Category Archives: Science Communicators

Looking deep within a cell, super resolution microscopy technique improved by researcher at UBC

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Brian Cheng | Leave a comment

What do you think is the smallest scale visible through a light microscope? Bacteria in micrometers? Guess again. The answer is thousands of times smaller. Last year, a Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy, which brought the imaging scale down to nanometers (billions of times smaller than a meter). Recently, Reza Tafteh, a PhD candidate from the University of British Columbia further improved on this technique. The specific version of super resolved microscopy Reza improved on is called single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM), and it allows scientists to image deeper into a target cell with greater accuracy. An interview with Reza is available in this podcast:

The computer system used to operate Reza’s microscope, photo credits: Ivan Lan, Reza Tafteh

As Reza explained in the podcast, SMLM achieves high resolution through image reconstruction. Imagine looking into a traditional microscope like looking down on the city of Vancouver at night from an airplane above. It is hard to tell the contour of the city with the limited lighting. Using fluorescence on the target sample is like turning on the building lights in the city, allowing us to observe things that aren’t normally visible under the moonlight. Now imagine that these lights are constantly on and extremely bright. If the location of the lights are too close together, many of them may seem blended with each other. This makes it harder to tell apart (or resolve) smaller structures such as narrow streets from one another; which in this case is like trying to resolve narrow structures within cells. SMLM reduces this effect by turning the lights on and off at different times for different parts of the city, which you can find more details in the podcast and the video.

However, the traditional SMLM technique isn’t perfect. Alongside major limitations in stability mentioned in the podcast, another major limitation is the distortion of an image caused by changing refractive indices through several different media, just like a pen appearing bent when inserted into a cup of water. Refractive indices varies from the cover-slip to the media (the substance the cell is placed in for imaging), and from the media to the cell.

Refractive Index difference causing image refraction. Source:Flicker Commons, Author: Mohammad Tajer

Reza Tafteh has improved on both of these limitations. His approach can produce stabilized images with reduced distortion when imaging deep into samples. Here is a video of him demonstrating his stabilization technique.

Reza is now trying to push the limits of SMLM even further, he sets his eyes on improving the technique’s inability to image live cells, while continuing to increase the resolution and clarity of microscopy images. It is exciting to think that specific cellular structures such as heart cell calcium receptors can be observed in unprecedented detail. It is not hard to imagine the many biological fields that can benefit from this microscopy technique. Reza’s improvement on SMLM can potentially lead to better understanding of molecular biology, which may one day lead to new treatments for diseases such as central core disease.

Music and sound material used in podcast:

Ping by AiAE Channel
Heartbeat by BerlinAtomspheres
Town Clock Striking by Sound Effects
Far Too Loud by BOmBAxitO
A Media Luz by Astor Piazzolla (iTune)
The Day It Rained Forever by Aurora (iTune)

A sincere thank you to Reza Tafteh for participating in this project.

By: Group 3, Brian Cheng, Esther Lo, Ivan Lan, Sainan (Stephanie) Liu

Brains and games in 21st century – How do video games affect us?

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Radu Nesiu | 3 comments

There is a lot of debate regarding how video games influence our brains development and whether or not games are beneficial or damaging. Scientists have examined both sides and the question that needs to be answered is whether games are beneficial or they are transforming us into machines.

credits: http://guardianlv.com/2013/08/researchers-develop-mind-control-using-the-internet-video/

Some studies show that prolonged exposure to video games has negative effect both on the body and the brain. Games decreases attention span, increase the risk of obesity and violent games decrease sensitivity towards aggression. The implications are troubling since decreased attention implies lower academic performance and obesity is a health risk factor. Furthermore it is shown that decreased sensitivity towards aggression not only makes us consider aggressive behavior acceptable but it also increases the chance that we will become aggressive.

credit to: http://yoursinglesourcefornews.com/ academics-debunk-theory-linking-violent-video-games-with-aggression/1379/

Another fact that must be considered is repetitive tasks in games. Because there are lots of games that become repetitive and have reward systems that encourage that behavior gamers are exposed to lose of creativity. Since repetitive tasks are better suited for a computer we could ask ourselves if our mind is encourage to become a basic processing unit.

However, there is another side of games which was investigated by researchers and the findings encourage people to become casual gamers. The benefits from games are as follow: better cooperation skills, adaptation to new challenges, fast reaction time and better attention to details.

credits: http://www.jklmgames.co.uk/how-games-can-train-the-brain

Besides the standard types of games we should also consider games that involve movement (e.g. some Nintendo Wii games) which are shown to motivate exercise. Those type of games should become encouraged in populations with increased risk of obesity, where the reward system should be tailor for the customers.

The tricky part of the games is the reward system which acts as a drug since it releases dopamine which is the hormone for excitement. Using this we can develop games that can stimulate people to learn and train. A study done on surgeons showed it is possible to increase job performance via gaming. Here is a TED talk about games and how we can use them to construct a better world.

Based on what we seen so far casual consumption of non-violent games have beneficial effects, however one must take extra care since crossing the line and becoming an addict can severely impact us.

Radu Nesiu

3 Comments

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

Tagged benefits from video games, brain, brain functions, excessive gaming, science, Science Communication, TED talk, video games

Free Speech for Science in Canada!

Posted on November 9, 2015 by mathew golf | 1 comment

After a long (for Canadians) 78 day election we finally have a new leader, Justin Trudeau of the Liberal Party. Personally, I am very happy about this because it means that scientists can now speak freely about their work, and that their analyses will be considered when the government makes decisions.

Reference: Pitt Meadows Today

Not only did he appoint a new minister, Trudeau also dissolved Harper’s Conservative Party’s restricted communication enforced onto scientists, limiting them in what they could talk about with the media in a highly regulated sense. Navdeep Bains, the newly appointed Minister of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development has a clear stance on scientists being able to communicate freely with the media, public, and government about their work and the results obtained. As well, Trudeau created the post of Minister of Science, which he appointed Kirsty Duncan a medical geographer at the University of Toronto. Furthermore, Trudeau also looks to name a chief Science Advisor next, and with all of these positions being filled by adequate persons, it looks as though Canada will be able to speak freely about science again. As many believe this will be the “restoration of science” in Canada.

Below: Kirsty Duncan becoming the Minister of Science.

Reference: sah news

Finally, the scientists of Canada, whether up-incoming or already established, do not have to be hesitant in pursuing a scientific career affiliated with the Canadian government. As under this new leadership we, the scientists of Canada, will not be limited into how we communicate our research with the media and general public. Allowing for us to communicate freely about the scientific studies performed, therefore, better educating the public of Canada in the issues the science may try and combat.

Reference: The National Post

By: Mathew Golf

Commented on:

Luxi Xu – “Work-life Balance”

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Ivan Lan – “On Wasps and Matricide”

1 Comment

Posted in Issues in Science, Science Communicators, Science in the News

Tagged government science, politics, Public Engagement, Science Communication

Work-life Balance

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Luxi Xu | 6 comments

Nowadays, more and more people are working long hours and taking less and less vacations. According to this article, employees in the United States only use 51% of their eligible paid vacation time, and for Chinese the number is even lower. If you calculate the number, that’s nearly 50 billion dollars left unused annually by workers in the states. But does longer working hour reflect a greater amount of work done? The answer might be “no”.

source: Wiki Commons

Working hour and productivity

Longer working hours leads to a fall in labour output per hour, as indicated by the graph below.

Source: OECD and Economist

There has been a lot of paper published on the topic, demonstrating that reduced working hour may higher productivity. This more recent paper shows that working longer hour doesn’t mean quality work. In fact, it is probably the opposite. It all comes down to how people work smart instead of work long hours.

Unlimited Vacation Policy

License: CC0 Public Domain

There is an increasing tendency for companies to offer unlimited vacation as compensations or a way to encourage workers to recharge. Companies that offer unlimited policy includes Netflix, Evernote, Chegg, Prezi and other technology-based firms at Silicon Valley. LinkedIn is the latest to join the group. According to the Society for Human Resource Management survey, even though only 2% of employers on the market offer such benefit, it’s evident that other industries are following the trend.

Having an unlimited vacation policy might sound attractive at first glance but does it really benefit the employees? It’s undeniable that there are a lot of benefits:

Trust and flexibility: Having an unlimited vacation policy implies company’s trust on their employees and it provides high flexibility for employees’ work-life balance.
Higher Productivity: Research shows that working over 40 hours per week without vacation leads to reduced productivity; Being able to relaxed and off-work for a longer period of time might bring higher productivity.
Selling point for recruitment: Such policy will make the company more appealing in the job market and attract like-minded candidates.

However, that’s not the whole story. Employees whose income relies heavily on commissions may not take advantage of the policy, makes it redundant. In fact, this has happened in real life. Majority of the employees won’t go on vacations as much as employers anticipated. In addition, an unlimited vacation policy is not “unlimited” in the sense that workers still need to request from his/her boss for a leave. If the worker hasn’t done the work, there is high probability that the policy doesn’t apply to him/her.

It’s also important to keep in mind that corporation, good ones and bad ones, all share a same common goal — get the most out of the employers given the salaries they pay. To achieve a work-life balance, it is truly up to workers to choose between working long hours or more time with family, friends or one’s self. Most importantly, workers should start by working smart and improving efficiency/productivity for a better balanced life.

Here’s a TED talk that elaborate on how to achieve a better work-life balance.

Credit to: Ted Talk x PSU

Luxi Xu

Comments:

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Sainan’s Can we predict the future

Esther lo’s Embalming Rosalia Lombardo

6 Comments

Posted in Science Communicators

Tagged balance, life, people, Public Engagement, science, Science Communication, TED talk, undergraduate, Universal Blood, working

Pirate Ants

Posted on November 2, 2015 by kuol biong | 3 comments

Human being is the most social animal the world has ever known. It is also true that most animals are social animals in a sense that they interact entirely in their quest to live together, protect each other and work together. Bee, ant and most animals live in a colony. Through division of work, ants are believed to build their empire in a giant structure called anthill which most activities like incubating eggs and raising of young hatched one take place.

We do believe that ants are social animals and that they exploited the tactic of division of labor to manage their activities,however, little did we know that there is more to just being a social animals. Like human race where slavery was at one point and still going on,an order of the day, ants do have slave-making ants. Slave-making ants are parasites that attack and overrun the other ants’ nests to increase their work force of their colony.

Slave-making ants are divided into two main branches; permanent social parasites who depend on slaving their hosts ants all their lives or facultative slave-makers which partial depend on slave-making and working on their own Nest. (own.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave-making_ant)

In order to maintain the working force in their empire, slave-making ants had to go raiding other nests. During the process of conducting raid, slave-making ants marked the way to their nest with pheromones,a chemical that is being secreted to trigger a social response from the members of the same species. After having properly spied and marked all the routs, slave-making ants will quickly attack the targeted host nest. When they have overrun and captured the nest,they will carry with them so many larvae and pupae to their nest using the trail they had previously marked with pheromones.

Ant carrying larva during raiding.

During raiding, the targeted ants (host) colony will either respond in an attempt to defend their territory or flee.Photo credited to Wondergressive: Ants fighting during raiding

Once they decided to depend themselves, more adult ants from both species are killed in large number, but most studies (Ruano_et_al.2013) revealed that the targeted ants flight to save lives and slavery of their adults.

Slave-making ants raiding the neighboring colony.

The broods which are captured during raiding are later adapted and integrated into the nest and train them to work for their master.In most cases many captives grow up believing that they are in their own nest. This happen when larvae and pupae are raised up in the host empire and treat them as one of their own.

Kuol Biong

3 Comments

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

Tagged Public Engagement, Science Communication

How Do We Evaluate Scientific Claims?

Posted on October 31, 2015 by inhye kim | 2 comments

What criteria do you use to judge the validity of scientific claims? Scientific writing should objectively give out information to readers rather than attempt to persuade them. As the roles of scientific claims are answering research questions and serving as the main point of a report, it must be reviewed with reasons and criticality rather than with opinionated arguments. Thus, a good scientific claim should include objectivity, validity of reasons, and authenticity of the evidence; these criteria help the claim to stand without bias or subjectivity, to be proven with validity and the credibility of the claim.

Source: David Wood via Google Image

Objectivity is one of the important components of a good scientific claim because it allows readers to take the claim without bias or subjectivity. If a scientific claim contains any particular bias, it can lead the claim subjugated to prejudice. For example, it is recommended to research and to refer to a variety of information sources that embrace different opinions towards the topic in the discourse. Without objectivity, readers are often misguided that one-sided opinion is a valid criticism.

Without valid reasons, scientific claim would not be able to prove anything. Scientific writings always have to include valid reasons that justify the claim’s position amongst many others. For example, if your claim argues that garbage patch has adverse effects to seawater, you should provide a constructed reason that plastic, the majority of the garbage patch, releases toxins into the water, instead of arguing without the valid reason that garbage pollutes water.

Overview of scientific method Source: David Wood via Google Image

Furthermore, the reasons that support the scientific claim have to be validated by empirical evidences. The reasons cannot stand alone without the evidences that prove the credibility of the claim. Authors can authenticate the reasons by using data or statistics as reliable sources of evidence. For example, if you write a report about the negative effects of Pacific Garbage Patch on environment, a published data on the toxic chemical concentration of seawater would successfully support the claim.

Scientific writings play an important role in informing and educating the public. Hence, they have to present their positions with objectivity, validity of reasons, and authenticity of the evidence. Without accomplishment of these three conditions, a scientific writing becomes null.

“Social Complexity and Scientific Validity” by Dave Wiley

YouTube video courtesy of: TEDx Talks

InHye(Lisa) Kim

2 Comments

Posted in Issues in Science, Science Communicators, Science in the News

Tagged empirical evidence, objectivity, Public Engagement, science, Science Communication, scientific communication, scientific validity, valid reasoning

I’m Having Fun Watching References! Or: How to Turn a Scientific Paper Into a Video

Posted on October 19, 2015 by lorenz buehler | Leave a comment

I recently came across a video that made me instantly want to share it with everybody in SCIE 300. Not because of the content (although that is interesting on its own) but because of the presentation: it is hands-down the best example of effective visual communication. It’s not just me, the top comment for this video on reddit.com/r/videos is:

“I wish in no way to seem like I am glorifying the tragedy that this was; but this video was fantastic. It was clear, to the point and a very solid and concrete explanation as to what happened. It was incredibly informative and showed just how devastating what happened was. “

The video aims to present the investigative report of the MH17 crash in the Ukraine in 2014. A document of several hundred pages has to be somehow turned into a captivating, informative and easy-to-understand video, and the Dutch Safety Board rose to the challenge.

I invite you to watch the video first to gain some context. If nothing else, watch the stunningly concise and conclusive analysis and conclusion (until the man with the white hair stops talking at 14:50) Notice how they chose to represent certain information, from simple things like a flight route to more complex zoning of altitude restrictions.

Source: The Dutch Safety Board, Youtube

More interestingly, the video looks like a scientific paper reads, up to and including well-visualized references! (bet you never thought you’d like watching references). It’s a fantastic visual presentation of thorough scientific investigation, and a great example of how to communicate science to the public.

What makes this video so easy to understand and such a pleasure to watch, despite the somewhat dry data that has to be conveyed?

The video did not go over top with visual effects and kept it as simple as it could while making it look appealing. There is no ‘checkerboard flip and rotate from the left’ slide, the presentation has a very polished feel. It manages to include all the basics without going overboard.

Appropriate graphics make understanding a complex situation: The original flight altitude restriction was FL260, the recent one was FL330. The airplane was above both at the given locations.

It uses concise, appropriate language. Despite the technical aspects of the investigation the presenters manage to translate the concepts into something most people can understand and follow.

It appears that visual communication is a catalyst for effective science communication. The potential effective communication has for science is apparent: The above video has over a billion views. Similar videos like the ESA’s AMBITION short movie or the adorable short animated series have garnered a similar widespread reception, promoting science in a very approachable way.

I am especially curious to read what you guys thought made the video effective. More importantly, what aspects can we translate into our own work, for example power-point slides?

Lorenz Buehler

DNA TAKE ON A NEW ‘SUPERCOILED’ SHAPE

Posted on October 12, 2015 by kuol biong | 1 comment

The iconic double helix of DNA that James Watson and Francis Crick first published in 1953 was not the end of DNA structure as new Study revealed.The double helix of DNA was just a tiny fraction of a real genome.It consists of 12 DNA base-pairs that later formed building blocks of DNA known as helical ladder.

DNA structure is made up of almost 3 millions base-pairs that must fit into nucleus of a cell which is just 10 micrometers across, thus DNA must really have to coil to fit into nucleus.

To get the bigger picture according to the new research,the researchers recreated DNA molecules in the lab. The researchers forced DNA strands to coil and recoil it at the same for several turns using short circular snippets of DNA that is made up of many base-pairs.
The researchers the discovered a panoply of a breathtaking new shape of DNA.
Supercomputer simulations show how the dynamic motion of the supercoiled DNA causes its shape to change constantly to form a myriad of structures.

Most of which have different shape of DNA like handcuffs or sewing needles.Others through their coiling shape look like rods.

Photo credit: LIVESCIENCE/Thana Sutthibutpong

To make this ‘supercoiled’ DNA strands visible in the human body,researchers inserted an enzyme called human topoisomerase II alpha into the body to show how this ‘supercoiled’ DNA look like in the body.
The enzyme relaxed DNA twisted DNA in human body.This new discovery of ‘SUpercoiled’ DNA was reported today (oct 12) in the Journal Nature Communications posted by livescience that the structural shape of DNA created in the lab resembled the strands of DNA found in the cell nucleus.

The DNA samples were then froze and used a special form of microscopy to capture the first-ever images.
According to James Watson and Francis Crick, DNA helix is formed when complementary base-pairs like adenine and guanine are bound together which is now being contradicted by the new simulation of DNA in the new study that these base-pairs peel apart when the helix is unraveled.

The new discovered has shown us the complexity of the structure of DNA.It is now beyond double helix and it is so interesting to see how ‘supercoiled’ is DNA.

KUOL BIONG

1 Comment

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

Tagged Science Communication

Video

Your Password is TOO Short

How many times are you forced to change your password on CWL and get constantly annoyed by the restriction rule? You are not alone, most people experience difficulty with strict requirements for their new password. According to this study, Only 18 percent of the population are able to create a password that meets all the requirements on their first attempt; 25 percent simply give up.

It is human nature not to feel threatened by thefts they don’t see, and we feel confident about all the passwords we created. Unfortunately, most of us have weak passwords, which can be “guessed” by computer within few minutes, even seconds.

Source under: Creative Commons CC0

How do they crack your password?

© User:Colin / Wikimedia Commons, via Wikimedia Commons

There are numbers of ways for a cracker to get your password. This post by Dorothy Ordogh from 2014 Term 2 explained it pretty well. In addition to trick you for passwords/personal informations over network, A cracker can:

guess your password online using the common passwords every 24 hours to avoid lockup of the account
try every word offline from a dictionary using software tools
try Brute-force attack: test every combination of letters and symbols(for example, Enigma)
hack into a vulnerable security system, get the hash of your password and then run tools to find matches

Nowadays, most systems have encryptions/hash implemented to secure clients’ passwords. However, such implementations doesn’t guarantee the safety of your data. The best way to keep you safe from any attack is to use strong ones.

If there are millions of passwords waiting to be matched, you want to your password to be the hardest to crack.

This scientific study reveals that passwords with a 16-character minimum requirement is the hardest to attack compared to other groups, including a 8-character minimum group with upper/lower case and dictionary check requirements. Another interesting finding is that adding a number to a password doesn’t decrease the predictability of the password.

So How long should my password be?

In 2010, a study by the Georgia Tech Research Institute suggested that a good password should be long, complex and easy to remember such as a sentence with numbers or symbols. The minimum length should be 12 characters.

If you would like to test the strength of different passwords, here is a website that calculates the time to crack your password under different attack scenario.(keep an eye on the offline fast attack scenario)

Given the processing speed and the capability of computers nowadays, short and simple passwords won’t survive even the simplest attack. Extensive use of internet and mobile devices make us easy targets for online thefts. To protect yourself from being a potential victim, it is important to be aware of the danger and take actions. Remember, a longer password won’t hurt.

Here is an interesting TED talk by Professor Lorrie Faith Cranor. She also talk about how hashing passwords works:

YouTube video courtesy of: Ted Talk

Time to change passwords!

Posted by: Luxi Xu

Category Archives: Science Communicators

Looking deep within a cell, super resolution microscopy technique improved by researcher at UBC

Brains and games in 21st century – How do video games affect us?

Free Speech for Science in Canada!

Work-life Balance

Pirate Ants

How Do We Evaluate Scientific Claims?

I’m Having Fun Watching References! Or: How to Turn a Scientific Paper Into a Video

DNA TAKE ON A NEW ‘SUPERCOILED’ SHAPE

Your Password is TOO Short

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