Category Archives: Science in the News

Acoustic Noise Pollution in Toothed Whales

Posted on November 26, 2014 by Jenna Bains | Leave a comment

Sound is energy. The louder the sound an animal can hear, the greater the potential for damage to their ear. Whales and other marine organisms rely on their hearing for everyday functions like communicating, searching for food, and finding a safe shelter for protection. Therefore, they are very sensitive to hearing. When we go swimming or sailing many people find the experience to be relaxing and quiet, however for marine life, the noise in water can be so loud that it can lead to death. Odontocetes (toothed whales such as dolphins or porpoises) have ears that are separated from the skull and placed well apart, which assists them with localizing sounds so they can find prey. As humans, we are only sensitive to approximately 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz whereas whales are sensitive to from 16 Hz to 200,000 Hz. We have the ability to cause noises (acoustic noise pollution) in the ocean that can cause serious damage to whales and other marine life in the ocean.

Example of a Odontocete (toothed whale) under water. Source: Flickr Commons

Dr. Maria Morell and her fellow research team conducted a study in several European countries and investigated the effect acoustic noise pollution has on Odontocetes in the ocean. They want to address if Odontocetes have acoustic trauma due to underwater mining or sonar exposure, which is important for the species to function properly. They specifically looked at the organ of Corti (element in the inner ear) of Odontocetes to look for any damage such as scarring using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The organ of Corti is based on a spiral system of hair cells. It is formed by inner hair cells and outer hair cells, and it is surrounded by other cells and membranes. When they hear a sound, this membrane vibrates, which makes the hair cells vibrate and eventually sends away the signal.

Example of proof of scarring in the organ of Corti. The places where there is no hair cells is where the scarring occurs. Source: Image by Marc Lenoir, modified by Alison Fung

In our video, we set up the story by focusing on the “HOW” aspect of this research study. We wanted to know how they detected any trauma and the methods they used to find results. We started off by introducing a quick summary of the research by Dr. Morell. She then explained the importance of her research with regards to marine life in the ocean. In order to explain the concept of the damage caused by acoustic noise pollution for Odontocetes, we introduced the main structure examined called the organ of Corti in which Dr.Morell explains the importance of the organ using language the general public will understand. Next, we explained the methods how Dr.Morell examined the damage using SEM and TEM. To wrap up the video, Dr. Morell explains the importance of her research and summarizes the main message she wants to deliver to the audience.

Video on Acoustic Noise Pollution in Odontocetes
Source: Youtube
Author: Alison Fung

In our podcast, we set up the story by focusing on the “WHY” aspect of this research study. We wanted to know about the motivations for this study and what effects acoustic trauma has on Odontocetes. We asked Dr. Morell four key questions regarding the research. We started off asking Dr. Morell to briefly explain what she would like the general audience to know about her research. We know many people may not be familiar with what noise pollution is, so we also asked Dr. Morell to provide us with some examples of this as well as how it affects Odontocetes. To wrap up, we asked a powerful question asking Dr.Morell what motivated her to begin this study in the first place.

Podcast on Acoustic Noise Pollution in Odontocetes
Source: Sound Cloud
Author: Alison Fung

https://soundcloud.com/alison-fung/outreach-podcast-accessing-acoustic-trauma-with-drmaria-morell

– Alison Fung, Jenna Bains, & Jack Yoon

Questioning Chemotherapy

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Jenna Bains | 1 comment

The increasing amount of cancer cases is no secret in our world today. According to Statistics Canada, one in four people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Billions of dollars are being used to find solutions to this disease; however one method of treatment is particularly controversial. Chemotherapy is the treatment of disease by the use of chemical substances by cytotoxic and other drugs. After doing some investigation I was shocked when I came across statistics about the effects chemotherapy had on the human body. Although chemotherapy has saved many from an early death, the negative effects it has on others is not to be overlooked.

Example of Chemotherapy Machine
Source: Flickr Commons

What stood out to me the most when investigating chemotherapy was the results of surveys conducted on 118 doctors from McGill Cancer Center asking if they would consider chemotherapy themselves if they were terminally ill with cancer. Three of every four doctors would refuse chemotherapy for themselves due to its devastating effects on the entire body and the immune system, and because of its extremely low success rate. How could one feel comfortable if the physician administrating chemotherapy doesn’t agree with the method themselves? Furthermore how could a physician feel comfortable administrating it to an unknowing patient?

I was even more shocked when I discovered that Chemotherapy doesn’t universally affect all types of cancer the same way. In a book called “Questioning Chemotherapy,” by written Dr. Ralph Moss he reveals the ineffectiveness of Chemotherapy against cancers such as breast, colon, prostate and lung cancer. The types of cancer that Chemotherapy has proven to neutralize are 2-4%! If the health benefits are not as effective, then the body is left fighting off the stress and damage that it got from the process. If anything you are doing more damage than help. Now I understand why doctors would not go ahead with this themselves.

Before and After Image of Skin Cancer Cells.
Source: Flickr Commons

So what exactly is the stress that Chemotherapy puts on the body? Chemotherapy attacks rapidly dividing cells in the body, which is how cancer cells are in nature. However, the most rapidly dividing cells in the body are the cells in our immune system. This is vital because the immune system is what fights off disease in the first place. If Chemotherapy is used on a type of cancer that it is not effective against (96%), and it fails, then the body is left to recover using a now damaged immune system.

Considering the results of my investigation I believe Chemotherapy, at best at this point, should be used as an alternative method instead of the standard one to treat cancer. During my research I came across many inspiring success stories where patients had overcome cancer by strengthening their immune system. The main way to do so is through your diet, especially with fruits and vegetables. I have always been a strong believer that food is our greatest medicine because it is always more bioavailable to the body than synthetic medicines.

Video on Alternative Cancer Treatment by Dr. Ralph Moss
Source: Youtube
Author: Beth Greer

1 Comment

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

Tagged cancer, Cancer Research, Chemotherapy, Health, Science Communication

Urban Algae Farms – The Solution to Highway Pollution

Posted on November 10, 2014 by danyak | 1 comment

Where there is civilization, there is pollution. Mankind has been producing pollution ever since we discovered fire. At that time, there was only a small amount of pollution – evident from soot on the walls of caves – and it was easily dispersed into nature and had no lasting effect.

Nowadays, one of the world’s largest issues is trying to determine how to reverse the effects of pollution. In addition to being the most likely candidate for global warming, a study shows that air pollution is causing 1.2 million premature deaths a year in China. The earth can no longer handle the emissions that cars and factories release into the atmosphere, so cities are often covered in a shroud of smog.

Smog covering a city (not fog). Source: Flickr.

With the abundance of harmful effects arising from air pollution, there are increasing numbers of products being created to either find more sustainable sources of energy, or produce less toxic by-products. Electric cars, solar panels, and wind turbines all aim to lessen our negative impact on the environment. A rather intriguing aid to reducing our carbon footprint comes from a French and Dutch design firm called Cloud Collective. Their recent project involves placing transparent tubes filled with green algae – that is, algae farms – on overpasses above highways.

Algae farm installed above a highway. Source: The Blaze.

Algae is a small, plant-like organism. It gets its energy from the sun, and is mainly aquatic. More importantly, the algae used in this project consume CO2, and release oxygen at a high rate. The algae in these farms thrive from the large amounts of CO2 released from vehicles, effectively living off our pollution, and purifying the air. The video below by Cloud Collective depicts how the algae farm works.

Notably, not only does the algae farm filter air, but the algae can also be harvested for other products. In addition to food, cosmetics, and medication, an increasingly popular use for algae is biofuel.

Biofuel can be used like regular fuel in vehicles and machines – the difference being that the CO2 released from burning biofuel comes from CO2 that was already in the atmosphere. This creates a cycle where algae uses CO2 to grow, it is then harvested for biofuel, and then the CO2 is released back into the atmosphere when the biofuel is used. Although there are a variety of other sources for biofuel, algae produces between 10 and 100 times more fuel per unit area. The video below by the U.S. Department of Energy shows how current algae farms are used to harvest biofuel.

There are huge implications for the highway algae farms and its role in reducing emissions. It does double-duty as an air purifier, and as a supplier of coveted fuel. Since petroleum (common) fuel is a limited resource, biofuel could be the answer to retaining our fuel-based machines, while reducing our emissions. The algae farm constructed by Cloud Collective was simply a proof-of-concept design, but hopefully we’ll soon see this design everywhere as governments realize its value in sustaining a world in which we can breathe clean air.

-Danya

1 Comment

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

Tagged algae, algae farm, biofuel, environment, pollution

Frozen Food : to eat it or not to eat it?

Posted on November 10, 2014 by jackyoon | 3 comments

Fast food picture. source: Google image (free to share)

Frozen Food is getting a bad rap.

Many people think that the frozen meals are unhealthy, opting for a fast-food meal over a frozen food, according to a British consumer group that tracks grocery shopping habits.

But a new study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that people who regularly have frozen meals consume 254 fewer calories and 2.7 less grams of saturated fat per day than people who eat fast food. Also, adults who ate frozen meals had higher daily intakes of important nutrients such as protein, fiber and potassium.

Nestle USA, the maker of lots of popular frozen-food brands such as DiGiorno, Stouffer’s, and Hot pockets, funded a study. The findings have been reviewed and considered impartial. Does the findings mean a frozen lasgna is better for your health than a hamburger and fries? Not really.

Nutrition facts of an example of frozen food. source: Google image (free to share)

Registered dietitian Staci Nix McIntosh, an assistant professor of nutrition at the University of Utah College of Health, notes that the researchers did not compare meal for meal frozen versus fast food and cautions against taking the study findings at face value. “There are lots of factors at play here,” she says, “not the least of which is that people who consume fast food and people that regularly eat frozen food are people who choose different methods of quick meals and may have different lifestyles in general.”
Still, frozen foods can be healthy choices, depending on what you pick. McIntosh says to look for these items on the label:

1.Vegetables, but without the sauce.
2.High nutrient content relative to calories—potassium, calcium, fiber, vitamins A and D, and iron. You want a meal that will provide those nutrients while not exceeding your overall energy intake for the day.
3.Low sodium and no trans fats.

3 Comments

Posted in Issues in Science, Science in the News

Tagged Food, Frozen Food, Health, nutrition, Science Communication

Particle Accelerators are Really Expensive

Posted on November 10, 2014 by billycromb | Leave a comment

Plasma inside of a Plasma Lamp, from Wikimedia Commons

Particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) or the TRIUMF facility here at UBC are massive projects. The LHC cost roughly 7.5 Billion Euros to build, and has a circumference of 27 kilometers. These facilities allow scientists to perform all kinds of experiments about fundamental physics, but they take years and incredible amounts of money to construct. Ars Technica reported on an experiment at SLAC National Accellerator Laboratory at Stanford that could help reduce the cost of these projects by helping to accelerate particles faster in a shorter distance. All current particle accelerators work by using electromagnets to give energy to a stream of particles. Different designs arrange them in different ways, but the basic design involves a electromagnets arranged around a cavity which the particles pass through. Because the various particles that are accelerated are charged, they can be manipulated by electromagnets. Speeding them up is really not all that different from spinning up an electric motor or any other electromechanical device. The most powerful particle accelerators are large circular tunnels which pass the beam through the same cavities multiple times. The bigger the tunnels can be, the more speed can be added to the particles, which is a big part of why they’re so expensive. Building a 27 kilometer tunnel is expensive in and of itself, and the cost only grows when that tunnel needs to be built with incredibly precise dimensions. With science funding flagging in most developed countries, these costs might make it difficult for researchers to get the kind of investment they need to keep making progress on fundamental physics research using particle accelarators. What the SLAC group proposes is instead to use a field of plasma to transfer energy to particles. A state of plasma occurs when atoms are stripped of their electrons, leaving electrons and positively charged atoms floating freely around each other. The SLAC group found that when a group of electrons was passed through plasma, a “wake” (not unlike the wake of a ship on the ocean) followed them, pulling more electrons with them. These wake electrons were accelerated to nearly the speed of light, drawing energy from the surrounding plasma. This technique is far less straightforward than accelerating particles with electromagnets, but it is also far more efficient, so it could allow us to build more powerful particle accelerators without requiring as much space or money. There is still a great deal of research to be done on the dynamics of plasma, but this is a promising discovery.

The Slow Carbon Cycle

Posted on November 8, 2014 by fbhangu | Leave a comment

As we may already know, the carbon atom is very essential to life on Earth.
We use carbon to fuel our economy and we also eat the carbon we get in form of
sugar from plants. The reservoirs of carbon are where the carbon is stored. Being the fourth most abundant element in universe, carbon is mostly stored in rocks. It can also be found in fossil fuels, ocean, soil, atmosphere and plants.

The carbon cycle is when carbon flows from one reservoir to another in an exchange. In this blog, I will describe the slow carbon cycle, which is the exchange of carbon between the atmosphere, land and ocean.

The slow carbon cycle initiates when atmospheric carbon combines with water to form carbonic acid (H2CO3). This acid falls on rocks and it dissolves them. When the rocks dissolve they form ions such as calcium and these ions flow into the rivers, which leads to the ocean. In the ocean, the calcium ions react with carbonate and produce calcium carbonate, which makes the shells of different organisms. When these organisms die, they sink to the bottom of the ocean where layers of sediment are buried and carbon is stored in limestone.

These are four marine organisms living in the ocean. The micro organisms in c and d have shells that are made of calcium carbonate. When these organisms die, these shells sink to the ground to form limestone. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Then how is the carbon transported from the bottom of the ocean back into the atmosphere? This is done though volcanoes. Volcanoes make the rocks at the bottom of the ocean melt under extreme pressure and heat. When the rocks are heated they combine with silicate minerals and from this process carbon dioxide is formed and released back into the atmosphere.

This is a volcano in the ocean which effectively melts calcium carbonate in the bottom of the ocean and through reactions produces and releases carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. Source: Wikimedia Commons

I find this process to be very unique. Through the slow carbon cycle, carbon flows through different reservoirs and meets the biological needs of the living organisms in that reservoir. When the organism no longer needs the carbon, the carbon then flows out of the system and into another system where it is more useful.

Naqsh Fatima Bhangu

A Dire Future of Coral Reefs

Posted on November 5, 2014 by afung22 | 2 comments

Imagine what the ocean would become without coral reefs. If you can’t, then imagine what Earth would be like without trees, flowers and grass. Only skeletons of trees and bushes and patches of brown, dried grass would remain. The land would lack the vibrancy of life. The ocean, without coral reefs, would be the same.

Image of a coral ecosystem in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Photo by Gary Bell at oceanwidelmages.com

Coral reefs cover 0.1% of the ocean floor, yet provide food and shelter for one-fourth of all marine species. Coral reefs are the most important, diverse and valuable ecosystems on Earth. Not only are they essential to marine animals, but also very valuable to humans. Many drugs are being developed from animals and plants from coral reefs that may be able to cure cancer, bacterial infections and many other forms of sickness. Reefs also provide resources and income for tourism, fishing and it protects coastal habitats from physical turmoil.

This photograph shows the result of dynamite fishing in Sabeh, Malaysia. The bomb destroys the corals where it was dropped and the impact further radiates around the area. Photo by Christian Loader.

In the past decade, human activities such as overfishing, bad fishing practices, pollution, and global warming have killed many reefs. The ever-growing effects of global warming has caused a raise in CO2 levels in the ocean causing ocean acidification, where the acidity of the ocean increases when CO2 dissolves into seawater.

Micro-algal organisms, like the zooxanthellae, live in the corals and provide nutrients for them. These micro-organisms are very sensitive to temperature changes and acidity in the ocean. Death of these organisms lowers the amount of nutrients for the corals and thus lead to coral bleaching, where the corals die off.

Shown here is an image of bleached corals due to ocean acidification. Photo by J.E.N. Veron.

It is estimated that by 2050, all coral reef species on Earth will become extinct. Death of these reefs would eliminate ecosystem function and remarkably reduce biodiversity in the ocean.

Without coral reefs, marine organisms dependent on the reefs would go extinct and other marine ecosystems would also be affected. Additionally, 15% of the world’s population today depend on coral reefs as a tourist attraction, many people involved in reef tourism may become unemployed once coral reefs die out. Fisheries associated with reef fishing may experience a reduction in business. The disappearance of reefs can cause major economic issues around the world.

This sad, but inspiring video by Earth Touch serves as a wake-up call for the world and describes how lifeless the ocean would be without reefs.

Coral reefs are vital to all sorts of life on this planet, from fish to humans. Various research, including this by Hoegh-Guldberg, have shown global warming and rising temperature be the main cause of the decline of coral reefs. One significant change is to reduce the output of CO2 into the atmosphere. But until the human population cooperate together to solve this issue, CO2 levels in the ocean will continue to increase, leading to the death of coral reefs. If we do not act now, the future generation will only see the empty shells and skeletons of these once magnificent organisms.

-Alison Fung

2 Comments

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

Tagged Biology, coral reefs, corals, environment, global concerns, global warming, marine biology, marine organisms, Science, Science Communication

Fsih Framign in Birtsih Colmbuia… wait, there’s something wrong here!!

Posted on November 5, 2014 by aleggo | 2 comments

Fish Farming, or aquaculture, as Fisheries Scientists call it, is a burgeoning industry around the World, especially in China. It does however, come with a whole host of problems that we, as smart consumers, should be aware of. This blog post will focus on a few of BC Aquaculture’s problems and combines data from a wide variety of sources, however a good overview of the global industry can be found here!

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Image Source: Flickr User World Wildlife Fund.

The first major problem that we see in marine-based open system aquaculture facilities (where fish live in the sea water and there’s no filtration of that water) is the nutrient load added to the water. When we’re growing fish we want them to grow as quick as possible with as little food as possible (to maximize profit), so we use very, very high nutrient feeds. These nutrients leach out in the water around the pens and encourage algal and bacterial growth in the water. This can have some not fun consequences for the surrounding oceans! See very simplified YouTube video. Moreover, it really messes with the sediment underneath the pens, changing the ocean floor there chemically which can have very long lasting repercussions on the plants and animals that live there. We’re talking centuries long-lasting!

Now where do all those nutrients in the food come from? That itself is a big issue. They come from fishmeal, which is essentially small fish, ground up into pellets. These fish are caught in quantities that just boggle the senses (around 30 million tonnes every year). This fishing results in overexploitation and an undermining of the food web in an ecosystem. This happens because the little fish (that previously we hadn’t eaten) are removed in a huge quantity, leaving no food for the slightly bigger, predatory fish. When you combine this undermining (bottom-up) fishing with top predator (top-down) fishing, you leave a lot of BC ecosystems in a very precarious position. Around 30% of fishmeal is made of small fish, although efforts are being taken to reduce its usage.

Finally, we have to think about where we are putting these potentially harmful fish farms. Around 90% of BC fish farms are in the Broughton Archipelago on the North Coast of BC (see Fig. from Leggatt Inquiry) . This is an area that has traditionally been held by many, varied BC First Nations, who have an ancestral right to live and harvest there without interference. Often fish farms are provincially approved without their permission, leaving these people, who historically have ‘lived off the landscape’ (usually sustainably), to absorb the negative effects fish farms have on their environment. Further effort should be taken to actively involve and empower BC First Nations in the aquaculture decision-making process.

I hope this post showed you why Salmon Farming is such a contentious issue, although of course I only covered a tiny part of that huge debate. It is your choice on whether farmed Salmon is a good buy, but one thing is for sure, it ain’t going away any time soon! With World population increasing so rapidly, aquaculture needs to fill those mouths as the already overexploited wild-caught fish stocks can, and should, not.

Al Eggo

2 Comments

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

Tagged Aquaculture, BC, BCSFA, Cermaq, Ecology, environment, Environmental Damage, Eutrophication, First Nations, Fish Farming, Fishmeal, Greig, Marine Harvest, Norway, Pacific North West, Salmo salar, Salmon, Salmon Farming, Science Communication, Wild

Can’t decide? Roll a die

Posted on November 3, 2014 by imranmitha | 1 comment

Image source: Flickr commons; Uploader: neni d

Do you ever feel as though despite your experiences, you repeatedly make the same mistake? Most of the time, we center our decisions on logic and prior experience. But… can we ever get the best outcome by simply making a random choice and ignoring what we already know?

(Click here for an awesome article about how our brain helps our reasoning and decision-making!)

Rats were monitored by a computer that tried to predict the rat’s decisions. Image Source: Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)

In a study recently published in Cell, scientists from Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) found that when faced with a challenging “opponent”, rats stopped using strategy to make decisions and made decisions randomly instead. In the experiment, rats were presented with two holes in a wall, one of which contained a sugary reward. Meanwhile, the rats were monitored by a computer-simulated opponent, which recorded the rats’ past choices so as to predict its future choices. To get the sugar, the rats had to choose the hole that was not predicted by the opponent. When faced with opponents that made weak predictions, the rats selected holes using strategy. However, when the computers used complex algorithms to predict the rats’ choices, the rats instead selected holes at random!

Are there advantages for animals to change behaviour from using logic to choosing randomly? Firstly, when animals encounter situations that are unpredictable in the wild, such as predators or prey that move erratically, it could be beneficial to move randomly to evade predation or capture prey. Moreover, random behaviour might be useful in the exploration of new environments. For example, a rat might find food in a place that it would not explore if it were making decisions based on past experience gained in a different environment.

The scientists from HHMI discovered that when the rats faced hard-to-beat opponents, the amount of a stress hormone (norepinephrine) increased in the rat’s brain. Furthermore, the rats continued to act randomly even after the opponent started to make weak predictions again! To free the rats from this state, the scientists suppressed the release of the stress hormone, causing rats to return to their strategic decision-making.

Further research into the role of hormones in the brain on decision-making may lead to novel treatments foe mental conditions. Image source: Flickr commons; Uploader: European Space Agency

This study may be a step in the right direction of developing a treatment for “learned helplessness” in people. Learned helplessness is a mental condition in which an individual becomes unwilling to avoid painful situations because they believe that they cannot control the outcome. The actions of people suffering from this disorder resemble that of the rats stuck in “random mode”, as their decision-making is impaired. Perhaps a treatment can be found in the near future for learned helplessness and other conditions, such as depression, with further research investigating the brain’s function in decision-making.

In the video below, uploaded to YouTube by LennyBound, an Oxford math professor participates in an experiment that aims to explain the brain’s role in decision-making:

-Imran Mitha

1 Comment

Posted in Biological Sciences, Science in the News

Tagged Behavioural science, Brain, Cell Journal, HHMI, Human decision-making, Learned helplessness, Neuroscience, Norepinephrine, Science Communication, Stress hormone

Ebola: The Most Dangerous Virus In The World

Posted on November 3, 2014 by vetmed | 2 comments

Microbes, life forms too small to be seen by the unaided human eye, make our bodies their home and use it to live and reproduce. Among these microbes are viruses, more like machines than organisms, with only one purpose: to keep making more of themselves. Viruses inhabit living cells and use the cells’ machinery to reproduce, so the cells can’t work the way they’re supposed to. The results are generally horrible, and none more so than those of Zaire ebolavirus. Zaire ebolavirus can kill about 90% of the people it infects, though the current outbreak in West Africa has killed only about 65% of the confirmed cases according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Zaire ebolavirus image courtesy of The Tech Journal (click image).

Ebola is transferred through contact with infected bodily fluids, even sweat, and people infected with Ebola must be isolated in a health care facility. Symptoms of Ebola include vomiting, diarrhea, and haemorrhage (losing blood through openings on the surface of the body). In spite of this, contact with infected bodily fluids is not hard to come by, and Ebola is quite easy for a healthy person to contract. In addition, Ebola has started making its way around the world, and nobody is really safe. Humans have no official pharmaceutical defense (vaccines, drugs, medicine, etc.) against Ebola, making Ebola the deadliest virus in the world to humans, even more so than the almost invariably fatal (if untreated) rabies virus since humans have developed effective vaccines and treatments for rabies.

So how can we avoid Ebola? It’s worth pointing out that Z. ebolavirus can be killed with soap, so wash your hands frequently. If someone diagnosed with or suspected to have Ebola has been on your property, the area should be professionally cleaned and disinfected. Everyone who’s been on the property since the infected individual should be tested for Ebola as symptoms do not appear immediately after infection and may have been contracted by a visitor or resident. Ebola has a horrifying reputation, and the results are very real. Nonetheless, if we all do our part, Ebola is unlikely to become a global pandemic (rapid infections and outbreaks all over the world). A YouTube video by TestTube puts this matter in clear perspective:

– Jared Martin

2 Comments

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

Tagged ebola, epidemic, global concerns, Health, microbes, outbreak, virus

Category Archives: Science in the News

Acoustic Noise Pollution in Toothed Whales

Questioning Chemotherapy

Urban Algae Farms – The Solution to Highway Pollution

Frozen Food : to eat it or not to eat it?

Particle Accelerators are Really Expensive

The Slow Carbon Cycle

A Dire Future of Coral Reefs

Fsih Framign in Birtsih Colmbuia… wait, there’s something wrong here!!

Can’t decide? Roll a die

Ebola: The Most Dangerous Virus In The World

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