The SSC’s Official Science Newspaper
e rrent March 2014
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edition of The Current on stands next week. Until then, enjoy the fantastic articles in this mini-issue! PSYCHOLOGY
Media makes more sex more appealing
IN THIS ISSUE...
The season for sex is here, but is the media telling you how much sex to have?
to the matter, participants of various studies showed quite an interesting reveal: those having sex roughly once per week were 44 per cent more likely to report a higher level of happiness than those who had not been sexually active in the previous year of their life. Perhaps one of the reasons for this correlation is that sex is well advertised in the media. Film and television portray sex as quite nonchalant in certain cases, and the aftermath of it more often than not highlights the characters in a story to be happy. Those who are less sexually active than, say, your favourite character in a TV show strive to mimic characters’ lifestyle, but often find failure of doing so. Unrealistic goals such as being obscenely wealthy and surrounded by copious amounts of potential sexual targets play a role in overall happiness. The data does not necessarily prove this, but it is one of many interesting ideas that sociologists take interest in while conducting surveys. What is initially left at the end of this “ponder” is that people do not usually look down and think they’re better off, but look up and think they are inadequate. The next time your best friend tells you how much sex they’re having, you will likely immediately ask yourself “how do I compare?” Always remember, there’s a time and place for everything and when you find it, you will most definitely be happy.
Adam Raffoul
Marketing Manager
1. 2. 3.
People are happier when they’re having sex, especially when having lots of it. Recent compilation of national survey data and statistical analysis translated into findings by Tim Wadsworth of the University of Colorado demonstrate a correlation between sexual frequency and overall happiness. The question is not simply “How much sex are you having, and how happy are you?” but rather “How happy are you, and then what is your sexual frequency?” To take the investigation one step further, sexual frequencies were controlled and people who believe they were having less sex than their friends, coworkers, and family members were generally unhappier. So not only does the physical aspect of sex heighten happiness (perhaps due to numerous physiological and hormonal processes), but so does the notion that having more sex than your peers can give you a sense of confidence and betterment in your own life as compared to others. Wadsworth quoted this idea, “having more sex makes us happy, but thinking that we are having more sex than other people makes us even happier”. To give some fact
Source: HBO.com
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
Female scientists given no recognition
These three women received no credit for their work
4. ! K O O L
Maham Bushra Blog Manager
1. Jocelyn Bell Burnell In 1967, while working with radio telescopes, Burnell discovered pulsars while she was a graduate student at Cambridge University in England. The existence of pulsars (remnants of supernovas) was ground breaking. It showed
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that the gigantic neutron stars did not just disappear, but left behind small, dense, rapidly rotating bodies. Her findings quickly resulted in a publication followed by a Nobel Prize, but the award went to her supervisor, Anthony Hewish. “The picture people had at the time of the way that science was done was that there was a senior man—and it was always a man— who had under him a whole load of minions,
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junior staff, who weren’t expected to think, who were only expected to do as he said,” explained Bell Burnell in an interview with National Geographic. Despite the injustice faced by Burnell at the time of her discovery, it is now universally accepted that she was the first person to make the distinction. 2. Rosalind Franklin At 33 years of age, while working as a research associate in King’s College in London, Franklin came to a discovery that revolutionized biology and genetics. Through X-ray experiments,
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The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. Its contents do not reflect the opinion of the University Students’ Council of the University of Western Ontario (“USC”). The USC assumes no responsibility or liability for any error, inaccuracy, omission or comment contained in this publication or for any use that may be made of such information by the reader.
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The Current — March 2014
LIFE NOT AS WE KNOW IT
Our planet is home to many awe-inspiring organisms. If you’re fascinated with life on Earth, but don’t want to get out of your chair to explore the world, here is a glimpse of a few bizarre, exotic, or unconventional creatures your lazy eyes might have otherwise never seen.
GLOW-IN-THE-DARK COCKROACH Even if you’re not an avid Star Wars fan, you’ll recognize that the back shell of this insect is extremely similar to the fictional creatures from Star Wars (yes, of course Jawas!). The species, Lucihormetica luckae, was chosen to be one of the top ten new species by the International Institute for Species Exploration at the Arizona State University. For those who haven’t yet noticed, this insect is nothing but a giant cockroach. Don’t let those big eyes and the cute round-shaped body it has fool you! However, unlike your everyday cockroach, this one lights up, hence its
informal name “Glow-In-The-Dark Cockroach”. Experts also say that this insect is indeed a very smart one, as it mimics the toxic luminescent click beetles (Pyrophorus) and so, this suggests that this cockroach has actually used its light-up power to keep its predators far away…and yes, that includes you! What this also tells us is that this cockroach may be the absolute first known species to use bioluminescence for the sole purpose of defensive mimicry. As we all know, all good things must come to an end and it has been informed by scientists that the species of
L.Lukae may actually be extinct today. The only specimen of this insect was found 71 years ago, near the Tunguraha volcano in Ecuador. But if you do hear a high-pitched, squeaky voice speaking Jawaese and emitting an odd smell from under your kitchen table, you might have just found another one of these awesome cockroaches! — Vivetha Thambinatha Source: National Geographic
EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOBIOLOGY
So many ways to love: the science behind human mating
Taking a look at the three main mating bonds of mammals to understand the way we mate Matt Renaud Outreach Editor
Why do men or women cheat? Why is that guy or girl so picky? Why doesn’t anybody like me? Questions like this have long been debated among the general public, but researchers in relatively new fields such as evolutionary psychology and evolutionary biology have spent time investigating the biological and behavioural implications of mate selection and love. You’ll likely realize upon thinking about it that the monogamous nature of humans is in fact pretty rare. The overall majority of species in existence are all highly promiscuous in that they indiscriminately copulate with many different partners, which begs the question: What is it that makes males and females of certain species form enduring mating relationships (known as mating bonds) with members of the other sex? In 1972, the evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers answered this question by coming up with the theory known as parental investment: the concept being that parents will expend a significant amount of time and resources into protecting their young while they grow to reproductive age. Typical of many mammalian species, parental investment was attributed to the fact that many female mammals give birth to relatively small numbers of weak,
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slow-developing young. Thus, it’s adaptive for males to stay with females who carry their offspring to promote their successful development. Likewise, females adapt to behave in ways that will induce males to bond to them, ensuring the survival and continuity of both parents’ genes in the gene pool. There are 3 main kinds of observable mating bonds among species. The most prominent among mammals is polygyny, in which one male forms mating bonds with more than one female. Usually this happens
theeditors
copy editors Ashima Jain, Eugene Leung & Igor Angelovski compilation editors Bethia To, Jameera Mohamed & Rajiv Lakhani creative editors Sophia Wen & Tianyi Yan features editors Rigya Arya & Maryam Golafshani images editors David DeSantis & Mathura Thiyagarajah
column editor dz marketing manager Adam Raffoul outreach editor Matt Renaud soph liaison Carly Jackson blog manager Maham Bushra youtube manager Dan Younus media editor Maddie Storvold
when females contribute far more to the rearing of their young than males do. As a result, in these species females produce only a few offspring while males are capable of siring many more. The counterexample to polygyny is the concept of polyandry, when females form mating bonds with more than one male. In these cases, the contribution of the males is greater than the females. For example, the female seahorse deposits her eggs in the male’s pouch and he fertilizes them,
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carries them till term, and then gives birth. There are tons of videos on YouTube showing this, but I’ll warn you beforehand, it’s kind of disturbing, so watch at your own risk. Finally, there is the one we’re all familiar with: monogamy. In these patterns, enduring bonds are formed between one male and one female and are long lasting. The evolutionary motivation for monogamy is that in certain species the female could raise more fit young if she had undivided assistance. For example, geese, once bonded, will not mate with any other geese but their partner. That’s right, believe it or not, those loud, annoying birds that poop all over UC hill are one of the most romantic species on Earth. Now comes the big question: What mating pattern do humans follow? Most people would say monogamy obviously, but the real answer might not be so clear. While Western cultures promote monogamy, other human cultures do not necessarily agree. In addition, despite the mainstream promotion, many people from Western cultures bond with several partners and infidelity is all too common. From a biological point of view, the jury is still out; there is still considerable debate among researchers whether humans are by nature polygynous, monogamous or perhaps a mixture of the two. Despite the biology and evolutionary psychology behind bonding and mating patterns, the lesson is clear: just be like the geese.
thecontributors
Vivetha Thambinatha
The Current — March 2014
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PATHOLOGY
You know diseases, but have you heard of these?
Five diseases that distort your perspective of the human body Sophia Wen Creative Editor
The human body is amazing, but the body gone wrong is terrifying. Real ife can be stranger than any fiction, as evident in the strange array of illnesses from which we can suffer. From water allergies to unexpected neurological disorders, the following list challenges the most basic assumptions about human life.
1. Kuru: the “laughing disease” Like mad-cow disease, Kuru is a prion disease, meaning that the mental and physical states of unlucky victims deteriorate as small holes form in the brain’s cortex. In fact, Kuru was known as the “laughing disease” because those affected would suffer from hysterical laughing fits. Luckily, Kuru has only ever been found in an isolated tribe in New Guinea, and was transmitted by the tribe’s cannibalistic funeral rites. Relatives would consume the bodies of the dead with the belief that the spiritual as-
pects would be passed onto the living. Those who ate the brain would contract the deadly disease.
2. Alien Hand Syndrome Like something straight out of a horror move, alien hand syndrome is a neurological disorder that causes a person to lose control of their own hand. Patients have reported feeling like someone else is moving their hand, completing tasks like buttoning up shirts or grabbing objects without their control. This syndrome occurs most often in those who had the hemispheres of their brain surgically separated, but has also been documented after stroke, tumors, or aneurysms.
3. Foreign Accent Syndrome Another bizarre neurological disorder, foreign accent syndrome affects a small number of stroke survivors (only 62 cases between 1941 and 2009) who end up speaking with a strong foreign accent after the incident. This occurs because the stroke or other traumatic injury damages the area of the brain associated with speech. Unfortunately, those with FAS do not gain the ability to actually speak a foreign language; their speech is merely altered in timing, intonation or tongue placement, giving the impression of a foreign accent.
4. Aquagenic Urticaria: “Water Allergy” What is something that is fundamental to life on earth? Water, of course! But something as innocent and essential as water isn’t always harmless. People with aquagenic urticaria, also called “water allergy,” suffer from painful skin reactions after contact with water. This is not a true allergy in that histamines are not released, but the skin can develop hives or spots, and sufferers experience soreness or severely dry eyes after showers. Even drinking water can
PHYSIOLOGY
Binge drinking is bad drinking: stick to social
Do you know what binge drinking does to the human body? Dan Younus
cause the throat to swell up, and sweating or tears become a problem. Luckily, this condition is rare and almost only affects young teens. It is almost non-existent in adults.
5. Progeria We all remember being kids and wishing we could grow up faster. Progeria, a disease that causes rapid premature aging in children, is like a nightmare version of those dreams. Babies appear normal when born, but soon begin displaying symptoms of advanced aging. Tragically, the average age of death is 13, and the most common cause is heart disease. Progeria is caused by a genetic defect in the protein Lamin A which affects the structure of a cell’s nucleus, but so far there is no cure.
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No-credit scientists continued from page 1...
It has been seen that individuals who binge drink may, over time, develop it as a habit. Furthermore, while attempting to “one-up” your friend may give you fictional “bragging rights”, it can also give you something else; alcohol poisoning. Some of you may have seen the negative affects of alcohol poisoning first hand; maybe you’ve had to take a friend to the hospital, or maybe even experienced it yourself. Even if you haven’t, you can be sure that it is not an experience that you would like to have. When you binge drink, you liver attempts to filter out all the toxins (the alcohol) from your blood. However, it can only absorb one unit of alcohol per hour, and so bombarding it with a copious amount (sound familiar?), will result in the rest of the toxin remaining in your bloodstream. As you drink more, your blood alcohol concentration increases, with high levels causing symptoms such as confusion, vomiting, slow breathing, pale skin, and even passing out. When you cause your liver to filter out that entire toxin, it provides it with a lot of oxidative stress. This is caused by the breakdown of alcohol into water and carbon dioxide by the livers enzymes, which limits the cellular functions of the
liver cells. An infamous disease among alcoholics is alcohol hepatitis, which is mainly diagnosed through the inflammation of the liver. Reactions between the liver enzymes and the alcohol result in the release of chemicals into the bloodstream. Your body sees these chemicals as foreign infectious agents, and so it releases phagocytes (specialized white blood cells) to remove them. These cells also excrete chemical messengers, known as cytokines, into the blood stream. Cytokines attract more phagocytes to eliminate the threat, as well as increasing blood flow and blood vessel permeability. This permits these white blood cells to squeeze through the blood vessel walls to reach the toxic chemicals. However, this is double-edged sword, as all the heat and reactions causes inflammation in the liver, with extreme cases being seen as the cause for numerous diseases. Heavy binge drinkers exhibit a large concentration of adducts — hybrid compounds formulated from highly reactive molecules — in their bloodstream. As a byproduct of the breakdown of alcohol, free radicals, highly reactive molecule fragments, are released. These free radicals react with other highly reactive molecules, to produce hybrid compounds
known as adducts. Adducts bind to numerous proteins within the bloodstream and liver. Your body may recognize this newly formed compound as foreign, and may attack with your immune system. Why is this bad? Well, because, the immune system is also attacking the proteins that adducts are bound too, and so may eliminate important cellular functions. Look at this in a larger perspective, and its easy to see how the formation of adducts may harm your overall health. The outcomes listed above are only a few of the negative impacts associated with binge drinking. Granted, some of them are more long term impacts, but it’s still wise to understand just exactly what you are doing to your body. It is understandable that one would like to drink, sit back, relax; and that’s fine. As the saying goes, ‘everything is fine in moderation’. But a neknomination where you are attempting to consume a whole two-six of rum is just throwing moderation out the door. So please, be responsible about your drinking. Or even better, take up the new trend of paying it forward, where you post a video of you performing a good deed instead. That way, you get to save your liver, and the world at the same time.
she concluded that DNA consisted of two chains and a phosphate backbone. Her discovery – captured on an image known as Photo 51 – was leaked to James Watson and Francis Crick at Cambridge University, who were also trying to determine the structure of DNA. Using Photo 51 and Franklin’s findings, Watson and Crick published ‘their’ discovery in a series of articles in 1953. After being recognized for their discovery, Watson and Crick went on to win the 1962 Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine, while Franklin received no recognition for her role. 3. Chien-Shiung Wu An immigrant to America, Wu was recruited to Columbia University, where she began her work with the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb. In the 1950s, Wu began to collaborate with two theoretical physicists, Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang, who theorized that the Principle of the Conservation of Parity could be disproven. The law states that in quantum mechanics, two physical systems that are mirror images of each other would behave in identical ways. Through her experiments with cobalt-60, Wu was soon able to reveal that K-meson particles violated this 30-year old law. The discovery was monumental in physics, and while Lee and Yang were honoured with the 1957 Nobel Prize, Wu was given no mention. Wu’s discredit is theorized to be due to sexism and ethnic discrimination.
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The Current — March 2014
SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
Kids’ television shows lack female scientist influences
How does your brain make quick judgements about love?
Spongebob squares the field for scientists Maryam Golafshani Features Editor
Who’s making strides for women under the sea? SpongeBob SquarePants! Although female scientists are on the rise in the real world, the fictional world of television and film still fails to reflect this. Off the top of your head, try naming a female scientist character in a recent film or television show — aside from The Big Bang Theory’s Amy Farrah Fowler. I’m guessing that stumped most of you because, while there’s already such a limited number of scientists portrayed in the film and television industry, there’s even fewer female ones. Males dominate this fictional realm, and it’s no surprise that they dominate science industries in the real world too. If we are to continue seeing progress made with regards to the number of females in the scientific workforce, this is something that desperately needs to change. After all, how can we expect more girls to even consider being a scientist when they grow up if all they’re fed by the media is an almost exclusively male stereotype? Luckily, we can look to the creators of SpongeBob SquarePants for inspiration on how to effectively address this problem. Despite having spent more evenings than you can count (or want to admit) watch-
that the film and television industry tend to associate with scientists. Sandy’s regularly placed in social settings, like at the beach or Krusty Krab, where she comfortably engages in conversation with a slew of other characters. Most notably, in the episode “Texas”, numerous friends gather to convince homesick Sandy to stay in Bikini Bottom, demonstrating that she’s actually a popular individual. Most children also seem to be under the false assumption that being a scientist is an incredibly unrealistic and unattainable ambition. Sandy, however, presents science in a manner that even the 10-year old audience can understand, like when she explains to SpongeBob that “this dome is made of the strongest polyurethane. That’s just a fancy word for plastic. Ain’t that just the bee’s knees?!” Thanks to Sandy, children realize that you don’t need to be a genius in order to become a scientist. Finally, let’s take a moment to appreciate how Sandy’s appearance departs from the typical crazy- haired scientist we all envisioned as kids, wearing nothing but a lab coat day after day. This stylish squirrel not only has a tame and perfectly-combed fur coat, but also sports an oh-so-cute purple bikini beneath her spacesuit. It’s clear that rather than perpetuating society’s preconceived assumption that scientists are socially inept nerds, the producers of SpongeBob SquarePants exemplify
Source: Nickelodeon
ing the daily escapades of this yellow, talking, suit-wearing sponge, you probably never noticed that his trusted friend, Sandy Cheeks, is a revolutionary role model for girls. This quirky, yet fierce Texan squirrel portrays one of the only female scientists that young girls are exposed to in the media. And even more admirably, she breaks numerous stereotypes that scientists face, thus removing the stigma that typically makes being a scientist so unappealing to children. Traditionally, kids believe that being a scientist takes over your life, and who would want a job like that? Sandy Cheeks, however, is a scientist who actually has a life outside the lab. Viewers are constantly exposed to her leading a balanced life by partaking in some of her favourite pastimes, such as karate and surfing. What’s even more impressive is that Sandy regularly flourishes in social situations, despite the predominately awkward image
Love at first sight: science behind the magic Behtia To
Compilation Editor
Source: Disney
“This is going to sound crazy, but… from the moment I first set eyes on you, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.” – Leigh Fallon, Carrier of the Mark We are all familiar with the moment in Disney fairy tales where the main characters fall in love instantly; Prince Charming falls head over heels for Cinderella the second his eyes meet hers, Ariel is in love with Eric the very first moment she sees on him on the ship. As we all know, this concept of love at first sight is not just limited to fictional stories but it is also prominent in real life, with many accounts about couples that fell in love the instant they set eyes on each other. In fact, over 56% of Americans believe in the phenomenon of love at first sight according to the Columbian Broadcasting System. However, this instant attraction is more difficult to explain scientifically. How is it possible that we can feel love as an emotion after one quick glance? Is this short moment of attraction enough to make us start planning the rest of our lives in the arms of a complete stranger? These unanswered questions are what inspired scientists from the Trinity College Dulin. By using brain scans, they identified the brain region that dictates who we are most inclined to be romantically attracted to. The medial prefrontal cortex is the region near the front of the brain that is responsible
Sandy’s inherently social character. As a result, the show is not only successful at subverting the prevailing mindset that being a scientist is reserved for men, but also at breaking the ‘mad scientist’ stereotype. Instead, the show actually makes being a scientist cool for girls— shocking, I know. If you walked into an elementary school classroom today and asked each student to draw you a scientist, chances are that nearly every student, regardless of gender, will draw you a male figure. But maybe, if more films and television shows followed the example set by SpongeBob SquarePants, the mere idea of being a scientist would no longer be so unfathomable for girls. This is one crucial, albeit often overlooked, step forward that society must make if we hope for females to one day achieve equal representation in the professional world of science.
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for making judgments based on physical attraction and compatibility milliseconds of seeing a new face. Studies were conducted to help understand how the brain makes such quick, romantic judgments. Before a speed-dating event, researchers conducted fMRI scans on 39 participants as they looked at photos of potential dates. They were asked to report their physical attraction and likeability to each of the potential dates based on the photos. After the speed-dating event, participants were asked to indicate whom they would like to see again. This study concluded that many individuals excelled in predicting potential mates based solely on a photograph. The brain scans also showed activity in the paracingulate cortex, which appeared to calculate the attractiveness of the potential date and the rostromedial prefrontal cortex, which determines how compatible a mate would be on a rather personal level. Psychology researcher Jeffrey Cooper suggests that both processes of evaluating physical attractiveness and social compatibility are completely separate, “But they really are both happening in your head as you make those initial evaluations.” For more detail on this study, the latest findings can be found in the November issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.