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 […]
Jessa
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 […]
Five years ago, I received a fateful invitation to join the Last Word On Nothing. Since then, almost all of the faces have changed, but its maverick spirit lives on. Much like the culture of the Dorset, featured in my first post in 2011…: There’s nothing like a lost tribe to pique child-like curiosity. When an […]
Another Canada Day has passed, eclipsed in my part of the country by the festivities of Aboriginal Day, which falls just a week beforehand. Bizarrely, it was the Google Doodle this year that most roused my patriotic spirit on July first. In the image, a woman kneels up in the bow of a canoe — possibly […]
Debunking Hollywood is LWON’s very occasional series that takes a hard science look at common TV and movie tropes. “Help!” The lifeguard straightens in his chair, craning his neck to find the citizen in peril. “Help!” Over there, by the barrier floats! The victim’s face is obscured by great splashes raised in her violent struggle for […]
For all those who suffered through my impossibly obscure quiz questions a fortnight ago, my heartfelt thanks. 120 readers sat the quiz to the end, and the average grade of 44% is no disservice to your knowledge level. There is one question in particular, though, whose most popular response surprises me. A remipede is a […]
The utterance, “There will be a quiz on this” is notorious for striking panic into a roomful of students, but for me it holds the key to my strongest motivation. I am so much more likely to read a textbook chapter that will be followed by a pat on the back in the form of […]
Somewhere within walking distance of me, there is a dead human body, unburied, in the woods, and it will likely never be found. Psychiatrist Atsumi Yoshikubo arrived in Yellowknife from Uto, Japan last October 17, one of hundreds of tourists who come to see the Northern Lights every year. She checked into our nicest hotel […]