Category Archives: Biological Sciences

Is Plan B (The Morning After Pill) Safe?

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Shikha Walia | 4 comments

There are a lot of misconceptions around emergency contraception methods in our society, especially around Plan B. Plan B is an emergency contraceptive pill based on levonorgestre (a synthetic steroid hormone that is used in some birth control pills). The reason behind the misconceptions may be for a variety of reasons, such as a lack of education present about it or bias when information about it is presented. To be honest, I myself was one of the people who was very misinformed about Plan B in terms of how exactly it worked and what the risks it presented were.

As the title of this blog post suggests, one of the main questions people have regarding Plan B is whether it is safe, and for what ages is it safe? This is especially a hot topic because there is a vast debate on whether or not to make Plan B accessible for girls of all ages without a prescription in the United States of America. In Canada, Plan B is available on pharmacy shelves without a prescription in all provinces except for Quebec.

Rally: Flickr Commons Credit to: IaIvanova

In terms of the risks associated with taking Plan B, a study comparing two types of emergency contraceptive found that for pills based on levonorgestre, the three most common side effects were headaches, painful menstruation, and nausea for the women sampled. The bottom line from this study and further studies on the matter is that there seems to be almost no long-term or serious side effects associated with taking Plan B for most women of all ages.

After researching the risks associated with Plan B, the second thing that I was most curious about was exactly how Plan B works. I had heard people call Plan B an “abortion pill” before and this was one of the main reasons behind my misconceptions about it. Plan B however is not an “abortion pill”. Moreover, Plan B works before fertilization. It does so by either briefly stopping the release of an egg from the ovary or by preventing a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus. The data on Plan B by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that Plan B must be taken “orally as soon as possible within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse.”

Plan B Pills: Flickr Commons Credit to: meddygarnet

The youtube video shown below is a great summary of the main ideas mentioned in this blog post about Plan B. I think it is great that it has over 1.6 million views because it shows that people are interested in this information and that it is indeed making its way out to the public.

Credit: AsapSCIENCE on Youtube

On a final note, it is important to recognize that Plan B in no way prevents against the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases. Not only that, Plan B is not a substitute for other forms of routine birth control and should only be taken in emergency situations.

4 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Public Engagement, Science Communication

Tagged contraception, facts, hormones, morning after pill, myths, plan b

Gallery

Spontaneous and Contagious Yawning

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Gagandeep Gill

In any given day, there is at least one instance where we yawn. This may be a “spontaneous yawn” or something called a “contagious yawn“. The difference between the two is that a “contagious yawn” is a reaction to someone else’s yawn. … Continue reading →

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The Harmful Sun: Evidence for Post-Exposure Damage

Posted on March 2, 2015 by gurtaj mahil | 5 comments

Woman applying sunscreen on to her face for maximum protection against the UV-radiation of the Sun. Source:Flickr commons. Image by earthlydelights

It is common knowledge that the ultra-violet (UV) radiation from the Sun has the ability to cause skin-cancer. For this reason, many of us make sure to apply sunscreen before we depart for the beach on a sunny day. But is the sunscreen doing it’s job? Is it effective in preventing skin-cancer?

Sunscreen can come in the form of a spray or a creme and is vital for protection from the Sun’s harmful rays. As described in this article, sunscreen functions to protect your skin by absorbing the UV rays, acting as the first-line of defence. The article also mentions that no matter how high the protective power of the sunscreen, not all of the UV-rays will be absorbed and some will ultimately reach the layers of the skin.

As per this BBC article, as these UV-rays make it past the sunscreen, they are absorbed by a component of the skin called melanin. Similar to how sunscreen is the first layer of defence, melanin is the second layer of defence against the sun’s rays. Again, melanin does not absorb all of the UV-rays and some pass through to the deeper layers of the skin. This article says that once the UV-rays penetrate the melanin, they can cause disruption at the DNA-level which may cause skin-cancers. This is not the whole story, however.

The video by Kevin Boyd through Ted-Ed explains why sunscreen is necessary to prevent skin-cancers:

According to a new study out of Yale University, scientists have discovered that the Sun’s UV rays have the ability to do damage for more than three hours after exposure. The study found that once the melanin absorbs the UV-rays, it initiates a series of chemical reactions in the skin that produces heat. This heat, it was discovered, is what ultimately damages the DNA, hours after initial exposure to the sun.This is a huge breakthrough as it was not previously known what happens to the UV-rays after being absorbed by melanin.

Yes, the sunscreen that is on the market now still protects against UV rays, however, it does not protect against the post-exposure damage that occurs. So no, the present form of sunscreen is not as effective as it should be. The real-life implication of this study is that now scientists can produce an ‘evening-after’ sunscreen that can be applied after exposure, protecting your DNA from the heat and ultimately preventing cancers.

Finally, a quick note for all those that don’t feel the need for any sunscreen; not only are you putting yourself at risk for cancer when you are in the sun but also for up to four hours later,even if you are indoors. Until this new type of sunscreen is developed, I think it’s essential that we allow for as little UV-rays to get to our melanin as possible. So, lather up!

A sign that reminds everyone to ‘use plenty of sunscreen’ to protect themselves from the harmful rays of the Sun. Source: Flickr commons. Image by Alex Liivet

5 Comments

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

Tagged DNA mutation, exposure, skin-cancer, sun, sunblock, sunscreen, UV, Yale

Three-Parent Babies

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Siana Lai | 2 comments

Last month, the United Kingdom voted to legalize “three-parent babies.” They are the first country to allow this procedure and within a year, the first of these babies will be born.

Mitchondrial replacement can prevent mitchondrial disease from being passed on to future generations
Photo courtesy of Flickr

These babies will have three parents in an attempt to eradicate mitochondrial disease. In short, this disease is caused by mutations in the mitochondrial DNA which in turn leads to insufficient energy for the cell’s survival. The death of cells causes the organs to fail ultimately leading to death. This illness is passed through the mother to her children. There are three traditional choices for mothers with this disease that hope to have children. They can adopt a child, use a donor egg, or become pregnant and at 11 weeks have the fetus tested for mitochondrial disease. At that point, they can choose to terminate the pregnancy. However, there is new hope on the horizon for prospective mothers in the United Kingdom that have this disease. The government recently legalized a method of three-person in-vitro fertilization, mitochondrial donation.

There are two methods of mitochondrial DNA replacment, maternal spindle transfer and pronuclear transfer.
Photo courtesy of Flickr

There are two different methods of mitochondrial donation. The first is named maternal spindle transfer where the repair is completed before fertilization. An egg is taken from both the mother and the donor and both the nuclei are removed. Next, the mother’s nucleus is kept and inserted into the donor’s egg while the donor’s nucleus is destroyed. Then, the donor egg containing the mothers nucleus and healthy mitochondria is fertilized with the father’s sperm. Finally, the egg is implanted back into the mother.

The other method of fertilization is named pronuclear transfer. In this procedure, the repair is done after fertilization. First, an egg is taken from both the mother and the donor. Then, they are fertilized with the father’s sperm. Before the eggs have a chance to replicate, the chromosomes from each egg are taken out. Next, the donor ones are thrown out and the donor egg is filled with the mother’s chromosomes. Finally, the egg is implanted in the mother.

There are many ethical concerns attached to this issue causing countries including Canada to hold back on legalizing this procedure. In Canada, this specifically has to do with the fear of opening the doors to designer babies. Not only are designer babies horrifically dystopian and Brave New World-esque, it may also decrease the natural variability of the human race, something that is required for the race to survive and adapt. However, changing a baby’s mitochondrial DNA is a far cry from creating designer babies. The procedure has no effect on their hair or eye colour and it isn’t enhancing them in any way. In fact, the change affects less than 1% of the baby’s total genome.

Other ethical concerns include “germline” genetic engineering, the fact that one of the embryos are destroyed in the pronuclear transfer and that we are unsure of this procedure’s effects on humans. Even with these concerns, this procedure is worth it if we can eradicate a painful disease affecting millions.

Check out this video by Elliot M. that sums up mitochondrial replacement:

– Siana Lai

2 Comments

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

Tagged biology, ethical issues, health, in-vitro fertilization, medical issues, mitochondria, modern technology

Blue & Black or White & Gold?

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Elice Xie | 1 comment

Recently on Twitter, BuzzFeed, Tumblr and other social medias, there’s a debate on what colour a dress is. Perhaps you have heard about this or even seen this on the news. Why do some people see the dress as black and blue and some see it as white and gold? Is it because of the rods and cones on our retina? Is it an optical illusion or entirely something else?

One possible answer to this question is the rods and cones on our retina. Rods and cones are photoreceptors. Rods are responsible for night vision and cones are responsible for detecting colour. Cones are further divided into three types: red, green and blue. Despite people having different ratios of red, green and blue cones, we all have similar colour sensitivity. For instance, when we look at the sky, we see blue even though we have different ratios of the three types of cones. For this reason, the rods and cones on our retina are probably not responsible for the different opinions of the colour of the dress.

Rods and Cones of the Retina Source: Wikimedia Commons

Maybe this is an optical illusion? Optical illusion occurs when our eyes send information to brain that tricks us in seeing something that is different in reality. Illusions occur because our brains are wired to see colour. When the brain interprets colour, it works out how illuminated the colour is by the surrounding light and the colours of nearby objects. So when you’re indoor, the brain cancels out the extra yellowness and the extra blueness when you’re outdoor. Our brain also uses a process called “top-down” to interpret light. Top-down processing is when our perception starts out with a larger object or concept and work its way down to a more detailed idea by filtering information through experience and expectations.

Which square is darker? Source: Wikimedia Commons

Which square is darker, A or B?
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Here’s a video on optical illusions uploaded by BuzzFeedVideo:

So back to the dress. By filtering out different background colour, we see the dress as a different colour. If you filter out the blueness of the picture, you would see the dress as white and gold. But if you filter out the yellowness of the picture, you would see the dress as blue and black. If you’re a night-owl, you tend to see the dress as blue and black. Since you’re exposed to indoor lights more, your brain would cancel out the extra yellowness in the picture making the dress look blue and black. What do you see? Blue and black or white and gold? Personally, I see blue and black.

Due to possible copyright issue, here’s the link to the picture of the dress.

– Elice Xie

1 Comment

Posted in Biological Sciences, Public Engagement, Uncategorized

Tagged brain, colour, eyes, optical illusion, photoreceptors, social media

Boosting Your Immune System with a Dose of Personality

Posted on February 23, 2015 by samantha mee | 3 comments

Personalities and their effects on biological systems have become an increasingly popular focus of research over the last few years; the target of these studies is often related to the degree in which our personalities can regulate many aspects of our life, such as our wellbeing. A video from the Youtube series ASAPScience (see below) provides an example of the link between personality and biology. The video specifically discusses a relationship between personality and sleep habits (whether you’re a night owl or a morning person) and how the latter reveal your personality traits.

The science behind our personality is simple. It can be defined as a collection of characteristics or qualities that form an organism’s unique character. These specific traits that all combine to form a unique personality can affect different aspects of our life, such as our performance in school and the friendships we have. The question is, does personality really have an impact on our health?

Previous studies have linked personality and its role in the risk of developing health problems. More recently, research has shown that personality traits can be a factor in how well a body can fight a disease. Published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, a study conducted by Kavita Vadhara and colleagues at The University of Nottingham has shown that some traits part of the ‘Big Five’ group, which are five primary dimensions of personality common to all humans, can play a role in the way the defence system of the body works. This system is also known as our immune system.

The ‘Big Five’ Model shows the five primary dimensions of personality.
Big Five Source: Wikipedia Commons

The team of researchers asked 121 students to complete a questionnaire based on their personality. This questionnaire measured their degree of the ‘Big Five’ personality traits. Specifically, they looked how extroverted the participants were (energetic, talkative), their neuroticism (how anxious or moody) and their conscientiousness (how organized or thoughtful). In addition to the questionnaire, they also took a blood sample from each participant. This allowed the analysis of a number of genes that are involved in an inflammatory immune response, which is a response initiated by our immune system that helps the body fight infection and speed up the recovery from injury. Using microarray technology to determine which genes are active, the team of researchers were able to make a correlation between personality traits and the active genes required for an immune response.

The above instrument is used in microarray technology to identify active genes.
Microarray Source: Wikipedia Commons

Results showed that participants who scored higher for extroversion in the questionnaire had an increased expression of pro-inflammatory genes (genes capable of promoting inflammation). However, participants who demonstrated a higher degree of conscientiousness subsequently had a decreased expression of pro-inflammatory gene expression. In other words, individuals with a more social behavior appear to have a greater ability to deal with infection and injury, whereas participants who were more cautious could not effectively handle the infections. The third trait mentioned, neuroticism, did not show an association with gene expression.

Before you celebrate that your outgoing disposition means you’re better at fighting illness, I think an important question that should be asked is, what is influencing what? Could it be the opposite cause-and-effect relationship, where our immune system influences our behaviour? Whatever the cause of the above results, the study conducted by Vadhara and colleagues provides further support to the dynamic relationship between health and personality.

Check out this video by Kurz Gesaft explaining how the immune system works:

Thanks for reading!

Samantha Mee

3 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Science in the News, Uncategorized

Tagged disease, Gene, health, Immune System, microarray, Personality, science

Adderall: The Study Drug

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Rajpreet Gill | 5 comments

The Drug Enforcement Agency classifies Adderall as a Schedule II Stimulant. Drugs under this classification serve medical purposes but also have a strong potential to be abused. This is an appropriate classification for Adderall as multiple studies, discussed below, have acknowledged its abuse among university and college students. A question to consider is, are the reasons behind abusing Adderall worth the potential consequences?

Adderall
Source: Flickr Commons
Credit to: hipsxxhearts

Amphetamine, the active medical ingredient in Adderall, is used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) by increasing the impaired level of two neurotransmitters: norepinephrine and dopamine. In doing this, individuals with ADHD are able to function better throughout the day.

Post-secondary students, however, are using Adderall for non-medical purposes. One study used Twitter posts to confirm the use of Adderall as a study aid among college students. Another study acknowledged the ease with which students could obtain Adderall and demonstrated that students use this drug to improve focus in hopes to improve their grades. Furthermore, a more recent study looked at usage patterns by inspecting metabolites, the product remaining after a drug is broken down, from Adderall in campus wastewater samples. The study found that during high stress periods, such as midterms and final exams, the concentration of these metabolites increased.

Study Aid
Source: Flickr Commons
Credit to: Quinn Dombrowski

One other study talked about how prescription stimulant abuse has increased, and illustrates the various consequences of abusing Adderall. These consequences may include a psychological dependence for the drug once users believe they cannot perform well without it, insomnia, increased blood pressure, irritability, personality changes and tolerance, which may lead to users increasing the dosage. The same study found that Adderall abusers are 20 times more likely to use cocaine and heroine once they had developed a tolerance to Adderall. Additionally, users who develop a physical dependence on the drug may experience withdrawal symptoms such as extreme fatigue, violent mood swings, panic attacks, depression and uncontrollable cravings.

Given the wide range of possible consequences, you might be wondering if taking Adderall when it is not prescribed for you is worth the risk. A recent study found no consistent improvement on measures of cognition when comparing the experimental condition, taking Adderall, to the control condition, taking a placebo. This study examined 13 different aspects of cognitive ability including intelligence, working and episodic memory. Although participants believed their performance was enhanced while taking the drug, the study concluded that generally no enhancement was observed. As Adderall does not cause a significant improvement in cognition, it is unlikely to improve students’ grades.

This video by Health Animated does a great job summarizing the information surrounding Adderall:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24dPuIkwU4Q

Personally, I do not condone using Adderall without an appropriate prescription, nor do I think it’s ethical to abuse Adderall in an attempt to enhance one’s abilities. Additionally, I do not think it is smart to put oneself at risk for a potentially insignificant improvement in cognition.

– Rajpreet Gill

5 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Public Engagement

Tagged Adderall, ADHD, attention, college, drug abuse, health, prescription drugs, students, university

New Species Discovered in Antarctica?

Posted on February 22, 2015 by mtakhi | 1 comment

Planning on travelling to another continent as a vacation? Why not book a flight to Antarctica? Antarctica may have long winters and short day-light hours but new species are still being discovered till this day. Thousands of scientists travel during the summer hoping to make astonishing discoveries and get a better understanding of this bitter-cold and isolated world.

A recent discovery has been made on fishes living beneath Antarctica by drilling holes through the ice and feeding a camera through it. These are not your ordinary fishes but rather a worm-like fish that live beneath a 740 m thick ice. Ross Powell, who led the team to this project, mentions that it is incredible how these species have managed to thrive with little to no sunlight and be isolated from rest of the world. These cameras usually pick up lifeless mud environment with at most microbe activities. However, the discovery of these fishes has definitely intrigued many scientists.

Fish found below Antarctica ice Credit: Reed Scherer (NIU) Source: Scientific American

Furthermore, even though there are a few species thriving in Antarctica, how were their ancestors able to survive for thousands of years? An international team has discovered that steam and heat from the volcanoes have helped many species to survive in ice ages. In addition, a team lead by Ceridwen Frazer has collected data for many decades and pinpointed a common trend. His team found that there were more species living near the volcanoes compared to other places. Frazer explains that these large volcanoes melted large ice caves that are warmer than outside. This has allowed species to survive during cold ice ages.

Antartica Credit: Vincent Van Zeijst Source: Wikimedia Commons

Antarctica Credit: Vincent Van Zeijst Source: Wikimedia Commons

Moreover, the environment of Antarctica has sustained life for thousands of years. However, there is a growing concern of large volumes of ice melting causing a rise in sea level and destroying ecosystems. Scientists are using computer software to run simulations of possible outcomes in the next few years. For example, they looked in East Antarctica’s Wilkes Basin. Currently a thick rim of ice at the coast is holding this basin in place. If this rim of ice were to melt, the basin can cause a rise of 300-400 cm in sea level.

Credit: Newsy Science from Youtube

Lastly, action has been taken to prevent the destruction of Antarctica due to global warming. Changes in sea level have devastated the food web by flooding its environment. Commission for the Conservation of Antarctica Marine Living Resources’ (CCAMLR) are making an effort to protect waters around Antarctica.

Taking a step back, Antarctica has provided homes to many species. Scientists are still discovering new species in little to no sunlight areas. Now there is a growing concern with sea level rise due to melting ice sheets, and we must do our research to find ways to prevent this deep concern. If you love the cold, then make sure to stop by Antarctica on your next flight.

-Manpreet Takhi

1 Comment

Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Science Communication

Tagged Antarctica, Antarctica Fish, global warming, sea level rise

Academic Procrastination

Posted on February 18, 2015 by harrimal cheema | 2 comments

Academic Procrastination also known as Student Syndrome is when students put off things to a later date for other pleasurable activities thus, increasing their time pressure and stress levels.

According to Professor Clarry Lay, procrastination occurs when there is a temporal gap between intended and enacted behaviour.

Many of us take time for granted. When our professor announces that we have few weeks to complete an assignment, we all procrastinate and leave it for last minute. The night before, we cram and stress ourselves out and by doing this, even if we get the assignment done on time, the results are poor. While many take this as a learning lesson and improve their time-management skills, there are still students who tend to repeat this activity and make it a part of their life. They continuously leave work to last minute and stress themselves out. They lack time management skills and have trouble setting priorities in life.

According to research, fear of failure leads to procrastination. Many students don’t start their assignments on time because they underestimate themselves and lack confidence. They think that they won’t be able to do well on their assignment so, they keep pushing it off to a later day, which indeed is not the right approach to take. They should have faith in themselves and perform tasks to the best of their ability. Procrastination only gives us short-term success and for long- term achievements in life we have to learn to use our time wisely and set our priorities and goals accordingly.

What most university students struggle with is, completing their tasks on time? They are not able to decide whether attending a party or finishing a term paper is more important. The video below shows what students do to procrastinate. They tend to follow the crowd without realizing what the consequences will be. Studies show that this behaviour of theirs, leads to stress, anxiety, cramming, all-nighter and intake of large amounts of caffeine and other energy drinks. All these activities pose a threat to their health thus, leading to poor grades and low self-esteem.

As a result, to avoid procrastination as mentioned in the video below, students should set small goals and priorities in life. They should adopt smart study skills and eliminate the word ‘perfection’ from their dictionary.

So, for better performance students should have their day planned out and have short reminders set up for upcoming assignments. Breaking tasks into smaller ones also reduces stress and allows on time completion of tasks. If motivation is what they lack than by inserting small rewards after completion of small tasks can increase concentration and make work more entertaining. Therefore, managing time wisely grants students the privilege of grasping more opportunities in life.

– Harrimal Cheema

2 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Public Engagement, Science Communication

Tagged anxiety, confidence, enacted behaviour, intended behaviour, low self-esteem, stress, student syndrome, temporal gap

Chewing Gum or Not Chewing Gum: that is the Question

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Amirhossein Tashakor | 2 comments

Sad boy by Aruna Ganesh

Chewing gum, Source

Have you ever been told by your parents to not chew gum since it is bad for your health or teeth? As a kid, we all used to ask for a piece of gum more often. Even as an adult, you might chew gum to cure your bad breathe in the mornings or between your meals, but is it true that chewing gum is only harmful for us? Recent studies show that chewing gum has some benefits beside its drawbacks. So, it could actually be somehow good for you. Here is the science behind the advantages and disadvantages of chewing gum.

Advantages of chewing gum

In a very recent study, Stefan Wessel and a team of researchers at the University of Groningen have confirmed their hypothesis that chewing gum would be as effective as flossing in fighting against bacteria and removing germs from your oral cavity. In the study, the researchers examined the volunteers’ gums, that were given to them, of 5 individuals after a few minutes, they found out that the gums trapped around a hundred million bacteria, the bacteria that would otherwise cause infections and tooth decay.

The video below by DNews highlights the importance of chewing gum.

Another advantage of chewing gum, which was discovered by Kate Morgan, is that it increases a person’s concentration and awareness. When you chew a gum, the flow of blood that reaches to part of your brain called the Temporal Lobes increases, so it causes you to have a better perception and visual memory task.

Disadvantages of chewing gum

According to a research in 2013, the scientists revealed that chewing gum causes a disorder in individuals’ diets. The study found out that those who chew gum before their meals tend to eat more. Besides, they would have fewer daily meals than people who do not chew gum before their meals.

Moreover, in a study by Nathan Watemberg, the researcher found out that chewing gum and headaches are related. He discovered that those individuals who chew gum too much have more headaches symptoms. This is because of the pressure inserted into Temporomandibular Joint in the jaw when we chew a gum.

Check out this video below by LVI TV, talking about drawbacks of chewing gum and how it causes headaches:

Should we chew gum or not?

Well, now we all know that chewing gum has both advantages and disadvantages for our health, but that does not mean we should not chew gum. We can take advantage of chewing gum by not consuming it excessively while getting its benefits.

-Amirhossein Tashakor

2 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Public Engagement

Tagged Chewing gum, Concentration, Flossing, Headaches, Oral health, Teeth

Category Archives: Biological Sciences

Is Plan B (The Morning After Pill) Safe?

Spontaneous and Contagious Yawning

The Harmful Sun: Evidence for Post-Exposure Damage

Three-Parent Babies

Boosting Your Immune System with a Dose of Personality

Adderall: The Study Drug

New Species Discovered in Antarctica?

Academic Procrastination

Chewing Gum or Not Chewing Gum: that is the Question

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