by Paula Johanson  The Covid-19 pandemic is still affecting everyone during the fall of 2021, even nature centres in outdoor parks. Many nature centres have been closed to the public for most of the past eighteen months. Some centres open or close according to provincial health guidelines. One of those nature centres is Narcisse Snake Dens in Manitoba near the town of Gimli.This park showcases a fascinating phenomenon! Every autumn, thousands of garter snakes find…

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 by Anne MunierThe scoop on poopWe all do it, most of us don’t like to talk about it, but perhaps we should get over that, because poop is not only fascinating, it’s also powerful stuff that may be a solution to at least a couple world problems! Let’s start with the basics: What is it?Poop is waste from our bodies. We eat, our bodies take in nutrients, and then pass out what’s not needed. So…

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Photo: Pixabay In Southern Ontario, May 24th is the traditional day for planting annuals. That’s because the probability of frost after that date is negligible. Not this year. A few days after the 24th, Environment Canada warned us of the possibility of frost overnight, and they were correct. We had quite a lot of frost damage. The strange thing was that the overnight temperature was predicted to be above zero by a degree or two. I…

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By Claire EamerI have a new book out -- and it's so disgusting that it once put my editor right off her dinner. I'm proud of that! (Sorry-not-sorry, Stacey.)The book is called Extremely Gross Animals: Stinky, Slimy and Strange Animal Adaptations, and it's exactly what it claims to be -- a book about the animals that make you go "Ew!" The thing is, once you get past the "Ew!" moment, these animals are fascinating. And adaptation…

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 This Red Cedar Book Awards have just announced their nominees for the 2020/2021 season. And on this list there are books by two people among the Sci/Why writers!Boreal Forest by L.E. Carmichael is one of the nominees, and another nominee is Jude Isabella's book Bringing Back the Wolves: How a Predator Restored an Ecosystem. Both books are from Kids Can Press.   Red Cedar Book Awards are British Columbia's Young Readers' Choice Book Awards. Click on…

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 by Paula JohansonThe news in Canada this summer is troubling, with stories of unmarked graves on the sites of former Indian Residential Schools. Searches are being done on other former school sites, and in the United States as well. The little that was ever taught in public schools about the Residential School system is not enough, and people are looking to learn more.Forensics is the science of examining physical evidence. There can be a forensic…

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 by Nina Munteanu  Looking for ancient treasure, I drove north from Peterborough to Petroglyph Park in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands Forest Region, a sought-after destination for its impressive ancient petroglyphs (rock carvings). Holes in the rock were considered entrances to the spirit world, situated directly beneath the surface (spirits prefer to live near water). When I reached the park, I discovered that the glyphs were off-limits because of COVID. Disappointed, I looked to salvage…

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 by Anne MunierLeonard, a Toronto teenager, arrived at the hospital weak and pale, his hair falling out. Like everyone else who had Type 1 diabetes 100 years ago, he was dying.People with Type 1 diabetes (let’s call if T1D for short) stop producing the hormone insulin. In fact, their immune system -- which should be busy fighting off diseases -- gets confused, and starts killing the body’s own insulin-producing cells! Diagram credit: MyHealthDigestThat’s a big deal,…

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 by Raymond NakamuraFinding Nemo maybe an entertaining animated movie about clownfish, but it is not exactly a nature documentary. A recent bit of science news  about clownfish stripes inspired me to make a little comic about them.Unlike the movie, juvenile clownfish do not start out with all their stripes (or bars). They don’t even live with a parent. But they do live among sea anemones, which normally sting and eat other types of fish. Some species of…

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