Wetlands are our natural defences and need to be conserved

February 2, 2023 Nature Conservancy of Canada staff Biology and Life Sciences, Environmental and Earth Sciences

The Nature Conservancy of Canada is proud to work with private landowners, communities, governments and other organizations to conserve important habitats, including wetlands, floodplains and shores.

Behind the winning shots: Brown Mantidfly

February 1, 2023 Entomological Society of Canada Biology and Life Sciences

A brown mantidfly, perched on a Purple Prairie Clover. The insect resembles a reddish Polistes wasp crossed with a mantid, and has striking green eyes. The flower is brilliant pink, with yellow pollen on the stamens, and there are more out of focus in the background. In this first of a series of three posts,...

Forest fires fire up the soil microbiota

January 31, 2023 Paul Naphtali Biology and Life Sciences

Forest fires adversely impact the soil environment The year 2022 has seen hearing news of forest fires ravaging the US and Europe. On top of destroying homes and releasing excess carbon dioxide into the air, forest fires can have devastating impacts on soil. Severe forest fires increase the risk of soil erosion, reduce soil nutrient...

My most heterodox scientific-writing lecture (or, how I annoy my colleagues in a good cause)

January 31, 2023 Stephen Heard Biology and Life Sciences, General Science

I’m well into my Scientific Writing course now, and I’ve just given the lecture that consistently annoys my faculty colleagues the most (well, it annoys many of them). It’s the one on writing the Methods section, and it’s heterodox in two rather different ways. This lecture stands out a bit – I don’t think my...

Right Turn: Phacilitate’s Advanced Therapies Week 2023 offers “reasons to be cheerful”

January 27, 2023 Various bloggers Biology and Life Sciences, Health, Medicine and Veterinary Science

Last year saw the organizers behind Advanced Therapies Week (ATW) move the conference from Miami to Miami Beach to accommodate a larger audience. As the Covid-19 pandemic was still going strong in January 2022, making international travel more difficult, attendance was lower than anticipated. In fact, on-site testing resulted in some delegates being turned away...

Announcing the winners of the Research 180 Video Competition

January 26, 2023 Jenny Ryan Biology and Life Sciences, General Science, Health, Medicine and Veterinary Science

Announcing the winners of the Research 180 Video Competition Transplantation Organs and Tissues Plasma Stem Cells Transfusion Blood Thursday, January 26, 2023 Abby Wolfe This year, Canadian Blood Services offered the Research 180 Video Competition in partnership with the Centre for Blood Research at the University of British Columbia. In this twist on the Lay...

Conservation heroes in the county: John Lowry

January 26, 2023 Nature Conservancy of Canada staff Biology and Life Sciences, Environmental and Earth Sciences

John Lowry is grateful to spend more time outdoors exploring and directly involved with conservation. In a few short years, he has grown tremendously as a volunteer and a naturalist too!

Lifelong Learning

January 24, 2023 Raymond Nakamura Biology and Life Sciences, Communication, Education and Outreach, Multimedia

Included a fish specimen from the collection of Louis Agassiz!

Why my newest paper is paywalled

January 24, 2023 Stephen Heard Biology and Life Sciences, General Science

I’ve just returned the proofs for my latest paper. You can read about it, and access the preprint, here; or you can wait a little while and read the journal version in Proceedings B. Or, maybe you can. You see, it will be paywalled.* Now, some folks find that scandalous: information should be free (or...

Journal de bord de notre cerveau à tous les niveaux : les trop méconnues cellules gliales. Partie 1, les astrocytes.

January 23, 2023 Bruno Dubuc Biology and Life Sciences, Health, Medicine and Veterinary Science

. Comme je l’expliquais la semaine dernière, je continue le «journal de bord» de l’écriture de mon livre dont je suis dans sa phase de relecture finale jusqu’à la fin du printemps. Et comme il est actuellement trop long, on a décidé de retirer certains encadrés donnant des compléments d’information dans le livre et de...

Biology and Life Sciences