From Our Own Borealis Blog

Anthropocene: The Human Epoch, Film Review

Science Borealis Leave a comment Biology and Life Sciences, Communication, Education, and Outreach, Environmental and Earth Sciences, General Science, Science in Society
Phosphorus tailings pond, near Lakeland, Florida. Image courtesy of the Nicholas Metivier Gallery

Jasman Sahota, guest contributor The environment is constantly changing. But to what extent is the environment shaped by human activities? […]

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Writing competition runner up: Phlebotomy to improve surgical outcomes and donor blood economy – a redemption story

Jenny Ryan Biology and Life Sciences, General Science, Health, Medicine and Veterinary Science
Writing competition runner up: Phlebotomy to improve surgical outcomes and donor blood economy – a redemption story Transfusion Tuesday, May 21, 2019 Lily Park For thousands of years, traditional medicine placed blind trust in phlebotomy, which involves the withdrawal of blood from a patient for therapeutic purposes.1 Considering the paradigm of medical knowledge at the time established by Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine himself, there was some plausibility to this practice: if illness was caused…

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Dinosaurs in the Frost

21mediair Biology and Life Sciences, Environmental and Earth Sciences, General Science
Dinosaur paleontology is full of apparent contradictions. One of the biggest of these is not only the very presence, but abundance, of these reptiles in and around Polar Regions. For animals long thought to have had metabolisms and bodies ill-suited for bearing the cold of prehistoric winters, the fact that a wide variety of dinosaur types are present in high latitudes has been making paleontologists question what they know about dinosaur biology and the Mesozoic…

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World Science Festival in New York City, May 22 – June 2, 2019

Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering
It’s time for the World Science Fair in New York City, which has been around since 2008 according to their About webpage, …The annual live, week-long Festivals, which launched in New York in 2008, have collectively drawn over 2.9 million visitors worldwide, with millions more viewing the programs online. The World Science Festival’s original musical and theatrical works tour nationally and internationally, and March 2016 marked the launch of World Science Festival Brisbane. World Science…

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Love, and its complexity, in a butterfly’s name

Stephen Heard Biology and Life Sciences, General Science
Images: The red admiral butterfly, Vanessa atalanta; © Kristian Peters, CC BY-SA 3.0. Portrait, “Vanessa”, 1868, by John Everett Millais, collection of Sudley House, Liverpool; public domain. Last week I shipped off the final revision of my forthcoming book, The Strangest Tribute: How Scientific Names Celebrate Adventurers, Heroes, and Even a Few Scoundrels.*  You know […]

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Kids donate their birthday money to the Nature Conservancy of Canada

Nature Conservancy of Canada staff Biology and Life Sciences, Environmental and Earth Sciences
On April 27, my two sons, Finn and Bodhi, had a "toonie party" to celebrate their joint birthday. In lieu of gifts, my husband and I asked their friends and other family members to bring each of them a toonie to save or spend on something special and another toonie for the boys to donate to a charity of their choice: the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC).

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The van Gogh-Roosegaarde, a solar powered bike path

Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering
From YouTube, Heijmans NV Published on Nov 12, 2014 Inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s work, the cycle path combines innovation and design with cultural heritage and tourism. The Van Gogh-Roosegaarde cycle path is being constructed by Heijmans from a design by Daan Roosegaarde and forms part of the Van Gogh cycle route in Brabant. According to other sources, the path was inspired by van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’. From a November 21, 2014 article by Elizabeth…

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