Is Alpha BRAIN a Real NZT-48 Limitless Pill, or Snake Oil?

Posted on January 14, 2019 by | 2 comments

Finding a smart drug like Bradley Cooper’s character in the movie Limitless is a dream of most university students. In this movie, Bradley Cooper discovers a mysterious pill, NZT-48, which allows him to access 100% of his brain. This starving writer transforms into a financial genius overnight.

Adderall XR in a pill bottle. Adderall is an amphetamine, usually prescribed to those with attention deficit hyperactive disorder, or ADHD. (Photo uploader: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adderall_XR_20mg.jpg)

Alpha BRAIN is a drug that Onnit, the manufacturer, claims will improve brain function. Alpha BRAIN is an all natural, caffeine free, gluten free supplement that Onnit says has been “…shown to help improve memory & focus”.

Although it would be great if an all-natural, safe, cheap supplement existed that would allow everyone to be a genius, this does not seem to be the case. The evidence does not support Alpha BRAIN being a real life NZT-48 Limitless pill. Not only is there major financial conflict of interest in the studies around Alpha BRAIN, the results of these studies are deliberately contorted to benefit the supplement industry.

With the increasing prevalence of “smart drugs” on university campuses, it is obvious that students are trying to get ahead of the competition. These cognitive enhancing “smart drugs” are known as nootropics. Nootropics such as Adderall and Ritalin are DEA Schedule II drugs along with cocaine, methamphetamine, OxyContin, fentanyl and other dangerous substances. This tight governmental control makes it difficult, not to mention illegal, to acquire smart drugs like Adderall and Ritalin without a doctor’s prescription. But no fear, Onnit is here!

You may have heard celebrities like Joe Rogan in “The Joe Rogan Experience” talk very highly of a supplement called Alpha BRAIN. Onnit is a company which creates and sells supplements to fix a plethora of issues. Their top selling supplement is Alpha BRAIN. For about $1 a pill, Onnit promises enhanced memory and focus. Onnit’s website states,

“If you aren’t taking Alpha BRAIN, you are playing at a disadvantage.”

Onnit refers to a clinical study on their website which found that Alpha BRAIN improves memory and focus. This study, conducted by Todd M. Solomon and his team, was funded by a grant from Onnit – oh how convenient! Solomon also personally received monetary compensation for consulting with Onnit.

Cognitive enhancement was measured through a series of several tests in both the placebo group and the Alpha BRAIN treatment group. Each group showed one instance of statistically significant cognitive enhancement. This does not prove that Alpha BRAIN actually works like Onnit leads its customers to believe. All it shows is that Alpha BRAIN has a success rate equal to that of a sugar pill.

Will Alpha BRAIN improve your grades? Probably not. Will it hurt you? Probably only your wallet. There is no evidence to support Alpha BRAIN as an effective cognitive enhancer. In the famous words of Richard Carlson,

“If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

 

 

Written by Nick di Lello

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“Vessel Baby” on the Way?

Posted on January 14, 2019 by | Leave a comment

You probably have seen it more than once in Sci-fi movies: human babies are incubated in large fluid-filled vessels growing and waiting to come alive. I am not a big fan of such movies, but a recent study has made those scenes one step closer to reality.

A paper published on Nature  caught public’s attention in 2017. Scientists at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia kept eight premature lambs in an “artificial womb” system to allow those lambs to continue growing outside mother lambs’ body up to four weeks. The “artificial womb” looks a lot like a plastic bag filled with solution which mimics amniotic fluid in the real uterus. The baby lamb’s umbilical cord (containing blood vessels) was also connected to a bunch of tubes which provide oxygen and remove carbon dioxide at the same time.

Credit: Nature Communication

Schematic and Real Setup of Artificial Womb

Scientists of this study think such extra-uterine supporting system would be extremely beneficial for preterm human babies in the near future. Statistics show that infants have lower than 50% survival rate and may face lifelong health issues if they are born at or before 25 weeks. It is also one of the leading causes of new-born death and illness in the U.S. “These infants have an urgent need for a bridge between the mother’s womb and the outside world,” says  Alan W. Flake,  also the leading researcher of this study. With “artificial womb” like this, doctors and caregivers could keep a premature baby in a “uterus-like” environment longer enough for its important organs to grow and thus significantly reduces the rate of mortality and the risks of other complications.

Although this technology seems incredibly promising and considered as “a pretty momentous achievement” by  other researchers in the field, some people also raise ethical concerns about it. Can people abort a “vessel baby”? Who is going to raise the baby if both parents abandon it before it is born? They argue if artificial uterus further extends human’s ability to grow embryos and fetuses, such action would challenge our laws around issues like abortion and reproductive rights. However, other people embrace this technology which may become an option for homosexual males to have their own kids without the use of surrogate and allow women to have children without going through painful labour. Fortunately, we probably won’t see human babies “popped” out of such artificial system very soon since scientists need more time to tackle many technical issues and perfect the “womb”. This leaves the general public and policy makers some time to discuss all the ethical and legal considerations behind it.

Xin Dong

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Posted in Biological Sciences

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Fast radio burst signals

Posted on January 14, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Artificial Radio waves is one of the most common electromagnetic radiations in the modern world. Nowadays, people use it in broadcasting, radar, and other systems. However, natural radio waves come from the space objects and we will talk about one of these natural radio waves, Fast radio burst(FRB).  On 9 January 2019, it is reported that the astronomers found the second repeating FRB source by using CHIME which is a new radio telescope in Canada. This repeating FRB source was from over 1.5 billion light years away and it was named as FRB 180814. But, what is FRB exactly?

CHIME experiment construction (Mateus A. Fandiño)

FRB is a transient radio pulse and the length of it start from a millisecond to a few milliseconds. Although FRBs is reported for multiple times, the repeating fast radio burst is quite rare and only two of the repeating FRB is FRB 121102 and this FRB 180814. The first signals from FRB 121102 were discovered in 2012 and it was confirmed that it was caused by plasma dispersion. However, FRB 121102 was observed by astronomer Paul Scholz in November 2015 again. He used the Arecibo radio telescope to find 10 repeating fast radio pulses from May 2015 TO June 2015. In the next few years, the FRB 121102 was recorded once again in 2016,2017 and 2018, this showed that it is not a one-time event.

But what are the sources of these FRBs? We are still yet to confirm the source of fast radio burst signals, but it is suggested that it could come from a highly magnetized rotating neutron star(pulsar). A neutron star is the collapsed core of a giant star. Some of the neutron stars will emit electromagnetic radiations such as FRB so that they can be detected by instruments.

Neutron Stars(NASA Goddard)

 

Some scientist suggested that the repeating FRB could come from an unknown extraterrestrial intelligence. They argued that the FRB repeating signals is an artificial stray blast and they are caused by spaceships. However, this is also a hypothesis and it is not be proven.

In conclusion, these “sources” for FRB are all assumptions and the source of FRB signals still remain to be unknown. Scientists are still working on it and looking forward to solving this mystery.

 

Siming tang

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A Strangled Ocean

Posted on January 14, 2019 by | Leave a comment

When looking through the Science section of any prominent magazine or newspaper, it’s rare not to see an article involving climate change and its numerous impacts on our planet. It’s a topic that is constantly being discussed and rightly so, as it represents one of the biggest challenges that society is facing. Even if you have no idea of the science behind how our world is being affected, articles such as this one just recently posted in The New York Times online website, are good to get you thinking.

A visual depiction of how much global warming heat is going into the various components of the climate system for the period 1993 to 2003. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2019, from https://skepticalscience.com/graphics.php?g=12

Our world’s oceans are the most dramatically impacted by global warming, and are the subject of countless research studies being done. One of the most concerning effects of climate change on the oceans, and perhaps the one raising the most questions, is the process of deoxygenation. This, in brief, is the process of declining O2 levels because of many complicated and interconnected biological, chemical, and physical processes. Perhaps the most fundamental and easily understood process that effects the way oxygen is exchanged between the atmosphere and surface ocean is the correlation between temperature and solubility; as temperature increases the solubility of oxygen decreases. This temperature effect accounts for up to half of the deoxygenation in the upper 1000m of the water column.

Being able to accurately model the changes in oxygen concentration is the biggest hurdle associated with deoxygenation. When modelling any part of the ocean, a researcher needs to understand and accurately represent the processes that are occurring. Seeing as oxygen is highly utilized and highly dynamic within any given part of the ocean, it’s extremely difficult to produce meaningful results. So, in most studies, especially those involving biological oceanography, a field where many processes are poorly understood, researchers must make certain assumptions. Additionally, these assumptions are highly dependent on that researchers understanding of the ocean.

The urgency of being able to obtain meaningful and reproducible models is always increasing. Declining oxygen levels in the ocean can dramatically affect the countless species that live in and depend on the ocean for resources.

Most notably, us.

An Argo float, foreground. The new study included direct measurements of ocean temperatures from the global array of 3,500 Argo floats and other ocean sensors. (2015, July 9). Retrieved January 14, 2019, from https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4655

The process of deoxygenation does not need to be looked at as a doomsday clock.

We have countless research behind us and every day, researchers work towards finding a solution that minimizes the effects that global warming has on the world’s oceans.

 

Cameron Carvalho 

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Video

What does “Chang’e 4” soft landing on the far side of moon mean to us?

As we know, China has achieved the first successful soft landing on the far side of the moon with the spacecraft which is named Chang’e 4. This is a huge achievement because it is the first time that humans have been able to see or investigate the back side of the moon. Due to the interaction of forces between the Earth and the Moon, the revolution and cycles of the Moon are always the same as those of the Earth, which means that we can only forever see the same side of the moon from the Earth, which causes the phenomenon called ‘tidal lock.’ In order to uncover the the mysterious back of the moon and help humans know more about it, Chang’e 4 has landed there and carried out the mission.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20180912_6258TPS-TPR-2018Q3-18-09-04-p14legacy.png

Landing Process

The landing of chang’e 4 is divided into 4 parts. First of all, power reduction process starts at 15KM above the moon ground and the speed of the spacecraft decreases from 1.7km/s to 0. Then, at about 6-8KM, the detector performs a quick attitude adjustment. When the detector reaches 100m above the ground, it stops and tries to identify obstacles and slopes.

Difficulty of landing on the back side

The soft landing on the far side of the moon is really difficult because there are many craters on the back of the moon, especially in the Antarctic-Aitken Basin, and the terrain of elevation is extremely complex. What’s more, in the process of the landing, the direction of the Earth is unavailable. All the information needs to be transferred by the Trunk star and there is delay on the image transfer, which means the whole process of landing is blind.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lunarpioneer/1250053951 Joel Raupe

Significance of soft landing

This landing matters a lot to the science world. For astronomers, the back of the moon is a quiet and good place to conduct radio observations. Because the celestial bodies in the universe are very far away from us, the electromagnetic signal is very weak. Therefore, astronomers hope to build telescopes in completely quiet areas to monitor weak electromagnetic signals from the universe. On the back of the moon, the moon itself blocks various interfering signals from the Earth, so it can detect electromagnetic signals that are indistinguishable on Earth.

 

Fan Feng

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Posted on January 14, 2019 by in Science in the News

Cultural Influence on Schizophrenia

Posted on January 13, 2019 by | 1 comment

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that causes a person to lose touch with reality. Symptoms would often include hallucinations, delusions, depression, and abnormal speech and behaviour. But did you know that a person with schizophrenia can behave and think differently depending on the culture they’re in?

A woman hallucinating. Image from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ill_dict_infernal_p0333-317_hallucination.jpg

In America, people with schizophrenia would often hear voices that are rather harsh and violent. These voices would often say something that would insult the person or tell them to do something violent or inappropriate. This can lead to depression, suicidal tendencies, and also violent tendencies.

However, the voices that Africans and Indians hear are considered to be benign. According to studies, Africans and Indians would often hear voices that would encourage them or voices that were rather playful in nature. The voices can also be thought of as a companion for them.

The difference between how schizophrenia appears in people of a different culture is most likely to be caused by the societal values of the culture and also how different cultures portray schizophrenia.

In America, schizophrenia is seen as a mental illness that causes a person to lose themselves. The person would lose their individuality and their sense of self. The voices as thus are seen as an intrusion which would then create a conflict between the person and the voices. As a result of the rising conflict between the “voices” in the person’s head, the voices would begin to become violent and uncontrollable.

Meanwhile, Eastern and African cultures have a more collectivist view. This shaped their auditory hallucination in a way that allowed them to hear voices from their relatives or friends that have passed away. They think of the voices as a form of their close ones trying to help and guide their life and some even think of it in a religious context, where God is trying to talk to them and guide them. This allowed them to make peace with the voices and think of the voices as companions.

Angel talking to a man. Image from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Dream_of_Saint_Joseph.jpg

The comparisons between how cultures affect schizophrenia could allow for improved or new treatments for schizophrenic patients.

Gloria Chan

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Welcome to SCIE 300 Blogging!

Posted on September 11, 2018 by | 2 comments

Welcome to the SCIE 300 course blog!
Here are few things to make note of before you get started with your posts. First of all, you should read the blogging resources page under the Create menu. This will help you out a lot if you are brand new to using WordPress. On this page you will find video tutorials about writing posts on this blog, adding media to your posts, tagging, and categorizing. You will also find a link to the rubric we’ll use to grade your blog posts.
Next, check out the blogging guidelines. Here you will find the answer to the question: “What are we supposed to blog about?” You can also check out one of last term’s blogs for some additional inspiration.
There are a few important things to keep in mind when blogging. Please do not assume that just because something is online, it is OK for you to use it. For example, unless it is explicitly stated, an image on the internet can not just be copied, saved, and used in your own post without permission to do so. We’ve provided you with a lot more detail about properly using online content, but if you have questions, let us know.
This blog also contains a lot of resources for you. For example, still under the Create menu, there is a list of suggested software to use for your projects. We’ve also collected some writing and presentation resources. Basic audio/visual equipment can be borrowed from SCIE300. Contact the course coordinator for more info.
Under the Explore menu, you will find some sample podcasts and videos, links that may be of interest or assistance, a list of groups and associations related to communicating science as well as a list of local museums and science centres. The Explore menu also contains a library resources page, which you should definitely have a look at. Finally, there is a bookshelf that lists relevant books that are on reserve for you in Woodward Library.
Let us know if you have any questions about the blog or would like to see any other resources made available. Or, if you find something that you think would be useful to the rest of the class, tell us, and we can add it to the resources. Better yet — write a post about it!
Happy blogging!
The Science 300 Team

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