14 Column Inches – Page 3

Salmon risk a slow-poached future in B.C. rivers

09. August 2015 · Write a comment · Categories: 14 Column Inches, Science Scribe, Victoria Times Colonist · Tags: British Columbia, Climate change, creeping normals, creeping standards, fishing closures, poached-frog hypothesis, river levels, rivers, salmon, summer 2015, temperature, Victoria Times Colonist, water management

River levels in southern B.C. are low, and their temperatures are warmer than normal. Fish are seeking shelter in deeper, larger, cooler pools wherever they can. With fish pooled in creeks and rivers, disease spreads more readily, and predators have an easier time making their catches of the day.

Returning salmon, of course, can’t choose to spend their final months hiding out in cool pools. Their biology drives them to reach their gravel beds of origin in time to spawn. While they may rest in deeper pools en route, the imperative sends them away from shelter into whatever channels contain enough water to allow them to fight their way upstream, no matter the water’s temperature.

Warm water causes fish to use more energy and tire faster. Warm temperatures can change freshwater chemistry, affecting the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water and available to fish and other critters. More »

B.C.’s wildfires have long-range effects

19. July 2015 · Write a comment · Categories: 14 Column Inches, Science Scribe, Victoria Times Colonist · Tags: air pollution, air quality, atmosphere, British Columbia, forest fire, Nature Boy, Vancouver Island, Victoria Times Colonist, wildfire

Dog Mountain Fire, Vancouver Island, July 2015. Photo © BCFLNR2015

For a week, Nature Boy gasped and panted under dense skies. He flopped from sweaty seat to shade-enshrouded room in search of hints of coolness. He marveled at a sun that glowed orange throughout the day and lit everything with a buttery, evening light at midday.

The hot weather over the west coast sent many Victorians rushing to stake out blanket-sized patches of beach early in the morning. Others scurried into the welcome relief of air-conditioned offices. As for Nature Boy, he took to spending his afternoons in cool, dark cinemas.

The system that brought the weather also held Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland in a form of hot smoker. It suffused the coast in the fumes of the region’s wildfires.

In Vancouver, the outlook was labelled “Martian skies.”

The recent Big Smoke gave us a taste and whiff of our own coastal rainforests going up in flames, here, in a place normally known for clean air and fresh ocean breezes. With our itchy eyes and scratchy throats, we felt the chemical and particulate ghosts of thousands of trees being partially cremated at Dog Mountain, Sechelt Inlet, Port Hardy, and in other wildfires in the region….

Read the rest of this editorial at the Victoria Times Colonist….

Sunscreen ratings cause confusion

08. July 2015 · Write a comment · Categories: 14 Column Inches, Science Scribe, Victoria Times Colonist · Tags: cancer, chemical suncreen, Consumers Report, endocrine disruptors, Environmental Working Group, mineral blocks, oxybenzone, retinol, sunscreen, ultraviolet radiation, Victoria Times Colonist, vitamin A

cancer society poster at Mount Douglas Park, Victoria, BC

The sunscreen supplies we purchase every summer usually last until the following August. But with all the winter sunshine Victoria enjoyed and a couple of trips to the sunny prairies, Nature Boy recently found himself squeezing the last molecules of sunblock from a flattened tube.

The timing means that we can act on the latest consumer-protection recommendations about sunscreen. We can arm our exposed surface areas not just with high sun protection factor but with pointy-headed research.

Oh, goody.

The point of using sunscreen is to avoid sunburns and other sun-caused skin damage, and lessen our chances of developing skin cancer. Science has repeatedly demonstrated the connection between sunlight, in the form of ultraviolet A and B radiation, and skin cancer.

Ultraviolet A rays penetrate deep into the skin and cause premature skin aging and wrinkles.Ultraviolet B radiation makes skin tan and burn, and is more dangerous than UVA. However, both contribute to skin cancers. Basal cell carcinomas occur when genes in cells in deep-skin layers go haywire, squamous cell carcinomas develop in cells near the surface of the skin, and that old bogey, melanoma, occurs when genes within pigment cells in the skin or eyes become dysfunctional.

Cancer happens when wonky genes start whispering tales of conquest and power to their cell. They prompt the damaged cell to divide and divide and divide again, and its identical child cells to divide and divide and divide again, without end. It’s part of the genes’ attempt to shake off the bonds of communal, cellular citizenship and try for World Domination. Bwaa-ha-ha-ha.

Both UVA and UVB rays can kick start the cellular megalomania.

Sunscreen helps to filter some of those rays, protecting our delicate dermises. Naturally, if we’re putting our trust in sunscreen, we want it to work. We rely on the advertised sun protection factor level to decide which product to invest in, and go from there.

If only reality were so easy….

Read the rest of this editorial at the Victoria Times Colonist….

Editorials, Victoria Times Colonist

27. June 2015 · Write a comment · Categories: 14 Column Inches, Folio, Victoria Times Colonist

Although many of my Victoria Times Colonist editorials are posted on this blog, visit the newspaper’s online site to access the complete and up-to-date collection.

Smart is the new black

21. June 2015 · Write a comment · Categories: 14 Column Inches, Science Scribe, Victoria Times Colonist · Tags: computers, culture, curiosity, engineering, geek, Geek-chic, high tech, math, nerd, science, smart, social culture, Victoria Times Colonist

Not my boyfriend's computer. Photo © Marta Manso, via flickr, Creative Commons, and www.facebookcom/LadyPainPhoto

Somehow, during the years when I mucked about with rocks and critters, and poked at bones of extinct species, being a geek became, well, cool.

I use the word “geek” with the great respect it deserves. My world is peopled by persons passionate about things odd or overlooked, by collectors of specimens, information and ideas, by those who make it their lives’ work to turn over rocks just to see what lies beneath, to grasp what is remarkable in it, and to remark on it. These people never outgrew the childhood need to ask “What?” ‘Why?” and “How?” that is stifled in so many others.

Sometime during the last 20 years, smart became the new black. Brainy people with focused, intense interests showed that thinking off-centre and poking about in odd corners can mean opportunity, vision and, sometimes—and of particular importance to how our society measures worth—wealth…

Read the rest of this editorial at the Victoria Times Colonist…

Addictiveness by design casts ethical shadow over game designers

07. June 2015 · Write a comment · Categories: 14 Column Inches, Keiran's World, Victoria Times Colonist · Tags: addiction, addictiveness by design, Big Tobacco, court cases, gaming, high tech, intentional addictiveness, psychology, science, tech, tobacco, Victoria BC, Victoria Times Colonist, video games

Photo © Rebecca Pollard, via flickr and Creative Commons

Seven of Victoria’s video-game studios recently launched new games. The games, which include TinyMob’s Tiny Realms and GameHouse’s new version of Slingo, highlight the industry’s growth in the region.

The 20 or so Victoria-based studios employ 240 people and spend about $25 million annually. Eight years ago, about 40 people worked in local game studios.

On a global scale, gaming revenues are predicted to grow to $78 billion in the next two years.

The industry’s growth mirrors that in other digital technology industries. As the Internet advanced in sophistication and conquered both the wider, geographic world and our personal time, so have video games.

We’ve come a long way, baby, from Pokémon, Doom and The Legend of Zelda.

Game designers have also become more sophisticated in attracting and retaining players.

In many games, designers intentionally manipulate players to keep them online and to keep them returning to play more, again and at higher levels. They design consequences into games to prevent players from stopping play, and build in rewards for players who stay in the game, move up to higher levels and to subscribe to advance the game….

Read the rest of this editorial at the Victoria Times Colonist….

SARA gets no respect from feds

Orca breaching and blowing. Photo © digicla via Creative Commons and flickr

Among groups of people, ignoring somebody is often considered a sign of disrespect. The word disrespect itself means disregard, overlook, to not acknowledge or look at something.

Over the last dozen years, we have seen disrespect for federal legislation. The Species at Risk Act became law in December 2002, but for most of its existence it has been disregarded by the very government responsible for enacting the law.

No wonder citizen groups are striking out independently. For example, the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, the Dogwood Initiative, Northwest Wildlife Preservation Society and South Vancouver Island Anglers Association recently announced they would start taking their own action to save the region’s orcas.

The feds declared southern resident orcas endangered 12 years ago. The Species at Risk Act requires the government to develop recovery strategies and action plans for the species within a set period. However, the required federal action plan to protect orcas remains incomplete….

Read the rest of this editorial at the Victoria Times Colonist….

Family redefined: We are family (in me)

10. May 2015 · Write a comment · Categories: 14 Column Inches, Science Scribe, Victoria Times Colonist · Tags: brother, family, genetics, micro-chimerism, mother, placenta, sister, Sister Spade, Y chromosome

Three generations. Photo provided by William Creswell, www.williamcreswell.com, via CC and flickr

Many mothers I know, no matter how old their kids are, tell me they feel their children continue to be part of them long after birth. Despite decades having passed since the umbilical cords were cut, the ties connecting mothers to their kids can feel strong and eternal.

It appears that a strange, genetic truth backs up those instinctual feelings. Mothers may think continually of their children, but recent genetic studies show mothers also physically retain bits of their kids in their bodies.

During pregnancy, the placenta interfaces between mother and fetus. This organ consists of cells from both mother and child, and permits the mother to supply the developing fetus with oxygen, hormones, and nutrients. It also provides an avenue for the fetus to expel its own carbon dioxide and waste through the mother’s body.

Entire cells cross the placenta in both directions throughout a pregnancy. Now, multiple research studies show that a child’s genetic material can reside within the mother for decades after the child is born. The cells, with their unique genetic coding, may collect in the mother’s skin, liver, spleen, kidneys, heart, muscles, thyroid, and lungs. Research published last year indicates it even infiltrates the mother’s brain….

Read the rest of this editorial at the Victoria Times Colonist….

Keiran's World

Salmon risk a slow-poached future in B.C. rivers

B.C.’s wildfires have long-range effects

Sunscreen ratings cause confusion

Editorials, Victoria Times Colonist

Addictiveness by design casts ethical shadow over game designers

SARA gets no respect from feds

Family redefined: We are family (in me)

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