You Snooze, You Lose

Posted on November 13, 2017 by | 3 comments

If you are like me, and have a hard time waking up in the morning, then you will definitely want to read this post.

A recent survey by Sleep Junkie found that just under 2/3 of people hit the snooze button at least once in the morning.

The majority of people hit their snooze buttons at least once in the morning. Source: Jam Loceng

You may hit the snooze button to get a couple more minutes of sleep, and then repeat several more times, thinking that those minutes will make you feel more rejuvenated.  However, according to researchers, hitting the snooze button can actually make you more tired and less productive throughout the day.

When we go to sleep, our bodies follow the Circadian Rhythm, a 24-hour cycle which controls our sleep cycle and releases chemicals like melatonin, a hormone that makes you drowsy and sleepy.  Melatonin production increases at night by a 4-step chemical mechanism in the brain and then decreases as you begin to wake up.  During the night, your body enters REM stages (light sleeping/dreaming) before going into deeper sleep stages.

This graph shows the REM and deep sleep stages that occur during a normal, uninterrupted Circadian Rhythm. Source: Lucid Dream Explorers

What happens when you wake up, hit the snooze button and go back to sleep? Melatonin releases and your body restarts the sleep cycle, going from REM into deep sleep stages.  When your alarm clock goes off again and you press the snooze button, you interrupt your body in the beginning of its sleep cycle, making you feel more tired and groggy.

This video by AsapSCIENCE shows the chemicals that are released both when you wake up and when you are falling asleep, and shows why you are tired and groggy in the morning.

I found these results really interesting because I hit the snooze button at least 3-5 times in the morning.  So I decided not to hit the snooze button for a couple mornings in a row, and even though I felt tired right when I got up, I definitely felt less tired during the day compared to days when I constantly hit the snooze button.

However, researchers say that not hitting the snooze button won’t prevent you from being tired if you aren’t getting enough sleep.  We mainly press the snooze button because we didn’t get enough sleep the night before.

This article by Business Insider shows the pros and cons of snoozing and that in certain sleep stages, hitting the snooze button will have a stronger negative impact. The worst case for hitting the snooze button is if you are overtired because then you are more likely to enter a deep sleep.

So next time you are about to hit the snooze button, stop yourself and see how you feel if you get up on the first try.

– Jessica Hasker

3 Comments

Posted in Admin

Tagged , , ,

Lead-based Invisible Ink: Revolutionizing Data Encryption

Posted on November 12, 2017 by | 2 comments

James Bond, get ready to put your skills to the test.

The images depict printed patterns created by the lead-based invisible ink, shown under UV light. From left to right: Butterfly with intricate details, QR codes, text in English. Photo Credits: Congyang Zhang et al., 2017.

Scientists from People’s Republic of China created an invisible ink that easily switches on and off. These findings, published in the journal Nature as a research article titled Conversion of invisible metal-organic frameworks to luminescent perovskite nanocrystals for confidential information encryption and decryption, provide a glimpse into the future of high-security information encryption. Unfortunately, there’s one huge drawback: lead, the invisible ink’s main component, can be poisonous in large quantities.

Invisible ink uncovers counterfeit money and stores private information by keeping written content hidden from the naked eye. Ideally, invisible ink remains undetected until treated with UV light, however, previous invisible inks left residues resembling wet paper. The new lead-based invisible ink material leaves no residue, hiding secret information unsuspiciously.

Lead-based invisible ink is composed of a yellow powdered salt which turns clear in solution. The salt, composed of extremely tiny crystals known as nanocrystals, glow under UV light.

The powdered salt, shown in normal light (left) and UV light (right) This salt MABr is the foundation for the on/off switching properties of lead-based invisible ink. Photo Credits: Congyang Zhang et al., 2017.

The lead-based ink becomes invisible with the addition of methanol, a common antifreeze. UV light cannot detect the ink after the methanol treatment, making the invisible ink undetectable. The hidden lead-based ink, easily passed around without fear of UV detection, will safely enclose the confidential information. Reapplication of the custom-made salt triggers the ink’s UV-detectable properties, making the information visible again. This manual on/off switch adds an extra layer of protection against UV lights.

Reversibly switching of invisible ink: The researchers’ university logo is encrypted by methanol (MeOH) and then decrypted by adding salt (MABr). All three images are shown under UV light. Photo Credits: Congyang Zhang et al., 2017

The scientists found the ink did not fade over a testing period of three months; the ink lasted over 20 on/off switches. This means the lead-based ink can be useful for long-term important documents. Realistically, the toxic lead component must be replaced by safer alternatives before the ink can be used globally.

Although scientists plan to use the lead-based invisible ink mainly for increasing security of anti-counterfeit measures, the ink’s virtually undetectable qualities must be approached with skepticism. In the wrong hands, such as the hands of corrupt spies and drug lords, this lead-based invisible ink can destroy our society.

Will the potentially life-changing applications of this on-and-off invisible ink outweigh the risky consequences?

Only time will tell.

– Jessica Shi

2 Comments

Posted in News

Tagged , , , , ,

Turning Biofuel Waste Into Valuable Platform Chemicals

Posted on November 12, 2017 by | Leave a comment

Scientists have recently demonstrated a faster and more efficient way of turning biofuel waste into highly valuable chemicals. These findings could have a significant impact on the economics of making fuels and other products from renewable sources.

Lignin is a component of an abundant dry plant matter called lignocellulosic biomass. This biomass source makes up the cell walls of plants and enables the upwards transport of water and provides protection against environmental stress and microbial attacks. Due to the rigidness of its structure, lignin is difficult to break down. Scientists have been trying to find methods for extracting its valuable compounds for decades, as these compounds could subsidize biofuel production, making the cost of biofuel a more competitive alternative to petroleum.

Lignin Structure. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Seema Singh and a group of researchers from Sandia National Laboratories recently studied the metabolic pathway of a soil bacteria that can naturally break down lignin. They used this metabolic pathway to come up with a method of extracting lignin’s valuable platform chemicals. The method involved genetically engineering a tobacco plant to produce large amounts of an intermediate compound called protocatechuate (PCA) as it grew. This compound was then extracted from the plant without the need to break down the lignin. Next, an engineered E. coli was added to convert the PCA into muconic acid with a yield 34% greater than previous conversion methods.

Muconic acid and pyrogallol, another product obtained using this method, are platform chemicals that are currently only derived from petroleum, and together, have a combined market value of $255.7 billion. Muconic acid can be turned into plastics, nylon, resins, and lubricants; and pyragallol has applications in cancer treatment drugs.

Nylon 6,6. Source: Wikimedia Commons

The next challenge in this field will be to maximize the yield and rate of production of these chemicals. In order for this method to be used on an industrial scale, large amounts of muconic acid and pyragallol must be produced in a short amount of time to compete with the current petroleum derived methods.

– Joseph Bergvinsom

Leave a comment

Posted in Admin

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Horseshoe crabs save lives and we must think about saving theirs

Posted on November 7, 2017 by | 1 comment

You may no know much about horseshoe crabs, but these ancient animals have saved your life multiple times with their peculiar blue blood. However, we need to take better care for these alien-like creatures.

File:Limulus polyphemus.jpg

Horseshoe crabs painted

 

Horseshoe crabs have an immensely efficient immune system that is not well understood and much less reproducible. It does not involve antibodies, the immune cells in the animal can detect bacterial toxins to the part per trillion and release a poorly understood substance, limulus amoebocyte lysate (LAL), that traps pathogens in a gel-like substance. No other known method can detect and destroy pathogens with such efficiency.

We started using horseshoe crab blood for medical sterilization in the 1970s when it replaced the rabbit pyrogen test; injecting a sterilized medication into a healthy rabbit and correlating the increase in its body temperature to the amount of bacterial toxin. Since then, the blue blood became indispensable to modern medicine. The LAL test is used for every injectable medicine the regulated market to determine its safety and in the sterilization of surgical equipment. It is also widely used in medical research for sterilizing and to maintain safety when studying dangerous bacteria. The blue blood of these animals has been estimated to cost 15000 U$ dollars per litre.  

“A still from the PBS Nature documentary Crash PBS” – The Atlantic (2014) – documentary linked in the article

Only a few organizations in the world can harvest horseshoe crab blood. They capture 600000 specimens per year, bleed out 30% of their blood volume and return them to the sea after a recovery period; the whole process last about 48-hours. The mortality rate of the bleeding process is low but problems along the way are endangering this 450-million-year-old species.

The amount of blood and specimens the authorized organizations can harvest is not regulated and some have been known to sell the crabs as bait or let them die. Furthermore, the bleeding process has long term effects on the animals, they become slower, weaker and less likely to mate after bleed. Their habitat is also at risk and overall populations seem to be decreasing. Meanwhile, not much literature is published to try to replicate or understand LAL.

In other words, we need to become aware that horseshoe crab populations are important for us. A few recent research projects try to find ways to improve the harvesting and conservation processes as well as LAL research. But progress is slow, plus funding and regulation need to follow these efforts. Well now you know that a peculiar 450-million-year old species has helped you live without giving much thought to a lot of infections, so spread the word and if you ever find yourself supporting research or environmental regulation please have these fellows in mind.

-Isabella Correa

YouTube Preview Image

 

1 Comment

Tagged , , , , , ,

The Therapeutic Power Of Dogs

Posted on November 6, 2017 by | 5 comments

Dogs, with their unconditional love for us, have a huge impact in our lives. They make us feel loved and secure at all times. But did you know that their love can be used in therapies?

Fig 1. Image of a Golden Retriever, from flickr

Dogs are commonly used in therapies, namely in the animal assisted therapy (AAT), to benefit human’s mental health. Hoffman and his team claim that dogs help us reduce anxiety in particular.

To determine how dogs can help reduce anxiety, Hoffman and his team carried out an experiment on a group of participants with depression. They were provided with two 30 minute interaction with a dog and a research assistant. During each session, they talked with the research assistant, such as about their hobbies, and their previous experience with pets. They could pet or hug the dog during the session.

Their state anxiety was measured for data analysis by having the participants complete the state anxiety inventory (STAI) before and after each session.

It turns out that the participants showed significantly reduced anxiety when a dog was present, which was not the case for when the dog was not present. As shown in the graph below, there was a significant decrease of -2.402 in mean STAI score after the dog assisted condition, while the controlled condition showed statistically insignificant change in score of -0.981.

Fig 2. STAI score before and after the therapeutic session with a dog

Hoffman’s team concludes that even a short 30 minute interaction with a dog is highly effective in reducing anxiety. Clearly, dogs are not only the best companion, but also a powerful therapeutic source. Having realized how much impact dogs have in our lives, I wish more people could recognize their importance and treat them better.

-Clair Yoon

5 Comments

Posted in Admin

Tagged , , ,

Butterflies and Climate Change

Posted on November 6, 2017 by | 2 comments

The temperature outside is quickly dropping and winter is soon approaching. As humans we can bundle up to stay warm or turn the heat up in our homes however some insects such as butterflies don’t have that same luxury. As butterflies are poikilothermic organisms which means they cannot regulate their body temperature and depend on external factors for their body temperature to change. However, climate change is currently playing a key role for the lives of butterflies.

A study done from 1976-1990 by various researchers found that there was a relationship between the weather and population fluctuation in British butterflies. The also found that 28 out of the 31 species studied had trends that were associated with the fluctuating temperatures and rainfall. The warm weather, especially in June, was the best for the butterflies.

Thymelicus sylvestris. One of the butterfly species that were researched. Source: Wikimedia Commons 

 

The research began with 34 plots to study the butterflies in 1976 which then increased to over 10 sites from 1979. The Central England Temperature (CET) data was used to analyze the trend of the butterflies. Different analytical methods were used to analyze the data and future abundance predations were also made.

 

I find this research to be very important for now and the future as it tells us that climate change is having a big effect on the lives of current living things, such as the butterflies in this research. I believe decreasing greenhouse gasses and the emission of CO2 gas can significantly help organisms and insects using their body for normal functions. In the case of the butterflies, they are accurately using external temperatures to regulate their body.

Greenhouse Gasses. Source: Wikimedia Commons

-Harjot Gill

2 Comments

Posted in Admin

Tagged , , , ,

Lavender Essential Oil to Reduce Your Stress

Posted on November 6, 2017 by | 3 comments

Are you feeling stressed? Consider trying lavender essential oil, the oil extracted from lavender which contains compounds that reduce stress!

 

 

 

 

 

                                                         Images from Wikipedia Commons 

 

Researchers from the Department of Health Science at Osaka Kyoiku University put subjects in a stressful condition by making them wait 20 minutes in an isolated soundproof room, a room where no sound can escape. Subjects introduced to the stressful condition with lavender essential oil diffused felt less stress compared to subjects introduced to the stressful condition alone!

The subjects were randomly assigned to either a stressful condition (waiting in a small soundproof room for 20 minutes), the same stressful condition but with lavender oil diffused into the room, or a non-stressful condition where subjects waited in non-soundproof rooms.

Before the 20 minutes of isolation, researchers measured the group in the stressful condition and found higher blood pressure, higher heart rate and a higher mean score on a checklist of stress symptoms than the group in the non-stressful condition, meaning staying in a small soundproof room alone was sufficiently stressful for the subjects.

The subjects were left isolated for 20 minutes, then researchers measured blood pressure, heart rate and scores for the checklist of stress symptoms again. The levels of stress between the group in the stressful condition with lavender oil diffused into the room and the group in the non-stressful condition were similar. Both were significantly lower than the group in the stressful condition alone where lavender oil was not diffused.

These results suggest lavender essential oil is able to reduce stress. The compounds in lavender oil go through your nose and enter your bloodstream to reduce stress! Next time you feel stressed, try diffusing a few drops of lavender oil using a diffuser or by dripping a few drops onto a piece of tissue or cottonball. You will definitely feel a lot calmer!

-Gareth Lee

3 Comments

Tagged , , , ,

The worst endless cycle

Posted on November 6, 2017 by | 1 comment

Emma Bryce from Ted-Education explained why we itch, a common phenomenon that occurs to everyone. Although itching may not seem like a big deal, for people with skin diseases, it could become very irritating and painful. In order to target this issue, Emma described the itch-scratch cycle to give us a deeper understanding about itching.

We realize that we get random itching from time to time. So, what really causes itching? Our skin is evolutionarily built to feel the slightest of touch to alert us of harmful things that land on our skin. In our case, the danger that we encounter are things that irritate our skin. This includes bugs and allergens such as pollen and dust.

Skin sensitivity varies from person to person, and this is an important factor for skin diseases. For example, people with super sensitive skin can be prone to conditions like eczema, which is itching that turns into rashes. Another condition is psoriasis, which is an abnormally fast skin reproduction rate that piles up as dead skin, making the infected area look very patchy and scaly. These conditions lead to irritating consequences such as rashes, redness, and skin fissures, which is the skin cracking open. In severe cases, these could lead to bacterial infections.

Eczema, credit to flickr

The itching process occurs very fast. The trigger occurs when some irritant lands on the skin. The skin nerve endings detect it and shoot an itching signal from our spinal cord to our brain. Then, our brain alerts us that particular spot is itchy and our reaction is to scratch it. When we scratch, we are scraping against our skin and this induces a very low level of pain. Then, our nerve endings send pain signals via the same route as the itching signal to our brain. Since only one type of signal can be transmitted per path, the pain signals override the itching signals.

Scratching, credit to flickr

As this happens, our brain tries to relieve the pain by producing a neurotransmitter, which is a chemical messenger that helps neurons send signals to specific cells. In our case, the neurotransmitter is serotonin, and it is overriding pain signals with itching signals. For this reason, we end up feeling itchy again after scratching. This whole process is known as the itch-scratch cycle.

Personally, I have mild eczema and I easily get rashes and redness on my skin. I can definitely relate to the itch-scratch cycle and how irritating it could be. Hopefully, scientists will find a way to disrupt this cycle and find a cure for all these terrible skin conditions.

-Emily Lui

1 Comment

Tagged , , , ,

Gateways of Addiction

Posted on November 6, 2017 by | 2 comments

Credit to Flickr

The term “Gateway Drug” is often used to warn young adults that recreational use of certain narcotics can lead to addiction to more dangerous substances. However, while the term is generally applied to cannabis, a recent study suggests that we may have been limiting our caution too strictly; It was shown that, in rats, alcohol use resulted in a biologically-founded predisposition for cocaine. Given that alcohol is generally considered a fairly innocuous supplement to social amusement, this new research could force people to be more wary of its implications.

The study was conducted by giving a sample group of rats daily exposure to alcohol for a ten day period, which consisted of ten percent ethanol for two hours a day. Then, access to cocaine is added to the environment after the initial phase of alcohol dosing. The results were compared to a control group that was not subjected to an alcohol intake regimen. The results were significant: When the cocaine was removed for a short period of time (two 15-minute intervals), the rats in the alcohol-free group only attempted to access it 18 times on average, compared to the average 58 times of the group supplied with alcohol. Aside from examining the behavioural manifestations of cocaine dependence with prior alcohol use, the research also studied the biological characteristics involved. What they discovered was that long-term alcohol use resulted in the inhibition of the enzyme histone deacetylase (HDAC) in the nucleus accumbens, a region of the basal forebrain. The inhibition of the enzyme results in an accumulation of the protein ∆FOSB, which is firmly linked to increases in cocaine self-administration, thus showing that alcohol use can create an internal environment conducive to cocaine addiction.

Overall, the relationships between biological mechanisms of drug addiction are not fully understood. Future research into the area could potentially uncover more on the possible dangers (or conversely, the benefits) of common substances, and could change our fundamental views on many of them.

 

  • Arjun Thomson-Kahlon

2 Comments

Tagged , , , , ,

The New Thin Solar Cell

Posted on November 6, 2017 by | 2 comments

        There is always constant search for new eco-friendly energy sources and researchers at Tohoku University developed a new solar cell. Akama T. et al. used atomically thin 2D materials, known as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD), to produced a semitransparent, flexible solar cell. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of this innovation is 0.7% and although this value seems extremely small, it is the highest value for known for TMDs.

Semitransparent flexible solar cell

Why should we care about this? There are other energy production methods with higher PCE values, but none of them have the physical properties like a few layers of TMD. What makes this so significant is that the solar cell is extremely thin and still semi-flexible. You have probably seen an older version of this material in calculators such as the picture below.

Solar Calculator

Current solar cells are rigid, opaque and for large amounts of energy, they require a larger surface area. This research begins to solve all three problems; flexibility, transparency, and efficiency. Imagine the possibilities once the solar cell has become transparent, semi-flexible and highly energetic. As stated by the researchers, “…next-generation smart solar cells for various applications such as in the surfaces of windows, front display panels of personal computers and cell phones, and human skin.”

Solar Charger for Mobile Devices

Every window in a building can produce electricity and your cellphones can recharge some of its battery just by being exposed to the sun. The development of solar cells is not solely for mass energy production, but potentially for everyday applications.

-Carswell Liu

2 Comments

Tagged , , ,