Jessa Gamble is embedded in an experimental evolution lab at the University of Ottawa. What I cannot simulate, stepping into the daily life of a lab and its early career researchers, is the stress they feel. I do not, except vicariously, buzz with the manic tension of finalizing a five-year NSERC grant. I am not […]
Evolution, we are often reminded, conducts itself at a glacial pace. It throws its dice and picks its favorites over thousands of generations—plenty of time, we wearily explain, for a functional eye to develop. By the same slow token, this process, life’s old standby for adapting to new environments, will not be fast enough […]
I spent this Labour Day weekend at a hunting and fishing club of which my father is a member. The Dumoine River Rod and Gun Club was celebrating its 100th anniversary, and forty-or-so members and relatives careened their way up the hills and dales of the old road to the club lodge for the gathering. […]
September 24-28, 2018 This week, Sally lets us in on some tech news: 2018 is the Cambrian Explosion of Steganography. Messages can be hidden in a variety of media, and it’s very hard for law enforcement to find. “Jpgs, gifs, pngs, mp3s –all of these have loads of storage space just begging for stowaways. They just […]
September 3-7, 2018 This week, on the Last Word on Nothing: Erik is a committed father who is finding the toddler years more of a chore than some other dads make it seem. Candid soul searching ensues. Cameron’s spring cleaning uncovers unwelcome houseguests. Her research into their origins and lifestyle only serves to gross her […]
August 6-10, 2018 In a personal archaeology, your memories are the artifacts, writes Craig this week. And they are all rooted in place. Guest Melinda Wenner Moyer did us all a favour and brought together some of science writing’s greats to ask which of their stories we should read—and likely didn’t find the first time. […]
I pack four books and a magazine for a three-day trip. Then I buy more at the airport. I forget to pack a change of trousers. This will come back to bite me when I vomit on a boat. The first thing I do when I land is get hoodwinked by not one, but two […]
July 16-20, 2018 “Inscrutable, argent agent of the crepuscular” — To what does Rebecca refer? Find out in the poem she wrote this week. Guest Robin Mejia reminds us that child abduction by the state has a history, and in El Salvador the legacy has been an enduring solidarity among victims and the equally enduring […]