Category Archives: Science in the News

Can Vitamin D protect you from COVID-19?

Posted on November 9, 2020 by | 1 comment

Vitamin D is often seen as the “cure-all” for several reasons, and has since caught the attention of several researchers in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, according to several recent studies, researchers claim that there is not enough evidence to recommend the use of vitamin D supplements to prevent or treat COVID-19.

Why did researchers think that Vitamin D could help?

Vitamin D is obtained from sunlight or diet, and is naturally produced in the human body. Deficiencies in vitamin D are common, affecting one third of Canadians, and can result in many negative symptoms such as fatigue, muscle pain, and even depression. Vitamin D is known to play an important role in the immune system as it helps strengthen immunity in your body, protecting you from infections.

The sun’s energy turns a chemical in your skin into vitamin D3, which is carried to your liver & kidneys to transform it to the vitamin D used in your immune system to defend you from infections. Source: Health Harvard

In a study conducted in Spain, researchers have found that 82% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients had a deficiency in vitamin D, however, many specialists questioned whether this is due to a direct correlation between vitamin D deficiency and COVID-19 severity, or if other factors come to play.

What we know now:

The study conducted by researchers in a hospital in Spain in March of 2020, found that although there was a higher prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in patients hospitalized with COVID-19, there was no relationship between vitamin D concentrations or deficiency and the severity of the disease, such as the need for ICU admission, mechanical ventilation, or even death.

Furthermore, another study claims that the factors associated with COVID‐19 deaths, such as old age, ethnicity, obesity, diabetes, and hypertension (high blood pressure), overlap with the risks associated with vitamin D deficiency.  This study discusses how healthier people are likely to spend more time outdoors (exposing themselves to sunlight, gaining more vitamin D) and eat healthier, compared to less healthy individuals, explaining this overlap. This makes it difficult for researchers to know whether the severity of the disease is directly impacted by vitamin D deficiency, or from other factors that overlap.

Should you start/stop taking Vitamin D supplements?

Taking vitamin D supplements is generally viewed as safe by health authorities. However, specialists advice to not take doses above the doses recommended to you by your doctor, as higher doses can lead to kidney stones.

Watch this short video to listen to what different specialists have to say about the use of vitamin D supplements in response to COVID-19:

Despite the lack of evidence to support that vitamin D could help treat/prevent COVID-19, vitamin D deficiencies should still be treated. Consider talking to your doctor if you have a vitamin D deficiency about whether vitamin D taking supplements might be right for you.

Looking Ahead

Until there is conclusive evidence on whether vitamin D has an effect on COVID-19, as Tim Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in Health Law, said in the video above, “we have to be open-minded… and we’ve got to try stuff”, in regards to future research regarding COVID-19.

 

– Sarah Ghoul

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Science in the News

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Does an Obesity Gene Exist?

Posted on November 9, 2020 by | 2 comments

Genes play a big role in determining how a person looks including our eye color, hair color, and height, but can your genes also determine your waistline? As of now, 61% of Canadians are overweight or obese and that number is even higher in America, with 66% of its citizens overweight or obese.  While these numbers can be attributed to a more sedentary lifestyle and poor diet, genetics has been shown to be a factor. A study in 1986 found that adopted children’s BMI more closely matched their biological parents than adoptive parents. While environmental factors play a huge role in a person’s weight, the importance of genetics cannot be understated.

One of the first genes to be linked to obesity was the melanocortin-4-receptor gene (MC4R). In 1998 a study found that mutations in MC4R would lead to early-onset obesity in children. However, this mutation is extremely rare, affecting less than 5% of those suffering from obesity leading researchers to search for more common genetic variations. Starting in 2002 scientists began to perform genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Instead of looking at genomes of a few hundred people, scientists could now look at entire DNA sequences of hundreds of thousands of people in order to find links between certain genes and illness.  A GWAS in 2007 led to the discovery that variations in the fat mass and obesity (FTO) gene were associated with higher BMI’s. These variations were much more common with 43% of the population carrying this “risky” allele of the FTO gene.  The study found that individuals with certain variations of this gene were 1.67 times as likely to be obese. Despite this, the FTO gene itself only raised BMI .4 kg/m^2 an amount much too small to lead to the increase in BMI observed (3 kg/M^2). This is why the majority of obesity in the population is caused by many genes, not just one. Since 2006 GWAS has led to the discovery of more than 50 genes associated with obesity.

The discovery of these genes not only can tell us who is predisposed to becoming obese, but who is also more likely to suffer from metabolic diseases associated with obesity like heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. This video from the University of Michigan explains some of the surprises that came from studying genes related to obesity and how we can use this information to benefit people.

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However, just discovering these genes isn’t enough. In order to treat these variations, we have to better understand the mechanism of these genes. Recent studies have revealed that variations of the FTO can cause alterations in satiety that people feel, but the exact mechanism of these effects are still largely unknown. For now, proper exercise and nutrition can counter the effects of most of these “fat” genes. In the future, people may be able to find the best way to prevent weight gain based on their genetic makeup. Only time will tell if future discoveries can reverse this obesity epidemic.

 

By Dylan Chambers

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Science in the News, Uncategorized

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“Super Black” Camouflage in the Deep Sea

Posted on November 2, 2020 by | 1 comment

The ongoing battle between predator and prey has led to unique adaptations, one of these is camouflage. Camouflage is static used by organisms to disguise their appearance. This can clearly be seen in the cuttlefish who can change the color of its skin to match the color of its background or arctic foxes whose fur is white during the winter and brown throughout the summer. Recently a group of researchers have been looking at camouflage in deep sea organisms. Previously deep sea organisms were observed having translucent or reflective bodies. This can provide camouflage due to the extreme low light level at these depths. In the deep ocean a translucent organism can reflect as little as 0.4% of light making them almost indistinguishable from the dark surroundings. Alternatively reflective fish has so little light to reflect at these depths that it too appears to blend the background color. However these were not the adaptation that these researchers were interested in, instead they examined what they call “super black” organisms. A “super black” organism is one which reflects less than 0.5% of the light they interact with. This led the researchers to question why these organisms have this adaptation and how these organisms reflect so little light. 

The simple answer to why these organisms reflect so little light is that we don’t really know. The researchers studied 16 different fish species across seven different orders of fish. This means that each organism probably has a unique reason for this adaptation. One reason the researchers think this adaptation could be helpful, is due to the high use of bioluminescence in this environment. Due to the low light levels in these environments organisms use bioluminescence in multiple ways, such as finding a mate or food. However for a reflective fish, nearby bioluminescence can easily expose their location. Furthermore even a translucent organism who has very little interaction with light, can still be detected by some deep sea organisms in the presence of bioluminescence. From this the researchers think that the “super black” adaptation may help deep sea organisms remain undetected in the presence of bioluminescence. One of the fish that pointed the researchers in this direction was a bait fish, this is a fish like the anglerfish which uses bioluminescence to attract prey. The researchers hypothesize that a fish like this could use its “super black” adaptation in order for its body to not be detected by its prey while it’s using bioluminescence, however more research needs to be done to answer why these organisms have this “super black” adaptation.

Idiacanthus antrostomus a baitfish with “super black” skin by K. Osborn/Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

These organisms achieve “super black” through a pigment on their skin called melanin. The melanin is organized in an organelle called the melanosomes which can absorb up to 99.95% of light. The fish considered “super black” had skin which contained layers of these melanosomes as shown below. This allows light which is reflected from one melanosome to be absorbed by a different melanosome. This system for achieving such a high level of light absorption is relatively simpler than those found in birds or butterflies who are also considered “super black.” Due to this the researchers are hopeful that it could be an easier way of producing a system with a high level of light absorption for use in solar power generators, radiometers, industrial baffles and telescopes.

Electron microscope image of melanosomes in deep sea fish, the melanosomes are indicated by the red arrow, while a skin membrane is indicated by the blue arrow. Image taken by K. Osborn/Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and A.L. Davis et. al./Current Biology 2020

 

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Self-Driving Car: Latest Technologies (Revised)

Posted on November 2, 2020 by | 4 comments

The Dream Has Become a Reality

Self-driving cars might seem like an imaginary machine for people who are not very familiar with the term, but they are widespread soon. According to Grand View Research, the global self‑driving cars’ market size is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 63.1% from 2021 to 2030. They are a key innovation and have high growth potential in the automobile industry.

Weymo

While the market of self-driving cars is expanding, there is one company that attracts the most attention to itself now in the automobile industry, which is Weymo. Weymo itself does not produce cars, but it develops AI software for self-driving cars. Their autonomous driving technology is said to be one of the most advanced in the world.

Image: Grendelkhan/Wikimedia

Machine Learning

Waymo is using machine learning in many ways to improve its autonomous driving technology. Machine learning is a method of having a computer read data and analyze it based on an algorithm. By iteratively making a computer to learn the data of a particular case, they can discover the features and patterns in those data. Then, they apply the found features and patterns to analyze the new data.

Image: Avimanyu786/Wikimedia

Utilization and Training Of AI by Waymo

Self-driving cars need many data in various situations, but it is difficult to train them using real-world data in high-risk but infrequent situations, such as when pedestrians jump out from behind a stopped car or in a snowstorm. Thus, the cars are instead travelling billions of miles using virtual reality simulations.　Waymo’s researchers have revealed that they usually drive about 25,000 cars in simulations to keep improving machine learning algorithms.

Recognition Of Objects and Surroundings

The most basic task of self-driving cars is to recognize surrounding objects. Waymo uses a neural network that imitates the mechanism of the human brain (it is essentially a machine learning model) to accurately detect traffic lights, bicycles, pedestrians, lanes, etc. in any weather condition. Weymo has recently released a video of a car understanding human gestures. The video below shows a self-driving car stopping at a crossing with a broken signal and following a police officer’s hand signal.

Source: Weymo

Predicting the movement of pedestrians and vehicles is essential to avoid accidents. In 2019, Waymo patented a system that sends data from a car sensor to a neural network to predict the position of a nearby car.

Future Prospects of Self-Driving Cars and Issues

Though the technologies of self-driving cars are rapidly developing, there are still many issues that cannot be solved by technology alone. For example, in regards to Tesla car fatal accident that occurred in 2108, issues such as who should take responsibility and driver’s moral hazard have been pointed out. It won’t be long before self-driving cars will be part of people’s daily lives if these problems are solved.

 

ーShunya Sunami

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“Signs of Life Found in Space?!?” – A Media Misnomer

Posted on November 2, 2020 by | 2 comments

Whenever I find myself reading through the science headlines of any mainstream news website, it is not uncommon to find an article with a clickbait title like “Signs of Life Found on Venus”. To the average reader, this seems like huge news, as it’s not every day that we discover alien life in our own solar system. But, like many headlines today, this is far from the truth that this scientific discovery is presenting.

An example of not-so-true headlines

An example of a clickbait headline from scitechdaily.com regarding life on Venus

What was actually discovered?

While it is true that recently a team of astronomers from around the globe announced the discovery of a rare molecule called phosphine in the clouds of Venus, this does not mean that life as we know it was found on Venus. This recent discovery showed that in the higher atmosphere of Venus, there were detections of molecules of phosphine at a rate of twenty phosphine molecules per billion molecules in the atmosphere. The reason this is interesting is that phosphine (PH3) is mainly produced on earth by chemical reductions of phosphate in organic matter such as bacteria that have died and are decaying.

This discovery showed that somehow, there are chemical signs of decaying organic matter on Venus despite its harsh acidic atmosphere and high planetary temperatures. Here is a scientist from the Royal Astronomical Society detailing the findings in full:

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What is the media getting wrong?

Even though scientists are extremely excited about this discovery, it’s not because they have definitively found life outside of our planet. Rather, scientists are excited about this discovery because it raises a lot of questions about how phosphine got to where it is on Venus. This is an important scientific discovery because it opens doors to new areas of research that can be done on determining where the phosphine in Venus’ atmosphere comes from.

The fact that there is this huge piece of evidence that goes against what we know regarding phosphine and conditions for life to exist is a huge stepping stone towards learning more about both subjects.

Photo of Venus. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL

So what other explanations are there?

There are lots of alternative explanations for where this phosphine could have come from besides organic life. For example, it’s possible that there is some unknown chemical process occurring on Venus that is creating these phosphine molecules. But even after extensive scientific review, astronomers are still unsure of where these molecules are coming from. So, unfortunately, we will not know the truth about these molecules’ origin until we go out and discover it for ourselves.

Until we have real, solid, observable evidence that the phosphine molecules we are discovering in our solar system (along with any other biomarkers) are actually being created by alien life forms, don’t believe any headlines you see reading “Signs of Life Found In Space!”, as they really should read “Potential Biomarker Molecules Found in the Upper Atmosphere of Venus”!

  • Written by Ryan Reiss, Nov. 2020

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Posted in Science Communication, Science in the News

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Artificial Intelligence: What, if anything, do brains and computer vision have in common?

Posted on October 30, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Did you know that artificial neural networks (which are computing systems) can process information in a similar way compared to the human brain? According to a study this month from the journal Current Biology, “artificial neural networks can perceive 3D objects in the same first-glance way our brains do”.

A diagram depicting the basic structure of an artificial neural network. Source: Wikimedia Commons

That being said, after all humans do use organic brains to model artificial neural networks. Therefore, it should not be groundbreaking news that such networks somewhat resemble natural brains. Well, at least not until they become similar in ways which we have not designed them to be.

Let’s start with explaining more about the human brain. It processes visual information through several sections, with each part combining different perceived properties of an object to create a full image. Scientifically, this is how we view and perceive objects.

However, the aforementioned study shows how neurons in the V4 area (the first section in the brain’s object vision) also represent 3D shape fragments, and not only 2D shapes as previously thought. According to TechXplore, this is a significant finding because it is opposite to the general scientific consensus for the last 40 years.

During this same research, scientists noticed something they did not expect: the same 3D patterns the brain utilizes to see are also used in an artificial neural network. As stated by Futurism, this was noticed upon looking further into the AlexNet algorithm (an advanced computer vision network).

Ed Connor, a Johns Hopkins University neuroscientist, discovered very similar natural & artificial neuron image response patterns in AlexNet’s layer 3, and the V4 section in the brain. He was “surprised to see strong, clear signals for 3D shape” as soon as the brain’s V4 section. However, it was even more shocking that the AlexNet algorithm also had such signals for 3D shapes. That’s because the algorithm had been solely designed to convert 2D photographs to object labels.

This shows how visual information is transferred through different sections of the human brain. Source: Wikimedia Commons

According to Connor, artificial networks are currently the most promising models for learning about the human brain. On the flip side, the brain contains the most reliable source of strategies for bringing artificial intelligence closer to natural intelligence.

This latest research hints at the new standard for artificial intelligence research. Rather than taking the traditional method of utilizing information known about the brain to build computers, researchers now take a reverse approach.

This image depicts how there are growing similarities between natural and artificial intelligence. Source: Pxfuel

That is, they rely on computers to discover how our brains function. It is quite interesting, yet strange, to find out that artificial computer vision systems can resemble the human brain’s perception in unintended ways.

– Jacqueline (Wai Ting) Chan

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The Future of Fighting Plastic Pollution : Enzymatic Plastic Breakdown

Posted on October 26, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Plastic Pollution

With plastics being one of the most used materials for making many goods, it is no wonder that Canadians produce an estimated 3.3 million tonnes of plastic waste per year .Plastic pollution is an issue that has been present in the environmental community for some time now, as the effects of plastic pollution are far-reaching, even affecting tap water around the world, and harming marine wildlife through entanglement around the animal’s body. Some species like sea turtles eat the plastics, and this ends up blocking their digestive tract, resulting in starvation. This issue is not just restricted to turtles, and other animals such as whales also deal with this, as many whales have had large amounts of plastics found in them.  The video below by Kurzgesagt goes into the topic of plastic pollution more in-depth if you are interested in learning further about it.

 

Plastic Eating Bacteria & PET

Scientists had tried to combat this issue with a plastic-eating bacteria, that was initially found at a plastic recycling plant in Japan in 2016, but later on, when experimenting with the bacteria, the enzyme PETase was discovered. This enzyme works around twenty percent faster than the actual bacteria did at degrading PET, a very popular plastic used in many common items such as plastic bottles, and clothing. At the time, however, even PETase was not yet fast enough to be considered for widespread or commercial use.

Plastic Bottle Pollution in Armenia

Plastic Bottle Pollution in Armenia. Image: By UNDP in Europe and Central Asia

 

A Super Enzyme is Made

Recently, the same scientists who studied the PETase enzyme have made another improvement. In a new study, they show that by simply mixing PETase and MHETase (another enzyme) with one another, great improvements are made in the speed of PET degradation. After actually developing an enzyme from the PETase and MHETase to make a much stronger one, they developed an enzyme with PET breakdown that was three times faster than what they had previously achieved.

A diagram breakdown from the original PETase paper, with PET items being broken down by PETase and then further by MHETase. Source : https://www.pnas.org/content/115/19/E4350

Looking Forward

While the enzyme might still not be strong enough to combat global plastic pollution on a large enough scale, it does show how progress is slowly being made towards a safer and cleaner future. After finding the plastic-eating bacteria, improvements were implemented to create a faster enzyme, and then once again, making it even faster. The incremental gains in knowledge like these are what helps develop new technologies that help propel us further as species by combating issues in unique and innovative ways.

 

– Mehdi Mesbahnejad

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Mental Health: The Undiscussed Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Posted on October 19, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Image Description: A woman wearing a mask holding her head, struggling with mental health due to COVID-19 – Image: Engin Akyurt

The mental health consequences of COVID-19 receive less attention than the epidemiology, transmission patterns, and management of the virus. Policy makers have implemented several important measures to help mitigate the spread of the virus, but have provided less consideration to the mental health effects on individuals. 

Do you find yourself stressed and anxious as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic? If so, you are not alone: 

Researchers from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the research technology company Delvinia conducted a national survey with over 4000 respondents ages 18 and older, that revealed that 21.1% of Canadians experienced moderate to severe anxiety as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, 21.2% of respondents reported feeling depressed, and 27.2% reported that they engaged in binge-drinking. The results were fairly consistent between men and women. 

Age & gender statistics of Canadians who reported feeling depressed – Taken from: COVID-19 National Survey Dashboard

Anxiety levels are shown to decrease with age as the majority of respondents experiencing moderate-severe anxiety were in the 18-39 age group. The percentage of respondents that reported feeling depressed and lonely follow the same trend, with individuals in the 18-39 age group having the highest percentage, followed by the 40-59, and 60+ age groups. 

38.8% of individuals who felt depressed reported feeling very worried about finances and 34% lost their jobs or are no longer working due to the pandemic. The closing of businesses due to COVID-19 has led to financial stress for business owners and employees. This worry associated with having decreased or no income leads to and may aggravate symptoms of depression.

It is clear that COVID-19 affects not only physical health, but mental health as well. The rapid direct contact transmission of COVID-19 resulted in the enforcement of lockdowns to stop the spread of the disease. Social distancing, isolation, and the closure of educational institutes, workplaces, and entertainment venues urged people to stay in their homes to stop the transmission of the virus. These restrictive measures and financial stresses have undoubtedly affected the mental health of individuals in Canada.

Mental Health Tips:

  • Self-care is very important. Reach out to your social supports, try to get enough sleep, eat healthy, and exercise, but be sure to use caution and follow health and safety guidelines.
  • Seek information from reliable news sources only. Limit checking in on the latest news to short, defined periods. 
  • Take the recommended precautions as outlined by Health Canada and other credible health agencies such as continuing to wash your hands, covering your mouth during coughs & sneezes, etc.
  • Consider reaching out to mental health resources. 

The COVID‐19 pandemic has had and will continue to have an impact on society. It is important to understand that mitigation measures are necessary to combat the virus, all while recognizing the mental health effects. The long term mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are still unknown, and only time will tell how this will impact society.

-Sarah Ghoul

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Posted in Issues in Science, Science in the News