the gravity of an orbiting planet, 51 Pegasi b was determined to have an orbital period of 4.230785 ± 0.000036 day. In addition to the accuracy in which these measurements could be made, the detection changed planetary astronomy according to Didier Queloz who at University of Geneva alongside Michel Mayor made the discovery: “The shock was so profound that 51 Peg completely changed our perspective of how we could look for planets.”

Radial velocity measurements of 51 Pegasi from 1995 where the exoplanet 51 Pegasi b was detected with error bars at each point. Source: Harvard, with original publication from Nature, 1995, Vol 273, pp. 355. 

At the University of British Columbia, Professor Jaymie Matthews of the Physics and Astronomy department is seeking to improve exoplanet detection by increasing the accuracy of gravitational field measurements. In a paper published by Matthews in 2016, a new way to measure the surface gravity of stars with accuracies of 4% is presented. Matthews said: “If you don’t know the star, you don’t know the planet.” Another group of Scientist at the University of Washington as of 2014 measured the diameter of a “super-earth” with an accuracy of 1%, or about 148 miles at 300 light years away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vNcWCwwSbs&frags=pl%2Cwn

– Dr. Jaymie Matthews on The Rush on Shaw TV discussing the birthday of the Hubble Space Telescope. Source: The Rush on Shaw TV, Youtube 2012

While stars like Pegasi 51 and it’s exoplanet might be 50.45±0.10 light years away and far from reachable, the star and planet are an endless source of curiosity for astronomers. With exoplanet detection growing as a field, the discovery of more nearby Earth-like planets might be worth watching out for.

—- Jonah A

References:

  1. NASA Exoplanet Science Institute: NASA Exoplanet Archive.  https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/docs/counts_detail.html

Fallible Fingerprints

Before DNA evidence became the golden standard for forensic labs, convicting a criminal often meant dusting the crime scene for prints.

All forensic evidence are liable to error and fingerprints are no exception. In general, there are two types of error: false negative and false positive. A false negative occurs when the two fingerprints are a match but the examiner declares the fingerprints to be different. A false positive is when two fingerprints are not a match but the examiner concluded otherwise. In both cases the consequences are different, while false negatives may not entirely exonerate a criminal, false positives can lead to wrongful convictions where an innocent person can face jail time for something they did not do.

Example of a fingerprint Source: Wikimedia Commons

There are eight common fingerprint patterns: arches, tented arches, right loops, left loops, plain whorls, central pocket loops and double loops. When the lines or ridges on a finger develops and meets other ridges, the two ridges can interact in many ways, resulting in what is called a minutiae. Since fingerprints depend both on genetic and environmental factors, the patterns developed are very unique. Even identical twins can develop different fingerprints. However, theory and practice can be very different. In the modern age, there still is not a definitive certainty in how unique the match between fingerprints are. It was claimed that a false positive was one in 64 million. In one study, researchers found fingerprint exams had a false positive error rate of 0.1% and a false negative rate of 7.5%. These numbers show that human error and the quality of fingerprints can significantly influence how forensic experts perceive the evidence.

In the famous case of the Madrid train bombings, Brandon Mayfield was wrongfully convicted based on fingerprints that were found at the scene due to poor quality of the fingerprints. Later on, when the five fingerprint experts were asked to re-examine these prints, three experts reversed their conclusion and claimed the results were inconclusive. In conclusion, while fingerprints are a useful tool, they are not infallible and prone to human error more than one expects.

(1)
Knapton, S. Why Your Fingerprints May Not Be Unique. The Telegraph. March 14, 2016.
(2)
The “CSI Effect.” The Economist. April 22, 2010.
(3)
Statement on Brandon Mayfield Case https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/statement-on-brandon-mayfield-case (accessed Mar 20, 2019).
(4)
Latent Print Examination and Human Factors: Improving the Practice through a Systems Approach. 249.
(5)
Latent Print Examination and Human Factors Improv.Pdf.
(6)
God’s signature: DNA profiling, the new gold standard in forensic science. – PubMed – NCBI https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12798816 (accessed Mar 20, 2019).
(7)
Stephanie. False Positive and False Negative: Definition and Examples https://www.statisticshowto.datasciencecentral.com/false-positive-definition-and-examples/ (accessed Mar 20, 2019).
(8)
Photographer, T. English: Fingerprint; 2009.
(9)
Spiro, R. Do Identical Twins Have Identical Fingerprints? | Washington State Twin Registry | Washington State University. Washington State Twin Registry, 2015.
(10)
14 Amazing Forensic Science Techniques.
(11)
8 Most Common Fingerprint Patterns. Touch N Go, 2017.

Polyester Suits: a Fashion and Environmental Faux Pas

Although polyester suits are no longer a fashion statement like they were in the ’70s, polyester and other synthetic materials such as nylon are still very popular materials used to make clothes due to their accessibility, durability and cost-effectiveness. Polyester, nylon and acrylic fibers are among the most popular synthetic fibers on the market. As their name would imply, synthetic fibers are manmade, synthesized fibers and are petroleum-based products.

Figure 1: The manufacturing process of synthetic nylon fibers. Source: Japan Chemical Fibers Association

One of the advantages and appeals of synthetic fibers is that they can be made using recycled materials. This recycled material can be old polyester materials themselves or can even be old plastic water bottles or other recyclable plastic products. There are many companies actively working to use recycled materials to make their apparel and while this may seem beneficial and an excellent solution to fully utilize plastic products to their full potential, it may actually be a double-edged sword. More people could be inclined to use plastic products, as they would assume that the plastic will be recycled properly. Unfortunately, that is not often the case. Not all the plastic products on the market are recycled responsibly and instead can contribute even more to the growing plastic pollution and microplastic issue as mentioned in my previous post. But even when plastic IS effectively recycled to make new fabric, there still is another hidden micro problem, a microfiber problem.

Figure 2: The cycle of synthetic polyester apparel made from recycled materials. Source: Japan Chemical Fibers Association

The video above outlines the not so micro issue surrounding microfibers.

Essentially, every time you wash a piece of clothing made of synthetic materials, tiny fibers or pieces of plastic, called microfibers are released. These microfibers are a type of microplastic since they are essentially micro pieces of plastic. It causes an issue due to the microfibers being too small and bypassing the filters in both our washing machines and at water waste treatment sites.

Figure 3: The estimated amount of fibers released from every wash for three synthetic fibers commonly used in the textile industry. Source for data.

This study estimates the amount of microfibers released (in mg) after the first five washes of 6 kg (the weight of a typical load of laundry) of three different types of commonly used synthetic materials. Figure 4 illustrates the data from their study. While looking at this data, it can be concluded that after the first five washes, the number of microfibers released decreases. However, other studies conclude the opposite—that the amount of microfibers released actually increases the more that the clothing items are washed due to the degradation of the product and the loss of structural integrity.

Figure 4: The amount of fibers (in mg) released from washing 6 kg of synthetic material. Source for data.

So, what can be done to mitigate the amount of microfibers entering our waterways and contributing to the alarming microplastics issue? Some studies suggest implementing better, higher quality filters in waste treatment plants and found them to be extremely effective at trapping these microfibers, decreasing the amount of microplastics entering waterways by 98%. Additionally, there have been other suggestions that include using proteins found in squids to make a biomaterial that can be used to make fabrics. The simplest solution, however, is to just be more conscientious about the products you purchase. By looking for products that have blends of both synthetic and natural fibers not only can recycled materials be incorporated, but also the integrity of the fabrics is improved to prevent less microfiber shedding, leading to the best of both worlds.

~Isla

Are artificial sweeteners the better alternative?

Currently, there are many sugar substitutes that replace table sugar.  They give the desired sweetening taste while providing fewer calories. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulate and approve sugar alternatives that meet the criteria.

Sweetener prices with relative to sugar. Adapted from Sugar and Sweetener Guide

In addition, many sweeteners are a lot cheaper, and still provide the same sweetness as table sugar. Although these substances are generally recognized as safe, consuming artificial sweeteners have some drawbacks to one’s health. Recently there has been news that shows the products are perhaps more dangerous than beneficial.

Neotame chemical structure. Source: Wikimedia

Artificial sweeteners require an Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI), informing how much of that substance an individual can take daily, without the risk of receiving toxic effects. Neotame, a recently approved sweetener by the FDA, has an extremely low ADI level of 0.3 mg/kg. Even though it has sweetness 7000-13000 times more than table sugar, it is still approved because there are no deadly effects.

In 2017, research by many researchers in the United States further investigated the effects of neotame, on a mice’s gut microbiota in their digestive system. After four weeks, the mice that consumed neotame (dose level of 0.75 mg/kg) experienced decreased levels of malic acid and glyceric acid, both important acidic components to aid food digestion. In addition, fecal metabolism exhibited decreased activity, causing the concentrations of fatty acids, lipids, and cholesterol levels to rise. This shows how neotame can harm our digestive system in the long run.

A collection of soft drinks. Source: Flickr

For sugar alternatives in soft drinks, people are stating that the only real side effect of no-calorie sweeteners is the tendency to eat even more. This won’t happen immediately, but several studies claim that soft drinks will eventually lead to weight gain. At the same time, another study showed the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in the United States was linked to a 121% increase in type 2 diabetes. Even though the sweetness is there, people’s appetite won’t be satisfied until the calories are consumed, ironically leading to a craving for more food.

Examples of other sugar alternatives. Source

Sugar substitutes are still common to use for many because of their lost cost, adding little to no calories to a daily diet. There is no way one can completely avoid sugar consumption, for sugar is essential energy to our body. Instead, consumers should be more aware of what sugar substitutes they are consuming while reducing sugar intake, to stay as healthy as possible.

 

-Taiki Matsumoto

The Worth of Bachelor’s Degree

Is College Still Worth It? | Jason Lange https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB2WWhd9fwk& (accessed Mar 1, 2019).

We are always told at a very young age, that if we ever want to be something that the only path is to go to university. As such, many of us go off to school to attain our bachelor’s degree but is the degree worth it?  Over-saturation in the number of graduates with bachelors¹ has given rise to the issue that with more and more people having degrees, even higher education is required. Given available data, the amount of earned bachelor’s degrees in the STEM field (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) in America has risen by 48% from the years 2000-2012. The trend-line heavily implies a significant and steep rise in graduates with bachelor’s² in the coming years with no clear sign in slowing down.

A graph of total bachelor’s degree vs. year in STEM in American colleges.
Who earns bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering? https://nsf.gov/nsb/sei/edTool/data/college-14.html (accessed Mar 1, 2019).

With this increased trend of higher education, over-saturation is a prominent problem that is affecting thousands of unemployed graduates³. While the minimum used to be a high school degree, it seems that in this modern era a bachelor’s degree is now the new minimum. While before a bachelor’s degree could get a decent paying job, now seems to be the requirement into most entry-level positions. An example would be a degree in psychology, due to its high saturated field, a Ph.D. is required to get anywhere in psychology. This doesn’t mean that a bachelor is worthless though, the skills you attain during your studies can be easily and readily translated to many differing jobs. In the case of psychology, the people skills and understanding of the psyche can be translated4 into numerous jobs that require communication. When compared to the time of our parents, the amount of graduates is significantly less than today’s trends.

Graph of Parent’s highest education of graduates with Bachelor’s (2007/2008) in American Colleges
What level of education do parents of recent bachelor’s graduates have? https://nsf.gov/nsb/sei/edTool/data/college-01.html (accessed Mar 1, 2019).

The data provided from a 2007/2008 study, indicates that the students graduating with a bachelor’s degree; roughly 50% of their parents had a bachelor’s degree or higher. This is a clear indication that trend-lines of graduates have significantly risen over the years5, and will only continue to rise throughout the coming years. While this doesn’t indicate that university or a bachelor’s degree is worthless6, it is still quite worthwhile to attain higher education. This trend-line only indicates that with each passing year the market of graduates will only get more saturated, resulting in more and more unemployed graduates. So while it’s worthwhile to get a bachelors, it will be significantly more worthwhile to get a masters or doctoral degree.

 

~ Danial Yazdan

¹Cardoso, A. R. Economics Letters 200794 (2), 271–277.

²Graham, M. J.; Frederick, J.; Byars-Winston, A.; Hunter, A.-B.; Handelsman, J. Science 2013341 (6153), 1455–1456.

³Who will hire all the PhDs? Not Canada’s universities. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/who-will-hire-all-the-phds-not-canadas-universities/article10976412/ (accessed Mar 1, 2019).

4Coldwell, W. A PhD with your coffee? Barista serving your drink might be better. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/a-phd-with-your-coffee-barista-serving-your-drink-might-be-better-educated-than-you-are-8895053.html (accessed Mar 1, 2019).

4Astin, A. W. (1998). The changing american college student: Thirty-year trends, 1966-1996. The Review of Higher Education, 21(2), 115

6Lavoie, M.; Finnie, R. Canadian Public Policy / Analyse de Politiques 199925 (1), 101.