Category Archives: Science Communication

Dear Canada, we are losing our wetlands, and it is affecting us more than we think

Posted on April 4, 2019 by | 3 comments

We don’t usually think about our wetlands.

They are not as beautiful as the Lake Louise nor as majestic as the Niagara Falls. Instead, wetlands come with benefits that serve beyond our aesthetic needs.

Wetland is a pool of water that exist because water accumulates in a basin after flooding or after the snow melts during spring that the water remains long enough to support plant growth. Wetlands have many benefits; they are some of the most productive ecosystems, they store floodwaters, act as natural water filters, the peats in wetlands help store carbon and most importantly, wetlands are the spots for groundwater recharge and discharge, protecting us from the droughts while transferring the water towards nearby surface waters.

Drainage of wetlands for agriculture and urbanization is the major cause of wetland loss. (Source: Ducks Unlimited Canada)

 

What is happening to our wetlands?

Despite being able to provide so much, wetlands can also be extremely vulnerable. About 70% of wetlands in settled areas in Canada are lost as they were drained out and destroyed to make way for unsustainable agriculture and new buildings. 

Dr. Ali Ameli, a hydrogeologist from the University of British Columbia, made a computer model to compare the number of wetlands in Beaverhill watershed in Alberta in 50-years period. From his research, he found that the loss of wetlands is causing a major shift in the movement of groundwater. Nearby river, for example, is gaining their water from further and older sources. This means that there is less groundwater recharge compared to discharge.

 

How does that affect us?

The lack of freshwater and clean water will impact economic needs such as irrigation for agriculture, water consumption at homes and even ecological needs like habitats for stream fishes and other aquatic animals. Without wetlands, nutrients like phosphorus that is released from farms cannot be filtered and will get into water bodies, which then lead to the blooming of harmful and toxic algae. Oxygen levels will reduce which result in dead aquatic animals. Alberta is also Canada’s 2nd largest agriculture producer. The loss of wetlands will cause loss of irrigation sources for the farms, which then will impact our food resources and Alberta’s economic as a whole.

A fish is dead because of the lack of oxygen in water contaminated with algal blooms. (Source: Tom Archer)

 

How do we save our wetlands?

From a scientist’s view, the goal is to produce more scientific research to better manage our watersheds with less environmental issues and more productivity for forestry and agriculture.

Meanwhile, the government should apply scientific methods in their policies. For example, the government of Alberta actually applied Dr. Ameli’s models and approach to see and calculate the locations in the watershed that wetlands are good to be drained, and the location that wetlands cannot be drained.

For individuals, we can share our thoughts with friends and various levels of government and the business community. It is time for us to think more and act on our dying wetlands.

– By Katrina, Setareh, Gloria, and Syakirah from 212-6

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Climate change may be wiping out the rainbow in our rivers

Posted on April 4, 2019 by | Leave a comment

While you might still be able to see rainbows reflected in the rivers, rainbow trout may become a thing of the past.

A freshwater rainbow trout. [Photo Source: © Schwarzenarzisse under a Pixabay License.]

Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) are a species of salmonid fish. This means they are related to salmon and other trout species, they are found along the West Coast of North America. There are populations of rainbow trout all the way from Alaska down to Baja California. According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, habitat loss and climate change are two of the leading causes threatening our local populations of rainbow trout.

Range of rainbow trout along the West Coast of North America. [Photo Source: © 2008 Canadian Geographic/Signy Fridriksson under The Royal Canadian Geographical Society]

On a scale from “Not at Risk” to “Extinct”, the rainbow trout are considered endangered, which is the last step before extinction. While you may not be familiar with rainbow trout now, you should be paying more attention to them.

According to Dr. Patricia Schulte, a conservation zoologist from the University of British Columbia, rainbow trout are an especially important predatory fish, which means that they shape the ecosystems they live in. Crawfish and mussels are just a few of the aquatic species that count rainbow trout as an important part of their ecosystem. So while you may not have heard of rainbow trout before, you are bound to know at least one species that is affected directly or indirectly by them.

Climate change is going to cause rivers to become depleted in oxygen, affecting living organisms including the rainbow trout. [Photo Source: © mistralfamilie under a Pixabay License.]

Dr. Schulte recently sat down to discuss the importance of funding projects geared towards conservation projects.

[Source: SoundCloud, Created by: Gillian Okura & Julie Zhu]

As mentioned in the podcast, Dr. Schulte is leading a team-based project in British Columbia, which received funding from Genome Canada to help carry out the research. They conducted a study to figure out whether different types of rainbow trout differ in their ability to tolerate climate change, specifically conditions where there is low oxygen and high temperatures.

Climate change is decreasing the numbers of fish populations, including rainbow trout which are a major source in the fish industry. In the video below, we delve deeper into the effects of climate change and how Dr. Schulte and her team’s research are making predictions and gathering information to help sustain rainbow trout in the future.

[Source: Youtube, Created by: Gillian Okura & Julie Zhu]

Hopefully, learning more about this rainbow brought a little more knowledge and sunshine to your day.

~ Group 4: Gillian Okura & Julie Zhu

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The science behind brain and nervous system

Posted on April 4, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Among all human organs, the brain is the most important and complex. The brain is the organ that regulates the function of the body and is the material basis for advanced neurological activities such as consciousness, spirit, language, learning, memory, and intelligence. The brain needs a nervous system to perform these neural activities.

In short, the nervous system is an intermediary that can transmit messages from the brain to various parts of the body. Neurons are the basic unit in the nervous system and they communicate through synapses. Synapse is like a bridge between nerve cells, and there are more than 100 trillion synapses in a typical brain. The formation of synapses is essential to ensure a nervous system can function smoothly since the number of synapses is very large.

Synapse Illustration

(One synapse in the nervous system. Source:Flickr.)

In 2018, Chen and his research team did a study about how the nerve cell formation of a worm, which is called C. elegans, is affected by one protein called Plexin. In this study, they found that two genes (Rap2 and TNIK) regulated by Plexin can affect synaptic tiling of C. elegans, and synaptic tiling is one kind of synapses formation. That is increased activity of Rap2 holds up synaptic tiling and TNIK is the opposite. The following video describes the story of their research.

Their findings are very helpful for other neuroscientists to understand the role of these genes in synapses formation. According to Ethan Fortes, one of Chen’s research team, “What we hope to do is to provide a deeper understanding of the function of the genes that might be disrupted in people who have neurological differences or disorders.” This study can be a very good inspiration for future study on other species whose nervous system is more advanced and more structurally related to humans.

The podcast below involves a conversational dialogue with the researcher and he answered some general questions from the perspective of researchers.

Studying the brain and nervous system is of great significance to humans. Brain and nervous system problems are quite common and more difficult to prevent. Beyond that, problems with the nervous system were found to be the cause of some mental illness such as Autism.

Group 2

Nathan Yan, Fareez Sanif, Zijie Lin, Serena Yu

 

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Reef Warming in the Caribbean

Posted on April 4, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Coral reefs play a major role in maintaining large marine ecosystems in many tropical environments. However, with ocean warming it has become hard for them to sustain themselves thus impacting fish habitats. With the death of these reefs and movement of fish it is also impacting tropical vacation getaways. What was once a fun way to take in local marine sites is now being affected by global warming. Tropical environments are the most susceptible to any changes in temperature as organisms in these environments have evolved to survive in these specific and narrow ranged temperatures. Due to slower stress response many coral reefs are dying off which in turn decreases the biodiversity of these coastal communities. The impact that the destruction of these reefs not only extends to the devastation of fish habitats but also to the loss of the economic value that they bring locals through tourism. This means those snorkelling pictures that you wanted to grab off the Bahamas, or that exotic fish specialty that you were dying to try on your next trip to the Caribbean is becoming a thing of the past due to the catastrophic effects of ocean warming.

Coral reef impacted by climate change.
Image Courtesy: Shutterstock

Current Research

We had a chance to interview Ravi Maharaj, a PhD student from the University of British Columbia. He conducted a study that looked at ocean warming in the Caribbean and how it expected to impact the biodiversity and fisheries there. In the video below, Ravi points out that climate change is a huge stressor on the ocean and the species in the ocean. He goes on to mention how ocean warming is evident not only on the global scale, but the regional scales as well. Coral reefs impacted by climate change aren’t as pretty as the coral reefs that aren’t impacted as much by climate change.

Source: YouTube

In the podcast below, Ravi speaks about how reef warming is impacting biodiversity and what this means for fish species.

https://soundcloud.com/nicola-popper/reef-warming-in-the-caribbean-an-interview-with-ravi-maharaj/s-RbpDJ

Source: Soundcloud

Close to Home

Reef warming is seen to impact the tourism industry as mentioned in the video above. It also impacts the food industry and is seen in the west coast of North America. Ocean warming is causing northern migration of certain fish species that are swimming away from warmer waters. Some salmon runs in California have been seen as completely dry.

 

How Can You Make a Difference?

The threats of climate change on coral reefs is a major concern as mentioned by the National Ocean Service. We can make a difference at home by shrinking our carbon footprint to reduce greenhouse gases. A few things that one can do to make a difference in their own lives: recycling, driving less, purchasing energy-efficient appliances and lightbulbs, printing less, and using less water. Let’s hope to make a difference so that we can continue to enjoy those tropical excursions.

 

– Group 3: Kevin Rasode, Christina Melo, Nicola Popper

 

 

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Mystery Behind the Pacific White Line Solved!

Posted on April 4, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Modified image of a North American West Coast Map with the Pacific White Line highlighted. Source: Wikimedia Commons

For the longest time, scientists around the world never understood the phenomenon behind the Pacific White Line – a line off the coast of North America so large that it can be seen from space. Last year that all changed when marine researchers from the Oregon State University published their findings from their investigations on the Northern California coast. Using acoustic technology, they’re the first to discover that what was previously thought to be a random feature of the Pacific actually acts as a boundary for fish in the ocean. If not acted upon sooner, this boundary driven by climate change could threaten not only the lives of fish but ours, too.

How does this affect us?

The Pacific White Line is one of many tidelines, which form due to strong winds and colliding bodies of water. These regions are nutrient-rich, attracting and accumulating marine life. Although tidelines altogether only make up 1% of the world’s oceans, this 1% contributes to 20% of the global fishing in the world, making it “one of the most productive areas for fisheries” according to Dr. Mei Sato who led the research team.

The problem, however, is that as global warming worsens, this pushes the line further off the coast where fish such as sea bass, tuna, and mackerel can’t reach their prey residing at the line. If fish don’t have food, they can’t survive, and this puts a dent in the food web, the fishing industry, and our food resources. In the following podcast, Dr. Sato further discusses the tidelines, which she refers to as ‘upwelling fronts’, and how they are impacted by climate change.

What can we do moving forward?

With this new discovery comes a scare. Previously, it was thought that the Pacific White Line equally attracted smaller marine life, such as plankton, and larger organisms, such as fish. Clearly, the researchers discovered that wasn’t the case; fish are farther from their prey than they’d like to be. Using acoustic equipment, Dr. Sato and her team were able to determine how marine life was distributed at and around the line, which she explains in the following video:

Video Credit: Breyanne Bautista, Nicole Bostan & Ryan Chang; Source: Youtube

While the research demonstrates that fish are unable to reach their prey at the Pacific White Line, Dr. Sato believes that some other mechanism must be at work allowing them access to food since it’s not like fish populations are instantly depleting. “The mechanism is important to understand to be able to predict the future,” she says. She hypothesizes that plankton may be able to migrate to and from the line at different times of the day but added that higher resolution equipment is needed to explore this.

(By Breyanne Bautista, Nicole Bostan & Ryan Chang)

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Is there really a “cure” for HIV?

Posted on March 25, 2019 by | Leave a comment

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) affected nearly 37 million people and killed about 940,000 people worldwide in 2017. HIV is a sexually transmitted virus that can lead to AIDS and a weak immune system susceptible to a variety of smaller illnesses. The virus works by reducing the number of CD4 (T cells) in the body which fight off infections. Currently, there is no effective or widely used cure and HIV/AIDS is treated using antiretroviral therapy, which can prolong infected peoples’ lives. However, there have been some claims of people being “cured” of HIV, but the language used to describe it should be analyzed further.

Two instances of a “cure”?

In 2006, Timothy Brown (often referred to as the “Berlin patient”) was using antiretroviral drugs to treat his HIV when he also developed acute myeloid leukemia, a blood cancer. He chose to undergo a blood-stem-cell transplant and at the same time volunteered for an experimental anti-HIV treatment; his bone marrow was replaced with that of a tissue-matched donor who had two mutated copies of a gene that prevents HIV infection (a Δ32 mutation of the CCR5 gene, which codes for a receptor). Mr Brown was cleared of leukemia and HIV had stopped replicating in his body.

Scanning electromicrograph of an HIV-infected T cell. Creative Commons Credit: NIAID

Another such recent case is being dubbed the “London patient”. Doctors at University College London led by Ravindra Gupta treated a patient living with HIV and Hodgkin’s Lymphoma with a similar stem cell transfusion. The donor also had the protective double Δ32 mutation inherited from both parents. The patient stopped using antiretrovirals 16 months after treatment, and 18 months after stopping the drugs there has been no sign of HIV returning to his body. This second case proved that the first case was not a fluke and that this type of treatment could be widely used.

Issues in news reporting

However, it might not be appropriate to call these definitive “cures”; it would be better to label them as “functional cures”. This is because the virus could still be lying dormant in the body, as it most likely is, and be at a level that is undetectable in the blood. Furthermore, this treatment acts by stopping the reproduction of the virus and not completely removing it from the body. Therefore, it is also acceptable to use the phrase “in remission” when describing the state of the virus. Unfortunately, this issue of science communication using incorrect language can be seen in many articles about this story, such as this article by the New York Times. Obviously this article will attract more attention because of its exciting headline, but it is not good journalism and can lead to misconceptions. In conclusion, news sources should ensure they are using correct language when describing possible major events in science to better inform readers.

HIV/AIDS awareness symbol   Creative Commons Flickr

 

-Sepehr Haghighat

 

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Learn a new language……in your sleep!

Posted on March 18, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Whether you’re forced to take a French class to fulfill school credits or you’re teaching yourself Japanese because you love the culture so much that you want to speak it, learning a new language is not easy. It is a slow process and is a lot of work as it requires daily practice to learn a new language. But what if you could also learn it in your sleep? Did you know sleeping can help you learn a foreign language?

It is possible to learn a language while sleeping and while awake! [Image Source: ThemeXpert]

How can this possibly work?

Your brain does not sleep with you. While you’re sleeping, your brain is making many new connections with neurons, which are nerve cells in the brain. And during undisturbed deep sleep, your brain cells alternatively go into an active state called “up-state” and an inactive state called “down-state” about every half-second. This is where your brain is replaying the events and learnings of the day, a process called “consolidation”.

Obviously, this is not saying that you can play a language CD while asleep and then wake up to be suddenly fluent. But rather, if you are learning a new language at school or for fun, and you additionally play the language during your sleep, you’ll find it’s like magic how much better your memory is on what you have just learned. The practice of listening to the new foreign language while sleeping boosts and strengthens the consolidation process in the brain.

Sleep plays an important role on memory and learning. [Image Source: Resonea]

Has this worked before on people?

Studies, such as Swiss biopsychologist Björn Rasch’s, have been conducted where students were played new foreign vocabulary in their sleep and compared their memory of it with students who were played the same words while they were awake. Results showed that the students who listened to the new-language vocabulary while asleep recalled them better on a test than the ones who listened while awake.

Another study that focused on word-learning and napping in children where they similarly let them hear new words and then sleep shortly after, resulted in them remembering the newly gained knowledge significantly better than the children who stayed awake.

The importance of sleep

As explained earlier, you cannot entirely learn a new language in your sleep, but sleep can help enforce your learning a great deal! Getting adequate and quality sleep is so important, not just for learning a new language, but for your general health and basic survival as well. It is always worth getting a decent sleep every night instead of allowing yourself to become sleep-deprived. If getting enough sleep is something that seems difficult for you, it is never a bad idea to consider some healthy sleeping tips.

Happy sleeping and happy learning!

– Julie Zhu

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The True Mystery of Scientific Pig Raising: Cultivation of Medical Heroes

Posted on March 18, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Pigs have always been synonymous with lazy and useless. But do you know that the pig is a living science treasure? In the eyes of scientists, it is possible to dig up new scientific treasures all over a pig’s body. In the future, human beings may have to borrow human organs from them.

Scientists say they have successfully kept a baboon alive with a pig’s heart for six months. (Credit: Dusan Petkovik/Shutterstock)

Statistics About Pigs Used in Scientific Fields

In modern science, the pig is one of the most ideal and important experimental animals, playing an important role in medicine and other fields. The most recent report on pigs’ use in the U.S. from 2017 revealed that 51,020 pigs were used in research protocols that year, representing a 12% increase in use from 2014.

Reasons for Why Pigs Used in Research Fields

Scientists usually use model animals to understand particular biological phenomena. The classic model animals we often hear are rats, fruit flies, and zebrafish. However, due to their long distances from human evolution, they cannot completely mimic the occurrence of human diseases. But pigs are different. They are closer to human and have anatomical structures and physiological functions close to human. Especially in the digestive system, cardiovascular system, metabolic processes, and other aspects are very similar. Therefore, the scientific value of taking pigs as research models is very large.

Miniature pigs with an adult weight of about 30 kg were selected as experimental varieties. They are characterized by small size, genetic stability, easy feeding, and easy operation. At the same time, it also meets the experimental requirements of genetic stability and small differences in physiological indexes among individuals.

Achievements Scientists Earned So Far

Nowadays, scientists have successfully applied ingredients extracted from the pig into medicine people may take.

A research team led by Bruno Reichart at the University of Munich in Germany has developed a technique allowing 4 baboons successfully implanted in the heart of a pig. They survived more than 90 days after receiving a heart transplant. The longest of them survived for 195 days, far exceeding the record of non-human primate xenotransplantation.

Improving pig-to-primate heart transplants. (Credit to Längin, M. et al.)

The significance of Xenotransplants Hearts

Although figuring out how to safely xenotransplant hearts is still an important area of study to be extensively explored, demand for organs outpaces supply can be met in a possible way.

Imagine if your heart is exhausting and anxiously waiting for a new heart. After waiting for the right donor, the doctor called to tell you at this time that the donor is not a human but a pig. It sounds like a science fiction bridge, but it may indeed be realized in the near future.

— Jianping Gao

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Go Drink Some Coffee! It’s Good for You

Posted on March 18, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Coffee is the wonder drug of our generation, helping students, like me, work through the day at maximum potential. But are we signing a deal with the devil? Caffeine has long been known by science to enhance memory, keeps us alert and improve reaction times among many other things. CGP Grey’s video, seen below, on how coffee is the greatest addiction is one of my favourite videos and is a wonderful insight on how awesome caffeine is.

The group over Healthline have also put together a comprehensive list of caffeine’s effects here. Not all of them are good for us but doesn’t seem to be much that is too detrimental to our health.

That list is so comprehensive that there surely is nothing left to learn about coffee, right? Seems not, there’s always more to learn about the world. A very recent paper published in April 2019 has found how dark coffee, my favourite by the way, protects our blood cells from DNA damage. Isn’t that awesome? Well definitely for me because I just drink way too much coffee.

As well as health benefits, it’s still difficult to pin point any increased risk in diseases by consuming caffeine. Another paper that was published within this year has found that there was no link between the risk of prostate cancer to with coffee or tea consumption. Awesome, now I can drink as much tea and coffee as I like.

These papers are just some of the work that scientists all over the world are conducting to understand the true nature of this substance that helps people all over the world. Of course, it’s all not good news as these papers are conducted on healthy individuals drinking moderate amounts. Another paper recent paper found that heavy consumption, meaning more that 6 cups of coffee a day, slightly increases the risk heart attacks, stroke, heart failure and similar diseases.

All in all, caffeine, and by extension coffee, is just the best thing ever but do be careful how you consume it. There’s still more to learn as well, with research still constantly happening as seen by these paper within the last year, so get out there, have your coffee and drink it too. Personally, I have about 2-3 cups of coffee a day and that gets me by plenty, but even that is a bit high in my opinion. Drink in moderation, stay healthy and keep active and I think caffeine will take care of you and keep you healthy as well.

– Fareez Sanif

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Microwave Mystery – Why Can’t I Stand Right Next to It?

Posted on March 11, 2019 by | 1 comment

 

Credit: Leif Parsons

How often have you been told by your parents to stand “at least one meter” away from the microwave? These fast and convenient mini-ovens took the world by storm – or rather, by electromagnetic radiation, in the late 1980s. Now, you can barely find a home that doesn’t have one. However, even though they’ve become an essential part of the kitchen, many myths and questions about its safety still exist. Will you get radiation poisoning from standing too close when it’s on? Will it destroy every nutrient in your left-over dinner from the night before? Will it melt the plastic container and poison your food? Let us find out if your parents are just misinformed, or if they have legitimate concerns.

How do microwave ovens work?

First, here’s an overview of how a microwave oven works. As the name implies, the oven uses microwave radiation to heat up your food. Microwave radiation is electromagnetic radiation: a group of radiation that includes visible light, radio waves, microwaves, x-rays, and many more.

Video by: Bozeman Science

Microwaves are very selective. It mostly affects water by causing it to vibrate. The result of the vibrating water is a heat build-up, thus heating your food.

How does this affect us?

Now let’s bust some myths. The concern many have with standing too close to an operating microwave oven is that they’ll be exposed to the radiation, and potentially get radiation poisoning. However, every microwave oven ever produced must pass the regulation test of the Food and Drug Regulations of Canada (FDA in the U.S.) of releasing a maximum of five milliwatts of radiation per square centimeter in its lifetime, which is well under the safety limit. To put in context, a cellphone leaks 1.6 watts over its lifetime, over 300 per cent! Yet we have no problems putting those 2 inches from our faces.

So, we’re safe after all?

Metal mesh on the inside of the microwave door

Yes, microwave ovens protect your meaty flesh from heating up like the snacks we put into them. Primarily, a metal mesh lining prevents any microwaves from escaping the oven.

Furthermore, all the opening mechanisms of every microwave oven is designed to stop the flow of the microwave radiation every time we open those doors. So, for all of you that are worried you’ll grow a third arm from using the microwave so much, there’s no need to fear! This isn’t to say that you should start pressing your face against the microwave doors (because frankly, that’s a little strange), but there wouldn’t be any harm from doing it.

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