By Margriet RuursI am happy to share a new book with you that has been long in the making.In 2014 I was lucky enough to travel to Zambia. There, I visited an elephant orphanage and learned much about how hard people work to help save an endangered species.Elephants are in danger of illegal poaching. Because there are still countries in the world where people wants trinkets made from ivory, there are still poachers willing to…

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Spoiler warning: this post mentions artistic items people are making for sale -- but they're all about science!This summer I have run into a few people who are inspired by science to make beautiful things. One is a potter looking at living cells through a microscope. One is a graduate student studying Earth Sciences, who inspires kids learning how science and art overlap in this way. And the third is making large pictures showing melting…

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It’s hard to say a lot about a book that has only 300 words. It’s elegant. It’s simple. It’s a look at billions of years of Earth’s natural history in 16 images.This picture book is made up of engaging stylized art accompanied by super-simple text with a touch of the poetic. I would love to have a little kid again to read this to. It is accurate, but accessible. Images are full of action. Gladstone…

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By Margriet RuursNote: This is the second of two posts by Margriet about Rapa Nui. To see the first, go to https://sci-why.blogspot.ca/2017/09/exploring-world-through-travel-rapa.htmlWalking along the steep cliffs of the southwest coast of Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, I gaze down on foaming white waves pounding the shore of a small island: Moto Nui. This is where history was made.The view of Moto Nui from the cliffs of the larger island, Rapa Nui.The first inhabitants likely arrived on…

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By Gillian O'Reilly“I don’t like math.”...“I’m not good at math.”...“Math is hard.”Beautiful math:a Moebius stripIn light of the current discussions around falling math scores in Ontario, I am reminded of how much these comments from kids - and, even more so, from adults - drive me crazy!It’s not because I think everyone should like math or be good at it. It’s because the speakers are treating math as one huge monolithic subject instead of many…

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Good news, science fans! Actually, three pieces of good news. It's Science Literacy Week here in Canada. Our own Sci/Why writer Simon Shapiro is receiving an award on Wednesday Sept 20th, 10:30 am at the Ontario Science Centre for his book Higher, Faster, Smarter. Hurray for Simon! And, hurray for all us Sci/Why writers, because our blog Sci/Why has been named to the Top 12 Short List for People’s Choice Award: Canada's Favourite Science Blog. Starting today, Tuesday September 19th,…

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By Margriet RuursI was lucky enough to take a trip to Easter Island, Chile, earlier this year. I had booked a flight from Santiago. Before getting there I imagined an old, small airplane. I don’t know why – but I had thought it would be a local airline with an old prop plane. The opposite turned out to be true: Latam is part of One World and operates a brand new Boeing 787 on the…

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By Claire EamerI usually live a peaceful, semi-rural life on a small island in the Salish Sea. There are plenty of animals in and around the island, both wild and domestic, but our particular patch of island rarely features anything much bigger than a hummingbird. And, admittedly, the occasional passing raccoon or river otter, but we discourage them. They tend to leave smelly presents behind.This week, however, I'm in the city - smack in the…

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By Claire EamerI usually live a peaceful, semi-rural life on a small island in the Salish Sea. There are plenty of animals in and around the island, both wild and domestic, but our particular patch of island rarely features anything much bigger than a hummingbird. And, admittedly, the occasional passing raccoon or river otter, but we discourage them. They tend to leave smelly presents behind.This week, however, I'm in the city - smack in the…

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I have a theory* that there are three kinds of ignorance.The first kind is what I'd call neutral ignorance. The gentle, perfectly understandable kind that arises due to a simple lack of knowledge:Ignorance: lack of knowledge, education, or awareness (Merriam Webster)There is no shame in not knowing something, and there's no shame in not having access to the education or experience that would provide that knowledge. This kind of ignorance is much closer to innocence,…

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