Category Archives: Outreach Project

The Combined Effect of Global Climate Change and Overfishing

Posted on November 28, 2012 by laylav | Leave a comment

Group 4: Jeremy Cheng, Klous Cui, Joanne Lin, and Layla Vera

Love Seafood? Then you’ll want to read this!

Seafood Platter

Global climate change is something that affects all of us, including our neighbouring marine life. Researchers investigate and prove that over fished species are more temperature sensitive and as the ocean temperature increases due to global warming, these fish species tend to move northward more drastically than other fish. Could we be losing our fish populations as a result of the combined effects of overfishing and global warming?

Global Climate Change Graph

It has been observed that over the past 30 years the global surface temperature has increased 0.2°C per decade (Hansen et al. 2006). This dramatic increase in temperature has been attributed to the increasing temperatures of the world’s oceans, which could be affecting our fish populations. In the recent article, “Environmental sensitivity of spatial shifts in marine fishes depends on latitudes and fishing effects” (Kuo et al. 2012), Ting-Chun Kuo, a current PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia, seeks to bring awareness to the changing global distributions of fish populations as a result of confounded effects of overfishing and rising ocean temperature. The following video clip is Ting-Chun Kuo describing her research and the message behind her results.

The Science

Swimming Fish

Ting-Chun Kuo based her research on data of fish species’ spatial distribution from four different databases at four different locations: the Bering Sea, the east and west coast of the USA (California and Massachusetts), and the North Sea. Each database used, observed over 13 species over a 30 year period. She performed a statistical analysis to compare and contrast the data from these databases and looked for a common trend. In particular, she wanted to find out how three factors, the fish species’ latitude of origin, life history traits, and

UBC PhD Zoology: Ting-Chun Kuo

extent of exploitation by commercial fishing, affect the species’ northward movement in response to increasing temperature. Her results suggest that over-exploited species (populations that have been disrupted by commercial fishing), are more greatly affected by the increasing marine temperatures caused by global warming. However, the results for the other two factors were inconclusive, yet she continues to investigate these two aspects today.

So now that you know, what should you do?

Daily Catch Seafood Company

Industry and traffic are just a few examples of how we, the main contributors to global climate change, are affecting the well-being of the numerous species with whom we share this Earth. As Vancouverites, we have the luxury of enjoying a wide range of seafood right from our very own coast on a daily basis. It is no one’s responsibility but our own to protect our fish resources to ensure they are available for future generations to enjoy. We know we cannot change the global climate overnight, but we are able to purchase and advocate for sustainable seafood to lessen the impact the increasing ocean temperatures has on our fish species.

Ocean Wise Logo

Local programs like Ocean Wise, are helping local businesses provide their customers with sustainable seafood products. An example of a local business jumping on board with the Ocean Wise Program is The Daily Catch

The Daily Catch Seafood Company

Seafood Company (1418 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC). The Daily Catch is owned by two BC boys, Dylan McCulloch and Ryan Johnson who both grew up on the Sunshine Coast. They are doing their part to contribute to the solution by only providing 100% Ocean Wise seafood products. These two ocean advocates are making it extremely easy for Vancouverites like you to contribute to the solution by making sustainable seafood available at a reasonable price. There really is no excuse not to be a part of the solution!

Ryan Johnson-Owner of the Daily Catch

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Outreach Project, Public Engagement, Science Communication, Science Communicators, Uncategorized

Tagged Climate Change, global warming, Sustainable fishing, UBC research

Landscape Patterns Influence Lobsters’ Ability to Survive

Posted on November 28, 2012 by teepundora | Leave a comment

Marine life, as well as the ocean itself, plays an enormous part in people’s lives. From food resources to recreational activities and vacation spots, the marine environment has played many important roles. Since the ocean covers 70% of Earth’s surface, you can imagine the vast amount of marine species that rely on ocean habitat.

Jennifer Selgrath, a PhD student from University of British Columbia, seeks conservation solutions in marine habitats in order to contribute to ocean health. She conducted a research in Rhode Island using American lobsters as a model organism to determine the impact of habitat edges on the survival rates of animals that live in it. Jennifer hopes this research will find new alternatives in supporting ecosystems to protect natural environments.

Rhode Island
Image from Jennifer Selgrath

“I was really interested in taking ideas of conservation and ecology and applying them to real world conservation projects.” Jennifer spoke enthusiastically, “So it wasn’t just an idea that was something on paper but was rather making changes in the world.”

Here’s a video with a summary of Jennifer’s research as well as her explaining the research procedures and her results:

Jennifer later describes the trials she endured in order to perform the research underwater:

“When you scuba dive, you’re limited because you start building nitrogen in your body and so it’s actually dangerous to scuba dive too long or too deep.” Due to problems such as the limited time they can stay underwater, collecting data was not easy.

Jennifer’s team ready to dive into the ocean.
Image from Jennifer Selgrath

“There were big waves that would surge back and forth, so I would be trying to sample and catch lobsters and the waves would be pushing me back and forth, which was really difficult!” she explained with a smile as she recounted her experience. It was evident that her determination allowed her to overcome these challenges.

Click the link below for a story that highlights a current issue which affects lobsters today:

Click Here

Leo and Grandma.
Image from: Genie Cheung

A recent study found that lobster shells are thinning due to warmer waters along with human pollution. Due to last winter’s warm temperatures, there has been an overabundance of lobsters. Warmer water increases food supply which draws the lobsters out sooner. This causes many young lobsters to be harvested with thin soft shells. Just this summer, a dispute happened between Nova Scotia and Maine this summer over lobster prices. There was a huge import of lobsters from Maine to Canada which has dropped the price of lobsters significantly. Young soft shelled lobsters will rely on the marine habitat even more to survive. With all the coastal development happening, this may have a huge impact on these lobsters. With this current news, Jennifer’s research on the effect of habitat edges on lobster distributions can be applied to seek ways for better protection.

Blog submitted by: Group 6

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Posted in Outreach Project, Public Engagement, Science Communication, Science in the News

Tagged conservation, habitat disturbance, habitat edges, lobsters, marine habitat, marine life, marine research, ocean, price dispute, research

Public vs. Private Schools in University Preparation

Posted on November 28, 2012 by jromeyn | Leave a comment

The adjustment to first-year university can be overwhelming for any high school graduates. Apprehension runs high while students question what this new chapter of their life will bring… Will you fit in and make new friends? Will you find the course load too academically challenging? It is important that students be well prepared for the transition from high school to university, but are they aware that the high school sector they attended may have already played a large role in this preparation?

Photo from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/9204603/Fines-for-universities-slammed-by-admissions-don-Professor-Steven-Schwartz.html

Professor George Bluman, a mathematics professor at the University of British Columbia, has performed research on this topic. In his research paper, Bluman uses a two-level statistical model to determine the relationship between student performance in first-year physics courses and student variables such as high-school grades and gender. He then determines how this relationship is affected by high-school factors such as school type and location.

Check out the video below where Professor Bluman discusses the results of his study, that Vancouver public school students outperform private school students in first-year university.

Of course it is important to note that there are many academic differences between high school and university.

Firstly, high school students attend 7-8 hours worth of classes each weekday, of which attendance is mandatory. In university, however, the amount of time spent in class differs depending on the day, and whether the students attend class is their own prerogative. In addition, in high school, teachers are proactive in taking on the responsibility to ensure all students meet deadlines, complete homework assignments, and fully understand concepts. In university, however, if students struggle with course material, they must take personal initiative to refer to textbooks or attend office hours for additional help.

Ultimately, there is a larger sense of personal freedom in university when compared to high school. Students must possess a mature attitude toward their new-found independence. University can take a toll on students if they are inadequately prepared for this freedom.

If public school graduates are more academically successful in university than their private school counterparts, as Bluman’s research suggests, then it is assumed that public schools do a better job of preparing their students for University life.

Check out the podcast below where the pros and cons of public and private schools are outlined, and Professor Bluman’s view on them is expressed.

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Professor George Bluman
Photo from: http://www.straight.com/article-215506/getting-students-snuff

After all, it is a personal choice as to whether to attend public or private schools, and there are many factors that must be considered in this decision-making process. However, the take-home message from this study is that contrary to the BC Fraser Institute Report and popular beliefs, students who have attended public schools can academically perform as well, if not better, than their private school counterparts.

Blog submitted by: Jackie Romeyn, Hayoung Nam, Mervin Wong, and Lydia Fan

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Posted in Outreach Project, Science Communication, Science in the News, Uncategorized

Tagged performance gap, private school, public school, research, school rankings, university transition, Vancouver

UBC Researcher Develops a Game Changing Drug

Posted on November 28, 2012 by nadiakari | Leave a comment

Image courtesy of:
http://www.orkin.com/flies/sand-flies/

Dr. Kishor Wasan is an independent researcher currently working at the University of British Columbia. His research team at the UBC Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences is dedicated to developing a treatment for Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) VL is a parasitic disease spread by infected sand flies that targets the liver, spleen, and bone marrow and can lead to symptoms such as fever, weight loss and fatigue. Once infected with VL, the individual is unable to fight off the disease and will ultimately die if left untreated.

People living in developing nations and third world countries are at high risk for this disease, and an estimated 60,000 deaths occur annually due to VL in these areas. It is common in areas with high population density and climates that frequently experience droughts and famines. Many North Americans are unfamiliar with VL, even though it is a lot more relevant to us than we may realise. India, Brasil, and Africa have become popular sites for tourists which has resulted in an increase in North American exposure to this disease. Therefore, the number of VL cases are rising because people that visit these countries are contracting the parasite.

Image courtesy of:
http://bit.ly/Y82rCn

Unfortunately, there are only a few treatment options available that eliminate the deadly effects of VL. Currently, the most effective treatment being used is an antibiotic called Amphotericin B, or AmB. The version of AmB being used for the initial treatment is Liposomal AmB, and it is composed of AmB along with several other chemical compounds that form a lipid vesicle around the molecule. Liposomal AmB has proven to be less toxic to the patient which allows for increased dosages. However, Liposomal AmB must be given by IV to the patient, requiring the need for a sterile hospital setting and trained personnel. As a result, the high cost and complex methods of administering the drug makes it unattainable for most infected patients in developing countries. People are dying every day because they don’t have access to medication.

Dr. Kishor Wasan and his team of researchers set out on a study to solve the barriers caused by Liposomal AmB. They aimed to develop an oral version of AmB that would be stable at tropical climate temperatures (30-43°C) while effectively treating VL. They developed and tested four new oral AmB drugs on mice subjects. Out of these four drugs, they discovered that one in particular was quite successful in treating the disease. This new oral AmB, which is known as iCo-010, showed results of VL inhibition as high as 99%. iCo-010 is the first oral AmB that has successfully shown to have such an impact on eradicating VL from an infected host.

As advancements in developing an effective drug to treat VL progress in the Wasan lab, the future of this disease seems brighter. Dr. Wasan refers to his development of the oral form of AmB as a “game changer” in the playing field of this infectious disease. The success of iCo-010 functioning as a stable and effective drug in treating VL may overcome the limitations set by the current treatment options. Combined with prevention techniques and Dr. Wasan’s new oral treatment, thousands of lives can be saved and the eradication of Visceral Leishmaniasis has become a possibility in the near future.

A descriptive look on biological processes behind the contraction of Visceral Leishmaniasis:

A discussion with Dr. Kishor Wasan about Visceral Leishmaniasis:

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By: Nadia Kari, Mokhan Kim, Deborah Lo & Alexandra Warren

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Outreach Project

Tagged Amphotericin B, brazil, global access initiative, india, infection, Kishor Wasan, parasitic disease, Pharmaceutical Sciences, pharmacology, research, sand fly, science, sudan, UBC, Visceral Leishmaniasis

Pill to save hundreds of millions: Just one example of UBC helping developing nations

Posted on November 28, 2012 by eng14 | Leave a comment

Developing Nation
http://isiria.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/overpopulation1.jpg

A new oral formulation of a drug will help to save the hundreds of millions of men, women, and children infected with a deadly parasitic disease in developing countries. This new formulation, created at the University of British Columbia (UBC) by Dr. Kishor Wasan, will be made inexpensive and accessible to developing nations.

This is just one outcome of UBC’s global access policies. These policies were put in place by UBC’s University-Industry Liaison Office together with the UBC chapter of the Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) in 2006. UBC is the first university in Canada to lay out a set of global access principles that hopes to create new technologies and make new discoveries that will benefit developing nations.

Examples of some of the global access policies include: starting partnerships to provide funding for research towards helping developing nations, allowing companies involved to make a profit with the technology in wealthy industrialized nations, and giving developing countries access to worldwide technologies ‘at cost.’

The video below explains in further detail what the Global Access Initiative is and how the process works:

Dr. Wasan got involved with the Global Access Initiative when he created the oral formulation of Amphotericin B (Amp B). The podcast below describes the need for an oral formulation of Amp B, the steps towards creating Amp B and making it accessible to those suffering from leishmaniasis, and the stage that the drug is at now:

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Many other professors at UBC, like Dr. Wasan, have devoted their time towards helping developing nations. Jerry Spiegel, for example, is currently the lead investigator of a multimillion dollar project that aims to reduce environmental health risks and prevent illnesses and deaths in Ecuador.

“It’s exciting because it integrates research and education- we’ll only be successful if we transfer our knowledge to the community”- Jerry Spiegel

Dr. Peter von Dadelszen, a professor in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC, is leading a project called PRE-eclampsia-Eclampsia Monitoring, Prevention and Treatment (PRE-EMPT). Preeclampsia is a condition that is prevalent in pregnant and postnatal women in developing countries. This condition is the second largest cause of maternal deaths in the world, and it is responsible for an estimated 76 000 maternal and 500 000 newborn and fetal deaths annually. The PRE-EMPT project is currently underway and is focused on testing new ways to monitor, prevent and treat preeclampsia.

Woman in Developing Nation
http://philanthropy.com/blogs/conference/files/2011/03/ande-india-NV-Nandan4.jpg

While working towards her masters at UBC, Elizabeth Tilley experimented on a product called struvite which is extracted from urine and can be used as a fertilizer. She later brought her research to Switzerland where she used the technology developed at UBC to locally produce struvite in Nepal. Tilley continues to focus on enabling developing nations to have better access to fertilizer.

With these global access policies and the cooperation of so many individuals at the university, UBC has become known for being a leader in aiding developing nations. Many universities around the world have followed in UBC’s footsteps and have started to develop global access policies of their own.

If this article has sparked an interest, you can learn more about the UAEM at www.uaem.ubc.ca, and if you’d like to get involved or donate visit www.essentialmedicine.org.

“He who wished to secure the good of others, has already secured his own.” –Confucius

We would like to thank Dr. Kishor Wasan for answering all our questions and Craig Burkett for guiding us through this science outreach project!

Wasan, Kishor M., et al. “The Global Access Initiative at the University of British Columbia (UBC): Availability of UBC Discoveries and Technologies to the Developing World.” Journal of pharmaceutical sciences 98.3 (2009): 791-4. Print.

Submitted by Group 2: Elsie Ng, Angela Johnston, Rebecca Liu, and Arman Gill

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Posted in Issues in Science, Outreach Project, Public Engagement, Science Communication, Uncategorized

Tagged Amphotericin B, developing nations, Dr. Kishor Wasan, global access initiative, parasitic disease, UAEM, UBC, UILO

Metacognition… what’s that?

Posted on November 23, 2012 by cambrian | Leave a comment

Image courtesy of brainleaders.

‘Metacognition‘ can be an intimidating term for most people. However, for Natasha Holmes, ‘thinking about thinking’ has become more than a PhD project, it could be a novel step into the way we look at education.

Metacognitive thinking is the process of identifying how we think and learn. The goal is to understand the learning process and design new methods which optimize our understanding and retention of new information. When this type of thought is used to assess our current lecture-based system, many people conclude that students are not in an optimal learning environment and that improvements can be made in the way material is presented. Sound familiar?

“College is a place where a professor’s lecture notes go straight to the students’ lecture notes, without passing through the brains of either.” – Mark Twain

Where do we start?

The research project we investigated, authored by Ido Roll et al., is one which builds on past research that investigates which techniques are most effective in a learning environment. Some important concepts that have arisen and will be highlighted throughout this presentation include:

Invention activities
Metacognitive scaffolding
Invention strategies

What is an invention activity?

“We hope that students realize there are better ways to learn than ‘being told’… It should be about creating knowledge.” – Natasha Holmes

Which line is the best fit?
An example of an invention activity.
Courtesy of Natasha Holmes.

The idea behind an invention activity is that students should be given an opportunity to try and create knowledge before it is given to them, in an effort to create a deeper understanding of the information once it is given.

The concept is simple; if a student is given the data set pictured on the right and asked to create a mathematical formula describing the best-fit line before they are ever taught a best-fit line formula, they will have to analyze the data in many different logical ways in order to determine which mathematical components should be used to build the formula. However, the students aren’t likely to succeed in this task on their first attempt. This creates a need for information which can later be met by providing guidance toward the solution.

What is metacognitive scaffolding?

In the project we investigated, the variable was whether or not metacognitive scaffolding was provided during the invention procedure. The control group was expected to complete the invention activity without scaffolding, whereas the treatment group received the scaffolding. Scaffolding encourages the students to think in the right direction by providing a number of examples which highlight the important features of the problem.

Scaffolding is used to encourage the following invention strategies:

Exploratory analysis
Self-explanation
Peer interaction

Despite how effective these strategies are in highlighting important features of the problem, often the net result is that the expert solution is not reached. However, a basis for understanding the formula when it is finally given to the students has been established. This contrasts greatly with our current method of simply providing the formula up front and encouraging students to take for granted that it makes sense.

Getting involved

Our group had the opportunity to participate in one of Natasha’s invention activities, which yielded interesting results and allowed us to compile this video summary of her work:

Afterwards, a discussion of our experiences with the research was conducted:

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Cameron Tough, Jamie Tsai, Mandy Choi, Vanessa Fladmark and Young Ryu

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Posted in Admin, Issues in Science, Outreach Project, Public Engagement, Science Communication, Science Communicators, Uncategorized

Tagged education, invention activities, invention strategies, learning, metacognition, metacognitive scaffolding, UBC

The Science Behind Dreams

Posted on October 29, 2012 by mervinw | 1 comment

Spending approximately one third of our life sleeping, many of us would have experienced all sorts of dreams in our life time: boring ones, weird one, scary ones, exciting ones, etc. In fact, dreams are so common that we often just ignore and forget about them after waking up. Yet, why exactly do we dream? Are there any significance of dreaming?

Image by: Parentingwithpresence.net

Dreams are produced during the rapid eye movements (REM) phase of sleep. At this phase, the brain activities of the sleepers peak and their eyes would move rapidly and randomly. A normal person would generally experiences 4-5 REM phases during each night, which sums up to a dreaming time of about 90-120 minutes of the time asleep. There are several theories of how REM contributes to dreams. One of them is that the directions of the eye movements mimic the eye reactions of the dreamers in their dreams. Another theory hypothesized that the rapid eye movement stimulates the neural junctions in our brains that are inactive while we are awake. Whether or not REM functionally contributes to dreams do not have enough evidence yet. However, it is confirmed that dreams occur during REM.

Current research has found that dreaming may benefit us both neurologically and psychologically. For the neurological aspect, the Continual-Activation theory is hypothesized by Jie Zhang, stating that dreams trigger the transition of short term memory to long term memory. It is also hypothesized by Crick and Mitchison that during dreaming, the brain would sift through ideas and information, and dispose unwanted ones; this is called reverse learning. Both of these theories do not have enough evidence to support them yet, and are therefore controversial. However, there are many experiments that show the positive relationship between learning (memorization) and REM activity (dreaming). Some of these experiments are mentioned in the following clip, which is an interesting introduction of the science behind dreaming:

For the psychological aspect, Coutts hypothesized that during the different scenes in the dreams, the emotional reactions of the dreamer would be sieved. The emotions that are adaptive to the scenarios would be retained while those that are maladaptive would be eliminated. In short, dreamers learn how to emotionally deal with social situations by going through them in the dreams.

Image by: Aupneet Boparai

To summarize, dreams occur during the REM phase of sleeping. There are numerous theories indicating how dreams benefit us neurologically and psychologically. Yet, dreams are very abstract; they are not objects that can be quantified or qualified. Therefore, it is very hard to find evidence to back up these theories. Nevertheless, scientists would continue to study dreams, and hopefully, can decode the science behind this mysterious phenomenon in the near future.

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Outreach Project, Public Engagement, Uncategorized

Tagged Continual-Activation Theory, Dreams, REM, Reverse learning

Video creation tutorials

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Eric Jandciu | Leave a comment

As you start thinking about your video and podcast projects, I thought I would post a couple tutorials about making videos from the Vimeo Video School. There are a lot more to be found if you follow the link, but here are a couple embedded right here on the blog that I think I particularly important. The first one includes some shooting basics and the second one discusses general video editing.

Video 101: Editing Basics from Vimeo Staff on Vimeo.

Depending on which piece of software you are using for the editing, you can watch a more detailed video about using Microsoft Movie Maker (on a PC) or iMovie (on a Mac).

It seems to be a little more advanced, but Lifehacker also has a series of tutorials about video editing.

Finally, there is also a page on the UBC Wiki about video production that includes tutorials and a whole bunch of links to other resources.

Happy shooting!

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Posted in Outreach Project

Tagged editing, iMovie, MovieMaker, online, software, tutorial, video

Category Archives: Outreach Project

The Combined Effect of Global Climate Change and Overfishing

Landscape Patterns Influence Lobsters’ Ability to Survive

Public vs. Private Schools in University Preparation

UBC Researcher Develops a Game Changing Drug

Pill to save hundreds of millions: Just one example of UBC helping developing nations

Metacognition… what’s that?

The Science Behind Dreams

Video creation tutorials

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