By Elia M. Ku Pech

A daily activity is going shopping at the supermarket. Let’s talk about the fruit and vegetable section of the super market. Usually the vegetables, fruits and spices that we see in this section are large and fresh, in quotation marks. But are they really of the best quality?

I want to explain what I mean by quality. For me a quality vegetable is one that, during its growth, was not applied with pesticides. While it may not have a long shelf life nor be of a prominent size, it offers other advantages such as taste and smell that are more penetrating and enjoyable. In particular, I find these characteristics in local varieties.

But, what is a local variety? It is one that is generated in the region and does not come from outside (other states or countries) so it does not contribute – or contributes very little – to the burning of fossil fuels for transportation.

Otherwise the improved varieties, which are larger, do not have a characteristic smell or taste, in my particular opinion. A clear example is seen in coriander, a plant that is used as a spice to flavor certain foods. The smell in the coriander is one of the virtues by which it is chosen, that smell so characteristic that it is not found in another plant. In the supermarket, we find coriander of very large leaves and vigorous stems; that type of coriander is of an improved variety. Have you noticed the smell of this coriander? The smell is minimal. However, the local coriander has an odor that does not go unnoticed and therefore gives a better flavor to meals.

The previous example of coriander is just a small one. We can find numerous other cases such as with squash, corn, watermelon, lettuce, jicama, and epazote, among other fruits, vegetables and spices that exist in the supermarket.

But what makes us choose an improved variety before a local one? The answer is easy: most fruits, vegetables, and spices offered in the supermarket are improved varieties and only in exceptional cases are they local varieties and usually in very low quantity. It is expected that buyers choose the abundant and not the scarce and what is abundant is the improved products.

But that situation describes supermarkets. What is seen in the traditional markets of the region where one lives? We can find more local varieties in the markets and these varieties are usually offered at a cheaper price because they were not brought from other states. Also, another reason why the price is low is because there is no one involved in the marketing between the producer and the final consumer. The performance of the intermediary makes the products more expensive. In supermarkets, there is usually always one or several intermediaries.

Now, what does the consumer prefer? A product that will last you longer in the refrigerator but at the expense of taste, smell and good price? Or a local variety that provides all of the above and more?

By Ana Carillo

The World Health Organization defines traditional medicine as a set of knowledge, skills and practices based on indigenous theories and beliefs and the experiences of different cultures; and used for the maintenance, prevention, diagnosis or treatment of physical and mental illnesses.

In Mexico, particularly in indigenous communities, the use of traditional medicine is still very frequent. The traditional doctor (healer, herbalist, shaman, among other names) uses a wide range of plants and fungi to make remedies or homemade formulations that serve to alleviate various ailments. However, traditional medicine often lacks clinical studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of these remedies, so its verification and approval has been based on trial and error.

Modern medicine, on the other hand, uses drugs that have undergone a strict evaluation both in vitro and in vivo in animals, and clinical studies in humans that have demonstrated its effectiveness as well as its side effects. Despite this, it is important to mention that the majority of medications originate or are derived from traditional medicine.

For this reason it is important to recognize and keep alive the knowledge of traditional medicine. However, over the years this knowledge passed down from generation to generation has been lost, causing the great wisdom of our ancestors to be forgotten and with it the possibility of obtaining new medicines. In conclusion, traditional medicine and modern medicine are a great complements to each other.

Photo from: http://arqueologiamexicana.mx/mexico-antiguo/la-medicina-tradicional-indigena-en-el-mexico-actual

More information: http://www.who.int/topics/traditional_medicine/definitions/es/

 

Friday Night Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) by Anayeli

When you are a PhD student, social life is very scarce because you have to invest a lot of time in your project. On Friday nights I only wanted one thing: to entertain myself in something that was not my thesis.

One day, Carlos (my husband) told me: We are about to start a new D&D campaign with my friends,  you should come with us, it can be fun if you think you are a “Lord of the Rings” character. I was going through a rut of boredom then I said why not? So with a pencil, an eraser, a notebook and cookies in hand I went to play.

The disaster

To summarize D&D in one sentence, it is a role playing game where each player assumes a character/person and plays though a campaign that is led by a Dungeon Master who creates the world in which the characters play and the enemies/puzzles that need to be overcome.

The first time you are told how to play D&D is relatively similar to entering an advanced math class without having taken basic math; you do not understand anything at all and you just think what the hell I’m doing here. If you are lucky your friends will be very patient and will explain to you again and again until you improve.

Then! There I was suddenly turned into a wizard trying to chase a dragon, represented in a miniature figure placed a board. I hoped that killing the dragon was as easy as just wanting it. However, the destiny of your character in this game is governed by the dice and chance. You will think of the classic dice used by a croupier in Las Vegas, but no … the D&D dice are very particular and they come in many styles and have up to 20 sides. You never want to get 1 on the dice because it means your character can die. On the other hand, getting 20 means that you use your maximum power or ability and you can be the hero of that quest.

Making learning fun

After two and a half years of playing D&D I have improved many of my skills that I apply in my daily life such as teamwork, stimulating my imagination, improving my creativity, and even making mathematical calculations faster. Finally and perhaps most importantly, D&D allowed me to make new friends and have a lot of fun every Friday night.

The Demilitarized Zone of Korea: a dangerous place for humans, but an oasis for biodiversity

 Last weekend I read an article about North and South Korea,
countries in conflict for many years. These are separated by the so-called Korea Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). This border barrier was created following an agreement between North Korea, China and the United Nations in 1953. It is 250 kilometers long and about 4 kilometers wide.

There have been many conflicts in the DMZ that have led to deaths of soldiers and civilians of both nations. Constant danger has led to the area being isolated from human activities. The lack of human presence has favored an increase in other species so today the DMZ is considered a site of great importance for the conservation of the biodiversity of the region.Researchers such as biologist Kim Seung-ho, founder of the DMZ’s Ecology Institute, estimate that around 2700 species are found in this place, of which 100 are fish, 45 are amphibians and reptiles, more than 1000 are insects and plants and 300 are types of mushrooms, not counting the unclassified species.Birds like the red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis) and the white-naped crane (Grus vipio), both threatened, and mammals like long-tailed goral (Naemorhedus caudatus), Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus) and Siberian musk deer (Moschus moschiferus) live in this habitat. There are even reports of tigers, long believed extinct in the Korean Peninsula.

In Korea, most national parks have focused on tourism, so there are few sites that have the degree of conservation of the DMZ, which is why UNESCO has been requested to incorporate the DMZ as a Biosphere Reserve. However, the lack of communication between the two Koreas has stalled the progress of this proposal.

I think that the DMZ case exemplifies the fact that nature opens itself to life even in the most complicated, dangerous and incredible territories and despite our actions. DMZ is between two countries whose anthropogenic activities affect the environment. South Korea has great urban development while North Korea has a great military development. Both activities cause loss of vegetation cover and a decrease in species. However, the DMZ is an oasis for biodiversity because it has allowed the subsistence of a lot species, some of them threatened or in danger of extinction.

Effects of population growth on natural resources

The accelerated  birth rate of the human population has had a negative impact on the natural resources of the world; we know that population grows but natural resources do not, which generates scarcity.

But what is a natural resource? It provides materials and services that are valuable for human society but that humans cannot manufacture. These materials and services are air, water, plants, petroleum, natural gas, minerals, among others.

All the aforementioned natural resources must cover the needs of 7.5 billion of people (population size estimate in 2017) and in the next year, 2018, this amount will increase. Every year around 80 million individuals are added to the world. What will the excessive growth generate? Garbage. First let’s talk about how much garbage each human being generates. Each person generates approximately 1 kg of garbage per day. If we multiply that kilo of garbage by 7.5 billion people that are currently in the world, we see that it is a lot of garbage. If the population continues to grow, where will so much garbage go? Most of the garbage is disposed of in rivers, seas, forests, among other places, thereby generating pollution.

On the other hand, as the population grows, resource consumption also increases because more people need water, air, soil, to mention a few examples. This puts us in a daunting picture.

Excessive growth will mean that the planet cannot sustain all human beings. As a result, there will be increasing inequality in the distribution of natural resources among each living being of the planet.

Currently most natural resources are privatized –  assigned a price, –  which makes them difficult to obtain.By having a price, natural resources become a precious object that very few can acquire. If the uncontrolled increase in population continues, the cost of natural resources will also continue to increase.

It is true that we cannot demonize the arrival of children into the world but the increase in births should be a focus of attention. We need to consider that each newborn individual will require a new home, which will cause trees to be felled and an increase in urbanization. And let’s not forget that that individual will discard tons of trash in the course of their life.

Now, how to remedy this problem? We cannot prevent families from wanting to have children; leaving offspring is part of the human biological cycle. But if each of these individuals grew up familiar with environmental issues, society would become aware from the outset the importance of conserving the resources on which present and future life depends.

Environmental education could contribute a grain of sand to avoid the storm that lies ahead.

Elia Ku.

The age of microalgae.

Five years ago, when I started my Master’s I had no idea about biotechnology using microalgae. Now that I’m finishing my Ph.D,  I have learned several things; one of them is that the age of microalgae has arrived, with the purpose of improving the world.

What are microalgae and what are they for?

Every time my friends or people not related to the discipline ask me, “what are microalgae?” the first thing I say is: have you seen that green thing that is formed in the water bowl of your dog when you forget to change their water for several days? Or that sticky green layer that is on the rocks when you go to the beach? Well those are the microalgae.

In fact, these green things are microscopic unicellular organisms capable of converting solar energy into chemicals by photosynthesis, producing 90% of the oxygen in the atmosphere.

Microalgae contain numerous bioactive compounds that can be harnessed for commercial use. For example they can be used to produce a wide range of metabolites, food and feed additives, cosmetics and for energy production.

Microalgae not only produce oxygen, they can also be eaten.

Due to their natural chemical composition –including high protein content, essential vitamins, pigments, carbohydrates, lipids, among others – it is now known that microalgae can improve the nutritional content of conventionally manufactured foods.

Nowadays, microalgae for human nutrition are commercialized in many forms such as pills, capsules and syrups or can be incorporated into pastes, candy bars or beverages.

Microalgae are now also incorporated into the food of animals such as fish, farm animals and even your pets because of the high content of omega-3 fatty acids (it is known that omega-3 fatty acids are of great importance for optimum development in animals and contribute to memory, learning, and fur quality, among others). So when you wonder why your cat has such beautiful fur or how your dog quickly learned a new trick, it is because of the nutrition provided by microalgae.

Microalgae: from food to fuel.

It can be said that microalgae are versatile because they can be processed in different ways to acquire several products. For example, researchers have taken advantage of the lipids of these organisms to transform them into fuels. Although this application is in the test phase the results suggest that in years to come we could board a plane or drive a car with fuel made of microalgae.

In my opinion, microalgae are fascinating microorganisms that have solved some problems that affect humanity and also contribute to 21st century economy.

Treating Chiclero ulcer with plants

September 7                                                                                                      Ana Carrillo

In Mexico the disease known as chiclero ulcer or localized cutaneous leishmaniasis is caused by parasites of Leishmania mexicana (family: tripanosamatidae), which are transmitted to humans by the bite of hematophagous mosquitoes. The clinical manifestations of the disease begin with a small sore in the area of ​​the bite that evolves into a large ulcer that can take months to heal. The disease usually affects people of limited resources who usually work on plantations of chicle, cocoa and coffee.

The most common medications for the treatment of chicle ulcer are sodium stibogluconate (Pentostam®), N-methylglucamine antimoniate (Glucantime®), pentamidine (Pentacarinat®) and amphotericin B (Fungizone®). However, all of these treatments require long application times and the side effects include cardiac and renal toxicity.

Due to side effects it is necessary to develop new treatments for the ulcer of chiclero. Some plant extracts have been tested in vitro against L. mexicana promastigotes, obtaining good results, such as Dorstenia contrajerva (Moraceae) and Aphelandra scabra (Acanthaceae).

Currently, both plants are being studied at the Yucatan Center for Scientific Research, to find less toxic secondary compounds with leishmanicidal activity that can be used in the development of new treatments against chiclero ulcer.

 

Citizen science as a new opportunity for large scale studies in ecology.

Aldo I. Echeverria Caro

With the development of new open source software for management of large databases, data obtained through citizen science are becoming more widely used by ecologists. An example is the increasing number of species distribution models.  Studies using these models are of great importance because they can be used to create or improve conservation plans in different places.

One of the most common citizen science databases are photo-based like iNaturalist, where citizen scientists submit pictures of different organisms like plants, birds, insects, fungi, reptiles, amphibians, molluscs, spiders, and others. In this database each picture has a georeferenced location, species name (or genus or family depending on the identification skills of each person) and ancillary information about the habitat in which the observation was made or the organism’s natural history. Once submitted, the observations can be further identified by other people that use the platform.  iNaturalist also uses “curators” that corroborate if the data are true. If not, the observation can be modified with correct information.

Another database is eBird, where people may upload checklists of bird observations. Observations can be made with a variety of methodologies like traveling counts, stationary counts, area counts, historical protocols and incidental observations (for more information visit: http://help.ebird.org/). In each checklist the observer can provide information like the date, site, and time of observation, distance traveled (if the observation was made using traveling count), and number of species reported.

Citizen science data has been used to make species occupancy and distribution models that, for example, predict patterns of distribution for invasive species. In this way the data obtained through citizen science can be important for studies of conservation and biogeography. The development of new statistical methods for controlling bias in citizen science data has increased the number of ecologists using this data. Obtaining data has increased the amount of information about different organisms from across different parts of the world while simultaneously reducing sampling costs.

As we swing into September, it is time to restart Biolblogia for a new year – its third! We have a new group of students taking the English writing class at the Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán and they will be sharing with the world their thoughts on work, life, and a host of other themes. As in the past two years, the blog is a forum for the students to practice writing in a more informal way than when writing scientific articles. I look forward to seeing what the students have to say and I invite you to learn about the world from the perspective of science graduate students in Mérida, México. Saludos!