When I’m working from home, I love that I get to take my coffee break in the backyard while the dogs run around. And, at my absolutely favorite time of year, it’s sometimes difficult to convince myself to head back to my desk – the colours, the smells, the cooler air, the absence of bugs,...

Continue reading

A few weeks ago, I unilaterally declared it to be #ScienceCentreSeptember and decided to spend the month exploring the invaluable contributions these play-spaces make to society in weekly posts on LinkedIn. I thought it might be worthwhile reproducing these musings here, all in one post, as a topic that is as important to me as...

Continue reading

The field of biomimicry is one that takes inspiration from nature in designing new technologies. I could probably start a new blog focused exclusively on posts about biomimicry – from concussion-preventing sports equipment inspired by woodpecker’s skulls and the aerodynamic design of high-speed trains from kingfisher’s beaks, to super strong artificial fibers based on spider...

Continue reading

It’s summertime in this part of the world, which means lots of people spending time at the beach, playing in the waves, building sandcastles, and admiring the dunes. As you’re strolling along, with the sun setting in the distance, you notice an interesting rippling pattern in the warm sand underfoot. Why does it take this...

Continue reading

Now emerging from a long, grey winter in southern Ontario, our daily walks around the neighbourhood are becoming a technicolour experience, with flowers popping up and trees leafing out everywhere. (C)Ian Lee Daffodils dripping in their canary-colored finery, tulips blazing in fiery displays, pink canopies dancing overhead and every shade of green gleaming underfoot; spring...

Continue reading

All fingers and toes crossed for clear skies in southern Ontario on April 8th around 3:20 pm! At that moment, in the skies directly above Niagara Falls, ON, the alignment of the Sun, our moon and our own planet will result in a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle – a total solar eclipse. A total solar eclipse is...

Continue reading

Cleo, my furry sheepdog (right), eats two scoops of kibble every morning while her smaller sister, Molly, only eats one. That makes sense at first glance when you see them together: Cleo is much bigger than Molly so needs more fuel in the tank. But, if we want to be a bit more precise, Cleo...

Continue reading

This time of year in the northern hemisphere, when temperatures drop and the sun is shining, we get the opportunity to take some beautiful photos such as this one of partially frozen soap bubbles taken by Peter von Bagh: The play of light, the ice forming from nucleation points, wave interference effects in the thin...

Continue reading

Imagine if people had their own built-in compasses – this would be hugely helpful to us in navigating around in Earth’s magnetic field. Unfortunately, humans can’t innately sense Earth’s field, but a particular type of bacterium can and puts its internal compass to good use in orienting itself in its environment. This magneto-sensing trait is...

Continue reading

“Fish on!” It sounds like a call from one friend to another while bobbing on a lake in northern Canada on a summer afternoon. In northern Thailand, in the summer of 2018, these words had a more profound meaning – they were the code words used by the rescue team when one of the trapped...

Continue reading