Real-time tracking of UV (ultraviolet light) exposure for all skin types (light to dark)

May 10, 2019 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

It’s nice to find this research after my August 21, 2018 posting where I highlighted (scroll down to ‘Final comments’) the issues around databases and skin cancer data which is usually derived from fair-skinned people while people with darker hues tend not to be included. This is partly due to the fact that fair-skinned people have a higher risk and also partly due to myths about how more melanin in your skin somehow protects you…

Students! Need help with your memory? Try Sans Forgetica

May 9, 2019 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

Sans forgetica is a new, scientifically and aesthetically designed font to help students remember what they read. An October 4, 2018 news article by Mark Wycislik-Wilson for Beta News announces the new font, Researchers from Australia’s RMIT University have created a font which they say could help you to retain more data. Sans Forgetica is the result of work involving typographic design specialists and psychologists, and it has been designed specifically to make it easier…

Teaching molecular and synthetic biology in grades K-12

May 8, 2019 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

This is story actually started in 2018 with an August 1, 2018 Harvard University news release (h/t Aug. 1, 2018 news item on phys.org) by Leslie Brownell announcing molecular and synthetic biology educational kits that been tested in the classroom. (In 2019, a new kit was released but more about that later.) As biologists have probed deeper into the molecular and genetic underpinnings of life, K-12 schools have struggled to provide a curriculum that reflects…

2019 science camps for kids in Ottawa (Canada) and bee hygiene

May 7, 2019 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

Today (May 7, 2019), I’m writing up a Canadian science hodge podge of a post. From a sheep shearing festival in May to summer camps for kids: Ingenium’s Canadian science museums Ingenium, for those who don’t know, is the corporate ‘parent’ for the Canada Science and Technology Museum, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, and the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum. Confusingly, the ‘parent’ was once called the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation (CSTMC).…

Harewood Plains – Nanaimo’s flowering jewel!

May 7, 2019 Staffan Lindgren Biology and Life Sciences, Environmental and Earth Sciences, Science in Society

It has been a while since I wrote a blog. The splendour of Harewood Plains in bloom has provided the inspiration to get one done. I hope you enjoy it! In late April through May, Harewood Plains in Nanaimo puts on a magical show with a bounty of flowering plants. This area, which stretches along the southwest of the southern portion of Nanaimo Parkway, from just uphill from Cranberry Road overpass to Harewood Mines Road…

Cannibalisitic nanostructures

May 6, 2019 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

I think this form of ‘cannibalism’ could also be described as a form of ‘self-assembly’. That said, here is an August 31, 2018 news item on ScienceDaily announcing ‘cannibalistic’ materials, Scientists at the [US] Department of Energy’s [DOE] Oak Ridge National Laboratory [ORNL] induced a two-dimensional material to cannibalize itself for atomic “building blocks” from which stable structures formed. The findings, reported in Nature Communications, provide insights that may improve design of 2D materials for…

Feedback Tools To Support Student Learning

May 6, 2019 Dan Gillis Communication, Education and Outreach, Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

There were 31 students in the classroom when I first taught CIS3750. As a team based, flipped, and community-engaged software design classroom, this number was extremely manageable. There were 6 teams, which meant that I could spend a sufficient amount of time with each team during every classroom and lab session – answering questions aboutContinue reading "Feedback Tools To Support Student Learning"

Where do I stand? a graphene artwork

May 3, 2019 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

A May 2,2019 news item on Nanowerk describes some graphene-based artwork being created at Rice University (Texas, US), Note: A link has been removed, When you read about electrifying art, “electrifying” isn’t usually a verb. But an artist working with a Rice University lab is in fact making artwork that can deliver a jolt.The Rice lab of chemist James Tour introduced laser-induced graphene (LIG) to the world in 2014, and now the researchers are making…

Turn yourself into a robot

May 2, 2019 Maryse de la Giroday Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

Turning yourself into a robot is a little easier than I would have thought, William Weir’s September 19, 2018 Yale University news release (also on EurekAlert) covers some of the same ground and fills in a few details, When you think of robotics, you likely think of something rigid, heavy, and built for a specific purpose. New “Robotic Skins” technology developed by Yale researchers flips that notion on its head, allowing users to animate the…

Spring IT Day 2019

May 2, 2019 Dan Gillis Communication, Education and Outreach, Science in Society, Technology and Engineering

Spring IT Day returns to the University of Guelph campus on May 9th. The event runs from 8:30 am until 4:15 pm. I took part in Spring IT Day last year, speaking about Bridging the Digital Divide in the Circumpolar North with my graduate student, Nic Durish1. I am happy to announce that Nic andContinue reading "Spring IT Day 2019"

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