Science, but no longer fiction.

Posted on February 26, 2018 by | 1 comment

For as long as I can remember, my interest in science and science fiction have been deeply connected. Every Marvel movie I see inevitably results in hours long “study breaks”, where I scour the internet for any information on how these spectacular technologies match up with real world science. Does it obey the laws of physics? If not, is there something similar that theoretically could? Do we have related technology now? How would it work?  Unsurprisingly, I’m not alone in this thinking. Countless inventions that have and will shape our society were initially conceived in fiction, including the atomic bomb, cell phones, self driving cars and many more.

Roddenberry, Gene. Star Trek. CBS Television Distribution, 1968.

Source: Star Trek

Most of the time, my Wikipedia rampages end with the second question: Is there something that theoretically could? This results in a lengthy hypothetical description of something that often doesn’t resemble its fictitious counterpart. So understandably, I get pretty excited when I see technology not only possible, but already close to becoming reality.

This is the case with the work recently published in Nature by Daniel Smalley, an electrical and computer engineering professor from Brigham Young University. The “Photophoretic-trap Volumetric display,” or more casually called “The Princess Leia Project,” is a revolutionary new 3D hologram design. The idea of 3D holograms is not a new one. Most famously, it has appeared in Star Wars with Princess Leia’s plea for help projected by R2D2, or the enormous head of Darth Sidious. More recently it has been popularized in films like Iron Man and Avatar.

Kershner, Irvin, director. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. Lusasfilms Ltd., 1980.

Source: Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back

Lucas, George, director. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. Lusasfilms Ltd., 1977.

Source: Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope

Ironically, none of these depictions are actually holograms. A holographic display specifically refers to an image projected in 2 dimensions. In other words, if you aren’t looking directly at it, the image will appear distorted like viewing a TV at a sharp angle. A Volumetric Display occupies 3D space, so it can be viewed clearly from any angle. Smalley is able to do this using a single cellulose particle, a component of plant fibre. This particle is trapped in the air using a set of invisible lasers which can move it around in a small circuit. Then another set of lasers illuminate the particle with different colours. If the particle is moved fast enough around this track, it appears to be a solid line to the human eye.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/lasers-trace-new-way-create-hovering-hologram-images?tgt=nr#video

Source: Science News

Though Smalley isn’t the first scientist to research 3D displays, his multi-laser design is the first able to incorporate colour. Due to the use of a single particle, his prototype images are restricted by size, ranging from about the size of a pea to a postage stamp. But if his design is improved, many particles could be used to create much larger images. With the right imagination, Smalley says “the sky becomes the limit.”

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By Connor DeFaveri

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A Glass a Day Keeps the Doctor Away!

Posted on February 21, 2018 by | 5 comments

At the end of a draining week, there is nothing more satisfying than having a long awaited glass of red wine. This may seem like a guilty pleasure, but what if your favourite weekend beverage actually has proven health benefits?

Source: Flickr

History has shown that red wine has been in production for over 6,000 years, and has been used primarily for religious purposes since its origin. However, red wine has been proven to be advantageous for one’s health.

The term wine describes an extensive class of alcoholic beverages, which are the result of grape fermentation. Although wine is a fruit product produced from grapes, the process of fermentation allows it to transform from regular grape juice, into the beverage that we all know as wine!

Ethanol is the alcoholic component in wine, and it has been proven that moderate ethanol consumption can lead to a longer lifespan. A study in Eastern France was conducted, and moderate red wine intake, which was defined as 2-5 glasses per day, was shown to have a 24%-31% reduction in mortality. Now, how exactly does red wine make you live longer?

What makes red wine so unique is the presence of secondary metabolites in grapes, which are called polyphenols. Secondary metabolites are organic molecules that are not directly involved in plant development. Rather, they indirectly aid in defense mechanisms, and keep plants safe.

The skin and seeds of grapes are the source of these polyphenols, and are essential components in the red wine making process. During fermentation of red wine, the skin and seeds are left on, thus allowing humans directly consume the polyphenols. In contrast, before being fermented, white wines are pressed off of the seeds and skins, which also explains why red wine has greater benefits when compared to white wine.

Polyphenols have vital antioxidant properties, which help to lower the overall risk of chronic diseases. They protect our body’s cells from damage, thus helping to lower the possibility of heart conditions, diabetes, and even cancer. Specifically, there is strong evidence that mortality caused by certain types of heart disease is decreased when red wine is consumed. For example, red wine can prevent build-up of fats and other substances in the arteries, ultimately reducing the risk of heart disease.

Source: Flickr

Now it is important to remember that this is all in moderation, and doctors recommend 5 ounces, or 1-2 glasses of red wine a day. With that being said, excess consumption of red wine, and similarly other alcoholic beverages, will not have the same effects, and can even lead to higher mortality. So remember, red wine may in fact have health benefits, but it is only a glass a day that will ultimately keep the doctor away.

Bottoms up!

By Alexis Llewellyn

 

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The Role of Vitamin D and the Deficiency of Vitamin D

Posted on February 5, 2018 by | 1 comment

Health issues are one of major concerns of us in present days. As our lives become urbanized and modernized, we take less care of our body. Subsequently, our nutrition balances are getting worse. Unfortunately, it is undeniable fact.

One of crucially important nutrition that we are usually missing these days is Vitamin D. Many of us may have heard about vitamin D at least once.

But, it is just without knowledge of its important role in our body when it is deficient.

Vitamin D, in simple description, is a key nutrition that regulates our feelings and health (preventing depression and strengthens bones). Therefore, it causes several problems without sufficient amount of vitamin D intake.

Vitamin D is synthesized in our cell tissues under the skin with exposure of sunlight, specifically ultraviolet rays:

  • In human, when 7-dehydrocholestrelol in our skin is exposed to sunlight, it is converted into cholecalciferol which is vitamin D3.
  • In plants, when sterol meets sunlight, it is converted into calciferol which is known as vitamin D2; regulates calcium and phosphorus in our body.

Source: wordpress vitaminsaandd

We are only able to treat vitamin D in form of D2 and D3 in our body and they both work the same thing during the metabolic process.

Vitamin D is easily absorbed through the skin into our body within the wavelength of 290 nm to 315 nm. People who spend more than 20 minutes a day outside between 10 am to 2 pm would have no worries of vitamin D deficiency.

However, due to the location of Canada (cloud-covered sunlight during winter in the norther hemisphere region) and long rainy seasons, we are not freely able to enjoy the sunlight well to absorb the enough amount of vitamin D.

So, vitamin D deficiency is very common to people in Canada during the winter season since we have much less exposure to sunlight.

source: nutritionaction

As a result, vitamin D deficiency may causes several serious problems:

1) Weaken the immune system

Vitamin D enhances T-cell; cells that destroy microbes causing diseases. In case of vitamin D deficiency, T-cell may be weakened.

2) Diabetes

Risk of type-2 diabetes increases by up to 80 % – Vitamin D helps with insulin (hormone that regulates blood sugar level) secretion and conversion to glucose (a type of sugar from food we eat) energy. Low levels increase insulin resistance and damage glucose metabolism

3) Cardiovascular diseases (hear and blood vessel diseases)

Vitamin D inhibits renin which is a hormone increases the blood pressure of the systolic period. Vitamin D deficiency increases risk of several cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension (high blood pressure), heart attacks, and heart failure.

4) Depression

Vitamin D deficiency causes low serotonin levels and high cortisol hormone. Cortisol is stress hormone and serotonin is brain hormone that regulates happiness. The level of serotonin is increased when the body is exposed to sunlight.

source: department of nutrition, Harvard school of Public Health

 

To prevent vitamin D deficiency, it is best to expose oneself to sunlight 15~20 minutes a day without sunscreen. When it is not possible to spend time under the sun, however, intake of vitamin D with foods are another good option.

 

source: asianetindia

 

Sources of vitamin D from foods:

  • salmon&tuna
  • whole grains
  • egg yolk
  • mushroom
  • milk
  • cheese

source: BC Medical Journal

 

Even we intake vitamin D with foods, the content is too small for suggested daily dose. Therefore, the intake of vitamin D supplements are considered as the second-best option. However, supplements may cause the overdose problem so that it is crucial to follow the recommended dosage.

 

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Effect of Sleep Deprivation on Health

Posted on February 5, 2018 by | 1 comment

Recently, there has been increasing interest in the effect of sleep time on the life quality. Some researches show that sleep deprivation costs the UK economy £40 billion a year, due to the reduced productivity and health. And by the recent research in 2015, it indicate that the sleep-deprived human brain has problem in both focusing and remembering. These evidences definitely show us that we need high-quality adequate sleep. So how to make our sleep more efficient had become a mystery that beset scientists for the past 20 years.

Because while the light bulb and advanced technology brought about a world of 24 hours work and productivity. It has come at a cost of our naturally biological clock and our brain’s need for sleep.The evidence shows that nurses who work more than 12.5 hours are significantly decreased vigilance, suffering an occupational injury, or making a medical error. Comparing with the normal physician, the 24-hr on-call physician has twice as many working faults during the night shift and trigger 36% more serious medical errors.

Effects of Sleep Deprivation

Last year, the scientists in Italian concluded that sleep deprivation will cause some cells to consume other parts of our brain’s synapses such as astrocytes. They are kind of star-shaped cells that able to remove worn-out cells. The result concludes that the astrocytes went into overdrive in sleep-deprived mice will cause more broken of the brain’s connections, and may lead to Alzheimer’s disease. Also, the research by Surrey University concluded that over 700 of the body’s genes, including those that govern the immune system, are altered when someone has sleep less than 6 hours.

Synapse

As a result, the weight of evidence suggests that sleep deprivation highly increase fatigue and threaten our safety. For the long-term perspective, it really has a significant effect on our health and well-being. Thus, I hope we can all have high-quality adequate sleep every day.

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Having a large sweet tooth may lead to Alzheimer’s

Posted on February 5, 2018 by | 3 comments

Source: Pixabay

A high-sugar diet has developed a negative connotation over the past few decades. This can be attributed to the countless studies showing the adverse effects sugar can have on the body physically.

To further fuel the negativity associated with sugar, a recent study has found that high blood sugar levels are linked to negative cognitive effects in their participants.

The study, published in Diabetologia, observed 5,189 participants over a period of about 8 years. Their results concluded that all participants demonstrated a cognitive decline over this time span. Interestingly, however, those patients with observed high sugar levels demonstrated a much faster rate of cognitive decline than those with healthy sugar levels.

The study above exposes a clear relation between high sugar levels and cognitive decline, but this revelation is far from ground-breaking. Some scientists have long been referring to Alzheimer’s as ‘type-3 diabetes’. This name came about due to the fact that individuals with diabetes have a higher chance of developing Alzheimer’s.

For me, this is a scary prospect. As a woman with a genetic disposition to diabetes and a sweet tooth propelled by the overwhelming amount of sugar in the South Asian diet, I am a clear candidate for developing Alzheimer’s.

How exactly does this development occur, though?

Dr. Eric Berg, from his YouTube channel Dr. Eric Berg DC, explains the mechanism behind the phenomenon in the video below.

In the video, Dr. Berg states that those with high sugar levels develop insulin-resistance in the body, which results in low sugar metabolism. This ‘starves’ the brain and creates significant memory failures, leading to Alzheimer’s. In the end, he mentions cutting out sugar from our diets entirely, to help prevent the development of the disease.

Cutting sugar out of our diets is no simple thing, however. The Keto Diet Podcast touches on some societal barriers when it comes to switching over into diets that involve less sugar. In her interview with Amy Berger regarding her book, The Alzheimer’s Antidote, Leanne Vogel mentions that even after a run fundraising for Alzheimer’s the meals offered included many dishes with carbohydrates, with few alternative options. She also mentions the candies being ever-present in her grandfather’s care home, despite him having developed the disease already.

Listen to the full podcast by clicking below.

Excess sugar leading to Alzheimer’s disease is a link that may now be considered a fact due to the overwhelming amount of evidence. In order to ensure a future of all round health, we should take care of avoiding extra sugar in our diet. Personally, I plan to replace the chocolate bar with an apple, skip the mid-day Frappuccino, and have the medicine go down without a spoonful of sugar.

-Pravnit Kooner

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