Category Archives: Science in the News

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.

screen-shot-2016-10-30-at-2-34-56-pm

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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Posted in Issues in Science, Science in the News

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Sniffing with your knee!

Posted on October 31, 2016 by | 2 comments

Have you ever thought to replace your knee with a tissue in your nose? Well, as we know most of the skeleton of a new born baby is of cartilage. There are three different types of cartilage, and depending on the function that each organ in our body is doing, it can have one or combination of these types of cartilage.

Our knee joint is consisted of the junction of three bones ( Femur (upper leg), Tibia (lower leg) and Patella (kneecap)), and some different ligaments (bone to bone connectors), and different type of cartilages.

The Knee Joint. Articular cartilage is a type of Hyaline cartilage. Image Credit:http: //www.orthoinfo.org/icm/default.cfm?screen=icm005_s02_p1

The Knee Joint.
Articular cartilage is a type of Hyaline cartilage. Image Credit: orthoinfo

Knee Joint,
Three Bones of the knee joint. Image Credit: kidport

 

Articular cartilage (type of Hyaline cartilage: cartilage with glossy appearance) prevents the two bony surfaces of Tibia and Femur to be in direct contact with each other. Different factors such as age, autoimmune disease (when our own immune system attack different organ of our body, in this case the joint), or sport injury can damage and destroy the articular cartilage in the knee joint.

Damaged knee Cartilage. In this picture the Patella bone is not been shown. Image credit: http://www.chiropractic-books.com/Knee-Joint-Distraction.html

Damaged knee Cartilage. In this picture the Patella bone is not been shown. Image credit: chiropractic-books

In consequence, a harder tissue, which does not have the functionality of the cartilage, will replace it, so the person will suffer a lot and will be in sever pain. Until recent years the treatments were mostly drug therapy (anti inflammatory drugs and pain killers), and artificial joint (Knee Replacement Surgery). However, none of these methods can solve the problem completely, and the patients will have limited functioning in their joint the rest of their lives. About two years ago, some scientist decided to try a new treatment method; in this method, they cut part of the nose cartilage, which has the same characteristics of the knee cartilage, grew it outside of the body, then grafted it to the knee joint. This was done in some animals like goats first, and recently was tested on human which has had satisfactory results. I think this treatment can help many patients to back to their normal lives with no pain. As a result, the patients will not need the pain-killer drugs. Therefore, they can not only save money by not spending it for the drugs , but also can prevent the long-term side effects of the drugs on their bodies. It can also decrease the cost of health care system and save tax payers’ money.

 

 

 

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Science in the News

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The Effects of Sleep Deprivation

Posted on October 30, 2016 by | 2 comments

A growing percentage of college students do not sleep enough because of many reasons. Some students are taking too many credits and participating in different extracurricular activities. Other students have to work for hours to pay for their school. Although college students can shorten their sleep time and save the time for other activities, they are supposed to realise that they should not do it. A recent published scientific article, Partial sleep deprivation activates the DNA damage response (DDR) and the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) in aged adult humans, has shown that insufficient sleep is linked to cell damage which may contribute to an increased risk of chronic disease. Another study, The influence of sleep deprivation and obesity on DNA damage in female Zucker rats, has indicated that prolonged and regular sleep deprivation can kill up to 25% of certain brain cells on those mice in the experiment. Sleep deprivation is associated with genetic damage in brain cells in some levels to human beings. Since the damaged brain cells require a long time to heal, college students are supposed to get enough sleep on a regular basis to ensure their brains can have a good rest.

What causes lack of sleep?

Some people do not realise the importance of adequate sleep, so they choose to stay up late to socialise or watch television shows. For individuals who are busy with work, frequent travelling tends to disrupt their regular sleep circles. Moreover, health problems such as snoring, sleep apnoea can disturb people’s sleep many times during the night. People who have these problems always wake up without feeling rested or refreshed. The sleeping environment is another factor that has the effect on sleep. People usually are not able to sleep well if their bedrooms are too hot or too cold or they have noisy neighbours. Some life habits can also be disruptive. For example, drinking coffee or listening to electronic music close to bedtime make people sleep less likely.

By Mikael Häggström. When using this image in external works, it may be cited as follows: Häggström, Mikael. "Medical gallery of Mikael Häggström 2014". Wikiversity Journal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.008. ISSN 20018762. (All used images are in public domain.) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

Effects of Sleep Deprivation. Häggström, Mikael. “Medical gallery of Mikael Häggström 2014”. Wikiversity Journal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.008. ISSN 20018762. (All used images are in public domain.) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons. Image from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Effectes_of_sleep_deprivation.svg

Consequences of insufficient sleep

Poorer health condition is the price of inadequate sleep.  Researcher have indicated that obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and frequent mental distress are associated with sleep loss. Also, lack of sleep impairs people’s performance. People who need eight hours sleep per night only get six, they have the poorer concentration on their daily work comparing to their peers. For students who give up sleep and study for the whole night, they are less likely to get better grades because sleep loss slows their reaction time and makes them have poorer memory.

Sleep tips

Research shows that students who sleep more get better grades. I have some advice for college students and adults who suffer sleep loss. You may drink warm water or milk before you go to bed. Warm milk helps people fall asleep and sleep better. You can also remove distractions in the bedrooms such as game players or computers, and shut down all digital devices while sleeping. Last, try not to consume too much alcohol or caffeinated beverages hours before bedtime.  

Please watch the video below and check how sleep deprived you are.

Video credit to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvfMOPTsU_0

Xi Chen

 

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Posted in Science Communication, Science in the News

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The Atmosphere of Earth Is Leaking Oxygen

Posted on October 23, 2016 by | 2 comments

Although oxygen composes 21% of the Earth’s atmosphere, oxygen levels are not stable. Through analysis of air bubbles caught inside ice cores (core samples of ice taken from ice sheets or glaciers) in Greenland and Antarctica, Princeton University researchers determined that oxygen levels dropped 0.7% over the past 800,000 years.

A sliver of Antarctic showing air bubbles trapped within it. Image from http://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/pages/about/.

A sliver of Antarctic showing air bubbles trapped within it. Image from http://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/pages/about/, published under the Creative Commons license.

The full research article was published in the September 23 issue of Science journal. While the researchers are not sure why the oxygen drop occurred, researcher Daniel Stolper believes that it is due to the increase in global erosion rates. Erosion is the process in which earth is worn away, often due to processes like rain or wind. Grinding of rocks by glaciers (large bodies of ice that move under their own weight) results in erosion, and the growth of glaciers over the past tens of million years has increased Earth’s erosion levels.

Aletsch Glacier in Switzerland. Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)

Aletsch Glacier in Switzerland. Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net), published under the Creative Commons license.

How does erosion relate to oxygen levels? Erosion would expose increased pyrite and organic carbon to the atmosphere.

Pyrite from Tuscany, Italy. Image by Didier Descouens, published under the Creative Commons license.

Pyrite from Tuscany, Italy. Image by Didier Descouens, published under the Creative Commons license.

Pyrite, colloquially known as “fool’s gold” for physically resembling gold, reacts with oxygen and removes it from the atmosphere. Organic carbon has been found to do the same thing.

In terms of immediate impact on Earth, the drop is trivial because of how slow it is. Organisms have had time to adapt to the change in atmospheric oxygen. However, atmospheric oxygen levels are linked to climate change and how organisms evolve, so understanding its trends is important. For example, changing oxygen levels can alter how living things adapt, and from an evolutionary standpoint, declining oxygen levels would prefer individuals and species who are more efficient with their use of oxygen.

Understanding oxygen levels can also be the key to understanding long-term weather trends, and further research could determine if there are any links between this observation about oxygen levels and the global warming crisis that we are facing today.

In addition, understanding the processes behind the declining oxygen levels and observing how living things have adapted to it over time could help humans understand what is needed for a habitable environment. With continued efforts to build a feasible human settlement in Mars, having a better grasp of what is needed for life on Earth would be important if humans are ever to colonize Mars. As lack of atmospheric oxygen is one of the major obstacles to life on Mars, understanding how living things on Earth react to lower levels of oxygen could allow for potential ideas on how to survive in Mars’ low-oxygen conditions.

Photograph of Mars by the Hubble Space Telescope. Image by NASA.

Photograph of Mars by the Hubble Space Telescope. Public domain. Image by NASA.

Therefore, although these findings do not have an immediate impact on Earth, they carry big implications both for humanity’s future and understanding our planet’s past.

-Jasper Yoo

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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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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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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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We Found Life in a Hopeless Place

Posted on October 2, 2016 by | 2 comments

What characteristics come to mind when one imagines a planet capable of supporting life? One would probably think of modern-day Earth: with our nice liquid water, plate tectonics, and comfy atmosphere, it’s a pretty sweet place to live, 2016 US election cycle notwithstanding. But there’s no denying our dear mother Earth has mellowed out over the years: the geological era spanning Earth’s infancy – lasting from the time of its formation approximately 4.6 billion years ago to around 4 billion years ago – is called the Hadean eon (after the Greek god of the underworld), and for good reason. During this period, the Earth’s crust was unstable, its surface was partially molten and constantly bombarded by other celestial objects, and its atmosphere was thick with gases toxic to most organisms today.

An artist's concept of the young Earth being bombarded by asteroids.

Artist’s impression of Hadean Earth. Image Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab; Attribution: CC BY 2.0

Scientists long believed that the beginning of life on Earth could not have occurred during this hellish, inhospitable period of the planet’s history – that Hadean Earth was too molten, too devoid of liquid water to support life. The beginning of life was instead speculated to have occurred 3.8 billion years ago, within the Archean eon (the geological era directly following the Hadean) during which Earth had cooled such that the crust and by extension, liquid water oceans, could actually exist in a form stable enough to allow for life to form.

That is, until 2015.

Analysis of 4.1-billion-year-old zircon crystals – in other words, originating from the Hadean era – though preliminary, has cast doubts on the depiction of early Earth as being desolate and lifeless.

Jack Hills, Australia - where the Hadean zircon crystals were found. Image Credit: NASA image by Robert Simmon, based on Landsat data provided by the Global Land Cover Facility

Jack Hills, Australia – where the Hadean zircon crystals were found. Image Credit: NASA image by Robert Simmon, based on Landsat data provided by the Global Land Cover Facility; Attribution: Public Domain

You see, these zircon crystals act as miniature time capsules of sorts – they captured some surrounding material during their formation that was then preserved as impurities in the crystals. Upon studying the contents of these impurities, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles discovered something startling – a form of carbon almost exclusively associated with organic matter, specifically photosynthetic life. The kicker? Researchers have concluded that the carbon is even older than the 4.1-billion-year-old zircon that houses it.

So what does this mean for our understanding of Earth’s history, as well as life and its beginnings? Well, for geologists, these “traces of life” might indicate that the Hadean era may not have been as fire and brimstone as once believed – that Earth might have cooled down earlier than previously predicted. For biologists, these traces might indicate that life can be supported in conditions harsher than once thought possible. For yet others (particularly those interested in extraterrestrial life), the possibility that life could have arisen on Earth so soon after its formation invites thoughts that are excellently summarized by the reaction of another scientist in the same field of study: “if life arose relatively quickly on Earth … then it could be common in the universe.”

~ Kimberly Truong

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Ludela: a Controllable Candle

Posted on October 2, 2016 by | 3 comments

We all know about Smart phones and their benefits; now there is a Smart candle! A company has invented Ludela, a controllable candle, to allow people to use candles in their daily lives with less danger and inconvenience compared to regular candles. But, is Ludela all that great?

A Ludela Candle. Retrived from http://www.newsyy.com/chuangyiliwu/191.html

A Ludela Candle. Retrived from http://www.newsyy.com/chuangyiliwu/191.html

The reason why Ludela is a smart candle is that it can be controlled by the Ludela app on phones. One can light or extinguish the candle by tapping on a smartphone. Also, the app allows the user to control multiple candles, and there is a scene mode in the app. A person can choose the scene that he/she wants, such as the relaxation mode or dinner mode. Furthermore, if one wants a mode that the app does not provide, the user can set the brightness that is preferable.

The Ludela candle is well designed, so it always looks like a new candle, and the wick is not visible. It is covered by a shell, and the company provides different colors of shells to allow people to choose their favorite colors. Also, the shell is changeable, so one can have different colors of candles. There are some electronic boards between the shell and the wax, which is 100% natural and refillable. The main idea of these electronic boards is safety. They scan the environment before ignition, and they have a password to protect the candle light. If the candle falls off the table, it will extinguish automatically.

Shows how it light the Ludela Candle. Rretrive from http://www.ityears.com/smart/201609/19485.html#

Shows how it lights the Ludela Candle. Rretrive from http://www.ityears.com/smart/201609/19485.html#

Despite the claimed benefits, I do not think this candle is entirely safe because it still has a real flame. People may still burn their hands accidently, as with regular candles. Moreover, hot wax is still a dangerous issue. People will get hurt if the hot wax spills out.  The product has not been released yet into the market, so the disadvantages of the candle are not well-known yet. It may not work as well as the company describes.

Do we really need this candle? For some time now, there have been plastic and entirely safe candles, which are battery-powered. There is no real flame or hot wax to worry about. Furthermore, although Ludela is a creative product, the company may have had to do many tests to find suitable materials for the candle, a process costing a lot of money. A post on TechCrunch states that startup companies should consider the opportunity cost before starting a venture. People may not want to buy this candle since the plastic flameless candles are safer and not expansive, under $10.

According to a News18 report, the Ludela candle will be available on the market in early 2017. People can pre-order it at a price of $99 from the Ludela website.Other than the new technology, time will tell if consumers will pay the high price for a still dangerous flame and hot wax. Personally, I do not believe the candle is worth the price.

-Zhongkai He

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