Communicating Science (12w111)

Carbon Dioxide + Water = New Fuel

Posted on October 27, 2012 by A&W | 1 comment

Image Source: http://www.aventuresbicycletales.org/english/
pollutionoftransports.html

As we may have noticed, the gases prices are going higher and higher. And as we are continuing to purchase more gas for our daily commute, our daily emissions of greenhouse gas creates global warming by changing the atmosphere. So as a result, we are stuck with two problems: Running low of fossil fuels as a energy resource and the build up of carbon dioxide as a by-product in the atmosphere. How can we escape this cycle of energy doom?

A Possible Solution that’s Almost Too Good to be True

Image Source:
http://inhabitat.com/british-firm-produces-liquid-fuel-
from-water-and-thin-air/air-fuel-synthesis-2/

If we are currently running of fuel and have too much carbon dioxide, why not just take the carbon dioxide from the air and make it back into fuel? A small British firm called the Air Fuel Synthesis (AFS) had claimed to succeed in synthesizing gasoline to be usable for any vehicle. By using carbon dioxide and water extracted from the air, they were able to create a fuel that is clearer and cleaner than petrol derived from fossil oil. Since August of 2012, the firm was able to extract 5 liters of gas using a small refinery. By capturing the moisture in air to collect water and electrolyze the water into hydrogen, the hydrogen is then used to react with carbon dioxide extracted from the air to create hydrocarbon fuels. This process is called the Air Fuel Synthesis Process. Despite the fact that at the moment only a small amount of fuel can be produced at an early demonstrative stage, AFS plans to have larger commercial-scale productions. This process will not only reverse the large amount of carbon dioxide in the air, it could mean the future for our main energy resource. The best part of the AFS Process is that it uses renewable energy such as wind power as the energy input for conducting its processes.

AFS Process
Image Source: http://cutedecision.com/carbon-dioxide-
the-basis-for-the-new-fuel/

Here is an interview with Peter Harrison CEO of Air Fuel Synthesis from BBC News:

“We are converting renewable electricity into a more versatile, usable and storable form of energy, namely liquid transport fuels,” Harrison had told the UK News The Independent. “We think that by the end of 2014, provided we can get the funding going, we can be producing petrol using renewable energy and doing it on a commercial basis.”

Here is an interview with Professor Tony Marmont of Loughborough University on the future of fossil fuels:

It looks good and sounds good, but skeptics about the procedure remains. Using this method, it is estimated to cost about $650 for every one ton of carbon monoxide. If it proves to work and begins for mass production, current oil companies are not going to be happy. Douglas Stephan, a Canadian chemist who is also doing research on production of fuel from carbon dioxide, states to the New Scientist Magazine “Until a detailed assessment of the energy efficiency is enunciated, I would remain skeptical about this technology.”

I personally hope that this is true and becomes a solution to our fossil fuel crisis. What do you think?

Blog by Andy Wang
Read more: British Firm Produces Liquid Fuel From Water and Thin Air Air Fuel Synthesis – Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

1 Comment

Posted in Issues in Science, Public Engagement, Science in the News

Tagged carbon dioxide, conservation, energy, Fossil Fuel, oil, renewable energy, scientific advances

Multivitamins for health?

Posted on October 22, 2012 by leukocyte | 1 comment

Source: http://bit.ly/QD1b3t

Many of us take daily multivitamin or mineral pill. It is convenient and we feel that by doing so, we are getting all the vitamins and minerals our body needs. But is it really beneficial? And is it safe? Let’s take a closer look.

Health benefits of multivitamins:

Vitamin and mineral supplements cannot act as a complete food substitute because they can’t provide us with all the benefits that whole foods, such as vegetables, fruits, dairy and whole grains, do. However, many people don’t eat well-balanced diet because they don’t like some type of food, don’t have time or are on a special diet. Therefore, multivitamin and mineral supplements can be used as a way to fill in the gaps in our diet. This can ensure an adequate intake of micronutrients so our body stays healthy.

Source: http://bit.ly/RSwBBJ

According to Dr. Jane Higdon of the Linus Pauling Institute, multivitamin supplements may play a role in prevention of chronic diseases such as heart disease, osteoporosis and cancer. For example, folic acid can decrease risk of cardiovascular diseases and Alzheimer disease and vitamin D and calcium intake promotes healthy bones. Inadequate intake of many vitamins and minerals can cause health issues such as anemia (low red blood cell count) due to iron deficiency or rickets (softening and weakening of the bones) due to vitamin D deficiency.

Possible risks and things to watch for:

Source: http://bit.ly/Sf4Eqc

The most common risk associated with an intake of vitamin and mineral supplements is that of overdosing. Taking too much of some vitamins and minerals can be harmful to your health. For example iron overdosing can cause organ failure and too much of vitamin A can lead to nervous system damage and osteoporosis. Therefore avoid megadoses; don’t take multivitamin and mineral supplements which contain more than 100 percent of the Daily Value of any of the micronutrients. Also, some type of foods, such as cereals or beverages, might be fortified with vitamins so check the labels. You don’t want to get more vitamins than you need.

Always take the vitamin pills with food so that the vitamins can be properly absorbed. For instance, fat-soluble vitamins, such as vitamin A or E, need to be taken with fatty foods, otherwise your body won’t absorb them.
Check the label. Never buy supplements with no expiration dates on them and don’t take vitamins or minerals which are past their expiration date.

Here you can watch an episode from BBC Horizon TV series. It examines if multivitamins are really beneficial to us and if there might be “too much of a good thing” when taking vitamin supplements.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp7WdxvoBfI&feature=related

A few words at the end:

If you need to take multivitamin or mineral supplements because you don’t get enough micronutrients in your diet, choose carefully before you buy. Look at the content as well as the quality verification and when in doubt, consult with your doctor.

Nesim Lichy

1 Comment

Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Science in the News

Tagged Diet, health, minerals, multivitamins, nutrients, vitamin, vitamins

How does “toxic trio” in nail polish products affect your health??

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Jeremy Cheng | 5 comments

Many ladies love to visit nail salon or Sephora because they want to accessorize their nails. They apply all kind of different colors, pattern, shiny stickers, and even fake nails on their nails. Nail polish allows the cosmetic industry to make millions of dollars. However, many people might not know what chemicals they put on their nails and might not realize some chemicals are actually harmful to their health.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6369344_remove-fingernail-polish-carpet.html

There are many chemicals in nail polish and most of them are safe to human. Among these chemicals, three of them are harmful to our health. They are known as the “toxic trio.” They causes many health concerns, especially allergy.

The first toxic chemical is toluene. Toluene is commonly used in painting and nail polish because it speeds up the drying process. However, toluene is a volatile chemical. A volatile chemical is a chemical that has high vapor pressure and evaporates quickly. When toluene evaporates into the air, it causes dizziness and irritated eyes to the person using the nail polish. Moreover, toluene is also a neurotoxin. Neurotoxin is substance that causes dysfunction in nerve cells. Some researchers also suggest that toluene will affect the users’ kidneys, livers, and perhaps reproductive system.

Another toxic chemical to pay attention to is formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is a preservative that prevents nail polish to break apart. Similar to toluene, it is also a volatile chemical that may cause dizziness and coughing when the user inhales its fumes. Furthermore, formaldehyde is a known human carcinogen. A carcinogen is a substance that causes cancer. Irritations can also occur when formaldehyde is exposed to skin.

The final chemical of the “toxic trio” is Dibutyl phthalate (DBP). DBP is commonly used in many consumer products such as plastics, paints, and cosmetic products. This chemical gives the nail polish the shiny appearance. When people apply nail polish, some DBP are absorbed through the skin and some are inhaled. Researchers have found that DBP is a carcinogen and is related to birth defects. DBP is also toxic to liver, lungs, kidneys, and reproductive organs. The use of these chemicals are restricted or banned in many countries and regions in the world.

http://www.whirlmagazine.com/2011/10/healthy-choice/

For the customers, the good news is that most nail polish today are free or contain very little of these chemicals. By law, the cosmetic companies have to manufacture safe nail polish and label their products clearly for the consumers. Therefore, for ladies who use nail polish regularly, it is important to read the labels and make sure the products are free of the “toxic trio. Here is a video about nail polish and toxic trio:

Written by Jeremy Cheng

5 Comments

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

Tagged cosmetic products, human health, nail polish, toxic chemicals

How Obesity Reduces Cognitive Skills

Posted on October 22, 2012 by yryu | 3 comments

Image from: CNN
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/18/your-brain-on-food-obesity-fasting-and-addiction/?hpt=he_t4

How to live healthy is common interest of all people. However, obesity has limited the movement of living healthy. Due to human tendency to crave sugar and abundant food supply in 21^st century, people are getting fat. For example, in the United States and Canada has adult obesity rate is 35.7% and 17% respectively. In the case of the United State, obesity is very serious problem since one third of its entire population is obese. As it is well known, obesity is the main cause of diseases such as heart diseases and high blood pressure levels. However, new study reports that obesity could also impact in lowering brain function. Therefore, this blog is created to illustrate how obesity affects brain function.

Future Obesity Rate in the U.S. (video link)

Researchers at the University of Turku and Aalto University explained how obesity alters brain function. Mid-region of the brain called striatum uses glucose for its metabolism and commands the body to obtain sugars. In obese individuals, striatum is over-activated causing excessive intake of sugars. Meanwhile, increase in activity of striatum decrease prefrontal cortex (front part of brain) function where cognitive function is controlled. Professor Lauri Nummenmma from University of Turku explains cognitive function is suppressed by the overly activated striatum and preventing the body from controlling amount of sugar intake.

Picture retrieved from:
http://www.impactlab.net/2012/10/17/how-diet-affects-brain-function-revealed-in-studies/

Timothy Verstynen reported at the Society for Neuroscience that obesity reduces cognitive function. Verstynen gathered 29 participants with different body mass ranging from normal weight to obese and asked them to solve questions. Based on the brain image of all participants in the study, the brain activity was observed greater in obese group than the lean group to solve the same questions. What this indicates is that obese participants are inefficiently solving a question. Therefore, obese population has more difficult time in solving complex tasks than those of lean population.

Video: How Obesity Affects Brain function in teens (specific case)

The common dieting method among the people is to fast. However, the result is not promising. Tony Goldstone claims that skipping breakfast could result gaining of weight. This is because skipping breakfast activates specific brain region called orbitofrontal cortex, located at the frontal side of the brain. Upon activation, it commands the body to eat high calorie foods. However, having a breakfast lowers the activation and prevents the body from eating high calorie foods. In general, obese population has their orbitofrontal cortex overly activated, craving them for higher calorie foods and preventing from losing weight. Therefore, obesity not only cause gaining of weight but also manipulates the normal brain function.

In conclusion, it is found that being obese does not only cause a heart disease but also reduces the brain function. For example, obese individuals are less efficient in solving a problem than the lean individuals. Therefore, it is very important to have healthy and low calorie foods to keep both brain and body in a good shape.

By Young Ryu

3 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Science in the News

Tagged brain function, cognitive function, disease, Obesity, orbitofrontal cortex, prefrontal cortex, striatum

Is Immortality at Hand?

Posted on October 21, 2012 by rebel | 5 comments

I don’t want to die. Ever. Don’t ask me what I would do after I would have visited all the countries in the world and watched all the re-runs of Two and a Half Men. I just don’t want to die.

I’m not the only one. For as long as history can recall, people have been trying to find ways around death. Whether it is through religion, alchemy or science, us mortals have been trying to put an end to aging and death. Today, scientists might actually be onto something which could give us a shot at immortality.

We know that, in humans, cells reproduce through mitosis, a process in which a cell separates its nucleus’ chromosomes into two identical sets, in two separate nuclei. In 1961, Leonard Hayflick demonstrated that normal human cells can undergo about 40 to 60 divisions before entering a phases of senescence (that is, before becoming old and losing their ability to divide). Senescent cells don’t replace themselves with new cells. They stay in the organism to which they belong, accumulating damage until they reach a point where apoptosis, the process of programmed cell death is reached. A simple way to put it is that once cells stop reproducing, the body gets older.

But why can cells only divide 40 to 60 times? It’s because each time cells divide, their chromosomes get chopped off at both ends. This is fine at first because human cells start off with “caps” of otherwise useless padding of repetitive strings of DNA called telomeres.

Human chromosomes (grey) capped by telomeres (white) Source from Wikipedia

As cells undergo successive divisions, the telomeres get shorter and shorter until eventually they are no longer long enough to enable complete and relatively error-free duplication of the genetic information that they encapsulate.

From this, it seems that if we could find a way to ensure telomeres remain long enough, we could have endless cell divisions, be forever young and become biologically immortal.

It turns out that an enzyme called telomerase lengthens the telomeres by adding bits of DNA padding to them. Moreover, ways to activate telomerase production have been identified.

I should probably nuance the above by saying that there are still many hurdles to be passed before we can get immortality treatment at local clinics. Cancer features prominently among them. Indeed, cancers are collections of rogue cells that gained the ability to divide infinitely through some fluke of the telomere / telomerase regulation mechanism.

That being said, we humans can go very far to get what we want and avoid what we don’t. Many want to avoid death for themselves and those they love. Thus, I wouldn’t be surprised if we finally got our chance at immortality before I die.

The following video is a podcast from Dr. Ed Park explaining the aging as a result of shortened telomeres.

For more information on the topic:

http://www4.utsouthwestern.edu/cellbio/shay-wright/intro/facts/sw_facts.html

http://www.viewzone.com/aging.html

5 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science

Tagged aging, chromosome, immortal, telomerase, telomeres

Vancouver, a congested green city?

Posted on October 21, 2012 by chencui | 2 comments

Vancouver has recently been rated as the most congested cities in Canada, and the second most in North America only behind Los Angeles. The main reason for this result is due to the lack of major freeway network in Vancouver, so congestion makes traffic time much longer during rush hours. Even though the city is planning for a green city with no freeways but more buses or bikes to cut CO2 emission, many people still drive their cars for commuting in Vancouver.

 
Congested streets in Downtown Vancouver,  
http://investmeinmymotley.files.wordpress.com 
/2012/06/vancouver_traffic_jam-thumb-480xauto-1585.jpg

Cars produce CO2 by burning fossil fuels for energy, and CO2 is known as a contributor to global warming. Unfortunately, the goal of green city cannot be reached with traffic congestion since studies in California calculates the amount of CO2 produced at steady speed (45-50 mph) and with frequent stops, and the result shows that traffic congestion actually increases CO2 emission over distance traveled. When the car rapidly decelerates or accelerates, there is a higher engine load so the amount of CO2 produced increases. When a car is stuck in traffic, the CO2 produced over distance traveled is even much higher. Therefore, more CO2 is produced when there is heavy congestion during Vancouver’s rush hours.


Comparison of fuel consumption,
http://www.iru.org/en_policy_co2_response_flowingtraffic

The study also provides suggested solutions to this problem, migrating traffic off busy roads to alternative smooth ones in a designed road network. In Vancouver’s case, such a system can either be accomplished by decreasing the input:lowering the number of drivers or increasing the output: build more roads. However, no long term solution has been planned for the first option since Translink is cutting services. Therefore, the congested roads must be considered for Vancouver to become a green city, and it is crucial to have smoothly running traffic in the region. Fast moving traffic does not only reduce the traffic time for drivers, but also makes the city’s air greener.

This blog is written by Chen Cui

2 Comments

Posted in Public Engagement, Science in the News

Tagged global warming, greenhouse gas emission, urban planning

Life after death

Posted on October 20, 2012 by celineh | 5 comments

Trees in cemetery. Image from Rootsweb.

Have you ever thought of continuing life on earth after death? Perhaps as part of a tree? Although there is a wide range of beliefs on afterlife, one thing is certain: your body is staying here on Earth

Cremation

One of the popular burial method is cremation . Statistics has shown that in 2004, America’s national cremation rate is 30.88% and continues to rise year by year. Cremated human remains consist mostly of calcium phosphate, along with minor minerals such as sodium and potassium. Other elements such as carbon and sulphur are released as gases during burning, although a small amount of carbon does remain as carbonate.

How does cremated human remains become part of trees?

Bios Urn. Image from CBC News.

There are several options on what to do with human ashes, such as keeping it at home, burying it, and sprinkling it over the ocean or land. Recently, industrial designers, Martin Azua and Gerard Moline, have developed a creative, eco-friendly way to dispose cremated human remains. They have designed a biodegradable urn made from coconut shells, compacted peat, and cellulose. This is also known as the Bios Urn. Ashes will be placed inside the urn as well as a seed of a tree. The urn will then be buried. Calcium phosphate is an excellent fertilizer and since human remains are a good source of those, it will fertilize the seed which will germinate and grow into a tree. Best part is, you get to decide what type of tree or plant you want to become part of.

Although trees help the environment by taking in carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, the cremation process also releases a bunch of carbon dioxide. Depending on the size of the body, cremating one corpse can require two to three hours in a furnace generating more than 1,800°F of heat. Environment analysts have calculated that this energy releases 573 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air. Environmentalists have been trying hard figuring out ways to reduce carbon footprint, so imagine the amount of carbon dioxide released each year from just cremation, is it worth it? Would you want to be buried in the Bios Urn?

Here is a video on how cremation works:

Blog post submitted by: Celine Hsin

5 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Science in the News

Tagged biodegradable urn, Bios Urn, carbon dioxide, cremation, human remains

Finding the right fit of products online using Augmented Reality (AR)

Posted on October 20, 2012 by rsjamie | Leave a comment

The rapid technological advancement has changed many aspects of our lives. Imagine a world where shopping can be done entirely through Internet at home. Perhaps you can then make sure the furniture fits the corner of your house, the T-shirts matches your jeans, and the dress fits perfectly on you.

Image credit to Markbiwwa

With the appropriate application or software installed on either of our web camera enabled mobile phone or computers, we are able to see how the virtual object look in our hand or when combining with other object. Augmented reality (AR) is what makes it all possible; the technology as stated by Graham, Zook and Boulton combines both the real and virtual sensory inputs of sounds, graphic, video, and position.

Recently, many business companies have started to include this function in their online shop site. Ikea, for example, has incorporate AR into their 2013 product catalog, allowing shoppers to not only be able to view their products but also interact it using the application.

Tesco, as another example, uses this same technology allowing shoppers to view product in 3D. Shoppers can then rotate the product around by hand and/or place the product in any places they wish to get a sense of how it look at a particular space.

A company in German called UPCload has extensively used AR technology in their business. After signing up for a membership, members can get a professional tailoring measurement using the program. The measurements then can be used to find the right fit of clothing on online shopping site.

In the past, many people had refused using online shopping due to uncertainties of the product; shoppers were unsure whether the product is what it is. However, with the AR technology, shoppers can be more comfortable purchasing the product online. As the technology improves, shopping can now be done anywhere and anytime we want as long as we got our smartphone or computer in hands.

Blog post submitted by Jamie Tsai

Turning tables: a male birth control pill on the horizon.

Posted on October 20, 2012 by jromeyn | 2 comments

This is a newsworthy topic I came across earlier this year and thought would be interesting to share…

For years the birth control burden has been placed mainly on women. Female protection for unwanted pregnancy is available in the form of patches, pills, rings, coils, implanted devices… the list goes on! Male contraception, however, is limited and consists of finicky condoms or the permanency of a vasectomy, two methods which have been around since the 1950s.

Despite strong demand, the successful creation of a male contraceptive pill has yet to be realized. While female contraceptives can affect hormones such as estrogen, drug companies have avoided tampering with the male hormone, testosterone, since it can result in a number of unwanted side effects including increased risk of prostate cancer, or breast enlargement (never a good look!).

Recently, a group of researchers led by Martin Matzuk at Baylor College of Medicine and James Bradner at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, accidentally came across a drug called JQ1 that can inhibit a gene necessary for sperm production, causing testicles to “forget” how to create sperm. This drug has yet to be tested on humans, but showed positive results on mice, with those tested returning to complete fertility once the drug use was fully stopped. Qinglei Li, a member of the research team, states, “it stopped the sperm production very dramatically. More good news is that there appear to be no side effects whatsoever. Once the JQ1 was no longer given to the mice, they were back to their normal reproduction rates, and it did not affect mating behaviour or the health of the offspring.”

Photo taken from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/07/100716-sperm-gene-600-million-years-evolution-male-pill-science/

According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2006 approximately 49 percent of births in the U.S. were unplanned, despite the birth control options available for women. The introduction of a male birth control pill to the market could potentially lower this rate. Dr. Matzuk and his research team intend to continue their testing and adjust the structure of the drug in order to minimize the chance of any undesirable side effects. Dr. Matzuk believes that the drug will hopefully be available for human use within the next decade.

Although it is an exciting idea for women and men to be able to share the birth control responsibility, the question to consider is whether men would be willing to take such a pill if it were available to them?

Photo taken from: http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1112677493/male-birth-control-081712/

Check out this interview with gynaecologist Dr. Sujatha Reddy on how the male birth control pill would work.

Posted by Jackie Romeyn.

2 Comments

Posted in Science Communication, Science in the News

Tagged advances in medicine, birth control, contraceptive, men, reproduction, research

Mission Impossible: Red Bull Stratos

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Arman | 4 comments

Felix Baumgartner moments before attempting his record breaking leap
(Courtesy of Extreme Tech)

Imagine staring down from the heavens and seeing that it could just be moments away. We can only speculate what’s going through the mind of Felix Baumgartner before his death-defying leap. Red Bull created this mission to “Advance scientific discoveries in aerospace for the benefit of mankind.” By doing so, Baumgartner and Red Bull broke three major world records; height reached in a balloon, highest skydive, and being the first person to travel faster than the speed of sound without a vehicle. Furthermore, years of planning went into this event as some of the most brilliant minds on the planet collaborated to examine the scientific principles involved. Special suits, shuttles, and balloons were to designed to account for the extremities to be encountered.

Felix Baumgartner mid-flight
(Courtesy of Engadget)

“I wanna go fast,” is a quote uttered by almost every child, however Felix Baumgartner got to live this dream as he became the first person to break the sound barrier in free fall. The speed of sound is 1,255 km/h and Baumgartner’s top speed was 1,342 km/h. To put this in perspective, the majority of jets used in the army don’t reach this speed.

Capsule used in the space jump
(Courtesy of Wired)

Nevertheless, breaking the speed of sound is a great accomplishment, but the pressure that high in the atmosphere may have been the biggest threat to Baumgartner’s life. The atmosphere is broken down into multiple layers where the pressure decreases as you go higher. Not only that, the temperature also decreases decreases dramatically with height. Baumgartner was protected from changes in pressure and temperature by his specially designed suit and capsule. The suit and capsule were acclimatized to not allow a change in pressure. If the air pressure in space was equal to the pressure in the suit, all of the liquids in Baumgartner’s body would turn to gas killing him instantly.

A comparison of the balloon used vs the Statue of Liberty
(Courtesy of Geeky-Gadgets)

Now, how is it possible to get a balloon over 120,000 feet in the air? Well, it actually works the same way as when you release a balloon and it flies into the air. However, being 55 stories long, this helium balloon is much larger than anything you can buy at the dollar store. Helium is able to rise in the air because of a principle called density. As a rule, denser objects fall and less dense objects rise. Since helium is much less dense than the surrounding air it rises. The amount of helium was specifically chosen as that amount will cause the capsule to float around 120, 000 feet.

Below is a video of the event

With all of this new information the only question is, what’s left. With humans constantly pushing change and technological advancement, there is no limit to what people can accomplish. This story should also serve as an inspiration to others as nothing is impossible.

Written by Arman Gill

4 Comments

Posted in Science in the News

Tagged advancement, atmosphere, felix baumgartner, physics, public engadgement, red bull, research, space, speed of sound

Carbon Dioxide + Water = New Fuel

Multivitamins for health?

How does “toxic trio” in nail polish products affect your health??

How Obesity Reduces Cognitive Skills

Is Immortality at Hand?

Vancouver, a congested green city?

Life after death

Finding the right fit of products online using Augmented Reality (AR)

Turning tables: a male birth control pill on the horizon.

Mission Impossible: Red Bull Stratos

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