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Canada Science

Science Should Be About Curiosity, Not Profit

David Suzuki | Posted 06.12.2013 | Canada Politics
David Suzuki

The federal government recently announced a reorganization of the National Research Council to make it more "business-led" and industry-focused. Since then, many politicians have encouraged support for science that serves market interests. I believe we should support science because curiosity and the ability to ask and answer questions are part of what makes our species unique.

Bumpin' Bodies or Beautiful Minds? Science's Problem with Intelligent Women

Charlene Sayo | Posted 05.30.2013 | Canada British Columbia
Charlene Sayo

Despite breakthroughs in Franken-foods and robotic technology, science hierarchies employ the same age-old formula against women where a bumpin' body takes centre-stage over a beautiful mind. Have Einstein's IQ? Cool. But don't you dare look like him; and if you're heading down the family way, smack on the cocoa butter, prance like a photo shopped yummy mummy --two days after birth, because that is the rule -- and whip up that killer tuna casserole. Pronto.

Canadian Research Supporting Canadian Business

Gary Goodyear | Posted 05.07.2013 | Canada Politics
Gary Goodyear

Canada's ability to gain a competitive advantage in the global economy increasingly depends on industry's R&D intensity and the success in translating basic science and knowledge into commercial products. With this change, the National Research Council of Canada is returning to these historic roots by renewing its focus on industrial research, new growth and business development.

What Happened to Canadian Innovation?

Rachel Décoste | Posted 04.30.2013 | Canada Business
Rachel Décoste

On Prime Minister Diefenbaker's Black Friday, it was announced that 14,000 jobs would vanish. The most sophisticated aircraft in the world, the Avro Arrow, would be dismantled and the pride of an entire country was slain along with it. I believe Canada has what it takes to produce another Avro Arrow.

A Call For More Female Mentors

Doina Oncel | Posted 03.26.2013 | Canada Impact
Doina Oncel

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is an important factor to our society. Girls' accomplishments in STEM are created by the quality of female leaders around them. Once young girls see themselves as successful as the leaders before them they will believe in the potential for academic growth therefore a positive outcome will result out of it.

Why You Shouldn't Trust Homeopathic Vaccines

Michael Kruse | Posted 03.19.2013 | Canada Living
Michael Kruse

While the safety and efficacy of vaccines for childhood infectious diseases is very well established, doubt continues to be sown among well-meaning parents. We need to demand that our government stop speaking out of one side of its mouth about the importance of the modern, science-based immunization schedule, while with the other side approving the sale of useless homeopathic hokum to be promoted as an ineffective alternative. If we do not, we risk a return of deadly childhood diseases like the 100-day cough of pertussis or the deadly, paralytic polio.

Harper Doesn't Care About Science, Just Profits

Ryan Painter | Posted 02.27.2013 | Canada Politics
Ryan Painter

Decisions are being made these days with few nods to actual evidence-based thinking. This should not be a surprise to those who have paid attention of course, as the government has been consistently cutting funding to scientific research and development and shifting its focus instead to "industry based," private sector research and development. Essentially, the government is investing in outcomes instead of investing in possibilities.

Don't Blame Science if Women Don't Want You

Christopher Lewarne | Posted 12.24.2012 | Canada Living
Christopher Lewarne

An article published in Scientific American this week demystified a commonly held colloquialism -- Rachel and Ross knew it, Monica and Chandler certainly knew it: men and women can't be "just Friends." Nomenclature aside, men carry certain chromosomal differences from women. It's why our balls drop and our voices get deeper. It's not why we get to be douchebags and blame Darwin for our douchebaggery.

Shad Vallery 2012 - Not Just for Nerdy Kids

Sarena Dharshi | Posted 12.09.2012 | Canada Alberta
Sarena Dharshi

Every July, around 10 Canadian universities scattered across the country play host to 500 students from all provinces/territories and even internationally. Although the program is for open-minded high school students who are not afraid to delve into any subject and become challenged or inspired in ways they never thought possible in one month, I hope to break the stereotype that this is "nerd camp". My program consisted of 56 total Shads and we lived in residence at the university.

Science and Religion: Why You Don't Have to Choose

Patricia Pearson | Posted 12.08.2012 | Canada
Patricia Pearson

A friend's kid said to me the other day: "I'm a Darwinist...I don't believe in God." Okay, I thought, hold on there kid. Darwin wasn't a prophet who started an "-ism," and Science isn't a faith. We need to get rid of some of the category confusion that has crept into current debates and percolated down to secular kids. It can be tempting to respond to the sheer idiocy of American Creationists like Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA,) who recently described evolution and the Big Bang as "lies straight from the pit of Hell" by broadly rejecting religion. But these are not either-or categories and it is startling that they should have become so.

The Latest Proof of Global Warming? Adios Summer Sea Ice

Andrew Weaver | Posted 11.08.2012 | Canada Politics
Andrew Weaver

During this past week Arctic sea ice retreated to all-time lows, shattering the previous record set in 2007 by an area roughly the size of (ironically) Alberta. This past week, the much-anticipated new and improved federal regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired electricity plants leaked out. To no one's surprise, they are significantly weakened from what we had been told to expect.

Google Glasses make Humans One Step Closer to Cyborgs

Jeff Fraser | Posted 10.02.2012 | Canada
Jeff Fraser

The boundary between human and machine is softening. The first cyborgs have emerged -- much sooner than scientists would have predicted 30 years ago. We used to think having a device implanted in your skull made you a cyborg and wearing a pair of digital glasses did not. But to the brain, the distinction is arbitrary. Soon we may really have to answer the question: where does "me" end, and "my machine" begin?

Are You Really Conscious Right Now?

Jeff Fraser | Posted 09.16.2012 | Canada
Jeff Fraser

While the world celebrates the discovery of the Higgs boson, these scientists are hard at work on one of the most profound mysteries left: Why, and how, did humans become conscious? Until we can figure out what consciousness physically is, there won't be any consensus on what function it serves, or indeed whether it serves any function at all.

The Love of a Mother Can Move Mountains: My Interview With Dana Florence (VIDEO)

Shannon Skinner | Posted 09.15.2012 | Canada
Shannon Skinner

2012-06-18-ShannonSkinner.jpg When Dana Florence gave birth to triplets on January 1, 2008, life changed -- dramatically. The triplets were born 15 weeks premature and the fight for their lives began, enduring many procedures and surgeries to keep them alive.

The Hyperbole That Caused Global H5N1 Hysteria

Jason Tetro | Posted 08.22.2012 | Canada
Jason Tetro

2012-05-28-GermGuyBanner.jpg It all started back in September of 2011 when Dr. Ron Fouchier of Erasmus Medical Center gave a talk in Malta on his experiments with H5N1. A few out of context statements later, the world was facing a panic about a "doomsday pandemic" that didn't exist. Today the article that caused so much panic and dismay has been published and the world now has a chance to see what all the fuss was about.

Peter Lewin: The Canadian Indiana Jones

Bernie Farber | Posted 08.15.2012 | Canada
Bernie Farber

On June 7, 2005, Peter Lewin, a little known doctor and scientist, died all-too-young.Though a pediatrician by trade, he was a pioneer in the field of paleopathology, a field that employs modern medical investigative techniques to unlock secrets within human remains. A pediatrician trusted by his patients, few knew that this kind and genteel man with an old world charm hid an Indiana Jones persona...

Staying Germ-Free at the Office Takes More Than Washing Hands

Jason Tetro | Posted 08.04.2012 | Canada Living
Jason Tetro

2012-05-28-GermGuyBanner.jpg A recent microbiology study of the office has gone further than any other and provided a path for the improvement of the quality of life in the office environment. The team swabbed offices in three major American cities and found the usual suspects -- fecal bacteria, skin bacteria -- but also identified 500 other types of microbes...

Tories War on Science Hurts Us All

Andrew Weaver | Posted 07.29.2012 | Canada Politics
Andrew Weaver

I was shocked by this week's news that the Harper Tories were closing Environment Canada's Experimental Lakes Area, cutting a smokestack emissions research group and a Department of Fisheries and Oceans contaminants program. Where are the real Tories willing to put the word "conserve" back into the Conservative Party of Canada?

The Science Funded by Your Tax Dollars

Andrew Weaver | Posted 07.29.2012 | Canada Business
Andrew Weaver

While Harper is cutting funds to scientific research, the government doesn't actually understand how it works. Science should feed into policy discussions, but in and of itself science cannot and should not dictate what policy directions should be taken.

John Baird Should be Raked Over the (Carbon Tax) Coals

Mark Crowley | Posted 07.28.2012 | Canada Politics
Mark Crowley

It's rare that a government accused of undervaluing science and making policy decisions based on predetermined outcomes, rather than rational analysis, comes straight out and admits that's how they function. But recently, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird did exactly that in relation to carbon taxes.

5 Science Breakthroughs Against Cottage Enemies

Cottage Life | Posted 05.17.2012 | Canada Living

By: Jackie Davis Good news, cottagers: 2011 was packed with research and technology breakthroughs that may, one day, help in the battle against...

Watching the Watchdog: Daily Planet Still Fails to Thrill

Tim Knight | Posted 06.24.2012 | Canada
Tim Knight

Each of the stories is doubtless scientifically sound, but seldom do any of them inspire the kind of interest and anticipation which makes a viewer hang in (postpone the beer or bathroom break) to find out how it all turns out.

STUNNING: Time Lapse Video from NASA Shows Earth At Night

The Huffington Post Canada | Posted 04.21.2012 | Canada

You've probably seen NASA's breathtaking time-lapse videos before, but now the space agency has added some creative touches. Set to "Walking in the...

Watching the Watchdog: Daily Planet Fails in the Name of Science

Tim Knight | Posted 05.16.2012 | Canada
Tim Knight

But today's young people aren't fools, particularly when it comes to science. Hosts Ziya Tong and Dan Riskin serve the young (and the rest of us) badly. They're both attractive and presumably intelligent. Their version of Daily Planet isn't either.

The Blob That Could Change Everything

CP | James Keller, The Canadian Press | Posted 05.03.2012 | Canada

VANCOUVER - Roughly 2.4 billion light years from Earth, a massive blob of a mysterious, invisible substance known as dark matter is threatening to rew...