Category Archives: Issues in Science

Benefits of Eating Insects

Have you ever been disgusted by a cockroach or a spider? Of course you have! You may find the sight of a bug disgusting but for many cultures eating bugs is considered normal. In fact, there are 2 billion people worldwide who regularly eat bugs as part of their diet. Below is a video of some of the delicious dishes you can create with bugs.

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Credit: darrenb3

There are many benefits to eating bugs. They are a cheap food source, they provide important nutrients, and eating them is environmentally friendly.

Bugs are everywhere. They can be found in your own backyard. However, bugs in urban areas are not safe to eat due to the possible contamination from pesticides. Still, many bugs in the wild are edible and pose no risk. There are also farms which specialize in raising bugs for consumption. Since bugs can be found everywhere and are abundant, they are a cheap source of food. Insects make up most of the biomass of terrestrial animals and represent 80 percent of the world’s species. What makes them even cheaper is the low cost of raising them. They do not require the specialized care of normal livestock. Of course not all types of bugs are edible but there is still a huge variety to choose from.

Even though bugs are small, they can be very nutritious. Bugs contain almost no cholesterol and are chockfull of protein. Bugs also contain fat but that fat is mostly the unsaturated kind which is healthier. Another added bonus is the absence of pesticides and growth hormones commonly used in raising livestock.

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This chemical is Roxarsone which is used in chicken feed to increase growth. Credit: wikipedia

Eating bugs is also beneficial for the environment. Since bugs are so abundant, eating them is unlikely to pose a threat to their survival as a species. The following chart shows the percentage of species in each animal group and how endangered they are. From the chart, we can conclude that insects suffer the least from being endangered.

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A huge amount of other animal groups are endangered compared to the insect group. Credit: eoearth

These three benefits may not be enough reason to convince people to try eating bugs. This is understandable so in order to convince you here is a video that gives more reasons to switch to a diet of bugs.

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Credit: AsapSCIENCE

 

-Bowen

Commented on “Is It Safe to Take Expired Medications?” by Amir Jafarvand, “The Vaccination Debate” by Chelsea Cayabyab, and “Infectious Felines” by Danielle Marcotte.

Uncharted territory: how big is the universe?

How far is too far? On groggy Sunday mornings, the gym may seem “too far”, while for two long-distance lovers separated by circumstances, they are always “close enough”. For some, distance is relative to our motivation. Space, however, does not care what you think.

Voyager 1. Image from NASA.

It’s been over 35 years since NASA’s launch of Voyager 1, and since then, it has travelled almost 20 trillion kilometers from home. You might think that that’s far, but in the grand scheme of the universe where distances are measured with respect to light, it has travelled a mere 18 light-hours. To put that into perspective, the nearest star to our Sun, Proxima Centauri, is about 4.24 light-years away.

So how big is the universe then?

Before we address that, we need to know how old the universe is. Based on measurements of the cosmic microwave background, which is basically leftover radiation from the Big Bang, astronomers are confident that the universe is about 13.8 billion years old. Since Distance = Velocity × Time and nothing can travel faster than light (?), the universe must have a radius of 13.8 billion light-years, right? Wrong!

The Doppler effect on the pink sound waves. Image from user Charly Whisky from Wikipedia.

The short answer to the size of the universe is that it is at least 93 billion light-years in diameter. The reason that the universe is larger expected is because the universe is expanding. This can be determined by the apparent redshift of distant stars due to the Doppler Effect. So an object emitting light from 13.8 light-years away would have moved to a position much farther away.

One thing to note, is that this measurement is only what we can observe.  The observable universe from another planet billions of light-years away is likely different from our reference frame of the Earth. Is the universe infinite? Perhaps. But for now, we can appreciate that even though our paradigm of the universe is limited, there is still much to explore; we have observed billions of galaxies, and in each are billions of stars, each hosting their own worlds much like ours. Despite the uncertainty in the true size of the universe, we know that space is vast. As the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh had once said, “for my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”

If you have 45 minutes to spend exploring part of our Solar System, check out Alphonse Swinehart’s video below, where you travel from the Sun to Jupiter at the speed of a photon! Do yourself a favour and enjoy the video in full screen mode.

– Trevor Tsang

 

Possibility of Life in Mars

Mumma, Michael J. in the article “The Search for Life on Mars” states that because of considerable similarities of earth and mars, it may be possible that life exists in some forms in Mars. Although, up to now, there has been no evidence to prove the idea of existence of life in Mars, recent discoveries propose that Mars was once habitable.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Mars_Valles_Marineris_EDIT.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Mars_Valles_Marineris_EDIT.jpg

           Mars
Credit: Wikimedia

Scientists have conducted several investigations and researches in order to prove the possibility of life in Mars. Finding factors that are vital for the possibility of life, has been the most important goal for NASA. For example, NASA has done many studies by “Mars curiosity rover” and “Mars opportunity rover”.
For this purpose, scientists use an approach that includes 19 or 20 abiotic factors, with an emphasis of availability of liquid water, presence of nutrients, temperature, sources of energy and protection from cosmic radiation.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Mars_Rover_Curiosity_in_Artist's_Concept,_Wide.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Mars_Rover_Curiosity_in_Artist’s_Concept,_Wide.jpg

                      Curiosity Rover
                    Credit: Wikimedia

Some liquid water may flow on Mars surface, this can happen only under very specific conditions. Due to the atmospheric pressure of Mars water evaporates or freezes quickly. Therefore, it is very hard to find liquid water on Mars.

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                          Water Flowing on Present-day Mars
                                                 Credit: NASA

As we know existence of elements including: carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorus and sulfur are necessary for life. Many. Studies have shown that these elements are present in surface of Mars in some rocks. In turn , this can lead to an increase in possibility of life.

Another parameter that contributes to the possibility of life Mars is energy needed for metabolism. This can either be met by solar energy or geochemical energy.

Temperature also plays an important role in possibility of life. Because of loss of atmosphere in Mars, temperature has decreased significantly during the time.

Finally, because there is no global magnetic field in Mars to protect the planet from the life-threatening cosmic radiation, existence of life may not be probable.

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                                      Wind and radiation on Mars
                                                     Credit: NASA

To sum up, because there is lack of factors that are essential for existence of life in Mars, the idea of existence of life in Mars has a long way to go. However, with advancements in technology, we can hope to discover more evidence needed for life in Mars.

Kamyar Kazemiashtiani

Metal Can Sit on Dandelions?

Boeing, one of the world’s leading airplane manufacturers, along with the help of HRL laboratories, University of California, and Caltech has developed the lightest metal structure on earth. It is called the “ultralight metallic microlattice” and it composed of 99.99% air. So far, this structure can be made of any material, but it is easiest made with nickel.  Remarkably, this new material is 100 times lighter than Styrofoam and it is so light it can sit atop a dandelion without crushing the delicate seeds!

The delicate seed heads of the dandelion.

Delicate seeds of the dandelion. Credit: Greg Hume

How can this material be so light? It is all related to the structure of it. The architecture of the ultralight metallic microlattice is created by hollow-tubed microlattices that are arranged to resemble the honeycomb structure of the human bone. Is human bone not dense and rigid? The outer casing of bone (compact bone) may be dense and rigid; however, inside the bone (spongy bone) is mostly hollow with an open cellular structure, much like a kitchen sponge, which allows it to be airy and lightweight.

The cross-section of a bone. Notice the special structure of the spongy bone.

The cross-section of a bone. Notice the special structure of the spongy bone.

To create this product, researchers created thin, hollow struts with a diameter of only 100 to 500 micrometers and a wall thickness of only 100 to 500 nanometers to mimic the architecture of the spongy bone. To give a comparison, this wall would be 1,000 times thinner than a human hair.

As well as being lightweight, this material is also one of the strongest in the world. It can be designed to maximize energy absorption which makes it a useful insulator. As an insulator, it can dampen shock, vibrations, and acoustic energy and therefore this material can be widely used across many fields of technology. Furthermore, this material is able to completely recover from a compression of over 50% strain.

With this discovery, Boeing has been investigating possible ways to implement  this material in planes. This would create lighter airplanes which would create more fuel efficient flights. Boeing has created and sold many Boeing 787, Dreamliners, which already consume substantially less fuel and with this new material, optimistically there is a possibility that Boeing will soon be creating the world’s most fuel efficient flights!

Here’s a video from Boeing which summarizes the “world’s lightest material”:

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Lightest Metal Ever
Credit: Boeing

– Maureen Lai

I have two mommies and a daddy

You are probably now wondering if you read that title correctly. Well I assure you that you did. Science has yet again found a way to surprise us all by creating in vitro fertilized babies that have genetic material from two females and one male. The process is called ” three-parent in vitro fertilization” and it will be used as a technique to save the lives of millions of newborns.

By MartaFF (http://www.lainfertilidad.com) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

                 The main reason why scientists have even thought of creating such a method is due to defectuous mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) that some women have. Since every embryo receives mitochondrial DNA only from the female parent, these women pass this DNA to their embryo. Thus, the fetus becomes vulnerable to many life-threatening diseases which can cause massive harm to vital organs such as the heart, liver, brain and central nervous system. Up till now the only fertility options for these women have been either adoption of a child or in vitro fertilization with an egg donor.

By Martin Strachoň / Wikimedia Commons.(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Imagine what could happen if scientists can remove this faulty mitochondrial DNA and replace it with a healthy kind. The child would live! This is exactly what three-parent in vitro fertilization does. This mini transplantation process involves taking the nucleus of the mother’s egg and putting it in a female donor’s egg cell that contains healthy mitochondria. Then this egg cell is fertilized with the father’s sperm. Although the embryo does contain donor DNA apart from parent DNA, the phenotype of the embryo does not change. This method allows the baby to be healthy and live a normal life. It also gives parents the chance to have their own child who is genetically related to them.

By MyName (Imperfect chaosimperfect_chaos) (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

                Unfortunately there are ethical issues which are delaying the incorporation of this technique in fertility laboratories. Many people debate that transplanting mitochondrial DNA into an egg can also lead the way to other possible genetic modifications that parents want to make to “improve” their children such as higher IQ, a certain type of eye color etc. This argument fails to make a strong point as to why the three-parent in vitro fertilization should not happen considering that it could save many fetus lives.

All in all, scientific discoveries have enabled a way for mitochondrial diseased fetuses to live and grow into healthy babies. Check out this short video which sums up the way the procedure is performed and the benefits of this method.

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Credit: NMANewsDirect

By Doris Stratoberdha

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