November 7-11, 2016 This week, Jenny challenges you to define the distinctively universal smell of a school cafeteria — an entrancing mixture of pinto bean juice, gym-shoe tongue and scorched Teflon. On American election day, bipartisan stress could only be put into trivializing perspective by referring to the wider lens of deep time, says Emma. […]
Our very own Erik Vance has a brand new book out through National Geographic, and it’s called Suggestible You: The Curious Science of Your Brain’s Ability to Deceive, Transform, and Heal. Listen to my conversation with him about such varying topics as the placebo effect, that curse a brujo put on him in Mexico, how […]
I open the lab door, flick on the light switch, and watch a herd of cockroaches scuttle for cover. It’s seven in the evening, when most of the university’s workers have left for the night. Even so, after I lift each rat from its cage, I place it in an unmarked black box, its temporary […]
October 17-21, 2016 Craig opened the week with a brave personal and scientific exploration of sexual assault’s effects on the brain and the psyche. Revelations about Trump’s history with women warrants a revisit to Christie’s post on why harassment goes unreported. Michelle plays detective in the extinction of an Australasian rodent. She finds that sometimes […]
Next week, Ottawa Public Health will table a submission before a Canadian federal task force, recommending that the minimum age for buying legal, recreational marijuana should be 25. Age limits are just one of the myriad decisions we will have to make as the government moves toward fulfilling Justin Trudeau’s campaign promise of legalizing pot. […]
October 3-7, 2016 This week we rounded up a number of posts about bugs and how we love them. I think it says quite a lot about us that we didn’t even come close to exhausting our supply of bug-love posts. Sarah attempted to find things to appreciate about ticks, like the cute way they […]
It is the size of a child, pelting through the forest with great dexterity. Quadrupedal but galloping with synchronized fore and hind steps. My concern is not this gentle, slender creature — whose mass, velocity, volume and weight distribution are crystal clear in my mind — but rather the imagined force or creature that set […]
On September 30, the Rosetta orbiter will make a controlled collision with Comet 67P/C-G. It is not designed for landing, so this is the last we will hear from it. This date also marks an end to a happy period for my family that started in 2013 when my son was just four years old […]