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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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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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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Bitcoin is a Stable Investment when Markets are Unstable

Posted on November 7, 2016 by | 5 comments

The looming clouds of uncertainty are hanging over the markets, as the saga of events leading to 2016 presidential elections is still unfolding. The markets showed a 2% surge on November 7, after FBI once again cleared Hillary Clinton regarding her private servers’ emails. Nevertheless, market analysts argue that the shock from a plausible Trump’s victory will likely hit the markets even harder than the Brexit (which cost investors about 2$ trillion in one day).

picture of bitcoin on iPad

Photo by Jonathan Waller (Whitez) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/]

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this volatile environment, investors are looking for safer investments and some of them are opting for the virtual currencies such as bitcoin. Bitcoin is the most popular virtual currency in the market with more than 100,000 transactions per month. Bitcoin does not have a physical existence and is not controlled by a central authority the way Canadian dollar is controlled by Bank of Canada. Its backbone is essentially computer code, distributed among a wide network of servers called ‘nodes’. Transactions made by bitcoins are anonymous and a record of all the transactions to date is called a ‘blockchain’. Blockchains can be best understood as ledger account, which is openly available online. Creation of bitcoin takes place when a node performs a large amount of calculations to add a block to the blockchain; this process is commonly referred to as ‘mining’.

Diagram describing number of bitcoin transactions per month

Diagram describing number of bitcoin transactions per month

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Virtual Currencies such as bitcoin, always had their place in the tech community, but what makes bitcoin attractive to financial industry? For the majority of its lifetime, bitcoin has been on the shadier side of the economy; the tax authorities and the law enforcement did not exactly know how to treat it under the law and remained suspicious of its potential for illegal transactions. But in recent years, many have caught up including Canadians, who passed their first law in June 2014 for regulating the use of bitcoins.

 

Bitcoin is Fair, Stable, Safe, and Secure *

In contrast to paper currency, bitcoin transactions are always recorded, making it easy to keep track of the currency on the market. Also distribution of blockchains among nodes globally, makes the transactions’ records secure and almost impossible to alter. These two qualities convinced the Swedish National Land Survey to consider bitcoins as a tool for transaction and record keeping, as it is many times faster than the current manual methods requiring lots of paper work. Convenience afforded by the bitcoin is an important factor in attracting people; there are currently more than 100,000 merchants that accept bitcoins with hundreds of ATM machines around the world. Bitcoins cut the middleman in the transaction, meaning that buyer and seller interact directly instead of through credit card companies and this eliminates the transaction fee. Like non-virtual currencies, bitcoin’s value fluctuates over time. However, as the political volatility increases, bitcoin locks steps with gold, making it an attractive investment hedge in the times of uncertainty. For all of these reasons, investors are considering bitcoin as a viable investment option; putting its star on a rising path.

* https://www.bitcoinmining.com/

Sadaf Yadegari

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Let’s Rock on! Finding Conservation Strategies for Rockfish

Posted on November 7, 2016 by | 3 comments

Presently, fisheries provide 19% of the global protein and employ 200 million people worldwide. It is a huge economic industry with designated areas in the oceans to catch fish. Since the beginning of commercialized fisheries, where the activity grew from an individual occupation to an immense industry involving catching, transporting, cleaning and selling fish products, the amount of fish in the oceans has steadily declined due to overfishing. Overfishing happens when  more fish are caught than can be reproduced and the population is unable to fully recover to its previous numbers. Fish can be more vulnerable to overfishing if they have a longer life span, slower reproduction rate, slower development and are larger in size.

A commercialized method of fishing called longline used for catching rockfish.

A commercialized method of fishing called longline used for catching rockfish.

Rockfish, found inshore of Vancouver Island in British Columbia are commonly overfished because they possess all of these characteristics. Large fish are the ideal target for fisheries because it is less catch effort for a higher biomass. The yelloweye rockfish, found in BC grows to be a massive 40 lbs. A rockfish lives for approximately 100 years, making them vulnerable to overfishing because it takes a tremendous amount of time to recover when these older fish are removed from the ecosystem. In contrast to most species who hatch their newborns in eggs, rockfish offspring come out swimming so these young fish are quickly exposed to commercialized fishing. Rockfish are fully developed at age 20, making quick reproduction nearly impossible if overfished. These factors contribute to a slower population recovery time; if rockfish are extensively overfished, it will take generations to rebuild their population to prior numbers.

A large yelloweye rockfish (approximately 30 lbs.) caught on the Queen Charlotte Islands, BC.

A large yelloweye rockfish (approximately 30 lbs.) caught on the Queen Charlotte Islands, BC.

As result of overfishing the rockfish’s ecosystem, inshore of Vancouver Island will be destabilized. Within every oceanic ecosystem, each species is interconnected within the food chain. If rockfish are endangered it will not only threaten the productivity and interactions within the ecosystem, but also accelerate fishery collapse leading to job loss and economic downfall.

The distribution of rockfish conservation areas along the coast of British Columbia.

The distribution of rockfish conservation areas along the coast of British Columbia.

In order to counteract this extinction of rockfish and its lasting effects, a conservation strategy for rockfish has been developed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Decreasing mortality is critical for rebuilding the rockfish population so different systems of fishing are being developed to limit rockfish being caught and released, which ultimately kills them. Furthermore, certain areas will be closed to fishing with the objective of ending the accidental catching of rockfish while ensuring that their habitat will not be compromised.

You can help with rockfish conservation by:

  • Reporting any fishing in closed fishing areas to the proper authorities.
  • Frequenting restaurants that serve only ocean-friendly seafood.
  • Ensuring you avoid over consumption of rockfish which is typically called the Red Snapper or Rock Cod at restaurants and grocery stores.

All of these conservation strategies and individual contributions will give the rockfish time to recover their population here in British Columbia.

-Genevieve Carpenter-Boesch

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The Science of Earworm

Posted on November 7, 2016 by | 2 comments
earworm

Earworm. Farrah S. Flickr. Link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/reallyfarrah/5623957794/in/photolist-9yYfHy-3bqAFZ-FXSxhx-oa6U71-87Pkcj-xM9ERB-f5wVAa-6aZQZL-ngsCXS-6UcNuG-ng948k-f5MdMY-hMiqTv-6nPe4i-qeEBPH-6gLA7D-3K6oAc-eQgTAL-aec8x2-oa67pY-on5Zko-7ifXac-2daKBC-oaaQ3K-6w78Zn-7ijREY-zX7yG-8Vwxh1-c5p8s9-ksNcQs-aecaG4-ksN95m-jUbeha-mTFifw-dkCPMB-9CHNgN-4rWwRG-q64Zv-8UQYMK-hGSGFe-9d29Z1-8r4TMz-zX7Ec-9DFiZC-c5nzpb-ksLuXM-ksLr7k-ksKPQR-ksKWbg-ksN3RA

Have you ever had the experience that a song (or a piece of songs) gets stuck in your heads? This phenomenon is known as earworm, or scientifically, involuntary musical imagery (INMI). According to Dr. James Kellaris, 98% of people have this experience.

YouTube Preview Image

Ted-ed. Earworms: Those songs that get stuck in your head – Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NE_OoO-N54

Why it happens?

A study published on November 3, 2016 shows how popularity and melodic features are related to earworms based on responses of 3,000 survey participants. According to this research, popular songs which are often on the radio seem to have higher possibilities of becoming earworms. Also, these songs share many similar melodic features such as high tempo, simple structure and unique interval patten.

How to solve it?

Most of time, it is annoying to have a earworm. According to a study conducted by Dr. Philip Beaman and Dr. Tim Williams in 2014, when trying to get rid of earworms, 46.67% of people choose to listen to or think about other songs, 25.71% of people use the method of generalized displacement such as staying busy, and 18.10% of people just stay inactive. Due to Wegner’s theory of ironic mental control, inactivity becomes the best solution of getting rid of earworms.

In addition, a research conducted in 2015 shows that chewing gum is another effective way to relief from earworms. This research contains three experiments and each of them shows that chewing gum reduces both the number of voluntary and involuntary-unwanted-musical thoughts. Scientists believe that chewing gum can interfere the process of “hearing” musical recollections, and thus reduce effects of earworms.

You do not need to worry about having earworms — it is a normal phenomenon of being human. If you want to get rid it, just try to do nothing or chew gum.

— Yiwei Liu

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Key protein in spinal cord regeneration found

Posted on November 6, 2016 by | Leave a comment

Researchers at Duke University have identified a key protein used in spinal cord regeneration in zebrafish. The findings were presented in the November 4 edition of the Science journal.

An adult female zebrafish. Authorized for redistribution by the copyright holder. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebrafish.

An adult female zebrafish. Authorized for redistribution by the copyright holder. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebrafish.

While zebrafish can completely regenerate their spinal cords even after it is severed, humans cannot. This makes spinal cord injuries (SCI) one of the most debilitating injuries for humans, as ability to walk and sense can be impaired. As SCI can be permanent, many patients require lifelong assistance with daily activities, resulting in loss of autonomy.

Diagram of the spinal cord. Image in the public domain; retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_cord_injury

Diagram of the spinal cord. Image in the public domain.

When a zebrafish’s spinal cord is undergoing regeneration, a bridge forms. The first cells (a cell is the basic functional unit of all living things) project lengths many times their own size and connect a wide length of the injury. This is followed by nerve cells, and after eight weeks, new nerve tissue has filled the gap formed by the injury, reversing the zebrafish’s paralysis.

Nerve cells in the brain. Shared under the Creative Commons license. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuron.

Nerve cells in the brain. Shared under the Creative Commons license. Image by UC Regents Davis campus.

The researchers looked for genes (the basic functional units, made up of DNA, that instruct the body how to make proteins) whose activities changed throughout this process, and they focused on a protein called connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), as they found more of it in the supporting cells (glia) that formed the bridge within two weeks of the injury than before.

Glial cells in a rat brain. Public domain. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroglia.

Glial cells in a rat brain. Public domain.

This finding is important because it provides a direction for research in achieving full recovery of function in patients with SCI. Although the researchers say that CTGF alone will probably not be enough for spinal cord regeneration due to scar tissue (new tissue that forms after injuries) in mammals, now that CTGF has been identified as a key protein for regeneration, it could be used with other proteins and therapies. The researchers expect that studies on CTGF will move towards mammals like mice.

In addition, knowing this new information about CTGF can lead research towards similar proteins. Indeed, the researchers themselves have indicated plans to study the other secreted proteins they observed when looking for genes with altered activities throughout the zebrafish’s healing process.

Permanent SCI have debilitating physical and psychological effects on their patients, their families, and the support system around them. An estimated 24-45% of people with SCI suffer from depression, and the suicide rate can be as great as six times of the general population. In fact, in young people with SCI, it is suicide that is the leading cause of death and not physical complications of the injury itself. The psychological impact is tragic, which is one of the reasons why I believe that improving patient outcomes for SCI is one of the most pressing needs for modern medicine, and also why I hope research funding continues to go towards spinal cord research.

-Jasper Yoo

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Ready, Set… Crash?

Posted on October 31, 2016 by | Leave a comment

Space missions begin long before lift-off, and continue after their conclusions as well. In preparation for the first human Journey to Mars, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Russia’s space agency Roscosmos jointly sent the latest of landers to Mars as part of their ExoMars programme. On March 14, 2016, Schiaparelli EDM Lander was jettisoned into the cosmos with the goal landing on Mars to test technology that may be used in future Mars missions and collect data on the Red Planet. The lander is named after famed Italian astronomer, Giovanni Schiaparelli, whose biggest contributions to science are his telescopic observations of Mars. During his initial observations, he named various seas and continents on the planet.

The acronym “EDM” in the lander’s official title stands for Entry, Descent, and Landing Demonstrator Module indicating that the lander’s main purpose is to test soft-landing technology that the ESA and Roscosmos intend to implement during part to of the ExoMars programme where they will attempt to land a rover on the planet. Note that landers are stationary, while rovers are mobile vehicles.

When Schiaparelli lander’s attempted descent on October 19, 2016, didn’t go as planned, many touted that the mission was failure, but I don’t believe that’s necessarily the case. The lander disembarked from an orbiting carrying vessel on October 16, three days before its descent. A few hours before the planned landing, however, its signal was lost. ESA’s Mars Express orbiter and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and MAVEN probe all listened intently for signals from the lost lander. Data retrieved from the lander before the accident suggest that its landing parachute and rocket thrusters both failed to execute properly.

A brief account of how Schiaparelli‘s descent was supposed to occur and what actually happened from The Cosmos News:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McSCXWpZT8k

NASA’s MRO later returned images of the crash site.

Area where Europe's Schiaparelli Lander crashed on Mars, with 3 magnified sites where space craft parts hit the ground. Obtained from: http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia21131-hirise_of_edm.jpg

Area where Europe’s Schiaparelli Lander crashed on Mars, with 3 magnified sites where space craft parts hit the ground.
http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia21131-hirise_of_edm.jpg

While the Schiaparelli lander did not effectively land on Mars, the mission is still a success because it fulfilled its goal of testing the landing equipment and returned enough data to Earth for part 2 of the ExoMars programme to proceed as planned.

Navpreet Ganda

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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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