El Niño has been the latest buzzword explanation for Montreal’s—and the world’s—unseasonably warm weather. Normally, the prevailing wind patterns in the Pacific Ocean, known as trade winds, blow east to west. When these winds are weaker than usual, a buildup of warm and wet weather along the West Coast of[Read More…]
Science & Technology
The latest in science and technology.
Tips on making and achieving a New Year’s resolution
Historically, a new year was marked by an astronomical event. For example, ancient Babylonians began the new year with the first new moon after the spring equinox. Today, however, the new year is simply marked with a date: January 1. While there’s nothing particularly special about New Year’s Day, it[Read More…]
What the galaxies have in store
Last year was an exciting year in space. In 2015, the Dawn orbiter visited the dwarf planet Ceres, scientists photographed the surface of Pluto in unprecedented detail, and Matt Damon even got stuck in space again. But knowing what’s already happened is easy—it’s predicting the future that’s hard. But that doesn’t[Read More…]
The Science & Policy Exchange group is planning for the future
Consider the space race, which occured between 1955 to 1972 and saw the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. competing for superiority in space technologies. This resulted in a drive in innovation and increased incentives to do research. Alone a similar line, consider the impact of education policy decisions. In Canada, most[Read More…]
Biochemist Nahum Sonenberg favours the prepared mind
McGill Biochemistry Professor Nahum Sonenberg likes asking simple questions. He believes that every problem can be broken down into pieces and put together like a puzzle to answer a bigger issue. “Always ask a simple question to get a simple answer,” Sonenberg said. “If you […] want to look at[Read More…]
The study drug debate takes a new turn
The use of psychostimulant drugs like Adderall, Ritalin, and Vyvanse has become increasingly routine for some university students striving for success. In fact, some studies report up to 34 per cent of U.S. college-level students use non-medical psychostimulants for increased academic performance. Use also seems to vary by social group.[Read More…]
Chill out—sea levels aren’t rising as quickly as predicted
Scientists have been warning for years that it may actually be too late to stop climate change despite concerted efforts by the global community. But the world may not be doomed after all. According to a new paper co-authored by McGill Professor Natalya Gomez from the Department of Earth and[Read More…]
Research briefs: Thanksgiving weekend
Pumpkin and mammoth pies Americans who celebrated Thanksgiving last weekend have mastodons and mammoths to thank for the pumpkin pie on the table. In a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, researchers established a link between the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna—mastodons, mammoths, giant[Read More…]
Media response to tragedies in Paris and Beirut incite controversy
On Nov. 12, 2015, 43 civilians lost their lives in twin bombings claimed by ISIS in Beirut. The next day, 129 civilians lost their lives in multiple ISIS attacks in Paris. Both tragedies have drawn in sympathy and well-wishes from around the world, but this support has been met with[Read More…]
Montreal’s 2015 International Game Summit
Whether it’s Candy Crush Saga or Fallout 4, video games are an increasingly integral part of everyday life. The enormous range of developers churning out games means that there is more or less something for everyone on the market. The challenge remains, however, to get noticed and then get published.[Read More…]