An infinitely large universe.

Posted on March 20, 2017 by | Leave a comment

The Expanding Universe–growing, growing, growing with all the astral bodies staying in their relative same place. (Image: Courtesy of SLAC and Nicolle Rager)

Imagine a balloon with polka dots being inflated. As one blows air into the balloon, the dots move further away from each other. Easy enough, this is how scientists describe our universe.

The idea of constant expanding cosmos was introduced by Edwin Hubble in 1929. He found that the further galaxies are from Earth, the faster they appear to be moving. This speed was named after the scientist as the Hubble constant.

A new estimate of the universe expansion rate has been realized by Sherry Suyu and Frédéric Courbin in January 2017. They used variations on quasars reflections  (very luminous discs of matter moving around supermassive black holes at the middle of galaxies) to find out how fast they are moving away from Earth. The study concludes that speed at which the space is expanding is 71.9 ± 2.7 kilometres per second.

This finding has an agreement with the last Hubble constant calculation performed in 2016 (73.24 ± 1.74 kilometres per second). However, these two approximations significantly differ with the Hubble constant realized in 2015 (66.93 ± 0.62 kilometres per second). Scientist are not sure about the reason that might explain these discrepancy. However, three new theories have arisen.

The first theory states that dark energy (a still unknown, and little studied energy type in space) is making the universe expand. This theory explains that dark energy is been accumulated and becoming stronger over time. For this reason, dark energy might be moving bodies in the space away from each other at a faster rate.

The second theory analyzes the possibility that dark matter (an invisible space matter that makes astronomical objects move slower) have unknown qualities that make our cosmos expand constantly at an increasing rate.

The third and last theory indicates that Einstein’s Theory of Gravity might be wrong, since celestial bodies are constantly moving away from us at an increasing rate rather than staying at a constant range due to gravity pull.

In summary, we are now aware that the universe is expanding at an increasing rate and there is a new method to estimate this expansion rate. However, I came out with a new question. Is the cosmos expanding forever or it has a limit? This is a topic for our next blog post!

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Earth, It’s Time For Your Injection

Posted on March 20, 2017 by | Leave a comment

When pollution in Beijing became so bad that poisonous smog formed and remained for several days, China finally realized that climate change is a real threat. However, the effects of climate change isn’t isolated to just China, it affects the rest of the world as well. Personally, I prefer my regular Summer weather to be warm and not scorching hot, but in 20 years I may have to live with unbearably hot afternoons. A recent breakthrough involving the storage of carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the main greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, by injecting it into the ground has caught my attention.

A study by Matter in Iceland used a method where they separated CO2 gas from the atmosphere and inserted it in the rock near volcanoes. The study found that the CO2 that was injected in these areas reacted with the volcanic material to form new materials such as limestone. The carbon is trapped in the form of new material and does not reenter the atmosphere, therefore reducing the amount of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere.

The general process behind how greenhouse gases work to trap energy that is released by the Earth. From Wikimedia Commons.

What does a greenhouse gas do exactly? The Earth radiates its own energy outwards and some of it escapes into the depths of space. However, most of the energy hits a greenhouse gas molecule such as carbon dioxide (CO2), causing the energy to be shot out randomly in any direction. This means that the energy could potentially be redirected down back to the Earth, trapping the energy and causing the temperatures to rise as a result.

Graphs showing the change in amounts of different greenhouse gases across a period of time from 1975 to 2015. From Wikimedia Commons.

What does this mean for the rest of the world? If this method proves to be viable in all regions that have access to a volcano, then perhaps a worldwide collaboration involving the injection of carbon could be discussed. As more carbon is removed from the atmosphere and stored in the ground, lower amounts of energy will be trapped by greenhouse gases which may allow the Earth to slow down its current warming trend. However, not all countries will be able to readily use this method due to its high cost, but perhaps future advancements in technology will lower these costs so that it becomes viable for any country to perform.

I think our current year round weather is great in Vancouver. However, as the amount of greenhouse gases increases, it’s going to make the Summer season much harder for me to enjoy. Therefore I’m personally hoping that this research gains more recognition so more studies can be performed on the long term viability of its findings.
Angus Lee

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Thicker than Fish Skin

Posted on March 19, 2017 by | 1 comment

Does the underwater superhero name ‘Aquaman’ sound familiar to you? Notice that Aquaman is part fish, and part human. His scaly costume provides incredible strength, torpedo swimming speed, and impenetrable skin. Ever wonder what it’s like to have scaly fish skin, or even become half fish? Science is getting close!

Aquaman’s upper torso is covered with fish skin, which enables him to breathe and swim underwater at tremendous speeds. Image Credit: sfgate.com

A new medical innovation was recently discovered in Brazil, after the number of skin donors started to become scarce. The dean of plastic surgery in São Marcos Hospital, Dr. Maciel, collaborated with his research team to utilize the skin of Tilapia fish for treating burns. Tilapia skin showed progressive healing properties when applied on skin wounds. They call this an alternative treatment- with surprisingly good results!

A victim suffered from second degree burns after a gas canister explosion. Instead of wrapping her wounds with gauze, doctors applied an unusual bandage- using Tilapia fish skin! I mean, how weird is that? Her arm looked like a fish mutant straight out of the X-Men comics, if you ask me!

The fish skin is first sterilized by using chemicals, and then undergoes radiation treatment to kill viruses. Once cleaned and processed, they are vacuum-sealed, and can last for up to two years.

Tilapia was chosen as the prototype for the animal skin-grafting experiment because it is the most common, disease-resistant fish found in Brazil. Image Credit: feednavigator.com

Doctors then apply the fish skin to the burned skin area. The tilapia skin sticks on the wound and creates a buffering effect that blocks out contamination while keeping in moisture. It stays bonded to the wound until it completely heals over. The tilapia skin dries up and flakes off after 10 days, and reveals new scar tissue underneath. The greatest advantage is that you don’t have to change this bandage dressing daily, which reduces the trauma and pain suffered by patients. I think that’s an excellent plus!

After suffering from horrific burns from a canister explosion, Maria was the first patient to receive tilapia fish grafts on her damaged skin. Her arm is pictured below after treatment once the fish skin was removed, revealing healthy scar tissue. Image Credit: thesun.co.uk

Lab analyses revealed that tilapia skin is rich in Type 1 collagen and proteins, which help restore damaged skin for a speedy recovery. Type 1 collagen is important for wound healing because it provides skin with a stretchy, elastic-like quality.  It also enhances growth of connective fibres that hold skin together to prevent tearing. As a result, collagen stimulates healthy skin cells to grow and creates a new layer of scar tissue. The high level of humidity in fish skin helps to soothe wounds and eliminates the need for painkillers.

As of today, more than 50 patients have received tilapia fish-skin graft treatments for their painful burns, and all patients have shown successful healing results. It’s the first aquatic animal skin in the world to be tested in burn patients. Researchers say the skins are cost-effective and eco-friendly, and believe it will help burn victims to save time, medication costs, and hours of pain.

This video shows how tilapia skin is sterilized and then applied on the wounds of burn victims. Video Credit: statnews.com

The revolutionary treatment is currently only being practiced in Brazil, where tilapia skin is plentiful, and is donated to create more skin grafts. Brazilian plastic surgeons hope that this new pioneering treatment will spread to other countries in the nearby future.

-Anna Tam

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Hide and Seek, Cancer! Future of detecting cancer in your neighbourhood clinic

Posted on March 13, 2017 by | 2 comments
We are hoping that the cancer detection in timely manner is not possible because we now have a testing tool that allows you to detect bladder cancer from your pee without causing too much problems.
As #4 most common cancer, bladder cancer is known to be the most difficult to manage because of its invasive process, along with ridiculous price tag.  For example, one diagnostic test costs $150,000.(1)

This video describes “cystoscopy”, an invasive diagnostic test for bladder cancer. Doctors decide how to treat their patients based on the nature of cancer (stage, location, etc.). One standard procedure is “cystoscopy”.
The procedure causes extreme discomfort and pain. Also, numerous tests suggest that there is a significant risk of infection.
Blood in urine (defined as haematuria) serves as a motive to doctors who would suggest cystoscopy to patients because hematuria is a symptom of early-staged bladder cancer. However, only 10% of haematuria patients are actually diagnosed with bladder cancer.
Therefore, developing safer bladder cancer diagnostics involving no puncturing or inserting an instrument into your body is extremely necessary. This might also save resource and money that went in to haematuria patients tested negative (90%) after cystoscopy.
Researchers all around the world had defined cancer fragments from urine or blood with significant accuracy. Sometimes diagnostic test kits was developed such as UroVysion.
*Urovysion was approved by FDA.

This video describes what biomarker (cancer fragment) is.

However, low accuracies of those FDA-approved tests prevented them to replace the cystoscopy.
Feber and his team (from UCL) took one more step by developing UroMark test that had equal accuracy to cystoscopy.
They built a high-accuracy DNA-based test that allowed detecting the cancer fragment in your urine in early stages of bladder cancer.
Most surprisingly, they predicted that their test could even be used to detect cancer fragment in later stages of cancer.
This was false for all existing FDA-approved tests.
In conclusion, UroMark is a novel diagnostic test that can replace an informative, but rather inconvenient cystoscopy.
For Your Information:
Visit the Cambridge Consultants blog on “Current challenges in cancer diagnosis and treatment” to gain a general insight on the subject matter.

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Seven New Earth-like Planets Discovered: Time to Migrate?

Posted on March 13, 2017 by | 3 comments

Recently, NASA announced in a press-release conference confirming that there are seven Earth-sized planets which could potentially support life. This discovery gives hope for future colonization and the possibility for intelligent life forms, or aliens!

An illustration showing what the TRAPPIST-1 planets might look like
Source: Wikimedia Commons

“This gives us a hint that finding a second Earth is not a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’.” – Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate

Although many other planets are said to be habitable as well, such as Kepler-186f, this is the first time scientists found so many Earth-sized planets, ranging from 25% smaller to 10% bigger than Earth, revolving around the same star. This gives us an increased chance of finding a “Second Earth”.

This image shows the similarities between the TRAPPIST system and our solar system (green regions represents habitable zones)
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Very much like our solar system, these planets orbit around a star called TRAPPIST-1, which resembles our sun but is younger, smaller, and less bright. The TRAPPIST system is around 378 trillion kilometers away from us. It would only take us 40 years to get there if we can travel at the speed of light!

Scientists are still looking for more evidence to determine if it is possible for us to live on those planets. Currently, NASA is using the Hubble Space Telescope to scout for the presence of atmosphere and signs of life, such as oxygen.

“There are many more life-supporting planets out there waiting for us to be discovered.” – Royal Sir Martin Rees, Astronomer

Furthermore, this discovery gave promising hope in finding life forms in three of the seven Earth-sized planets. These planets meet some of the basic requirements to support life: a solid planet that orbits around a star that serves as an energy source and the right distance away from the sun so liquid water can run on land. The possibility of aliens existing isn’t zero after all!

(Source: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

Imagine if all the resources on Earth had been used up and no longer habitable, where will we go? Now we have a target destination, we just need to figure out how to get there.

Although we are still a long way from colonizing a planet, we are certainly on the right track. We are also one step closer to answering the ultimate question that we all wonder, “Are we alone in the universe?”

By: Kevin Chao

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Making Mars Home: Becoming an interplanetary species.

Posted on March 13, 2017 by | 4 comments

Imagine living on Mars. Experts have made many cases for why humans should become an interplanetary species. The video below discusses some of the reasons why we should go to Mars. From survival of our species to advancing science, the reasons are plenty. But is it possible to colonize Mars?

(Source: National Geographic, YouTube)

Unlike the moon, humans have never actually set foot on Mars. On this dry, desolate planet, the average surface temperature is -55⁰C. This is attributable to the planet’s thin atmosphere, which is too thin to retain heat, not to mention breathe. A good analogy for living on Mars is that it would be similar to living in Antarctica, but worse.

As arid, frozen and desolate as it may be, Mars is the only known planet besides Earth that could be considered remotely habitable for humans. Recent evidence has proven that there was once water on the planet and that at one point Mars’ climate was similar to that on Earth. Below is an image of Mars proving that there was once flowing water on the planet.

The dark, narrow streaks are inferred to be formed by seasonal flow of water and are roughly the length of a football field. (Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)

Although it’s atmosphere is thin, it still offers protection against the Sun’s radiation and the day/night rhythm of Mars is very similar to that on Earth. A day on Mars measures 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds. In addition, gravity on Mars is 38% of that on Earth, which is believed to be sufficient for the human body to adapt to.

The presence of methane gas on Mars means we could create fuel. The planet’s oxidized soil means we could potentially grow food, and although it’s temperature is frigid, it’s ice means there would be a water source.

Even still, humans won’t be able to live on Mars without the help of technology. It would require complex life-supporting measures and living in artificial environments. NASA believes this is possible and has already selected companies to develop prototypes for deep space habitats. These would be airtight habitats that would allow colonizers to grow food and live in a breathable environment.

Artist’s concept of a planned colony on Mars (Source: Bryan Versteeg, Mars One)

It seems entirely possible that humans could sustain life on Mars. With NASA and SpaceX’s continued research and development of technology to send rockets filled with cargo and astronauts to space, it’s only a matter of time before a colony is established on Mars. NASA released a plan outlining the next steps in the journey to Mars.

Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, has said that he wishes to colonize Mars in the next 40 to 100 years. As he has revealed, this won’t be an easy feat and many challenges lie ahead. Below is a video of Musk discussing what will be needed to successfully colonize Mars.

(Source: The Verge, YouTube)

I think the prospect of establishing a colony on Mars is exciting and the fact that we may see it our lifetime is astounding. I would be open to considering a life on Mars but for now, it’s just a possibility.

Would you live on Mars?

By: Ami Patel

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