The deadline for applications is April 7, 2019. As for whether or not you might like to attend, here’s more from a joint March 11, 2019 Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii)/ Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR)/University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Law School news release (also on globalnewswire.com), What will Artificial Intelligence (AI) mean for society? That’s the question scholars from a variety of disciplines will explore during the inaugural Summer Institute on…

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It’s usually silver nanoparticles (with a nod to titanium dioxide as another problem nanoparticle) which star in scenarios regarding environmental concerns, especially with water. According to an Aug. 28, 2018 news item on Nanowerk, gold nanoparticles under certain conditions could also pose problems, It turns out gold isn’t always the shining example of a biologically stable material that it’s assumed to be, according to environmental engineers at Duke’s Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology…

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This is strictly for folks who have media accreditation. First, the news about the summit and then some detail about how you might accreditation should you be interested in going to Switzerland. Warning: The International Telecommunications Union which is holding this summit is a United Nations agency and you will note almost an entire paragraph of ‘alphabet soup’ when all the ‘sister’ agencies involved are listed. From the March 21, 2019 International Telecommunications Union (ITU)…

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The final (you may want to apply as soon as possible) deadline for applying is August 30, 2019 and the salary range is from $57,000 $61,000. (H/T: Liz Haq’s March 27, 2019 article for Huffington Post Canada.) While this might seem like a departure from my usual fare, it’s possible there’s some science involved since the Treasury Board President, Joyce Murray, is also the Minister of Digital Government and that ‘ministry’ is tightly interwoven with…

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Caption: A human lung enzyme can biodegrade graphene. Credit: Fotolia Courtesy: Graphene Flagship The big European Commission research programme, Grahene Flagship, has announced some new work with widespread implications if graphene is to be used in biomedical implants. From a August 23, 2018 news item on ScienceDaily, Myeloperoxidase — an enzyme naturally found in our lungs — can biodegrade pristine graphene, according to the latest discovery of Graphene Flagship partners in CNRS, University of Strasbourg…

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[dpwnloaded from: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/stemminist-bookclub-vancouver-reading-broad-band-by-claire-l-evans-tickets-58158054306] The image of the book cover for Vancouver’s first ever STEMMinist (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, an d medicine) book club meeting on April 23, 2019 at Vancouver’s Hycroft Manor is seemingly ensconced in a garden located at the University of British Columbia (nowhere near the manor). I could be wrong (it wouldn’t be my first time) but I’m pretty sure I have an old photograph of myself in that garden. Moving on,…

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They’re not calling this synthetic biology but I’ m pretty sure that altering a virus gene so the virus can spin gold (Rumpelstiltskin anyone?) qualifies. From an August 24, 2018 news item on ScienceDaily, The race is on to find manufacturing techniques capable of arranging molecular and nanoscale objects with precision. Engineers at the University of California, Riverside, have altered a virus to arrange gold atoms into spheroids measuring a few nanometers in diameter. The…

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I recently received three email announcements that might be of interest to people looking for science and/or art/science events.Of course, they are taking place thousands of kilometers apart. March 26, 2019 Café Scientifique event in Vancouver Café Scientifique sent out a March 7, 2019 email announcement about, Our next café will happen on TUESDAY, MARCH 26TH at 7:30PM in the back room at YAGGER’S DOWNTOWN (433 W Pender). Our speaker for the evening will be…

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There’s been a lot of noise about how the 2019 Canadian federal government budget is designed to please the various constituencies that helped bring the Liberal party back into power in 2015 and which the Liberals are hoping will help re-elect them later in 2019. I don’t care about that, for me, it’s all about the science. In general, it seems the budget excitement is a bit milder than usual and some of that possibly…

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Dr. Mona Nemer, Canada’s Chief Science Advisor, and her office have issued their 2018 annual report. It is also the office’s first annual report. (Brief bit of history: There was a similar position, National Science Advisor (Canada) from 2004-2008. Dr. Arthur Carty, the advisor, was dumped and the position eliminated when a new government by what was previously the opposition party won the federal election.) The report can be found in html format here which…

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