Tag Archives: technology

The Greater Impacts of Fisheries and Environmental Change than Seal Predation in the Baltic Sea

Posted on April 4, 2019 by | Leave a comment

With the declining fish population, many commercial fisheries and artisanal fishers are worried. They see the recovering seal population as competitors for the dwindling fish stocks and this economic toll has led some fishers to take out their anger and frustration for on the seals, which truthfully is wrong! Researchers are working hard to scientifically prove that seals are not responsible for the decline in fish biomass in the Baltic Sea but rather the anthropogenic and environmental factors that are prevalent in the region.

“Freshly Caught Cod Fish” by Emad Basiri at Granville Island Vancouver BC, 2019

Dr. David Costalago by Emad Basiri at the Aquatic Ecosystems Research Laboratory, 2019

Dr. David Costalago, a postdoctoral fellow from University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries is helping shed some light on this controversial topic. Research done by Dr. Costalago and his team has helped to serve as a guide for a more comprehensive approach to management and conservation of seals. His research concludes that the recovering seal population is not to blame for the plummeting number of fish, instead, environmental changes, and overfishing cause more significant decreases in the fish population.

 

Source: SCIE 300 SO Project 213-6 Song “Kiss from a Rose” by Seal

By modelling future environmental scenarios, the researchers investigated how grey seal predation affected the fish stocks in the Baltic Sea. The data modeling software, Ecosim with Ecopath,  allowed researchers to study and model the feeding interactions between different marine mammals from 1974 – 2012. In addition, the models allowed the researchers to look into the consumption rates of fish by grey seals and compare that to the amount of fish caught by Baltic fishermen. 

Source: SCIE 300 SO Project 213-6 Song “Kiss from a Rose” by Seal

Dr. Costalago’s research brings awareness to the seal population in the Baltic Sea, but further research is needed to accurately determine the economic impact the seals are having in the Baltic. For instance, more data over a longer time period needs to be collected, especially along coastal regions because it’s where most Artisanal fishers are. 

“I know for a fact that some of the fishers are struggling nowadays and I know that seals might be playing a role in their struggles so that needs to be addressed,” said Dr. Costalgo. After talking to a local BC fisherman, he mentioned that the damages the seals would cause would lead to several hours of untangling lines and additional money spent to replace damaged equipment.

“Grey seal on Märket” by Niklas Sjöblom is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

“We know that the seal population are not affecting the fish biomass but the economic problems that some fishers have to face also need to be addressed by the government” – Dr. David Costalago

 

Dr. Costalago’s study is helping other ecologists and government officials to find ways to manage the seals and fix their own relationships with the fishermen with regards to fishing policy. This has brought attention to the unjust treatment of seals and the significant impact that the environment and fisheries have on the fish biomass.

By Group 213-6: Emad Basiri, Tenanye Haglund, Katherine Lam, Arrthy Thayaparan

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Outreach Project, Science Communication

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Predicting Marine Populations with Phytoplankton

Posted on April 3, 2019 by | Leave a comment

View of Earth from space. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

Did you know that the ocean is predicted to warm over 4°C  the next 100 years? There’s certainly more than meets the eye when it comes to understanding the effects of global warming, and knowing how ecosystems change in response to changes in temperature can help make our efforts more focused and accurate.

As a recent PhD graduate from the University of British Columbia, Dr. Joey Bernhardt is already making waves in the science community. Her most recent paper describes the use of phytoplankton to analyze growth rates among species under different temperature conditions. Most of the study’s work actually occurred just last September, and we were lucky enough to be able to meet Dr. Bernhardt to explore the bigger picture issues she’s addressing.

What’s so special about phytoplankton?

Green swirls of phytoplankton in the Baltic Sea. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

To debunk a common misconception: not all of the oxygen we breathe comes from trees. In reality, nearly 50% of the world’s oxygen supply is produced by phytoplankton. What’s more, phytoplankton serve as the basis of marine food webs, so it’s no surprise that they were the main subjects used in Dr. Bernhardt’s study. These remarkable organisms can actually help us make predictions about species populations in the context of global warming.

What issues are being addressed?

2070-2100 global warming predictions map. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

One of the most pressing issues in our global warming narrative surrounds how temperature changes affect species population. While it’s easy to measure population growth rates in the controlled conditions of a lab, Dr. Bernhardt explores whether we can apply these results to the unpredictable, fluctuating temperatures of the outdoor environment.

If we were to disregard the fact that in nature temperatures fluctuate, we will ultimately make inaccurate population predictions. To generate a more realistic sample, Dr. Bernhardt collected phytoplankton off the coast of Vancouver Island and placed them in lab incubators that mimic a natural environment using a variety of temperature settings.

To gain a better understanding of the methodology behind Dr. Bernhardt’s study, check out our video:

https://youtu.be/F5rC4PLMsds

Why should I care?

When a species find themselves in an environment outside of their normal temperature range, they will either die off or relocate to more habitable areas. This now presents an entirely new problem since it’s not always easy for the communities that rely on these populations to pack up and move as well. From an economic standpoint, there are whole industries built upon the reliance that these populations will return, year after year.

The Future of Global Economic and Climate Change Issues

These experiments allow us to see the range of temperatures at which a species can persist. We can then pair this with the knowledge of how temperatures around the globe will shift over time in order to build more sustainable communities.

We take a deeper look into the applications of this technology in our podcast:

Group 213-5: Danny Israel, Christy Lau, Christina Rayos

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Science Communication

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Self-driving cars, dangerous or safe?

Posted on March 20, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Self-driving cars have been a leading force in car making for a while now. A concerning question that arises with the development of the automatic cars is how safe is it to be safe enough?

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF COLONOSCOPY TESTING ON COLON CANCER RATES?

The safety features of current self-dring cars developed by Waymo. http://www.justscience.in/articles/impact-colonoscopy-testing-colon-cancer-rates/2017/12/15

For human drivers, we have drivers test to validate the ability to drive on the streets. However, for these self-driving cars, what are the standards? Do the cars have to obtain their driver licence as well before they can go on the road?

In a 2016 study, Kalra and a colleague showed that self-driving cars would have to trek hundreds of millions or perhaps billions of miles to demonstrate with comfortable certainty that they caused fewer fatalities than the average person (about 1.1 per 100 million miles driven). Based on the current number of self-driving cars, that task could take decades or centuries to complete.

Tech developers hardly have that kind of time, so companies like Waymo assess their vehicles’ safety by pairing real driving time with practice on a private track and millions of miles a day in computer simulations.

However, there are still some concerning questions as simulations cannot account for some absurd situations that might occur. The University of Michigan came up with general guidelines for safe self-driving cars. Can self-driving vehicles compensate for contributions to crash causation by other traffic participants, as well as vehicular, roadway and environmental factors?  Can all relevant inputs for computational decisions be supplied to a self-driving vehicle?  Can computational speed, constant vigilance, and lack of distractibility of self-driving vehicles make predictive knowledge of an experienced driver irrelevant?

The hesitance to provide a safe enough vehicle has been one of the major hindering factors when it comes to the development of self-driving vehicles as no company is willing to take the risk in selling potentially dangerous cars.

Therefore, some test similar to the standardized crash test for regular cars should be applied to self-driving vehicles to assess the chances of accidents due to machine error and human driving errors.

Here is a video uploaded by Ted-ed explaining some other dilemmas when it comes to self-driving cars.

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

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Immortality?

Posted on March 18, 2019 by | 1 comment

What defines immortality? If immortality is defined by “living” beyond the grave as a physical body with a personality and ability to interact with the world, then computer science is on the edge of this scary yet fascinating phenomenon.

https://www.sciencealert.com/images/articles/processed/shutterstock_225928441_web_1024.jpg

What is it:

In the past few years, researchers have developed many different types of AI technology to capture and store human data, with the potential of building Virtual Reality replicas of the deceased. This AI technology is based on the idea of “augmented reality,” where an AI programme uses the technological imprint – past social media – left behind by someone to build a digital replica of them. Lifenaut, a branch of the Terasem Movement, for example, gathers human personality data for free with the hope of creating a foundational database to one day transfer into a robot or holograph. While this technology is still in its experimental stages, at least 56,00 people have already stored mind-files online, each containing the person’s unique characteristics, including their mannerisms, beliefs, and memories. According to researchers, in about fifty years, millennials will have reached a point in their lives where they will have generated zettabytes (1 trillion gigabytes) of data, which is enough to create a digital version of themselves.

How:

The prospective application of this technology is that loved ones may use robot reincarnation as a way to grieve or commemorate someone who passed away. VR replicas will be able to speak with the same voice as the dead person, ask questions, and even perform simple tasks. They may be programmed to contain memories and personality, so family members could dynamically converse and interact with them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=89&v=KYshJRYCArEConcerns:

Concerns:

Of course, digital-afterlife technology is a revolutionary concept that brings major ethical and practical implications. Some believe that VR replicas of loved ones are a normal, new way to mourn the deceased, similar to current ways people use technology to remember their loved ones, such as watching videos or listening to voice recordings. The problematic part of this application is that it does not seem like a healthy way to grieve. Allowing people to clutch onto digital personas of deceased individuals out of fear and delusion could effectively inhibit people from moving on with their life. The other consequence that this AI technology threatens is the potential of robots achieving high intelligence, becoming so advanced they could replicate the human race. Some futurists thus believe that it is essential to program chips with preventative technology into robots to battle this apocalyptic risk. There are also significant social implications to consider with VR replicas. Should the right to create these replicas be based solely on wealth? The prospect of people having the ability to buy immortality, even in digital form, is certainly problematic, as it perpetuates troubling societal disparity. Ultimately, there are far too many harmful individual and societal consequences of VR human replication technology for it be a worthwhile or necessary AI innovation.

“Do you believe in immortality?”

“No, and one life is enough for me.” – Albert Einstein

~ Angela Wei

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Posted in Issues in Science, Science in the News

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AI vs Humans

Posted on January 28, 2019 by | Leave a comment

“Siri, please write my SCIE 300 blog post for me.” Unfortunately, Siri does not yet have the capability to form conscious thought and respond with an engaging response…but this idea may not be so far-fetched.

In recent studies, Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems from Alibaba and Microsoft performed better than humans on reading comprehension tests. Although this AI innovation threatens to displace some human jobs, the practical applications of this technology in customer service and other professional sectors show extraordinary potential in saving time and human efforts.

Source: https://cumanagement.com/sites/default/files/2018-09/AI-human-heads.jpg

In the study, AI machines were subjected to Stanford University’s SQuAD, a reading comprehension test based on Wikipedia articles. Humans scored an average of 82.304, while Alibaba’s machine learning model scored 82.44 and Microsoft’s scored 82.65. I found this innovation interesting because reading comprehension is a complex task involving language understanding, critical thinking, and problem solving. The thought of computers surpassing humans in these areas both scares and fascinates me.

Alibaba’s AI software is a deep neural network model based on Natural Language Processing (NLP) using the Hierarchical Attention Network. It can read in order to identify phrases that could contain potential answers. Currently, the model only works well with questions that have clear answers. If inquiries are too vague, or if there are no clearly prepared solutions, the system may not work. Despite these hiccups, the impact of this underlying technology is incredibly widespread. It is already being expanded and utilized in customer service jobs, such as call-centers, food service, retail, and online inquiry management. Alibaba has already employed this technology in its AI-powered customer service chatbot which answers millions of online shoppers’ questions.

After Alibaba and Microsoft announced the ability of their AIs, there has been a looming fear that machines will take over human jobs. This new technology could indeed mean that we could codify routine jobs, even those that require social interaction (like answering customer inquiries) into a series of machine-readable instructions.

As this technological automation occurs, companies may deploy more bot technology, potentially displacing human jobs. However, with the current technology, AIs are not yet capable of fully understanding and responding to customers as a human could, and are thus unable to fully replace most jobs. Entirely new job sectors will also arise as technology develops and grows, especially in fields such as data science and computer engineering. Looking further, this innovation could lead to more advanced bots capable of solving more complex problems, including social and political issues such as climate change or resource allocation.

– Angela Wei

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Posted in Science Communication, Science in the News

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Combating Climate Change with Robotic Jellyfish

Posted on January 21, 2019 by | 1 comment

The backbone of any diverse ecosystem is a healthy coral reef. Image from Wikimedia Commons

A quick dive beneath the ocean’s surface can reveal a completely different world. Our ocean’s coral reefs house some of nature’s most complex, diverse, and lively aquatic life. Alas, with global warming increasing our ocean’s temperatures, most of this coral is actually dying at an alarming rate.

Be that as it may, within this bustling community you might come across a robotic jellyfish or two. Have no fear, these ones don’t sting! In fact, these devices may be our solution to combating climate change.

What are robotic jellyfish?

The robotic jellyfish is a device that was developed by Erik Engeberg and his team of mechanical engineers at Florida Atlantic University. This robot mimics the gentle movements of a real jellyfish and collects data on ocean temperatures via built-in sensors. Ultimately, this allows for the study of the hidden impacts of climate change at sea.

The robotic jellyfish propelling itself gently through the ocean. Image from JENNIFER FRAME, NICK LOPEZ, OSCAR CURET AND ERIK D. ENGEBERG/IOP PUBLISHING

Can this robot save our reefs?

Yes! In fact, the Great Barrier Reef recently experienced a widespread death of coral (a process known as “bleaching”). Consequently, the death of aquatic life whom depended on coral as shelter to protect themselves from predators followed suit. With that being said, the creation of the robotic jellyfish has allowed scientists to develop better measures to protect these reefs from further damage.

Coral reefs become lacklustre and dull after dying in a process known as “bleaching”. The bleaching of coral reefs no longer provide shelter for aquatic life. Image from Wikimedia Commons

How were coral reefs studied before?

In the past, drones were deployed to collect data on marine life; however, they were very destructive. For instance, drones produced a lot of noise which can scare off marine life. On top of that, their propellers take in ocean water quite forcibly, tearing off the coral which is an essential habitat for these animals.

The soft movements of wild jellyfish were what inspired Engeberg and his team to develop quieter technology to monitor coral reefs. The robotic jellyfish has allowed us to collect data without posing as a threat to animals or potentially destroying the reef.

Underwater drones were used in the past. However, their propellers were quite noisy and posed as a threat to the coral reefs. Image from Wikimedia Commons

The Future of the Robotic Jellyfish

Though the robotic jellyfish is still a work in progress, it has given scientists a better understanding of how to tackle the ongoing fight with climate change. To give you a better visual and understanding of the robotic jellyfish, this Youtube video summarizes the robot and all its technicalities:

-Christina Rayos

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Posted in Science Communication, Science in the News

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Wired and Tired: Detrimental Effects of Blue Light on Sleep

Posted on January 14, 2019 by | Leave a comment

You have to wake up early tomorrow, however, you don’t feel tired, so you go on your phone to quickly check Instagram or Facebook and suddenly its 2 or 3 a.m. before you can finally fall asleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation, 95% of people in the U.S. admit to using an electronic device within the hour before slumber. This not only causes you to sleep later, but also substantially lowers the quality of sleep, leaving you feeling tired throughout the day. This can interfere with various aspects of your life including work, school, or driving. Poor sleep has also been linked to obesity, growth hormone imbalance, chronic illness… the list goes on and on.

Brain Activity Credit: Saad Faruque

Using your phone, watching television, or using any electronic device before bed delays the circadian rhythm, which is a 24-hour internal clock that cycles between sleepiness and alertness. Dr. Charles Czeisler from Harvard Medical School showed that daylight helps to keep your body’s circadian rhythm aligned with the environment. Therefore, when exposed to the blue light emitted from these electronic devices, your body perceives it as daylight, and as a result, your body will suppress the secretion of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin and remain in a state of alertness. This shifts your circadian clock later and later, making it harder and harder for you to fall asleep.

Phone before Sleep Credit: Courtesy Photo

According to researchers at Harvard Medical School, blue light is the most effective at altering the body’s circadian rhythm. However, it was found that other sources of light, such as green light, can also alter the body’s circadian rhythm under certain conditions. This is because the photoreceptor system in the human eye is responsible for resetting the internal circadian body clock through the detection of light. These photoreceptors are very responsive to blue light; however, new research shows that the another set of photoreceptors in the human eye, which are sensitive to green light, also have an impact the internal circadian body clock. The researchers found that when exposed to dim light, green light is equally as effective as blue light in delaying circadian rhythm, however, the effects of green light die off more quickly and hence blue light suppresses melatonin for about twice as long as green light.

Morning Alarm Credit: Pixabay

To conclude, blue light exposure before bedtime can negatively harm your sleep and health by being physiologically and psychologically stimulating. So next time you are lying in bed and can’t fall asleep you should think twice about checking your phone.

-Jonathan Raj

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