What is the chemical process of hydraulic fracking? How does fracking affect the environment, specifically waterways and human health?

Hydraulic fracking (fracking) is a process used to produce oil and natural gas by drilling down into the earth and pushing a high pressure water, sand and chemical mixture into sedimentary rocks, which causes them to crack and allows shale gas to be extracted. The water mixture contains chemicals, such as acids like hydrochloric acid, which helps dissolve the rock so that the gas can be extracted more easily. Once they are done, the waste water is dumped deep beneath the ground. It’s estimated that 1.5-16 million gallons of water are used for a single fracking well.

Fracking does a lot of damage to the environment in multiple different ways. Drilling into rock formations and dumping thousands of gallons of wastewater into the ground puts pressure on the faults and cause them to move which can trigger earthquakes. Since fracking began in Oklahoma, there has been a 900% increase in earthquakes in the state, where there is now an average of two earthquakes per day.

Fracking generates air pollution, when gas and other chemicals extracted leak out from wells. Waterways and ecosystems can also be contaminated when waste water is dumped below ground and moves through semi permeable rocks into aquifers and into waterways. Due to these negative effects, provinces like Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador have temporally banned fracking until the health and environmental consequences are fully understood.

These environmental contaminates could affect people in nearby communities and increase risks for cancer, neurological problems and birth defects. In view of these concerns and growing evidence about the risks, the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) have called on the federal government to completely ban fracking in Canada.    

Sources used:

April 19, 2019 Melissa Denchak. “Fracking 101.” NRDC, 4 Nov. 2020, www.nrdc.org/stories/fracking-101#whatis  

“Do Fracking Activities Cause Earthquakes?” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, www.cbc.ca/news/thenational/do-fracking-activities-cause-earthquakes-1.3556524  

Vogel, Lauren. “Fracking Tied to Cancer-Causing Chemicals.” CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association Journal = Journal De L'Association Medicale Canadienne, Joule Inc., 16 Jan. 2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5235941/  

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How have scientists utilized nanotechnology as lipid nanoparticles in the Covid-19 vaccine? How does this technology help the vaccine carry out its function of immunizing the public to the virus?

 

Nanotechnology involves the manipulation of atoms and molecules in order to make something function and used in sectors such as electronics, textile and energy storage. In the case of nanotechnology in the Covid-19 vaccine lipid nanoparticles (LNP) are used to help strands of mRNA (used to code for proteins) reach their target cell without them being degraded by enzymes in the body such as ribonucleases. LNPs are typically 30-180 nanometers long and their structure consists of an aqueous core with a lipid bilayer made up of different kinds of lipids, most commonly phospholipids, cholesterol and polyethylene glycol. They are formed by condensing lipids in an ethanol-water solution with the mRNA dissolved in solution so that the lipids form around the solution. The mRNA strands along with the cell membranes have negative like charges, however the LNPs have a positive charge which allows the mRNA to get into the cell. If the LNPs were not there, the mRNA would be broken down and would not be able to get inside the cell and code for spike proteins to train the antibodies in the immune system and allow it to create memory B-cells.    

This benefits society because this type of vaccine which uses mRNA, could not have been developed without LNPs. Developing vaccines that don’t use mRNA may have taken a longer time, resulting in more people contracting and dying from the virus.    

Bibliography:

Reichmuth, Andreas M, et al. “MRNA Vaccine Delivery Using Lipid Nanoparticles.” Therapeutic Delivery, Future Science Ltd, 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5439223/

Thomas, Dr. Liji. “Design of an MRNA SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Encapsulated in Lipid Nanoparticles.” News, 20 Oct. 2020, www.news-medical.net/news/20201019/Design-of-an-mRNA-SARS-CoV-2-vaccine-encapsulated-in-lipid-nanoparticles.aspx

How does magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) work? What benefits does it present to society and to taking an X-ray?

 

An MRI involves using a MRI machine to get images of parts of the body such as soft tissues or the brain to see if there’s a disease or injury and where it is and how bad. MRIs induces a magnetic field on water in the body, causing the hydrogen protons to line up and spin in the same direction (ie: facing north in alignment with the field). When the magnetic field is released, the protons flip back and an image is produced. Since there are different amounts of water throughout the body, doctors can detect the thickness of certain tissues.

Because an MRI is used to see inside the body (in tissues, muscles excreta) it is used to diagnose a disease, like cancer, and to monitor the treatment. MRIs are important as they allow health care staff to identify exactly where the problem is in the body. For example they can identify where damage to the brain has occurred after a concussion which helps determine what part of the brain may be impaired. Unlike X-rays, MRIs don’t produce radiation, which means people can take multiple MRIs without risking DNA mutations, and later resultant cancer. MRIs also produce better images of fat, muscle and soft tissue than CT scans as these areas contain more water and make it easier to differentiate between them. 

Bibliography:

Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “Benefits and Risks.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, www.fda.gov/radiation-emitting-products/mri-magnetic-resonance-imaging/benefits-and-risks#:~:text=An%20MRI%20scanner%20can%20be,usually%20better%20at%20imaging%20bones)