Category Archives: Issues in Science

The Body Snatcher

Posted on November 30, 2016 by | Leave a comment

When you think of parasites, what comes to mind? Worms? They’re small? They’re gross? Irrelevant to our region?

Turns out these little beasts have a greater impact than you’d think. Gehman studied how a certain parasite that infects mud crabs is affected by environmental factors, such as temperature. Her research enriched the pool of knowledge regarding the parasite model! This means, information known about a specific parasite can be applied to similarly behaving parasites. For example, Gehman’s findings help us better understand the malaria parasite! For additional significance of her research, please listen to this podcast.

Audio credit: https://soundcloud.com/evelyn-chen-827562817/so-project

                                                                                              

Why are parasites important to you?

With globally increasing temperatures it’s possible for new parasites to surface in different regions and affect us, either directly or indirectly.

Parasites require the presence of a host to survive and the abundance, distribution, and susceptibility of the host affects the parasite. To evaluate these factors, Gehman and her colleagues studied factors within 10 estuaries and observed the abundances of hosts and parasites in each region.

screen-shot-2016-11-30-at-3-35-42-pm

Image Credit: Andy Tucker, Georgia University

They studied a castrating barnacle parasite that infects the mud crab. Mud crabs reside in oyster reefs and rely on them for protection. This parasite establishes itself within the mud crab and changes its behavior and reproduction patterns,  effectively taking over its body. Infected mud crabs have a sac under their body which makes them unable to get into the oyster reef, leaving them vulnerable to their predators.

As shown through this video, you can see the sac on the mud crab.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGo32jzqQAI&feature=youtu.be%20

Video taken from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGo32jzqQAI&feature=youtu.be

It was shown that regions with varying abiotic and biotic factors influenced the abundance of this parasite.

Host Size

Host size was the biggest predictor of parasite infection as larger mud crabs would be infected more often. Smaller crabs would not have enough energy to sustain the parasite, but larger crabs have more energy to sustain the parasite and may also be older, increasing their susceptibility to infection.

Water Depth

As this parasite has free-living larvae it migrates further in deeper waters because it flows with the water circulation. Therefore, in deeper waters there is a higher rate of infection.

Predator Abundance

Areas with higher predator abundance both could increase and decrease the infection prevalence. In deeper waters, mud crabs are trying to avoid their predators and that can increase infection in those individuals. However, predators that feed on infected crabs can also decrease the infection in that population.

screen-shot-2016-11-30-at-3-52-03-pm

Image credit: Andy Tucker, Georgia University

At first glance, it is hard to see this paper’s significance, but after understanding how this relates to us it is clear how important it is. There has been little evidence for how the ecological structures will change due to environmental factors which is why Gehman’s research about these tiny organisms is pivotal. More research in this area could solidify the parasite-model, allowing us to better understand the impact parasites have on human health.

So how many more bodies will be snatched as global warming continues?

 

»Group 5

Evelyn Chen, Nikeisha Dass, Riaz Vejdani, Jane Wanjiru

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

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Something You Should Know about Seafood

Posted on November 14, 2016 by | Leave a comment

Recently, a news article draws my attention as it highlights the adverse effects on humans due to increased mercury level in the ocean. According to this article, mercury content of shallow ocean layers has tripled since the industrial revolution, and therefore has posed a serious threat to seafood security and human health.

Mercury

Mercury

In fact, mercury contamination is not a new topic. It comes from a variety of sources, and artisanal mining is one of the major causes. Mercury has been used in many developing countries to extract gold for decades, and countless humans and children living in these regions have been suffered from it. Overuse and misuse of mercury not only affects livelihood near the region, but also affects humans globally.

I have read through some studies and have found out that Hg concentrations in liver and muscle of seabream after exposed to MeHg for 10 to 30 days are considerably higher than controlled seabream. The longer time fish is exposed to MeHg, the more significant change will be caused. Seafood is an important component of humans’ daily diet because of its high nutrient content. In addition to increased mercury level in the ocean, bioaccumulation and biomagnification occur with human’s long-term consumption of Hg-contaminated seafood. For example, tuna is a common fish in our menu but has a high Hg concentration. MeHg poses multiple threats to human health. Common symptoms are sleep difficulty, memory loss, headaches, and weakness etc. Some well-known diseases, such as Minamata, are the adverse effect caused by consuming contaminated seafood.

 

Teriyaki Tuna.

Teriyaki Tuna.

However, because it is a global and complicated issue caused by multiple reasons, there is no universal solution to stop increasing mercury level in the ocean. As a result, we need to be careful about our seafood selections. Pregnant women and small children should restrict their fish intake, because they are most vulnerable to the toxic metals accumulating in seafood. One day, humans will probably have to stop consuming seafood in order to survive from mercury contamination.

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

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The Future Nanowire Battery

Posted on November 14, 2016 by | Leave a comment

How did you feel when your favorite electronic device, such as a smartphone or tablet, could not be charged anymore? Did you know there was a limit? Many electronic devices can be used for only 3 or 4 years because their battery life is not infinite. Fortunately, new research has found a way to extend battery life. I will explain this method of applying nanowire technology.

First, we must understand nanowires. A nanowire is thousands of times thinner than a human hair. It has a very good electrical conductivity, and it can store a lot of electric charges. However, according to some previous research, nanowires are very weak, so they will be broken after recharging a few thousand times. For example, a lithium battery can be recharged approximately three thousand times, similar to nanowire batteries, but if we can protect the nanowires, we can make these batteries a much longer time.

The image obtain from Wikipedia

The image retrieve from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Nanowires_on_si_substrate.jpg, published under non-commercial use license.

A student at the University of California, Irvine(UCI) called Mya Le Thai found that nanowires can be recharged more than 200,000 times if they are coated with manganese oxide. She spent three months testing nanowires with this protective coating. They were recharged more than 200,000 times, and they remained intact and functional.

I think this research is very important because scientists have not improved the life of batteries for a long time. Nowadays, some people use electric cars to protect the environment, but the life and size of the battery is a major limitation to this vehicle technology. Moreover, many people get annoyed when they have to charge their electronic devices again and again, and doing so is inconvenient and risky, such as when a smoke detector or a home alarm system batteries stops working. If we could have a battery, which could last much longer or forever, these frustrating problems would be solved.

Zhongkai He

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

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A Post-Antibiotic Future is Probable

Posted on November 7, 2016 by | 3 comments

The discovery of antibiotics (drugs used to fight pathogenic bacteria) revolutionized medicine in 1930’s and ’40’s. Today, these wonder drugs eradicate 548 million bacterial infections successfully every year. Prior to this, bacterial infections were mostly fatal; cholera for instance had a mortality rate of 80% as opposed to today’s less than 1%; without surgery, appendicitis and bacterial meningitis had a mortality rate of 100% as opposed to today’s less than 10%. However, the recurrence of the pre-antibiotic era is very probable due to what The World Health Organization is currently considering one of the world’s most serious health crisis – antibiotic resistance.

What is antibiotic resistance?

Antibiotic resistance is the natural phenomenon in which certain bacteria continue to divide and multiply in the presence of an antibiotic. This happens because like most organisms, bacteria are subject to natural selection (a process in which organisms more suited for their environment survive and multiply while the less-suited ones die). Therefore, when bacteria are exposed to an antibiotic, most die; those that evade the effects of the antibiotic continue to divide, generating a new resistant colony; this evasion is possible due to random mutations or through the possession of unique genes transferred from bacteria to bacteria.

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Selection of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Image from Wikimedia Commons

Since 1930’s, antibiotic resistance has always been offset by the continuous production of new antibiotics. However, due to antibiotics overuse and lack of advancement in developing new drugs, resistance rates are catching up! Last year, bacterial species resistant to our last resort antibiotic, colistin, was reported in China; this resistance is very worrying as colistin remains the best drug for tackling antibiotic-resistant infections unresponsive to the strongest antibiotics.

What are the effects of antibiotic resistance?

Antibiotic resistance has negative effects in our society. Out of 250,000 patients that acquire antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Canada, 8,000 pass away. This number is larger than the combined number of deaths from breast cancer, AIDS and traffic accidents! With time, it will grow larger due to the gradual loss of antibiotics effectiveness. Therefore, procedures dependent on the use of antibiotics such as chemotherapy and surgery will be harder to complete in the future.

If nothing is done, antibiotic resistance will lead to other unpleasant circumstances. For instance, a greater number of deaths from minor bacterial infections will be observed. Due to longer periods of illness and use of stronger, more expensive drugs, increased financial costs will also result; worldwide, an estimated 1.7 billion dollars is anticipated annually based on infections from one group of resistant bacteria. Lastly, use of stronger medication to treat infections will result in more side effects for patients.

How can we decrease the rates of antibiotic resistance?

Besides finding new treatment alternatives, avoiding overuse of antibiotics is the most effective way to combat antibiotic resistance. It is estimated that 50% of antibiotics  prescribed to humans are for viruses. We should aim to avoid taking antibiotics if they aren’t needed. In addition, finishing all prescribed antibiotics is crucial to minimizing the chance of nurturing antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science

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The Benefits of Wine

Posted on October 31, 2016 by | 4 comments

Wine is a very common alcoholic beverage nowadays. Whether you are with friends for a night out or enjoying a quiet evening alone, wine offers a temporary relaxed state of mind. Although too much wine intake could pose negative health effects, moderate consumption is proven to be beneficial. Moderate consumption is considered to be 2 drinks for men and 1 drink for women, daily.

This image was obtained from Flickr.

This image was obtained from Flickr.

How exactly is wine consumption beneficial?

Wine contains resveratrol, which is an antioxidant. Antioxidants are substances that inhibit the process of oxidation. Immense research has been conducted in order to determine the health benefits of resveratrol.

An extremely important health benefit of resveratrol is its anti-inflammatory property. Despite inflammation being a defence-mechanism against bacteria and viruses, long-term swelling of this type in the body could have negative health effects and lead to diseases. Therefore, the anti-inflammatory characteristic of resveratrol in wine is advantageous, especially for those with chronic inflammation.

Resveratrol also contributes in promoting mitochondrial efficiency. Mitochondria are the source of energy required for metabolic processes in the human body. Due to its anti-inflammatory properties, resveratrol reduces the stress on mitochondria, allowing mitochondria to allocate energy for other processes.

Additionally, resveratrol helps to protect against heart disease and cancer. In particular, resveratrol helps to control LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol), that may clog arteries and lead to heart attack/disease. Furthermore, several studies have suggested that resveratrol has anti-cancerous properties. Resveratrol aids in cancer protection by promoting apoptosis, which is programmed cell death, in cancerous cells. Studies have demonstrated that resveratrol blocks the pathway that causes breast cancer.

The following video lists additional benefits of resveratrol.

Video Credit:  https://youtu.be/-AGNo3Xvxjw

Although many studies have tested to find the effects of resveratrol on the human body, I believe further research must be conducted in order to conclude that resveratrol is beneficial. Since studies have relied on animal models for their experiments, the dosage of resveratrol required for humans is unknown.

Despite wine containing resveratrol, I don’t think wine should be a go-to source of resveratrol. While moderate consumption can be healthy for humans, too much alcohol intake could be dangerous. Other sources of reservatrol are plants, nuts and fruits (especially grapes!).

Pavneet Virk

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

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Why you (and everyone else…) call her ‘mom’

Posted on October 31, 2016 by | 4 comments

You are 10 years old again, and you’re at the grocery store with your mom. The reese’s pieces in aisle 4 caught your eye, but just for a second. You turn around to ask your mom to if you are allowed to get them, but she has disappeared. Frantically, you call out, “Mom!”, but you recoil when nearly every woman in sight turns to find out who was calling their name.

If you wanna talk about ambiguity, the term ‘mom’ pretty  much nails it. Did you ever think how strange it is that nearly everyone in the english speaking language refers to their mother by the exact same name? Even more odd: the name ‘mom’ (ok, slight variations of the name) are common across many languages and cultures.

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Example of terms of kinship in English and Spanish

It’s hard to talk in terms of genealogy (or, the study of family history) without using terms of kinship, such as father, auntie or grandma. These words are crucial in describing blood relations to each other; ultimately, terms of kinship are the foundation when  constructing family trees. However, these terms often translate very differently in terms of phonetics. For example, in English we refer to the brother of our father as ‘uncle’, whereas in Spanish he is referred to as ‘tío’.  You see, these two words do not look or sound the same. However, there is something about the term mother that is all too similar across many languages….

In German, they say ‘mutter’. In Afrikaans, it’s ‘moeder’. Swahili? Mama. Catching the drift?

So how did the kinship term ‘mother’ turn out to be so phonetically similar across cultures? Most experts have landed on an explanation provided by Roman Jakobson, and it goes like this:

“Often the sucking activities of a child are accompanied by a slight nasal murmur, the only phonation which can be produced when the lips are pressed to mother’s breast or to the feeding bottle and the mouth full. Later, this phonatory reaction to nursing is reproduced as an anticipatory signal at the mere sight of food and finally as a manifestation of a desire to eat, or more generally, as an expression of discontent and impatient longing for missing food or absent nurser, and any ungranted wish”

I mean, that makes perfect sense, right? But what if I told you that Jakobson presented these findings in 1962, over 50 years ago. The literature on this specific topic hardly goes past the early 90’s, and while Jakobson’s explanation may seem to be bang-on, I am curious if the scientific community has not questioned this explanation thoroughly enough; the biggest flaw I see is how this accounts for all the languages that do not have a phonetically similar variant of ‘mother’.

While some are ready to mark this topic case-closed, I would prefer to leave it open to allow the scientific community to explore it a little longer.

-Steph Schaupmeyer

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Why haven’t we found a vaccine for HIV?

Posted on October 17, 2016 by | 3 comments

In 1984, after the cause of AIDS was discovered, US Health and Human Services Secretary announced that a vaccine for HIV would be available in two years time. Three decades later, more than eighty clinical trials and over thirty prospective vaccines to date, the virus is still winning!

Image from Wikimedia Commons

HIV/AIDS distribution around the world as of 2008. Image from Wikimedia Commons

Why is it such an impossible task to create an effective vaccine against HIV? A task that seems to have disheartened many researchers from striving to find the solution to a persistent pandemic! Without a cure for AIDS, a vaccine is the only way to slow it down. So far, a total of 78 million people have been infected with HIV and although the number of new infections per year has dropped from 3.4 million as recorded in 2001, it has stagnated at 2.1 million since 2013; a number that is still considerably high. Therefore, with millions of dollars being allocated to HIV vaccine research annually, why is a breakthrough still lacking?

Normally, vaccines are composed of a harmless form of the virus or parts of it such as surface proteins; these stimulate immune cells to produce compounds known as antibodies that bind a small part of the virus component called an epitope; the attachment deactivates the virus preventing it from invading healthy tissues and causing disease. Vaccines also activate immune cells that kill infected cells.

However, successful in controlling more than 30 most contagious illnesses, this vaccine is defective when it comes to HIV. This is because HIV like the common cold virus undergoes numerous errors when replicating it’s DNA. Therefore, HIV’s epitopes are very prone to changing. Due to the high specificity of antibodies and ‘killer’ cells, viruses that have changed epitopes cannot be deactivated by the same antibodies and ‘killer’ cells. This property of HIV makes it very challenging to create an effective vaccine. Despite being weakened, using live HIV as a vaccine is also gravely concerning; it could possibly evolve into a virulent form as the virus is constantly mutating. HIV particles are also by nature very different despite being incredibly mutable. This is because they descend from numerous ancestors. For an effective vaccine to be created, its breadth should be large enough to account for all HIV variants.

Another setback in the development of HIV vaccine is the fact that AIDS recovery is rare; vaccines are usually geared to mimic the immune response generated by our bodies after infection and recovery from the subsequent disease. In the case of HIV, the body cannot develop this immunity as HIV attacks immune cells. Lastly, HIV integrates its DNA with ours and becomes a part of us! This gives ‘killer’ cells a hard time detecting infected cells where virus assembly takes place. These factors among others are what have stalled HIV vaccine development.

Despite the challenges, we are all capable of taking preventative measures to prevent further spread of the virus. To learn more on how to protect yourself, click here.

-Jane Wanjiru

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science

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Can animals feel as we do?

Posted on October 3, 2016 by | 5 comments

Critical thinking, opposable thumbs, and cell phones are one of the many things that differentiate us from animals in the wild and nature. A common belief is that emotions are one of those things but certain studies say otherwise. Emotions, like fear, anger, and anxious, are examples of emotions believed to be exclusive to human behavior and animals with similar brain anatomies like other mammals that share similarities in their brain physiology and chemistry. Despite it being well-known that other mammals can display certain human-like emotions, we still don’t know if non-mammal animals such as bees, insects, and fish have similar ’emotions’.
Researchers backed by Newcastle University did an experiment where they submitted bees to an anxiety-producing environment by vigorous shaking their enclosure. The experiment was designed to replica a predatory attack to see if the bees displayed negative patterns of deviation in judgement. By using these patterns of deviation in judgement as a measure of emotions in the bees, the bees would be considered exhibiting emotions due to the results.

bees-experiment

“A bee enters a cylinder with an ambiguous reward in the study of bee “feelings.” – Clint J. Perry

Another experiment was done to see if crayfish would display anxiety-like emotions like mammals do when given chemical injections of serotonin. The results were that the crayfish displayed a form of anxiety that shared similarities with complex human-like emotions present in many vertebrates.

http://crayfishfacts.org/

Lastly, a study was done in 2015 by Brian Key at the University of Queensland to see why fish do not feel pain as humans do. The experimenter used a bio-engineering principle that structure determines function. He located the area of the human brain that is responsible for a person feeling pain and mapped out the structure features and shape of that part of the brain. He then compared the identified structures to a fish brain to see if the fish was anatomically capable of feeling pain. The results were that the fish lacked the necessary brain structures to feel pain therefore fish can not feel pain at least in the same way humans do.

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Emotions, despite there being clear-cut definitions produced by various science communities, are still very loosely defined in respects to the general public. Regardless of what the general public, non-science specialists, and even certain scientists say, I along with most other scientists who have conducted these studies believe more studies need to be done and new ways to examine emotions in animals need to be developed in order to further analyze the possibility that these ‘wild’ animals display emotions like humans do. Our current understanding of the functionality and anatomy of other animals’ brains and even the understanding of own brain functionality and anatomy are not complete so that means we can’t many definite statements regarding the question of whether animals have the same complex emotions that humans do.

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

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Can Polar Bears Survive by Switching Their Diet?

Posted on October 3, 2016 by | 4 comments

Climate change is not a new topic. We can even feel the temperature increasing according to the hotter summer and warmer winter. I once came across the article  and it has since then provoked my thoughts on a question: “Have we ever cared about polar bears?”

A frame-filling portrait of a male polar bear (Ursus maritimus) jumping in the pack ice. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear

A frame-filling portrait of a male polar bear (Ursus maritimus) jumping in the pack ice. Svalbard, Norway. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear

I have read some articles and blogs regarding polar bears and their survival under global warming. Some claim it is not necessary to worry about polar bears. They successfully switched their major prey from bearded to ringed seals in the past due to abundance changes of the two species in Hudson Bay. Similarly, they should be able to switch their diet from marine foods to terrestrial foods once again.

In fact, research has shown that polar bears’ feeding on terrestrial foods are  more common recently, because land-based foods are becoming the most available food source. For instance, polar bear predation on snow geese was first observed in 1900s. Their reliance on snow geese in Arctic regions has been largely increasing for the past century .

In my opinion, however, the idea that polar bears can survive under global warming by switching their major prey may be overly hypothetical, because food resources containing sufficient energy are not available on shore, making it impossible for polar bears to survive the increased time on land.

Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear

Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear

We can survive in a hot summer by turning on our air conditioners, but polar bears cannot. Some scientists project that by 2050s, the global polar bear population will shrink to one third of the current figure. Therefore, the conservation of polar bears and stopping global warming deserve more attention and timely responses from the society.

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

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Are we living on a disk?

Posted on October 2, 2016 by | 2 comments

Have you ever thought about accepting any other shape but a sphere for the Earth? Recently, a friend of mine started talking about the Flat Earth Theory  and it sparked his curiosity. That got me thinking about looking in to this theory and evidence, if any.

Surprisingly, there is still a small amount of people that believe the almost ancient theory that Earth is a flat disk, known as the flat-earthers. They believe that Antarctica surrounds the perimeter of the disk as a wall to prevent people from going over the ‘edge’ and that the Earth is the centre of the universe. Not only does this just sound wrong, this theory has been disproven. But, it is interesting and crazy to think about how some people stray from the information we have always been taught.

Flat_earth.png

Flat Earth view Credit: Wikipedia

Flat-earthers manipulated what a NASA engineer stated about the danger of the Van Allen belts, saying that no humans can pass the belts. Despite all of the evidence people refuse to believe a trip into space was made. This report expands on the science behind the radiation belts and how Apollo went through them.

My confusion and annoyance as to why this theory is still believed is heightened because there is intangible evidence, such as observations from non-science background believers. If all the pictures from NASA weren’t enough evidence to discredit the Flat Earth theory, lets revisit a few more reasons.

Lunar Eclipses 

〉A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes through the plane of the Earth’s orbit and the Earth casts its shadow upon the Moon, which is rounded- only caused by a spherical object.

Lunar Eclipse Credit: Wikipedia & Tomruen

Gravity and Equations 

〉Isaac Newton discovered the force of gravity and tested it everywhere it could be tested and found that the force of gravity was constant on the planet, further strengthening the reasoning as to why the Earth is round.

〉The equation for determining force of gravity F= GMm/r^2 uses the Earth’s radius (which already assumes the Earth is spherical) has not been disproved for thousands of years which gives no arguments for flat-earthers.

Time Zones 

〉the reason time zones exist is that one region is completely dark versus an area that is completely lit which occurs while the Earth is in orbit and one side is facing the Sun versus the other facing away.

→versus flat-earther’s spotlight theory which wouldn’t allow for time zones as the Sun rays are considered to be parallel on all surfaces.

Although there is no legitimate reason for anyone to believe this theory, it definitely is astounding to think about why the flat-earthers believe this theory and why the theory is still considered so many centuries after all of this concrete evidence surfaced. It adds to how media can be manipulated and words can be interpreted into something completely different when science isn’t understood or explained to all audiences. Seems an Astronomy lesson may be due for them. (or two)

 

»Nikeisha Dass

 

 

 

 

 

 

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