UBC RESEARCH
Roasting coffee beans
United Press International, the Globe and Mail, the Canadian Press, the Vancouver Sun and others reported on a new study that suggests that roasting coffee beans creates antioxidants, which are believed to help protect cells from damage and premature aging.
“We found that the main contributor to antioxidant activity is the product of roasting,” said lead author Yazheng Lui, a student at UBC’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems who did the lab work as part of her master’s thesis.
The work of Lui and her coauthor, professor David Kitts, also indicated that medium rather than the dark roast might be better if you want the maximum dose of antioxidants. The beneficial compounds created by the roasting process start to break down with excessive roasting at high heat.
Arctic fishing under-reported
Researchers with UBC’s Fisheries Centre and Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences say Canada and other Arctic nations are not properly reporting their catch data to the United Nations. They estimate that 950,000 tonnes of fish were caught in Russian, Canadian and U.S. Arctic waters between 1950 and 2006, which is 75 times higher than reported.
The study by UBC’s Daniel Pauly and Drik Zeller was reported by Reuters, United Press International, the Globe and Mail, CBC, CTV and others. The researchers explain that ineffective reporting has created a false sense of security about the state of Arctic waters.
“We now offer a more accurate baseline against which we can monitor changes in fish catches and to inform policy and conservation efforts,” said Zeller.
Fewer big fish in the sea
A study by presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) by Villy Christensen of UBC’s Fisheries Centre was reported by the Guardian, Time, ABC, Agence France Presse and others.
It confirmed some previous indications that populations of predator fish at the top of the food chain have suffered huge declines, shrinking by around two-thirds in the past 100 years. It was also found that the total stock of “forage fish” past century. This study is the most comprehensive analysis ever of fish stocks in the world’s oceans and how they have changed over the past century.
UBC EXPERTS COMMENT
Discussions on Egypt
UBC professors and students provided perspective on the uprising in Egypt for CBC, TVO, the Montreal Gazette, the Province and others. They discussed the changing government, the role of social media and the role of women. Some members of the UBC community with ties to Egypt also spoke about their feelings about the protests and their support for their friends and family overseas.
“The key message is one of support for the people of Egypt,” said Tyseer Aboulnasr, Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science at UBC. “Nobody knows who is driving this; it’s not driven by a particular group. It is driven by people who have been waiting for this for a very, very long time.”
Olympic legacies
One year after the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games came to Vancouver, UBC experts provided insight on the lessons learned and legacies of the event for the Globe and Mail, CBC, the Vancouver Sun, the Province and others.
Among the UBC researchers who provided expert commentary were Tsur Somerville, a professor in the Sauder School of Business, Faculty of Education’s David Anderson, Sid Katz, a UBC professor and Olympic specialist, and Joe Weiler, a UBC law professor who has been studying the legacies of the 2010 Winter Games.
Laura Moss, director of the Canadian Studies Centre, talked about how the Games helped redefine us as a nation. “It was a significant event for community-building,” she said. “Canadians’ sense of confidence and assurance caught the international community by surprise.”
