Category Archives: Science Communication

Newly Discovered: Four Species of Algae on West Coast of North America.

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Daphne Wu | Leave a comment

It may come as a surprise to you but algae, or seaweed, has been around for a long, long time. Fossilized algae have been discovered that dates back to 1.6 billion years ago. It is incredible that they have managed to survive throughout the different climate changes that have occurred. UBC researcher in the department of botany, Sandra Lindstrom, is interested in the phenomenon of North Pacific algae species surviving the Pleistocene era, which was about 2 million to 10 thousand years ago, where glaciers covered this part of Earth.

Last year, Dr. Lindstrom and her colleagues discovered four new species Pyropia, a genus of red algae on the west coast of North America. Despite the fact that seaweed in this area has been studied by scientists for well over 50 years, Dr. Lindstrom and her team has managed to identify these new species by the use of modern genetic analysis tools: DNA sequencing and PCR.

How was it done?

When outward appearances, or morphology, of organisms are too similar to differentiate them definitively as separate species, their genes will set them apart. The video below will give you more background on Dr. Lindstrom, her research, and explain how she took advantage of a gene called the rbcL gene to uncover hidden species of Pyropia.

Credit: Hamed Hussaini, Jamie Chan, Daphne Wu, Parvin Pabla.

What do we use algae for?

Seaweed, or nori, has been harvested in China for about two thousand years. Used mainly as a food source in Asian, algae have also been used for energy as biofuel, and as fertilizer. In the podcast below, some common applications of red algae is highlighted along with an interesting tidbit about Dr. Lindstrom’s work for the industry.

Credit: Parvin Pabla

More possibilities?

Now that unexpected new species has been identified, there is room to explore about physiological factors contributing to the algae’s survival despite the harsh environment due to glaciation, and how species separated and evolved into unique new species in different locations.

Daphne Wu, Parvin Pabla, Hamed Hussaini, Jamie Chan.

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

Tagged algae, biology, botany, gene, genetics, science, Seaweed, SO project

The Link Between Calcium Channel Insertion and Changing Secretion

Posted on April 6, 2016 by paria | Leave a comment

Do you or someone you know suffer from diabetes? If so, you may know that this disease is a result of decreased insulin secretion from the pancreas. Decreased secretion of hormones like insulin may have detrimental effects on an individual. For this reason, researchers have conducted experiments in an attempt to understand how secretion works.

Illustration of Secretion

Dr. Christopher Groten, who is currently conducting research at the University of British Columbia, has found that the insertion of new additional calcium channels (Cav2) into the membrane of cells increases secretion of hormones. Specific to Dr. Groten’s research, the model organism Aplysia californica secretes a hormone called egg-laying hormone (ELH). This hormone is released upon activation of a particular enzyme called PKC.

https://youtu.be/SATOrk6w7-M

Credit: Brian Infanti

Aplysia californica

Often the transportation of calcium across the membrane occurs in response to a stimulation. However, the process involved is not well understood. Therefore, observing an organism with a simpler nervous system, such as Aplysia californica, allows researchers to better understand this mechanism by which calcium enters the cell. Correspondingly, Dr. Groten uses A. californica in his research because he believes that “Aplysia is a good organism to study because the behaviour is really well known, and it has a reduced nervous system”. Essentially, calcium channels are important for carrying out many vital processes in our body. Below, you’ll find a clip that might help answer a few questions about calcium channels in general.

https://soundcloud.com/brian-infanti/so-group-6-podcast

Credit: Brian Infanti

According to the podcast, there are many diseases associated with calcium channel deficiencies. Another study shows how specific areas of cells are associated with increased calcium channels and increased secretory vesicles. As a result, this leads to greater release of hormones. Perhaps a connection between calcium channel insertion and regions with lots of secretory vesicles can be made by relating this particular study to Dr. Groten’s findings in order to lead to other therapeutic strategies for various diseases.

As world population increases and diseases such as diabetes become more prevalent, further resources are required to improve research. For instance, Public Health Agency of Canada reported spending $15 million in the past 4 years on funding for the National Population Health Study of Neurological Conditions. With this type of funding in the public health sector, research like Dr. Groten’s can help lead to new discoveries that benefit the public.

– Paria Assadipour, Daniel Kim, Brian Infanti

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Outreach Project, Science Communication, Science in the News

Tagged Aplysia californica, bag cell neurons, calcium channels, ELH, hormones, PKC, secretion

Polymers with the Ability to Glow

Posted on April 5, 2016 by vanessa | Leave a comment

Science has many applications to our everyday lives which go unseen. From the moment the alarm clock wakes you up, to the moment you turn off the lights to go to bed, science is directly impacting your life.

You may be surprised to find out that a chemistry study in its early stages may have great implications for the situations you experience on a daily basis.

Benjamin Rawe, a chemist at the University of British Columbia, has been studying polymers that have phosphorus in their backbone. This study produced a polymer which can glow!

But what are polymers? In essence, polymers are repeating units made of monomers, which are individual molecules. Using these polymers, Dr. Rawe added phosphorus to the them. Phosphorus is an element with very interesting properties because it can react with many things. When this element is incorporated into the polymer backbone it fluoresces, which means that it can glow. It is easy to think of the phosphorus like a switch for the polymer. So based on what is attached to the phosphorus, you’re either turning on or turning off the fluorescence.

The video below explains in detail what polymers are and the properties of phosphorus that make it essential to this study.

Credit: Daniela Castillo & Vanessa Sidhu

The real-life application for these polymers that contain phosphorus is the possible ability for them to be used as sensors. Sensors are objects that detect an event or change, and respond to that change. Sensors are required for many parts of our daily lives, they are used in thermometers to measure your fever, the light that turns on when you walk by, and even the metal detector used at airports. Furthermore, the Global Positioning System (GPS) and smartphones are technologies that are on the uprise. The potential application for more efficient sensors in these items could help enhance these technologies even more.

The podcast below gives examples of sensors and their importance in our growing population.

Credit: Kush Khanna & Siriwat Chhem

The research on this topic is just getting started, there is much more to study and discover. Benjamin continues to learn more about the polymer he has created and the significance it can have in our society.

– Vanessa Sidhu, Daniela Castillo, Kush Khanna and Siriwat Chhem

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Posted in Issues in Science, Science Communication, Science in the News

Tagged chemistry, fluorescent, Phosphorus, polymers, science, sensors

High-stress, wave-swept environments give rise to structural diversity seen in kelp

Posted on April 5, 2016 by RachelCarr | Leave a comment

Wave-swept shores can be a stressful environment for many organisms. It can be difficult for humans to truly grasp how powerful waves can be given that we are surrounded by air, which has very different properties in comparison to water. A wave travelling at a velocity of 2 m/s is roughly equivalent to a wind speed of roughly 58 m/s. Even the seemingly gentle waves can be equivalent to the force of hurricane winds. The organisms that live in these environments experience the forces of these waves every few seconds. How then do species such as kelp survive in these harsh environments, without being torn off of the rocks?

There are two traits that allow kelp to survive in these harsh environments. Kelp can develop a highly-streamlined structure in order to reduce drag. A kelp with a stream-lined structure would be one that has thin, long and flexible blades. Our researcher, Sam Starko gave a really great analogy to help conceptualize drag. He said that it is similar to the feeling one would experience when sticking your hand outside of a car window when driving. The feeling of the wind pushing against your hand, or opposite to the motion of the car is drag. Kelp can also increase tenacity or attachment force by developing a larger holdfast and thicker support tissues such as a thicker stipe. If both of these traits help to increase the chance of survival, can a species of kelp be both highly streamlined and highly tenacious?

Credit: Rachel Carr

Researchers Sam Starko and Patrick Martone from the University of British Columbia wanted to determine whether these traits, tenacity and drag, are trade-offs. A trade-off in biology exists when one trait cannot increase without the decrease in another. The study found that some kelp are highly streamlined, yet are dislodged or broken more easily (less tenacious) and some kelp experience more drag or are less streamlined yet resist greater forces before dislodging or breaking (more tenacious). Indeed, some species of kelp were found to possess intermediate traits, but no species was found to be both highly streamlined and tenacious, providing evidence for a trade-off between drag and tenacity. Tenacity was measured along the shores of Bamfield, British Columbia by attaching a spring scale to the kelp which measured the maximum force required to break the stipe or dislodge the kelp from the rock. Drag was measured in a laboratory setting using a flow tank, where water flowed against the kelp at a speed of 1 m/s. After using software to compare sequences of genes between kelp species, the results were unaffected, that is, drag and tolerance strategies were not due to species relatedness. Thus, closely related kelp can have surprisingly different morphologies (structural features).

One explanation for the existence of this trade-off is that drag and tenacity both help to increase survivorship, thus investing in both traits may be too costly. The evidence provided for this trade-off helps to explain the immense diversity seen in brown algae today.

-Allan Zhu, Rachel Carr, Robert Chandra, Sung Eun Kim (Group 3)

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Outreach Project, Public Engagement, Science Communication, Science in the News

Tagged biofuels, biological trade-off, evolution, factors influencing kelp morphology, kelp, kelp drag, kelp tenacity, marine science research

Poisonous Potatoes? Your Spuds Can Kill You!

Posted on March 20, 2016 by robert chandra | Leave a comment

Potatoes are a staple food in North America and many other places of the world, but did you know this spuddy delight could possibly kill you? In 1978, a large group of boys in a school suffered from severe diarrhea and vomiting. 17 of them even required to be hospitalized and the 3 most severely affected children were even comatose. The cause? Eating a significant amount of toxic potatoes.

But how could potatoes, something the entire world eats nearly everyday cause such a ruckus? Well, potatoes as we consume them are generally not toxic. However, old potatoes that have started turning green start to produce a toxin called Solanine. Generally, people feel that it is a waste to throw away food and may possibly eat a potato that has slightly turned green, but eating too many of these could possibly destroy your digestive system!

A potato that has started budding could potentially carry a significant dose of Solanine. Image taken from Wikimedia Commons.

A study evaluating the toxicity of solanine found that when rabbits were administered solanine, they encountered breathing difficulties and partial paralysis of limbs. Some were eventually found to be dead. The results of this study highlight how important it is to be mindful of any leftover potatoes that have started turning green or even started budding; it is safer to throw these away rather than risk your personal health just to save a few dollars.

It is very important that more people be informed about this because almost every household in North America consumes potatoes and young children, who are more susceptible to lower doses of toxins are at risk here. Unknowing parents could possibly cook up some greening spuds which, at lower doses may not affect them but could possibly cause their children to fall severely ill.

So, the next time you find a potato that has been left for too long, despite how hungry or strapped for cash you are, please remember that you risk paying a much higher price for eating it than you would throwing it away. However, why should I pick on the potato only? Below is a video showing other commonly consumed items that pose just as much, if not more of a risk than the potato.

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Science Communication

Tagged food, food science, nature communication, potatoes, safety, science, solanine, toxins

How Your Phone is Influencing Your Sleep

Posted on March 19, 2016 by Daniela Castillo | 1 comment

If you’re like most people, you browse through your computer or phone minutes before you close your eyes to rest for the night. Whether you didn’t have time earlier in the day to update your social media, or you use your computer to do work, you may be affecting your sleep cycles without even noticing. The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) found heavy technology before bed time in 95% of surveyed Americans.

The video below by Reactions explains how the light emitted by electronic devices keeps us awake later at night, and what this could mean for our health.

Studies have found suppressed melatonin levels in subjects who used electronic devices at night. According to The New York Times, this decrease in melatonin could be caused from our brain not being able to tell day from night when exposed to artificial light after dusk. It is important to note however, that sleep patterns may also be affected even if melatonin levels do not change. For example, one may come across a stressful situation while using a digital device, causing one to not be able to sleep due to worry, anxiety, or fear. It is also crucial to consider the duration one is exposed to “blue light” before bed, for it to have an impact on ones sleep. Experts suggest turning devices off an hour before going to bed.

Business Insider further discusses the impacts on sleep, and why using our phones tell our brains to decrease melatonin secretions.

These results are especially concerning for children and youth, where sleep is essential in their lives as their bodies are still growing.

All in all, the exposure to bright light given off by digital devices potentially reduces sleep duration by causing us to take longer to fall asleep. So try putting those phones or computers away before bed to get a better nights rest and avoid sleep-related fatigue!

-Daniela Castillo

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

Tagged artificial light, bed time, laptop, LED device, melatonin, phone use, sleep, sleep cycle, sleep duration, smartphone

Exercise- A New Way to Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease.

Posted on March 19, 2016 by OliviaGaiaTanuseputra | 2 comments

As the global population is aging, the number of elderly suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia are predicted to increase to an estimated 75.6 million in 2030 and 135.5 million in 2050. Every 67 seconds, someone in the United States develops Alzheimer’s disease. Today, it is ranked the sixth leading cause of deaths in America. Although a growing number of researchers are studying the disease, Alzheimer’s disease is still the only cause of death in the top 10 that cannot be prevented, cured or slowed.

Alzheimer’s Disease Facts. Source: Alzheimer’s Association

A recently published study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease showed that calories-burning activities are linked with greater gray matter volume in brain areas responsible for cognition and memory. Gray matter in the brain consists of most of the brain’s neurons responsible for muscle control, emotions, speech and memory. Patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia have decreasing gray matter volume in the brain, thus affecting their cognition and memory. Halting the reduction in gray matter volume might be the effective way in preventing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Normal brain vs. Alzheimer’s brain. Source: Bioinformatics

The study conducted by scientists at UCLA and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine revealed that participants who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia who are physically more active experience less reduction in gray matter volume than those who are physically inactive. Participants who are physically active also experience less cognitive and memory declines.

Researchers gathered five years of data from 876 participants aged 65 and older. Brain scans, cognitive tests and interviews were conducted to gather accurate data about their cognitive health, physical health and physical activities over the period of five years. Participants filled questionnaires to evaluate their leisure time, physical activities and cognitive abilities.

Scientists revealed that those who exercise the most have a 5% larger gray matter volume than those who exercise the least. 5% decrease in gray matter volume corresponds to 50% lost in cognitive and memory functions. The brain scans revealed that participants who exercised the most have denser gray matter in the frontal, temporal and parietal lobes, which are the areas responsible for learning, cognitive tasks and memory.

Frontal, parietal and temporal lobes of the brain and their functions. Source: My Brain Tests

Scientists are encouraging doctors to start dementia and Alzheimer’s disease prevention by encouraging regular physical exercise instead of waiting for memory loss to start. Past studies have shown that delaying the development of Alzheimer’s disease by ten years would eliminate the disease as the elderly would die of other causes first before developing the disease.

Even though scientists have no fixed number of how much exercise it takes to prevent dementia, researchers estimated that the people need about an extra 500 calories per day to be burnt. Luckily, it doesn’t matter how the extra calories are burnt, as long as they are burnt.

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

Tagged alzheimer's, brain, cognition, dementia, elderly, exercise, health, memory, prevention

The Optimal Body Size: Larger, Taller Individuals Might Live Shorter Lives Due to Changes in DNA

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Jenny U | 3 comments

Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the University of Glasgow in Scotland conducted a study that showed larger, taller animals, including humans might live shorter lives, relative to their smaller, shorter counterparts because of the changes in DNA which are associated with faster growth and aging.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) Source: Wikipedia Commons

In the theory of natural selection, it was well understood that animals who were larger in size had a competitive advantage in terms of strength and in feeding over those who were smaller in size. As a result, biologists tried to make sense of why animals did not continue to grow after a certain point. Previous studies revealed that although larger animals do, on average, live longer than smaller animals, for example a whale has on average, a longer lifespan than a penguin and a cat, the link between body size and longevity can only be observed within species.

Human chromosomes (grey) capped with telomeres (white). Source: Wikipedia Commons

What changes in DNA are associated with biological aging?

Like the plastic tips at the ends of our shoelaces, telomeres cap each strand of our DNA that protect our chromosomes and therefore prevent our cells from aging and dying. The length of our telomeres represent our biological age because they continue to shorten as the cells in our body continue to divide.

In determining optimal body size, the researchers focussed their study on the relationship between body size and telomere dynamics. In the remote Leka island in Norway, they worked on a population of wild house sparrows and collected data on the sizes of their telomeres. Larger sparrows with larger bone structures have shorter telomeres and were observed to live shorter lives, relative to their smaller counterparts.

Scientists have concluded that there is association between shorter lifespan and telomere length. Shorter individuals are likely to have longer telomeres, which has an advantage against biological aging and overall risk of disease.

Professor Pat Monaghan, Regius Chair of Zoology at the University of Glasgow, who supervised the telomere analysis stated that “Growing a bigger body means that cells have to divide more. As a result, telomeres become eroded faster and cells and tissues function less well as a result.” This explains why larger, taller individuals tend to have shorter telomeres because they undergo more cell divisions than smaller, shorter individuals. Monaghan also noted that “The reason why the bigger individuals have shorter telomeres might also be related to increased DNA damage due to growing faster. Being big can have advantages, of course, but this study shows that it can also have costs.”

The results of their study were recently published in Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Sciences.

Posted on March 14, 2016 By Jenny U

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

Tagged biology, Deoxyribonucleotides, dna, Natural Selection, Telomeres

Cocaine: makes brain cells eat themselves?

Posted on March 13, 2016 by jamie chan | Leave a comment

Cocaine is an illegal drug, often used for recreational purposes for the effects it produces. It is a highly addictive stimulant, made from the leaves of the coca plant native to South America. The effects it produces include It produces short-term euphoria, energy, and talkativeness. However, it also produces potentially dangerous physical effects like raising heart rate and blood pressure. It increases the risk that the user will experience a heart attack, stroke, seizure or respiratory. In the past, cocaine was used as a topical anesthetic in eye and nasal surgery.

The powdered form of cocaine is snorted or inhaled through the nose, or dissolved in water and injected into the bloodstream. “Freebase cocaine” or Crack is a processed rock crystal that is heated to produce vapors that are absorbed into the blood-stream through the lungs. The term “crack” refers to the crackling sound produced by the rock as it is heated.

There are many issues surrounding cocaine, ranging from drug cartels and the drugs trade, to the popularization of cocaine due to the media.

A new scientific study was conducted to determine the effects of cocaine on the brain, in particularly high doses. The study suggests high doses convince brain cells to kill themselves, or apoptosis. Mice were tested to look at the effects, and the ultimate approach is to find therapies designed to disrupt the cell suicide process. This could potentially prevent or reverse the negative effects of cocaine in human beings.

Researchers found that cocaine can trigger one destructive cell suicide processes, known as autophagy, in mice. The cocaine causes autophagy, and important organelles in healthy brain cells, such as mitochondria, are destroyed or removed from the system.

After test cocaine’s effects on the brains of mice, the team tried to disrupt the chemical processes that trigger cell suicide. A experimental drug known only as “CGP3466B” could interfere with both chemicals, so they tested the drug on mouse cells that had been exposed to particularly high levels of cocaine. The results were a success and the drug is in development stages of being tested on mice, and later clinical trials on humans who abuse cocaine.

The following is a video of how cocaine causes an effect on the brain, with a review of the neurotransmitter dopamine, and how cocaine works in the synapse between neurons.

I think the new scientific discovery is important as now the mechanism is more well understand and since there is a high demand for drugs, that fuel the drug trade, this is a problem that needs solutions. I feel the media is often one part of the problem, with its glamorization of the drug. Hopefully the drug will make it to clinical trials and find a positive effects on humans drug users seeking help.

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

Tagged cocaine, drug users, neurons

Is the Zika Virus Spreading to Canada?

Posted on March 7, 2016 by siriwat chhem | 2 comments

On Feb 1st 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the Zika virus as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), after the first infection was detected in Brazil in 2015. The Zika virus is transferred by the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito.

An Aedes mosquito.

Some symptoms that stem from the Zika virus are mild fevers, rashes, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (pink eye). The symptoms usually do not last more than a week and often go unnoticed as they are not severe. Following an infection, the individual that contracted the disease has a high chance of being protected in the future, due to a build-up in immunity. With that being said, there have been almost no cases where those infected have died directly from the Zika virus.

The main concern of this spreading virus is the potential consequences it has on the babies in the womb of infected pregnant women. The contracted illnesses can be transmitted to the foetus through the placenta. The main disorder experienced by infected babies is microcephaly, which is an abnormal smallness of the head, a congenital condition associated with incomplete brain development. However, this article that discussed a study from The New England Journal of Medicine suggests that there are other potential complications. Researchers from the University of California – Los Angeles and Fiocruz Institute in Brazil stated that “29 percent of pregnant women infected with Zika virus had a range of severe abnormalities, including fetal death, calcification of the brain, insufficient amniotic fluid, restricted fetal growth, central nervous system damage and the possibility of blindness.”

Although the Zika virus is not lethal to the primary contractor of the disease, pregnant women are at high risks of giving birth to children with severe disorders and disabilities. Twenty Canadians, including pregnant women, have been reported to be infected in other countries. Graham Sher, Chief Executive Officer at Canadian Blood Services stated that “The risk of a unit of blood being infected by the Zika virus and entering the blood supply in Canada with our 21-day deferral policy in place is 1 in 38 million.” We have been reassured that those infected will be thoroughly screened before entering back into Canada, but can we ever be sure?

-Siriwat Chhem

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Posted in Issues in Science, Public Engagement, Science Communication

Tagged disease, Virus, zika virus

Category Archives: Science Communication

Newly Discovered: Four Species of Algae on West Coast of North America.

The Link Between Calcium Channel Insertion and Changing Secretion

Polymers with the Ability to Glow

High-stress, wave-swept environments give rise to structural diversity seen in kelp

Poisonous Potatoes? Your Spuds Can Kill You!

How Your Phone is Influencing Your Sleep

Exercise- A New Way to Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease.

The Optimal Body Size: Larger, Taller Individuals Might Live Shorter Lives Due to Changes in DNA

Cocaine: makes brain cells eat themselves?

Is the Zika Virus Spreading to Canada?

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