Sarah Chow - Scientist Extraordinaire
Monday, May 7th, 2012 at 8:26 pm | Communication
They like me! They really like me!
Last month, UBCevents made a call for someone to host their UBCevents videos. These videos highlight upcoming events around campus.
I put in my audition video and they liked it!
I share the limelight with three others. Here’s our first video together:
Stay tuned each week for more videos!
Friday, May 4th, 2012 at 1:12 pm | Science, Science Communication
Liars, Bees, Aliens and a butt licking zookeeper
How power can create liars, jerks and douche bags.
According to the journal of Psychological Science, power inspires hypocrisy. Those who feel entitled to their power are more likely to hold higher standards for others while making poor judge behaviours themselves. However, those who don’t feel entitled are actually harder on themselves – hypercrisy. But really a lie is a lie and sometimes science can’t dig you out of a big LYING HOLE. (No I’m not bitter at all)
Taking the sting out of Prostate Cancer
Researchers at the University of Chicago have isolated caffeic acid phenethyl ester or CAPE, an active compound in beehive propolis, or bee glue, and found it has the ability to freeze growth of early-stage prostate cancer cells in their tracks and stops it from spreading. But how it does it is the questions. These researchers have developed a new technique that can monitor the impact CAPE has on the cell.
Everyone is fascinated about the possibility life could exist outside of Earth. My dad and I have had many funny conversations about it. Are they among us now? I mockingly ask him. In this podcast, John Rennie explains how NASA sending Curiousity, another Mars Rover, to look for signs of life may be more complicated than we think.
A zookeeper licked a young Francois Langur Monkey butt for over an hour to help it defecate a peanut that was making it ill. Fact or fiction? Not sure, but it’s a damn cool party story.
Tuesday, May 1st, 2012 at 3:23 pm | Science, Science Communication
Communicate, connect, and collaborate with other science fanatics! Here’s what coming up in May.
Wednesday May 2, 2012
Nerd Nite – 6 pm
Hang out with the cool people for a change! Every first Wednesday of the month, scientists, science journalists and science communicators congregate at their favorite watering hole for some good, thought-provoking conversations. And of course, some awesome beer.
Location: Railway Club 579 Dunsmuir Street
Time: 6 pm
Skeptics in a pub – Kitsilano – 7:30pm
Are you always questioning the world around you? Well you may want to bounce off your ideas and theories with fellow skeptics.
Location: Bill Bishop Legion – 1407 Laburnum St
Time: 7:30pm
Sunday May 6, 2012
Triumf Tour
Couldn’t make the tour to visit the building that houses North America’s largest Cyclotron? Well here’s your second chance. RSVP: larsmartin1978+triumftour[at]googlemail.com
Location: TRIUMF – 4004 Wesbrook Mall
Time: 3 to 4pm
Thursday May 10, 2012
Cafe Scientifique – Arthritis Research Centre – 7pm
Is BC the best place for hip and knee replacement surgery and rehabilitation? Find out more at this cafe scientifique hosted by the Arthritis Research Centre. RSVP: ecarruthers@arthritisresearch.ca or 604-871-4580
Location: Juliet’s Cafe – 1905 Cornwall
Time: 7pm
Cafe Scientifique – Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research UBC – 7pm
Feeling all hot and bothered? This cafe scientifique is all about what to expect in perimenopause. RSVP: cemcor@interchange.ubc.ca
Location: Wicked Cafe – 1399 West 7th Avenue
Time: 7pm
What about me? Reflections on autism and why bullying is so easy and acceptance so tough. RSVP: sfuautismcafe@gmail.com
Location: W2 Media Cafe – 111 West Hastings
Time: 7pm
Saturday May 12, 2012
Celebrating our Natural World – 11am
Come interact, learn, touch, and feel science with UBC science. This family-friendly event will make everyone excited about science.
Location: Beatty Biodiversity Museum
Time: 11am to 3pm
Tuesday May 15, 2012
ScienceOnlineVancouver #SoVan – 7pm
Continuing to connect the science communication community, this month’s Science Online Vancouver is all about making connections through social media.
Location: Science World
Time: 7 pm
Wednesday May 16, 2012
Green Cafe Vancouver: Trees vs Jobs – 5:30pm
Could saving trees create more jobs than cutting down trees? How do we build a sustainable, environmentally and financially friendly economy? Come discuss with panelist from the Globe Foundation, Burnaby Board of Trade and MEC. RSVP required.
Location: Fairmont Waterfront – Malaspina Room
Time: 5:30pm
Tuesday May 22, 2012
Cafe Scientifique – 7:30pm
Aye-matie! All you land lubbers out there don’t miss out Dr. Andrew Holding’s talk on Forgotten Knowledge: The discovery and loss of a cure for scurvy. Or you’ll be walking the plank! ARRRR!
Location: Railway Club – 579 Dunsmuir Street
Time: 7:30pmm
Thursday May 24, 2012
CFI Lecture: “Science, society and the #arseniclife debacle” by Rosie Redfield
The science community cannot get enough of her! Named one of Nature’s top newsmakers of 2011, Dr. Redfield is an amazing and engaging speaker. If you haven’t seen her speak yet, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!
Location: Harbour Centre, SFU – Room #1800 Terasen Cinema
Time: 7 pm to 9 pm
Saturday May 26, 2012
Simon Fraser University Open House – 11am
Come see science in action as well as other educational demonstrations at the SFU’s open house. There’s even going to be liquid nitrogen ice cream! YUM!
Location: SFU – Burnaby Mountain Campus
Time: 11am to 4pm
Tuesday May 29, 2012
Cafe Scientifique – UBC Life Sciences Institute – 6pm
Sometimes great things come in small packages. The Life Sciences Institute at UBC is presents “NanoSpace Invaders: Seeing into the Subcellular World” with Dr. Wayne Vogl and Dr. Edwin Moore, Professors in the Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences.
Location: UBC – Life Sciences Institute
Time: 6pm to 8pm
Note: To get the most up-to-date information about cancellations, changes in venue, please click the links provided.
If you have any science events that you would like posted on this list, contact me sswchow@gmail.com.
See you all around the city!
Friday, April 27th, 2012 at 10:48 pm | Science, Science Communication
Overprotective bodies, looking into the past to find viruses of the future, and beauty is scientific.
Are allergies trying to protect us from ourselves?
Sneezing, coughing, sniffling, and scratching may be annoying, but allergies may just be like an overprotective mother, annoying, but with good intentions. These symptoms are a way for our bodies to get rid of the toxins infecting us.
Turn off the bloody Bat-Signal! Bats huge reservoirs of viral diseases
With the internet and smart phones, information is immediate, instant, NOW. And we’ve grown to focus on the NOW. But often, focusing on immediacy can create tunnel vision and we become oblivious to the world around us. So, to prepare for the viruses of the future, scientists are looking at bats and rodents for viruses that could be transmitted to humans in the future.
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But according to scientists beauty is all about being symmetrical. And here I thought being different was good.
Thursday, April 19th, 2012 at 1:53 pm | Science, Science Communication
Exploding cows, finding Mokèlé-mbèmbé, being born a jerk, reversing a heart attack and advice for new profs.
As one of the new editors of Science Seeker News focused on anthropology, biology, chemistry, ecology / conservation, health, medicine, and philosophy, here are my picks for this week.
Got Frozen Cows? Blow Them Up: DNews Nuggets
High up in the frigid Rocky Mountains, several cows were found frozen solid in an old ranger cabin. How they got up there? I don’t know. Now the problem with letting these cow popsicles thaw is the spread of disease. Solution? Blow them up.
How do you pronounce Mokèlé-mbèmbé?
Very carefully. Explorer Stephen McCullah is looking for Mokèlé-mbèmbé, a dinosaur-like creature said to be up to 35 feet long (11 meters), with brownish-gray skin and a long, flexible neck in the remote jungles of Africa. Apparently the dinosaur is mythical. But that’s what they said about Kevin too. You know the colourful bird in Disney’s Movie Up.
Maybe being a jerk is really in your genes
After answering survey questions like, do you donate blood, are people generally good or bad, and analyzing their DNA from their spit. Assistant professor of psychology Michael Poulin found nice people have receptors that are more sensitive to oxytocin and vasopressin. This is interesting since oxytocin is a hormone released during childbirth to distend the cervix and vasopressin increases water absorption in the kidneys. So one leaves you loose and the other one makes you pee less. Not sure how their linked to being nice, but check out the blog anyways.
Using virus-based system, researchers programmed scar tissue in live mice back into functioning heart muscle. WTF?! That’s pretty damn awesome since cardiovascular disease is the world’s leading cause of death.
#1: STAY MARRIED: Advice for new profs
Getting that tenure-track position is the highlight of your life. Or is it? You are out of the post-doc race rat, now into the tenure track race. How do you deal with it all? Biochem blog gives great advice for new profs.
Tuesday, April 17th, 2012 at 8:52 pm | Science, Science Communication
Photo created by Peter Newbury
Are you ready to join the conversation?
ScienceOnlineVancouver is a monthly discussion series exploring how online communication and social media impact current scientific research and how the general public learns about it. ScienceOnlineVancouver is an ongoing discussion about online science, including science communication and available research tools, not a lecture series where scientists talk about their work. Follow the conversation on Twitter at @ScioVan, hashtag is #SoVan.
It begins Thursday April 19 at 7pm at Science World. Find information about this event at www.ScienceOnlineVancouver.com. Please register and set up a profile so you can get the latest news on upcoming events and see who else is coming.
This month’s topic will discuss where do you get your science? Which science news resource do you trust? To ignite the conversation, panelist Dr. Rosie Redfield, named Nature’s ten people who matter, CBC reporter Lisa Johnson and the “consumer” Anthony Floyd. Each will bring their own perspective on creating, communicating and consuming science respectively.
The concept of these monthly meetings originated in New York with SoNYC @S_O_NYC, brought to life by Lou Woodley (@LouWoodley, Communities Specialist at Nature.com) and John Timmer (@j_timmer, Science Editor at Ars Technica). With the success of that discussion series, participation in Scio2012, and the 2012 annual meeting of the AAAS in Vancouver, Catherine Anderson, Sarah Chow, and Peter Newbury were inspired to bring it closer to home, leading to the beginning of ScienceOnlineVancouver.
ScienceOnlineVancouver is part of the ScienceOnlineNOW community that includes ScienceOnlineBayArea (@sciobayarea) and ScienceOnlineSeattle (@scioSEA). Thanks to Brian Glanz of the Open Science Federation and SciFund Challenge and thanks to Science World for a great venue.
See you all there.
Friday, March 30th, 2012 at 4:25 pm | Science Communication
Are you in need for some science communication? Here’s what’s happening in Vancouver in April.
Please check back for updates on other science events happening around Vancouver.
Tuesday April 3, 2012 – 7pm
Have you read Lawrence Krauss’ The Quantum Man? If you have, you may want to join in the conversation. The BC Humanist Association’s book club will be discussing the book with other fellow bookworms.
Location: Our Town Cafe – 245 East Broadway
Time: 7pm
Wednesday April 4, 2012 – 6pm
Nerd Nite (formerly known as Beer and Brains)
Hang out with the cool people for a change! Every first Wednesday of the month, scientists, science journalists and science communicators congregate at their favorite watering hole for some good, thought-provoking conversations. And of course, some awesome beer.
Location: Railway Club 579 Dunsmuir Street
Time: 6 pm
Skeptics in a pub – Kitsilano – 7:30pm
Are you always questioning the world around you? Well you may want to bounce off your ideas and theories with fellow skeptics.
Location: Bill Bishop Legion – 1407 Laburnum St
Time: 7:30pm
*April 12 to 14* – update
Greater Vancouver Regional Science Fair
Curious about what young budding scientist have to say? Check out the Greater Vancouver Regional Science Fair.
Location: UBC
Time: Varies depending on day. Please click link above for more information.
Saturday April 14, 2012
TRIUMF tour – 2pm
Did you know that the UBC campus is home to the world’s largest cyclotron? Well here’s your chance to find out all about Canada’s National Lab for nuclear and particle physics. Unfortunately you won’t get to see the ACTUAL cyclotron. RSVP is required.
Location: TRIUMF – 4004 Wesbrook Mall
Time: 2 to 4pm
Saturday Skeptics in a pub – 7 pm
Are you interested in space, the final frontier? Do you enjoy trivia? Well look no further, and head to the Railway Club to share your space enthusiasm with other scientists.
Location: Railway Club – 579 Dunsmuir Street
Time: 7 pm
Tuesday April 17, 2012
Skeptics in the pub – Downtown – 7:30 pm
Missed all the other chances to catch up with other skeptics in Vancouver? Well never fear, they meet again.
Location: Railway Club 579 Dunsmuir Street
Time: 7:30 pm
Thursday April 19, 2012 – 7 pm
Science Online Vancouver #SoVan
It started in New York City #SONYC, and now it’s coming here. Science Online Vancouver is a monthly discussion group led by a panel who are experts in the topic of the month. This month: Where do you get your science?
Location: Science World
Time: 7 pm
BrainTalks is a series of talks designed to invigorate your brain, and how you think about your brain! Neurologists, neuroradiologists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, and related professions, gather to discuss current leading edge topics on the mind. Speaker this week: Dr. Max Cynader, who’s research is focused on the neuronal and molecular mechanism of the sensory cortex.
Location: Vancouver General Hospital
Time: 5:30 pm – wine and cheese
6 pm – presentation
*Tuesday April 24, 2012* – 7:30 pm
Is arsenic really the basis for life? Well Dr. Rosie Redfield doesn’t think so. Name Nature’s top ten people who matter, talks about her views on arsenic life.
Location: Railway Club
Time: 7:30 pm
Note: To get the most up-to-date information about cancellations, changes in venue, please click the links provided.
If you have any science events that you would like posted on this list, contact me sswchow@gmail.com.
Friday, March 23rd, 2012 at 10:18 pm | Science
If they only kept it in their pants…
My latest podcast for Experimental.
Based on my friends current choice in partners, I’m not convinced the Neanderthal population is extinct, however a new theory suggests the first modern humans interbred with these hairy, ape like cavemen. This diluted the Neanderthal gene pool which eventually led to their demise.
Modern humans and Neanderthals started co-mingling around the start of the ice age, about 30 thousand years ago. The human species was just starting to leave their homeland of Africa, while, Neanderthals were in search of other food sources. As resources dwindled, they had no other choice than to share. And share they did.
The scientific evidence for cohabitation is intriguing. Scientists extracted and sequenced the DNA from a 44 thousand year old bone found in Croatia. They then compared this sequence to DNA from 2000 living individuals from 99 different populations from Africa, Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. They found up to 4% of the modern human genome is made up of the Neanderthal genome! This is proof our ancestors were not above getting down and dirty with the cavemen.
However, not all scientists are convinced this is what truly happened to the extinct population. Other theories include Neanderthals contracting diseases brought in by modern humans; they were hunted and killed by modern humans; and some just think Neanderthals truly lived up to their name, and were too dumb to survive the ice age, while modern humans adapted.
No one can know for sure what really happened to the Neanderthal population. But if interbreeding truly existed, I guess we all have a little bit of Neanderthal in us. And, going by my friend’s choice in partners some a bit more than others!
[The above is a transcript of the podcast]
If you like this podcast, please visit Experimental Podcast for more!
Thursday, March 15th, 2012 at 9:54 pm | Science, Science Communication
There’s more to science than Pacemaker Proteins? WHAT?!
My hometown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, had the honour to host the annual international science conference by the American Association for the Advancement of Science or Triple A-S or #AAAS this February.
Attending the AAAS conference opened my eyes to the different types of research and issues impacting the world we live in today. And it made me realize how narrow my current focus has become.
As a Biochemist/Physiologist, a great majority of my attention is dedicated to a teeny tiny protein called the Pacemaker Channel. So as a good graduate student, I put together a short video of the 3 most fascinating things I learned at the AAAS Conference.
Warning: This video INCREDIBLE goofy and it’s meant to be silly.
One shrimp was harmed in the making of this film. Sorry.
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012 at 3:53 pm | Science, Science Communication
You’ve heard of doggy style, but what about dinosaur style? Dinosaurs lived more than 250 million years ago making dinosaur porn hard to come by. To better understand dinosaur mating, scientists study the mating ritual of crocodiles and birds, which are descendants of dinosaurs. Along with current fossil findings and some creativity, scientists can better predict the mating rituals of these prehistoric beasts.
Originally scientists thought the male dinosaur would straddle the female’s back while she lifted her bum and tail in the air. But dinosaurs are enormous and they are predicted to weight over 23 tons, that’s like the weight of 5 elephants! The amount of weight the female would have to support during such a manoeuver would pulverize her front legs!
However, a more recent theory suggests dinosaurs copulated in water to relieve some of that weight. But it’s very unlikely that two horny dinosaurs would put their libidos on hold long enough to find a large body of water Eventually scientists came the conclusion that dinosaurs had to copulate on land. And carrying too much weight in the front legs is actually not an issue because when walking, weight naturally shifts from one foot to another.
But MY question is, what does a dinosaur penis really look like? There is very little known about the penis of a dinosaur, despite being a boner, as soft tissue cannot be fossilized. Descendants of dinosaurs, have what’s called cloaca, which is an all-in-one organ. It is used both for sex and waste elimination. When ready, the penis pops out and is inserted into the female’s cloaca. If this model applies to dinosaurs, one might imagine, based on the enormity of the creatures, the penis could be the size of a compact car!
With the information at hand, scientists currently can only speculate what dinosaur sex would look like. So for now Doing it Dino Style may just be a great song title.
[The above is a transcript of the podcast]
If you like this podcast, please visit Experimental Podcast for more!