What is it about my morning cup of coffee?

I was watching Britain's favourite supermarket food. It inspired me to find out more about the science behind some of my favourites foods. It certainly brightens up my day finding out the exciting science behind our everyday essentials.

My home town Bristol buys more supermarket coffee than anywhere else in the country (perhaps this has influenced my love of coffee).

So what about my morning cup of coffee? 

Everyone knows that coffee contains caffeine. I want to uncover the effect of my morning caffeine fix/ essay fuel on the body and to decipher truth from myth. 

So caffeine....

Caffeine is a drug- its sounds strange to use this word,but is true by definition, as caffeine has a physiological effect on the body when ingested.

Caffeine is classed as a stimulant as it raises nervous activity in the body. As you drink an energy drink or a coffee. From the first sip the caffeine in the coffee is being absorbed by the lining of the mouth throat and stomach. Caffeine absorbed in the small intestine, metabolised in the liver and is distributed throughout the tissues in the body within 45 minutes of ingestion. Caffeine is broken down into Paraxanthine, theobromine and theophylline.

The Biochemistry bit (in brief).....

Paraxanthine increases lipolysis (the breakdown of fats). Theobromine dilates blood vessels which allow an increased supply of oxygen and nutrients to the brain and muscles. So perhaps try a cup of coffee before you exercise and it may help improve your performance. Theophylline is only produced in small amounts so its effects are not obvious, but it does relax smooth muscle.

Caffeine acts as an antagonist  (it inhibits the action of phosphodiesterase  -an enzyme which breaks down cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)). This results in increased levels of cAMP in the blood, this is what contributes to the feeling of alertness and energy of the consumption of caffeine.

What next?

So this is a lot to think about when you drink your next cup of coffee! It's interesting to note that caffeine will not replace your bodies need for sleep. It effectively masks the symptoms of feeling tired.

Thank you for reading :) I hope to do a bit more exploration of the effects of caffeine in future posts.

Can our ethical reasoning keep up with current research and technologies?

Reading about the first baby born after full genetic screening of embryos really got me thinking about the relationship between science and our ethic and moral views.

Embryo

Yes of course advancing science is for our benefit and trying to solve some of the most challenging world problems.But do you ever think that beneficial advancements could potentially breach our moral boundaries?
For example the genetic screening of embryos?

There is potential for misuse of using new generation sequencing techniques to predict hair colour, eye colour, facial features and complexion which are already to use already in forensics. Reading the article raised some interesting questions about the genetic screening of embryos across the world. Yes there are strict regulations regarding testing embryos in the UK, many countries may choose to ban new generation genetic screening and sequencing the genome of an embryo to select embryos based on certain traits. However one or two may  not enforce such a ban which could result in a commercial opportunities for the countries who decide against a ban.

Screening embryos for genetic abnormalities will increase the chances of successful IVF but how far can advances in science take embryo screening before it oversteps out ethical boundaries? Or will it become like boiling a frog? If you put the frog straight into the pan of hot water it will jump straight out, but if you put the frog in a cold pan of water and slowly bring it to boil it will result in boiled frog.

On the other hand it could be argued that ethical policies are restricting  the advancement of science. Researchers today are facing an increasing amount of ethical regulations that they must comply with along with extensive testing which means some of the worlds most cutting edge research can take time to impact our lives.

Ethical reasoning is important in science. It is there to protect us from ourselves. It is important that we use our scientific knowledge in an way that produces ethical research which to drive forward our current understanding of the world today. Most importantly scientists must communicate their work to the public so that the public have transparency about current research and to also to correct misconceptions that scientists are creating Frankenstein. Current research is well thought out and ethically reasoned. Also it is great to share the things your're passionate about!

The question is will ethical regulations be able to keep up with advancing science and technology which is changing our lifestyles?