Tag Archives: science

Reusable Grocery Bags… It’s Complicated

Posted on April 5, 2021 by | Leave a comment

I hope you don’t like your groceries in a plastic bag, because that may be a thing of the past very soon! As the world looks to reduce plastic waste, many countries have banned the use of single-use plastic bags – with Vancouver to follow suit by 2021. Greener alternatives—biodegradable or compostable (BoC) plastic bags, paper bags, reusable plastic bags, and cotton totes—have been steadily becoming more popular for many shoppers.

Some alternatives to single-use plastic bags. Adapted from Plastic Education.

But what’s really the truth? How much better are these so-called greener alternatives?

What if I told you that the chic tote you bought for yourself is actually much, much worse for the environment than a plastic bag?

What’s it take to make these bags?

To get a good grasp of the environmental impact these bags can have, we need to look at the full picture. Turns out, the bulk of the environmental impact of these bags come from the production stage. Let’s have a quick overview of how each type of bag is made.

The single-use plastic bag—in all of its environmentally unfriendly glory—is produced from petroleum. The thicker, reusable plastic bags are also made from petroleum, except they require quite more. On the other hand, we make BoC plastic bags from plant-based materials such as starch! Wood pulp is required for paper bags, and of course, cotton (which requires loads of resources) is needed to make cotton totes.

A cotton field. Source: Jimmy Smith, Flickr

So how does this play into the environmental impact?

There are many studies called life cycle assessments (LCA) which examine how a product is made, used, then disposed of. In 2018, the Denmark Environmental Protection Agency conducted a LCA of the different types of grocery bags. For each type, they looked at the total environmental impact (greenhouse gas release, ozone depletion, water depletion, toxicity, and more).

“Greener alternative”… well, no, not really.

The big question is, how many times do you need to use your reusable bags in order to have less impact than if you used single-use plastic bags?

You might want to hold onto your seat. For the total environmental impact, you’d want to use your BoC plastic bags, paper bags, and reusable plastic bags at least 40 times in order to beat single-use plastic bags. And for the cotton tote? You would need to reuse it 7100 times. It’s even higher for organic cotton, since organic crop yields are lower: try 20000 times. If you use your tote three times a week, it would take 45 years (128 if organic) to break even with single-use plastic bags!

It’s intuitive to think that the greener alternatives would be better for the environment. Single-use plastic bags do not break down, and end up in landfills, whereas alternatives could be either biodegradable or used many, many times before they break and become unusable. It goes to show that it’s important to consider not just the disposal of a product, but also the production and resources that go into making it.

For more information, check out this video from SciShow!

 

-Sam Jung

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Treating Congenital Heart Disease: Lab-created Heart Valves

Posted on April 5, 2021 by | Leave a comment

The world’s most common birth defect, congenital heart disease (CHD), affects around 1 in 100 Canadian children born each year. It is a condition where the heart does not develop or function properly. Some forms of CHD only require medical check-ups, while others, especially among children, are more complex and can require several surgeries. A 2021 research study led by Dr. Robert Tranquillo explains a promising approach using lab-created heart valves that can prevent the need for multiple surgeries when treating various forms of CHD in children.

Source: flickr.com

What is Congenital Heart Disease (CHD)?

Congenital heart disease includes all defects present at birth in one or more of the heart’s structures— valves, arteries, chambers, or wall tissue. Our hearts play an important role in maintaining blood flow throughout the body. Therefore, defects in the heart must be treated for the body to function properly.

Source: CNN | Youtube

THE PROBLEM: CURRENT AVAILABLE TREATMENTS

When it comes to treating heart valve defects, there is still no replacement heart valve that can grow and continue to function as a child grows. As a result, children must undergo multiple valve replacement surgeries. The current treatment uses valves made from chemically treated animal tissue. In addition to children outgrowing these valves, they are also known to become dysfunctional due to calcium build-up. As a result, children will have to endure around five or more open-heart surgeries. This can be exhausting, painful, and inconvenient for both children and their families.

PROMISING ALTERNATIVE: LAB-CREATED HEART VALVES

Dr. Tranquillo and his team have created heart valves that are capable of growing within a patient. In addition, they have almost no calcium build-up and can be stored for at least six months. Although this study was only done on lambs, it holds great potential when it comes to reducing the number of surgeries required for children with valve defects. As stated by Dr. Tranquillo,

“This is a huge step forward in pediatric heart research.”

Below is the echocardiogram showing this replacement valve opening and closing within a lamb’s heart. 

Source: College of Science and Engineering, UMN | Youtube

      How was this done?

The researchers created tubes from the donor sheep’s skin cells using tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. They combined the cells with a gelatin-like material and provided them with nutrients to grow. Following this, they washed away the sheep cells leaving behind tubes. Three tubes were sewn together to create a tri-tube that replicates a human heart valve. The tri-tubes were put into the hearts of three lambs and monitored. After 52 weeks, they saw a significant growth of the valves (19mm to about 25mm), strongly suggesting that the valves grew within the lambs.

THE FUTURE

The next steps are to test whether the lab-created heart valve can function in a child. Dr. Tranquillo’s research, if someday approved in children, could significantly improve the lives of children diagnosed with congenital heart disease, specifically heart valve defects. Overall, this would be a huge breakthrough in pediatric heart care.

– Samantha Nalliah

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Napping = Lazy?: The Genetics Behind Afternoon Naps

Posted on April 5, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Most humans spend around one-third of their lives sleeping. However, the word “nap” has negative connotations of laziness and lack of self-discipline because of the busy and competitive nature of the current world. The loss of daytime productivity because of naps often leads to self-criticism and loss of self-confidence, which forms the perspective on naps as a waste of time.  Research has discovered that your genes control your desire for daytime naps, and you may be at a significant disadvantage if you love daytime naps.

The Genetics of Nap-Lovers

On contrary to the public perception that environmental or behavioral choices determine the desire for daytime naps, those desires are biologically driven by genes. It’s true that whether we take a daytime nap or not depends on our choices. However, recent research (2021) identified 123 regions in the human genome that are associated with daytime napping. For example, mutation of the genes associated with the production of orexin, a brain chemical that regulates wakefulness, explains why some people nap more than others. Therefore, these nap-promoting gene variants drive daytime naps, not the laziness of the nap-lovers. 

Sleeping on the Sofa | A daytime nap on the sofa-- what a gr… | Flickr

Source: flikr.com

However, that does not mean that there are no disadvantages to these gene variants. Aside from the loss of daytime productivity, the researchers found that some of the gene variants that promote naps have a connection with health risk factors. They found that the nap-lovers generally have larger waist circumference and higher blood pressure compared to those that don’t take naps. 

 

The Genetics of Super Sleepers

On the other hand, another research (2019) discovered the gene of “super sleepers,” a rare breed of humans that requires a shorter duration of sleep. They found that individuals who had inherited an extremely rare gene named DEC2 only require around six hours of sleep per night for full recovery from fatigue. Also, the researchers claim that the super sleepers do not suffer any adverse health effects of chronic sleep deprivation such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and dementia; instead, they tend to be more optimistic, energetic, and even have a longer life expectancy.

arm, back, muscles photo, Fitness, Men, Sports, Gym, Exercise | Piqsels

Source: piqsels.com

Fortunately, as much as it seems unfair, further studies on super sleepers may help the general population overcome their complications concerning sleep. According to Dr. Ying-Hui Fu, a professor of neurology at the University of California, the sleep quality and efficiency of super sleepers are naturally better; thus, the advantage in health and no need for naps. By analyzing how DEC2 induces superior sleep quality, the researchers anticipate resolving sleep disorders for normal sleepers and optimize their sleep efficiency.

Recommendation for Nap-Lovers

Health professional recommends daytime naps of around three times a week; however, you may want to suspect the quality of your nighttime sleep if you desire naps every day. Although the disadvantages mentioned above may not be happy news for nap-lovers, you must acknowledge the disadvantage and pay more attention to your sleep schedule and health.

Here’s an informative video on daytime naps to end off:

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-Matthew Lim

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Not Seeing Gains at the Gym? Have you heard of Mind-Muscle Connection?

Posted on March 30, 2021 by | 2 comments

When individuals talk about increasing muscle mass and getting stronger, several different strategies are brought up. For example, most people like to focus on nutrition or training harder at the gym. Don’t get me wrong, these are important strategies to improve your physique and build muscle mass, but there is one thing that is often overlooked. This is the phenomenon called “Mind-Muscle Connection”.

A study conducted in 2015 by Joaquin Calatayud and team, describes the mind-muscle connection and what happens when you mentally apply yourself during workouts. If you haven’t heard of mind-muscle connection, you may be wondering what it is and how can this apply to you?

What is Mind-Muscle Connection?

In simple terms, mind-muscle connection (MMC) is when you consciously and deliberately contract a specific or group of muscles in your body. The brain sends a signal to your muscles at the “neuromuscular junction,” telling the particular muscle to contract. The neuromuscular junction acts as a bridge and connects the skeletal system to the human body’s nervous system.

This video showcases what MMC is in a nutshell:

Source: PictureFit (YouTube)

MMC used in Resistance Training

The study determined if performance will improve if an individual focused on specific muscles (chests and triceps) when doing a bench press.The subjects of the study were separated into three groups where they performed the bench press while: 1) not concentrating on any specific muscle in the body, 2) concentrating on the pectoralis (chest) major muscles, and 3) concentrating on flexing the triceps muscles. In these conditions, the subjects performed the bench press at 20%, 40%, 50%, 60% and 80% of their 1-repitition max (1-RM). The final results of the experiment showed that the muscle activity did increase when emphasis was put on the two target muscles, but only up to 60% of their 1-RM.

Man performing bench press. Source: muscleandstrength.com

You may be asking, why is MMC only effective up to 60% 1-RM? This is because when you create a mental connection with your brain to the muscles, it requires concentration and attention. You will only be able to concentrate when you lift a weight that you can manage, for example, around 20-60% of your 1-RM. If you go over 60% of your 1-RM, you will not be able to solely focus on the specific muscle, since your mental focus will be directed towards how heavy the weight is.

How can you create MMC when you lift? Give these two tricks a shot during your workouts:

  • Slow Down: Your muscles have to work more if you move slowly, allowing you to have more time to connect your brain to the specific muscle movement.
  • Ego Check: Many people are obsessed with lifting more and more weight, but instead, focus on the quality of each repetition.

It is common to see muscle growth coming to a halt when going to the gym and when results are not seen, this results in a lack of motivation. For those of you who are experiencing this, MMC can be the missing piece for you.

– Parwaz Gill

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The Power of Seaweed: How a Small Snack for Cows can have a Big Impact on the Planet

Posted on March 29, 2021 by | 6 comments

Apparently, seaweed is not just healthy for people, but when given to cows it will be good for the planet. The large amounts of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere are driving global warming. A significant amount of these emissions are a result of cows belching and flatulating in the amount of around 142.5 million metric tons of methane per year.

Cows Feeding: Source: flickr.com/U.S. Department of Agriculture

Beef and dairy are common sources of nutrition for people all over the world. In Canada alone, the average person eats around 40 lb of beef and drinks 66 L of milk per year. The issue is growing cattle is notorious for its harmful environmental impact due to the methane gas the animals release. Although methane is only 16% of the total human-caused greenhouse emissions, it is much more potent than carbon dioxide (which makes up 76% of the greenhouse gases released), making it an important agent we need to manage. The ecologically harmful process, of producing and emitting methane by cows, is described in the video below created by Laura Beil and Erin Otwell at Science News.

Video Source: Science News | YouTube

It turns out that adjusting cattle feed can greatly reduce the amount of methane they create. A recent study headed by Dr. Ermias Kebreab and his team found that adding a certain type of red seaweed (scientifically known as Asparagopsis taxiformis) to cows’ diet could play an important role in reducing greenhouse emissions. The researchers observed that the more seaweed in the diet the less methane the cows released. In addition, the study tested how different forage (grass and hay) to concentrate (corn and molasses) ratios, in combination with the seaweed, decreased cow methane production. The best results were noted when their diet had lower forage levels (compared to concentrate) and greater amounts of seaweed. This feed combination was measured to reduce beef methane emissions by more than 80%!

The type of red seaweed fed to the cows: Asparagopsis taxiformis: Source: flickr.com/Guilherme Fluckiger

It is worth noting that adding seaweed to the cows’ diet did not change their meat quality. A tasting panel confirmed that steaks were equally delicious regardless of what the cows ate in the study.

Adding seaweed to cow feed is a simple, low-cost, and nature-based solution to a very serious problem. The ability to reduce the amount of methane cows release is great news for the many people who rely on dairy and beef in their diet.

Child Enjoying a Burger: Source: Flickr.com/Anna-Lena Nordin

– Adam Soliman

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Plastics: Why They Are Bad, and a New Plant-Based Solution!

Posted on March 29, 2021 by | 4 comments

From water bottles to cigarette butts to straws, plastic has become an important asset to many of the products and appliances that we use today. However, with the huge influence that plastic has on the manufacturing industry, comes the potential destruction of the environment. Luckily, a study conducted by Mecking and others discusses the invention of a new plant-based plastic that can potentially fix this problem!

why are plastics bad?

Most of the plastics that are used today are manufactured from petroleum, which is a fossil fuel that is formed when dead organisms are broken down throughout millions of years. Then, petroleum is converted into a type of material that is unrecognizable by the organisms that normally break down products like petroleum. This results in plastics that decompose very slowly, or do not decompose at all. These plastics tend to accumulate and end up in landfills and incinerators, or even worse, dumped into the environment.

“Plastic Ocean” by Kevin Krejci is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

what about recycling?

There are two types of plastics that need to be addressed. The first type is thermoset plastics. These are plastics that are not recyclable. The second type is thermoplastics. These are plastics that can be melted into smaller parts and re-formed into different plastics. This is the process that we call mechanical recycling. However, every time these plastics are recycled, their quality starts to decrease. In fact, a piece of plastic can only be recycled 2-3 times before it reaches a point where it can no longer be used!

plant-based plastic to the rescue

A solution to this imperfect recycling procedure is to utilize a new recycling method known as chemical recycling. This is a process that breaks down plastics at the molecular level, which can then be used to create other materials without a decrease in quality.

Check out the video above by CNBC for more information on chemical recycling!

 

In Feb 2021, a paper was released in Nature by Mecking and others, discussing the invention of a new plant-based type of plastic. Rather than using fossil fuels such as petroleum, this type of plastic is composed of plant oils. This plastic can utilize chemical recycling at a much more efficient rate than what is originally possible.

Normally, chemical recycling of fossil-fuel-composed plastics requires a lot of energy; temperatures above 600 degrees Celsius are required and only 10% of the plastic can be utilized for other materials. In comparison, their new plant-based plastic only needs to heat to around 250 degrees Celsius and can utilize up to 96% of the original material!

Stefan Mecking, the lead author of the study, acknowledged in an interview in the Academic Times, that their new plastic would have a hard time competing with the cheap cost of ethylene. Hopefully, with further refinement, Mecking and his team will be able to lower the price point of their plastic to a level that is suitable for the plastic industry.

– Aaron Yoon

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The Space Junk Crisis

Posted on March 22, 2021 by | 3 comments

You likely don’t think about space junk very much every day, but what if I called it an orbital death sphere? Although this may sound hyperbolic, the current amount of orbital trash may become a serious crisis very soon. So what is space junk, and what are we doing about this death sphere?

Space Junk, Space Debris, Orbits, Space, Universe

Source: pixabay.com

Our Orbiting Landfill

Humanity has now been launching things into space since Sputnik 1 was launched in 1957. Since then, we have launched thousands of satellites into the earth’s orbit. Now, launching a rocket is an incredibly difficult task, so historically we have put all our efforts into getting them out of the atmosphere. A consequence of this mentality is that few launches have planned for what happens with the payload once it has served its use. This has resulted in a graveyard of satellites circling earth. But why should we care about a space graveyard?

Sputnik, Satellite, Astronautics, Nasa, Cosmonautics

Source: pixabay.com

The Death Sphere 

Orbiting space junk is moving at thousands of kilometers per hour. This means that some of our space junk is traveling more than 10 times faster than an average bullet.

The real problem comes from orbital collisions. If two satellites happen to run into each other in orbit, the collision could result in thousands of smaller “bullets”. In addition to this, this single collision could cause a cascade of collisions.

This process is known as Kessler Syndrome which is named after the rocket scientist Donald J. Kessler who first realized the possibility. The end result of this cascade is a proverbial “death sphere” which describes a field of small debris encircling our planet. This could trap us on this planet, as any attempt to launch something into space would be met by a stream of destructive debris. A more complete picture of how this happens is shown by the YouTube creator Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell: 

YouTube Preview Image

So how do we prevent this from happening? Well thankfully people have started coming up with some solutions.

Saving the Satellites 

Attempting to clean up our space junk is a very difficult but necessary task. A recent study published by the International Academy of Astronautics found that the risk of a catastrophic impact with space debris is as high as 45% for  projects such as SpaceX’s new satellite. Furthermore, the study went on to say:

“…(Kessler Syndrome) could result in low Earth orbit (LEO) becoming unusable, and remaining in an unusable state for perhaps thousands of years…” (IAA)

Getting to space in the first place is incredibly difficult, and if you can get to space how do you get so much junk out of our orbit? Well, many very unique solutions have been proposed over the years including giant trash catching nets, shooting puffs of air at the junk, and even sending up little janitor robots. Most of these solutions have only been theoretical, until this morning.

File:Elsad.png

Source: Astroscale Holdings Inc.

Earlier today, a magnetic junk capturing satellite was launched by the Japanese company Astroscale. This fascinating piece of engineering uses powerful magnets to capture metallic debris, and safely remove it from orbit. Projects like this give us hope that we will not be restricted in our space fairing ability in the future. Hopefully we can be rid of our orbiting garbage before it grounds us for good. 

-Declan O’Driscoll

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Mice Grown In Vials: Are Humans Next?

Posted on March 22, 2021 by | 4 comments

For at least a hundred years, researchers have been struggling to answer one question: how does a single cell become a full grown human.

One major barrier to fully understanding this process, was that we could never see it happening before our own eyes. Luckily, a team of biologists led by Dr. Jacob Hanna at the Weizmann Institute of Science had a major breakthrough: mice grown in vials. 

The Problem

In an interview with the New York Times, biologist Dr. Paul Tesar said:

“The holy grail of developmental biology is to understand how a single cell, a fertilized egg, can make all of the specific cell types in the human body and grow into 40 trillion cells. Since the beginning of time, researchers have been trying to develop ways to answer this question.”

Each one of us started the same, as just one cell. In our mothers, one cell became two, then four, which eventually led to us. During these beginning stages of development, we were what researchers call an embryo, or an early-stage animal. Embryos are located in a mother’s uterus, which acts like a house that provides everything needed to grow. 

To see what is going on inside this house, researchers have tried many different tricks including taking pictures, or even removing the uterus fully from animals such as mice to get a better look. What researchers have not been able to do thus far, is watch the embryo grow continuously outside of the mother. This has not only made research in the field difficult, but has restricted the work being done.

The Solution

Although the researchers at Weizmann were not the first to come up with the idea, up until now, mice grown outside of a mother have either not been able to survive, or did not grow correctly. In fact, it took Dr. Hanna and his colleagues 7 years to perfect their technique. 

The entire process consists of two steps. First, the uterus of a recently pregnant mouse is removed. Second, the uterus is transferred to a vial filled with liquid containing all the food it will need. As seen in the video below, the embryo is slowly spun to make sure it does not attach itself to the wall of the vial as that could result in death. 

Mice embryos growing inside spinning vials (Video from MIT Technology Review)

The mice were under constant observation and images, as seen below, were taken and compared to mice developing inside a mother. The two were identical. 

Mice developing over a 5-day period (Image from The New York Times)

Implications

As a result of this breakthrough, researchers will be able to better understand events including birth defects and miscarriages. Additionally, researchers can now easily change the environment that the embryo grows in to see what conditions can affect development. Although it may still be some time until this research is transferred to humans, this breakthrough certainly marks a big step in the right direction.

-Jessica Petrochuk

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