A look at Artificial Intelligence – Malika Logossou, Managing Editor
A few months ago, I wrote a piece on Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, examining whether they reduce cognitive skills and how this extends to students and adults. Drawing from Nandini Asavari Bharadwaj’s expertise, a PhD candidate in McGill’s Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, she explained that the effect of AI on our critical thinking skills depends on how we use it—but it can also serve as a powerful instrument to assist learning.
Since Alan Turing’s 1950 proposition of the ‘Imitation Game’ to test machine intelligence, to Arthur Samuel’s checkers-playing program, AI has evolved considerably. Most recently, a humanoid robot gave a speech alongside the U.S. First Lady at the Fostering the Future Together Global Coalition Summit. Though AI is not new, it has become increasingly present in our everyday lives.
“AI has been around since the 1950s [….] Currently, we are seeing significant interest and development in generative AI, particularly large language models and related conversational interfaces such as chatbots,” wrote Bharadwaj in an email to The Tribune.
The trajectory of AI highlights its dual nature: It can enhance our thinking, but overreliance risks dulling our critical reasoning. Its growth also has environmental implications and social costs, and affects how we view and understand art and friendships. As we look back on why these tools were initially created, it’s important to remember that struggle, reasoning, human contact, and creation are central to human learning.
Reviewing perceptions of public transport– Sarah McDonald, Science & Technology Editor
When I first joined SciTech as a staff writer, the third article I wrote examined public perceptions of public transportation developments. Reflecting on recent Réseau express métropolitain (REM) station openings, I reached back out to Lancelot Rodrigue, a member of the Researchers at Transportation Research at McGill (TRAM), to see how the team’s research has progressed since November 2024.
“The research project which we were talking about [in 2024] was […] part of our bigger project on the REM, so this project has been ongoing. I think now we just collected the wave six or seven […] of the survey,” Rodrigue explained.
TRAM’s projects have included comparing reception from the Pie-IX BRT and the REM—finding that the BRT has been far less controversial than the REM—and analyzing the difference between projected and actual demographic use of the REM stations in a recent article.
Recent work has validated public concerns that Rodrigue described to me back in 2024.
“There are elements that we discussed about two years ago, which were issues with the references in terms of governance and planning, [such as], it might have gone too fast, and people weren’t feeling certain about it. We did have some confirmation that these were kind of valid fears in terms of issues that the REM has been having during the winter.”
With their research still ongoing, TRAM continues to evaluate both the impacts and perceptions of public transport developments such as the REM.
Additional details on The James Webb Space Telescope – Leanne Cherry, Science & Technology Editor
One of the first pieces I wrote as a SciTech editor came after attending a Physical Society Colloquium on the James Webb Space Telescope. While every component of Webb is a feat of engineering, one particularly incredible aspect which I wasn’t able to mention in my original article is the telescope’s sunshield.
Webb captures images of our universe by detecting and interpreting the low-energy infrared light emitted from astronomical objects. The telescope itself must be kept at exceptionally low temperatures to accomplish this—a process which is largely mediated by the sunshield. The shield is larger than a tennis court, and is composed of five layers of Kapton—a tough and sturdy plastic—each layer thinner than a human hair. Acting as a wall between Webb’s lenses and the sun, the shield reduces the temperature by nearly 300 degrees Celsius from one side to the other.
Perhaps most impressively, the engineers figured out how to fold this massive structure into something that would not only fit inside a rocket but could be unfurled upon reaching its orbit without tearing. This required around 150 different mechanisms working in perfect harmony, and 7000 flight parts.