Climate change has shifted Earth’s topography to unimaginable lengths, changed political relations, and seeped into social discourse with the global climate strikes in 2019. Why have environmental messages failed in large part to encourage lifestyle change and promote sustainable habits? The Guardian conducted an interview with Dan Kahan – a professor of Psychology and Law at Yale University – revealing the interesting psychology behind this paradox. Kahan claims that it is not the lack of…

Continue reading

The consequences of human activity on the environment are clear. Global temperatures are rising, ecosystems are being destroyed, and species are going extinct. Despite the efforts of world leaders and mega-corporations to “go green”, our planet may soon be unable to sustain human life as we know it unless we find a solution. Enter space – the vast unknown, the final frontier, and perhaps, the last hope for humanity. At least this is the thought…

Continue reading

Incorrect recycling practices have far worse consequences than consumers typically expect. The critical issue begins when non-recyclable materials are mixed with recycling. A striking 30% of what consumers dispose into recycling bins should indeed be placed into the garbage. Examples of contaminated recyclables include pizza boxes with grease stains or paper with liquid stains. The process of recycling paper requires adding water; as such, any residual oil or grease would render the batch non-recyclable. Moreover,…

Continue reading

Scientists studying climate change have been calling for meaningful action for decades. Political and social inaction has spurred youth climate activists all over the world. “Our house is still on fire,” Greta Thunberg told the World Economic Forum at Davos just a few months ago. We’ve seen it in the Amazon, we’ve seen it in Australia, California, Flint and closer to home, in our own Prairies and lakes. As members of the scientific community, we…

Continue reading

Climate change remains a controversial topic that is fiercely debated by members of the public. While most acknowledge the long-term consequences that will arise due to current trends in pollution and emission profiles, others remain skeptical, or even deny that climate change is happening. Currently, there is a sea of uncertainty among the public regarding these concerns, where all sides are quick to argue; how does the scientific community fit into this global issue? It…

Continue reading

Continue reading

In the past two and a half centuries, the explosive growth in human population has led to increasing demands on our natural environment for resources such as food, fresh water, land, and energy. These benefits are provided to us by the interactions between living and non-living components of ecosystems, termed “ecosystem services”. The concept of ecosystem services is intimately linked to ecosystem health – healthier, more diverse ecosystems provide greater benefits to us. Numerous international…

Continue reading

See that picture at the top? Does it look a little familiar? This picture was taken from a viral video in 2017 that initiated worldwide alarm over the state of the global polar bear population. Captured by Paul Nicklen and Christina Mittermeier, the two co-founders of the conservation group SeaLegacy, on Nunavut’s Somerset Island in 2017, the video was later picked up by National Geographic and published in December with the caption ‘this is what climate…

Continue reading

“The important thing is to never stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” – Albert Einstein, LIFE magazine, May 2, 1955. Science is everywhere. For many of us, our curiosity of how the world works started early in our childhood: ‘Why do we get sick?’, ‘How does a computer work?’, or ‘Where does the meat I eat come from?’ As we enter adulthood, these questions have transformed into: ‘What lifestyle and nutritional choices…

Continue reading

Women have made significant academic strides in the past few decades, evident in the climb of female doctorates from 11% to 40% in 1970 and 2010, respectively. The retention of women in academia, however, is not similarly observed, even in countries that appear to emphasize gender parity. The percentage of women in academic positions drops most notably during the postdoc-to-faculty transition: in a typical open faculty search in biology, women constitute 45% of postdoctoral positions but only 25% of assistant professor applicants, resulting in disproportionately fewer women in high-ranking academic positions. These numbers are reflected at the University of Toronto, where women account for 27% of all full professors. Reasons underlying this reduction are multi-faceted, and contributing factors are attributed to field-specific culture, the structure of academic recruitment, and the attribution of…

Continue reading