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Admission’s standards are disappointingly low. (www.wired.com)
a, Arts & Entertainment

Admission: denied

by Emily Jacobi on

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Admission is a film that should probably end up in the “deny” pile. Directed by Peter Weitz (About a Boy) and starring Tina Fey, the film begins in the ivy-embellished halls of Princeton University. Fey plays Portia Nathan, a member of Princeton’s prestigious admissions department, where her job is to decide who, among thousands of applicants, gets in.

The film introduces Fey’s character as an uptight, play-by-the-rules, “boring” career woman, stuck in the same underwhelming job and uninspiring relationship.

As the yang to her yin, Paul Rudd plays John Pressman, a former college classmate of Portia and the over-the-top, free spirited principal of an alternative school out in the country. In John’s world, adventurous outside-of-the-box thinking, suspicion of institutions, and mastery of sustainable living are all intrinsic aspects of a good education. In McGill terms, John’s ideal school would be a mix of Macdonald Campus and Rad Frosh.

These two worlds collide when Portia stumbles upon John’s school on an admissions tour. John introduces her to Jeremiah Balakian (played by the charming Nat Wolf), a student prodigy and self-proclaimed “autodidact” with a shaky academic record, but nevertheless equipped with charisma and quirk. John is convinced that Jeremiah would succeed at a school like Princeton if given the chance, and that he may also be of particular personal interest to Portia.

Admission bravely wants to be a few different things. It definitely wants to be silly and lighthearted—the casting of Rudd and Fey as co-stars tells us that much. It wants to critique the rat-race nature of the U.S. university admissions process, which, as we see in the film, unfortunately degenerates into a game of whose application combines the most tear-jerking story with the best academic record. The irony is driven home without subtlety. In all its attempts at being holistic and all-examining, the U.S. admissions process does end up overlooking the real essence of the students it tosses into the accept or deny piles.

Admission wants to talk about the power of knowledge at a moment when a higher education doesn’t equate to employment, and more and more kids opt to travel and postpone university altogether. And it certainly, at its core, wants to be about that process of self-discovery, of finding oneself, and about believing in the oddball.

Unfortunately Admission’s comedic appendage feels forced, the plot is full of holes, and the characters seem shallow and overridden with cliché prototypes. Rudd, Fey, and newcomer Wolf had endearing moments, but Admission is oversaturated in sap and sweetness without any sustained heart. It does not outright fail in the themes it encounters, but we’ve all come to expect brilliance from Fey and Rudd. Admission should never have been admitted to the screen.

 

Admission is currently playing at Cineplex Banque Scotia (977 Ste-Catherine).

Victoria Dillman (Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune)
a, Opinion

The vicious cycle of protests

by Victoria Dillman on

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Almost a year ago now, I was a prospective student touring McGill for the first time. I remember the excitement, the nerves, and the shock of seeing more than a hundred people protesting outside the Sherbrooke gates. For the dozen students on my tour, it was our first impression of McGill and, to be honest, it was a bit of a deterrent. I recall a parent of another student on the tour inquiring how disruptive the protestors were for classes—it had been a serious concern of theirs and many others. Of course, we were assured that it was not disruptive at all, and that the protests had very little to do with McGill. That alleviated the concern in my mind, but I am sure that it was not the case for others.

In the past few months, I have been receiving emails from friends back home who are currently in their graduating year of high school, and are now attempting to navigate the confusion of choosing a university. While I have gotten the classic questions—“How are the professors?” “What’s the nightlife like?”—the one theme that keeps coming up is the student movement. My friends’ concerns include not only how protests affect classes, but whether they are violent or too intense. I have assured everyone asking the questions that the protests are not an issue; they stay out of McGill’s way, they are not violent, and they do not affect the classrooms. Despite my assurances, many still expressed doubt and declared it would still be a consideration in their decision. These kinds of questions show a consistent perspective that protests are a major deterrent and one that seriously influences students’ choice of school.

In the World Reputation Rankings of 2013, McGill has been ranked in 31st place—a serious drop from the previous year’s 25th. These rankings are subjective, but they seem to accurately show the international opinion of a university’s reputation. Reputation is a serious factor—not only for decisions of attendance, but also job prospects for McGill graduates. If McGill’s reputation continues to fall, the consequences could be serious. Such a fall calls into question what, precisely, led to this slip in rankings and what we can do to help fix it and repair McGill’s reputation.

The continued concerns of potential students may be indicative of this issue. Universities, in part, gain their reputation from the amount of demand from students. If students no longer choose McGill, and would rather attend a university of lower ranking to avoid the complications of protests, it would be surprising for McGill not to experience a fall in rankings. Students are a key resource for a university to prosper, and when they choose to attend other institutions, it becomes an issue the school must address.

Certainly, the protests have a cause; they are not senseless. Looking at the issues at hand, they are not an unreasonable reaction. The unfortunate reality, however, is that these protests are hindering, rather than helping McGill’s situation in the long run. A fall in rankings because of protests can lead to lower interest in enrollment at McGill. This decrease will lead to an even larger fall in rankings, and even less money and resources for McGill and other universities—the precise issue many are currently protesting. It becomes a vicious cycle that should be stopped sooner rather than later. The protests do, of course, combat real issues; but in order to help fix the situation, there needs to be a different, more cooperative way to help repair it. The protests are simply causing more damage than they’re worth.

a, Editorial, Opinion

Communication problems underlie the Leacock space debate

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For context, please read “Proposed Leacock reconfiguration incites controversy.”

 

The Mar. 18 Town Hall regarding a proposed reallocation of space in the Leacock building played out in a scene that’s become increasingly familiar—both students and faculty turned up to voice their opposition to a proposal from the administration. The plan in question involves a restructuring of Leacock, in which all administrative officers (AOs) would be grouped together on one floor, and be cross-trained to help students from other departments. While there is merit to the debate itself, this issue comes back to the administration’s lack of communication.

Students’ opposition to the proposal stems mainly from the fear that a group of interdepartmental AOs will lack the specialized knowledge and authority to help them in the same way they are able to now. It is unrealistic to expect AOs to gain the level of expertise in every department that each currently holds in their own—for students, this could mean a decreased quality of service, even if that service is more easily accessible and centralized.

Professors, for their part, take issue with the fact that the reallocation will split up departments across different floors, with chairs potentially being completely separated from their departments. This, they fear, will damage their departmental cultures, fostering a more corporate, impersonal, and disjointed atmosphere. Among the professors who showed up to speak against the plan was Amelia Jones, who claimed to have left the University of Manchester as a result of restructurings similar to these.

As a reaction to McGill’s voluntary retirement policy, which will reduce the number of AOs on staff, and to Bill 100, which will limit the faculty’s ability to hire more in their place, this move makes sense. Spreading out the workload amongst all of the remaining AOs will effectively minimize the impact that a reduced number of administrators will have, ensuring that students always have quick and easy access to somebody who can help them. We are in a period of financial strain, and the university is going to have to undergo numerous cost-cutting measures. Compared to other cuts that could be made, this is far from the worst option for students and professors.

The criticism of the administration’s proposal speaks more to the way that it has handled this process than to the severity of the issues at hand. The matter was apparently initially brought forward in previous faculty meetings, which Manfredi claimed at the Town Hall suffer from notoriously poor attendance. As a result, the faculty members feel that they were not consulted, while the administration claims to have done due diligence. Meanwhile, departmental students’ associations, whose office space stands to be affected by these changes, expressed outrage at not having even received a formal invitation to the Town Hall.

The criticism of the administration’s proposal speaks more to the way that it has handled this process than to the severity of the issues being brought forward.

Clearly, the issue here is communication. The administration seems unwilling to properly inform the community when these issues are at play, and yet, continues to appear genuinely puzzled when students or faculty claim not to have been consulted. The issue is certainly not capacity—we constantly receive emails informing us of on-campus events and initiatives much of which is entirely trivial. We want to see this same level of communicative initiative being used in the planning of these Consultative Fairs and Town Halls. The overwhelming attendance at last Winter’s Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) General Assembly (GA) proved that when people are given context for the issues at stake and the options available, they will show up. Consultation is only of any use when people know that it’s happening.

Beyond the method of communication, timing is also a critical element. Rather than being held in the Gall, when there could have been a full discussion of options, the Town Hall was only put together once the administration had narrowed its options down to two very similar scenarios. A discussion that takes place once the majority of options have been taken off the table looks very different to one which is unreservedly trying to arrive at the best solution. Once again, this is not true consultation.

There must be a better way to engage the community than we are seeing right now. Town halls should be held as an actual step in the decision-making process, not just a retroactive measure. Raising awareness should be a priority in this process, not as an afterthought. With ongoing uncertainty regarding its budget, McGill is going to have to make a number of unpopular decisions; for these decisions to be informed and respected by the community, the administration should be making every effort to hear what its stakeholders have to say.

a, Opinion

Ensuring the quality of our own education

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A topic that weighs heavily on the minds of all students, professors, staff and administrators is the $38 million budget cut imposed by the Quebec government over the next two years. As student leaders, we have witnessed the tireless, albeit lonely, efforts made by Principal Heather Munroe-Blum and her team in lobbying the government to change its position. The Faculty of Engineering, which is already running on a tight budget, has cut teaching assistants’ (TA) hours, labs, and course sections, and is also in jeopardy of losing funding for its Student Centre. At the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS), we cannot help but feel concerned for the quality of our students’ education, and have decided to take action.

In our recent referendum, undergraduate engineering students voted with a clear majority to approve an emergency fund, called the Engineering Undergraduate Support Fund (EUSF). The EUSF will amount to approximately $200,000 per year, scheduled to terminate after two years. This fund will be raised through a new non opt-outable student fee, effective September 2013, and managed by a committee. This committee will be chaired by the President of the EUS ,and will have a majority student representation, but will also include faculty members from each of our seven departments, as well as the dean of engineering.

Both the fee and the governing committee of the EUSF have been modeled after an existing student fund, the Engineering Equipment Fund, which has proven to be highly successful in supplementing lab equipment, computers, and even furniture for engineering students since 1987. The vision of the EUSF is similar: to allow professors from all departments to apply for funding, whether for additional TA hours that were cut from their course, for more support in terms of lab TAs, or even for the Student Centre to apply for funding to ensure that no staff or advisor has to be let go. Once all of the proposals have been collected, members of the EUSF committee will deliberate and eventually vote on each.

“At the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS), we cannot help but feel concerned for the quality of our students’ education, and have decided to take action.”

To date, the EUS executives, along with the presidents from each departmental student association, have been spreading the word about this new fund to our students. We will continue to work closely with the faculty in finalizing details regarding the EUSF, such as evaluation criteria and timeline for funding.

While this is an imperfect solution for a problem that should not be the students’ responsibility to bear, we firmly believe that the EUSF is a step in the right direction. It is actionable, realistic, and it will yield direct benefits for engineering students, from engineering students. We hope this fund will inspire other student associations to take an active role in preserving the quality of their students’ education.

 

Respectfully yours,

EUS Executive Team,

2012-2013

 

Contact [email protected] for questions

Meghan Sauer
a, Opinion

New pope brings no guarantee of progress

by Meghan Sauer on

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White smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on Mar. 13, declaring to the world that the papal conclave had chosen a pope to succeed Benedict XVI, who resigned after declaring his inability to govern in old age.  Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, represents many firsts for the Catholic Church’s papal legacy: he is the first to take the name Francis (after Saint Francis of Assisi), the first pope of the Jesuit order, and the first coming to the Vatican from the Americas—specifically, Latin America.

From one perspective, Pope Francis is representative of significant changes within an essentially static 2,000 year-old institution. The majority of practicing Catholics live the southern hemisphere, as more and more Catholics leave the church in Europe and North America, where secular society increasingly defines politics.  Demographic shifts characterize today’s Church, and with the appointment of Pope Francis, its political motives are increasingly evident.  While the Church has indicated its acknowledgement of its most ardent followers—South American Catholics account for 80.66 per cent of South America’s population, and 27.87 per cent of the world’s Catholics—the appointment is, nonetheless, indicative that the Church’s motives aren’t so much geared toward reform as they are toward policy.

Though some cite “laziness” or “youthful rebellion” as the reasons for which increasing numbers of young people are leaving the Church, this can be linked to shortcomings on the part of the institution itself.  Social issues like gay marriage are important to younger demographics today, but the inability for women and married men to become priests also limit the Church’s accessibility, as well as its potential for growth.  While going to church is not exactly every college student’s ideal Sunday morning, their lack of incentive is enhanced by outdated Church doctrine. According to CNN’s Belief Blog, one in 10 Americans is an ex-Catholic.  2001 census data shows that more than 80 per cent of Quebecers still declare themselves Catholic, but only about 6 per cent of these declared Catholics attend mass weekly, demonstrating the increasingly popular ‘pick and choose’ approach to modern faith. The child sex abuse scandals which the Church has been slow to address have certainly not encouraged “fallen-away” Catholics to return either.

Even as it trends away from institutionalized belief, the Western world celebrated the newly chosen bishop of Rome.  Church bells rang out mid-afternoon in Montreal, the press was abuzz worldwide, and even Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a statement welcoming the new pope.

Despite growing tension between the spiritual individual and the institution, and general indifference toward religion in Europe and North America, we appear to celebrate, and in fact, amplify an event that will not affect many of us at all—Catholic, non-Catholic, or non-religious.

Given the decision to elect a pope only nine years younger than Pope Benedict, it doesn’t appear that the Vatican is interested in making any major differences to the papal post.  Though we can only speculate right now, it is likely that the views of the man leading the Church will not align with North America’s 173 million Catholics.

If this gap widens, and the Church fails to address issues facing Catholics in North America and Europe, only more followers will lose touch with their faith.  While perhaps a decisive geo-political move, the accumulating ignorance toward Western social changes will inevitably hinder the Vatican’s political and religious power in these locations should Pope Francis follow in Benedict’s, and others’, footsteps.

Ailisha Macharia (Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune)
a, Opinion

Taking steps to reach our full potential

by Ailisha Macharia on

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It has long been said that the social structure of the job industry must grow to better represent minorities. However, this institutional change has come too slowly, and notable improvements in female-to-male ratios in the workforce have failed to manifest. Nonetheless, according to Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, there is real change that women can realize in their own lives.

Sandberg recently made the cover of Time Magazine for her new perspective on why fewer women are attaining high-level positions in the workforce. Sandberg invites women to take an introspective approach by calling attention to three points.

“Sit at the table”: women tend to attribute their success to external factors, underestimating their capabilities, and thus do not negotiate for themselves in the workforce.

“Make your partner a real partner”: in society, men are pushed more to succeed, whereas women tend to take responsibility over house and childcare. This engenders imbalanced relationships, and yields women who are not as invested in their work in contrast to their male counterparts.

“Don’t leave before you leave”: when women start to think about having children, they lean back, Sandberg says. They start making room for their child at work when they may not even be pregnant yet. Thus, they do not take on new challenging projects, or accept promotions with more responsibility. As a result, says Sandberg, women find themselves disengaged in their job and have less incentive to return once they become mothers.

Reflecting upon my own life, I have been accountable for my own unrealized potential because of behavioural humility. After working as a lifeguard for my municipal district for a year, my boss called me into his office to offer me a promotion to the position of supervisor. To my own surprise, I rescinded the offer because I lacked confidence in my lifeguarding skills, and the failed to realize I was in the ranks of my superiors. In retrospect, I realized that the reason he was offering that position was due to his confidence in my abilities, and belief that I was an asset to the staff. Whether I exhibited the same symptoms that Sandberg diagnosed is debatable. The fact is I don’t have a legitimate reason as to why I turned down that promotion. A few weeks later, a less experienced male took the position instead.

There is much-needed institutional and social change, so that an employee’s ability is not negated by complacent behaviour. However, these changes will not occur as immediately as it is needed. Sandberg’s points offer us suggestions to remedy these partial constructs. She gives us a quick-fix in which we can change our approaches and attitudes. Sandberg asks us to be aware of ourselves—not just girls and women, but everybody whose behaviour is shaped by society—and calls for more self-vigilance. This is what is needed for more successful careers, more deserved recognition and a more representative demographic in every job industry.

Women are, without question, the most oppressed group in the world. In any society, women have had to overcome disadvantage, prejudice and underestimation. Sandberg’s points address something that is unjust, yet real: certain socially manifested tendencies are constraints to women’s advancement in the workplace, and these preferences are deeply embedded in the employment industry. Thus, one interprets Sandberg’s advice as a change from the inside-out. Once those disadvantaged come into a position of power in which they can change the institutions that oppressed them, social progress can happen.

This is very important. Top-tier jobs are an undoubtedly influential factor in the future of invention, innovation, and development. If we continue to dismiss the misrepresentation of minorities, and fail to address the social issues so deeply sanctioned in society, much needed potential progress will be lost in negligence. This is progress we can no longer afford to lose.

Dr. Robyn Tamblyn will propose a monitoring system for regulating drug prescriptions to Health Canada later this month. (mcgill.ca)
a, Science & Technology

Prescription addiction: Canada’s growing drug problem

by Marlee Vinegar on

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There’s a drug problem in Canada. Part of it involves the recreational misuse of drugs, but another large aspect stems from drugs that doctors prescribe as treatment. Utilizing drugs for their unintended purposes cause deaths and health consequences throughout the country. Termed “off-label” prescriptions, a study from McGill released last April found that 11 per cent of prescriptions are used to treat illnesses for which they haven’t been approved by Health Canada.

The McGill study used the Medical Office of the XXI Century (MOXXI) electronic health records in Quebec to document and link treatment indication to the prescribed drug. The McGill researchers found the underlying causes for off-label prescription to likely be doctors’ lack of knowledge about drugs, and a scarcity of approved or effective medication. It was also found that anticonvulsants (66 per cent), antipsychotics (44 per cent), and antidepressants (33 per cent) are the most commonly used drugs for unregulated purposes. For example, anxiety medication may be prescribed to treat someone with insomnia.

Dr. Robyn Tamblyn, scientific director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and a researcher here at McGill, recognizes that off-label prescriptions are a reality in the health care system, but thinks that there is insufficient research on the topic. Further inquiry is important, she says, because of the drugs’ potentially lethal side effects. The drug tiagabine, for instance, is an anti-convulsive medication, meant to treat seizures; but when used as a treatment for pain, it has the side effect of causing seizures.  Another example is a treatment for acne, which has been linked to nine deaths in Canada since 2000 when used as birth control.

At the Senate committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology earlier this month, Tamblyn proposed the idea of a monitoring system for regulating drug prescriptions. Despite previous rejection for regulation by Health Canada, Tamblyn will propose the idea to the body again later this month. A major impediment to creating a monitoring system is that, in most provinces, save for Quebec, doctors are not required to indicate what a prescription is for. A monitoring system in the works would require doctors and pharmacists to make note of whether a drug is off-label, and the reason for prescribing it. Provinces already keep administrative data of which drugs are dispensed to the population. However, some sort of overarching national-level cooperation is crucial to developing this monitoring system. Allowing the provincial databases to share information would help researchers track the effects of drugs, such as if they have negative side effects, or could potentially treat a different condition.

From a financial perspective, creating a database may be beneficial for the provinces. Sharing information on the side effects of drugs will allow doctors to avoid causing unintended harm through drug prescription, and allow them to make better use of the resources already at their disposal.

“It will give us a very novel way of looking at the safety and effectiveness of drugs,” said a contributing McGill researcher, Dr. Tewodros Equale, in an interview for AlumniOnlineCommunity.

Regulation of off-label prescriptions could lead to the next big medical breakthrough; but the bottom line is that regulating off label prescriptions will help protect the health of Canadians.

a, Science & Technology

How does the internet work?

by Abhishek Gupta on

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The internet, a network of networks, is often thought to have an ethereal existence—an illusive virtual web that somehow enables a message to travel from your McGill email to an account in London, or a tweet to circulate around the globe.

What is surprising, however, is the tangible basis of the internet. Even when a computer is connected to it wirelessly, there is a router sitting somewhere in the vicinity, quietly humming away and sending data back and forth between this virtual web of unimaginable proportions, and the screen in front of you.

One of the defining images helpful for visualizing the internet is a huge web that looks strikingly like the Milky Way. This web shows connections between nodes (computers at the ends of a network) as lines that are colour coded to represent communication protocols (a system of digital messaging formats and rules for exchanging messages between computing systems). This image was conceived by Barrett Lyon in his project called the Opte Project. The plan’s aim was to create an accurate representation of the internet using visual graphics. This iconic image, housed in a permanent collection at the Boston Museum of Science, is in some ways representative of how large the Internet has grown, and its sheer complexity.

The history of the internet can be traced back to the founding of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), which led to the development of protocols for inter-networking, the practice of connecting a computer network with other networks through communication protocols. The first two nodes (computers at the ends of a network) were Leonard Kleinrock’s Network Measurement Centre at UCLA’s School of Engineering and Applied Science and Douglas Engelbart’s NLS System at SRI International in Menlo Park, California.

Today, we have not only computers, but also all sorts of devices that can connect to the internet. Smartphones, home automation systems, and GPS make up only a few of the many wired and wireless devices available to us. The physical infrastructure that drives these internet connections ranges from satellites zooming across the globe in outer space, to deep-sea fibre-optic cables that run through the Atlantic.

Fibre-optic cables form the backbone of the Internet. Even though the material science and computational technology behind this process is incredibly complicated, the physical process is shockingly simple: light goes in on one end of the ocean and comes out on the other. The phenomenon which is known as ‘total internal reflection’ keeps the light from escaping these thin, hair-like strands of glass that serve as conduits for the information which drives our world today. Fibre-optic cables connect through buildings called landing stations that are tucked away inconspicuously in little seaside neighbourhoods. Each of these cables can carry data at astoundingly fast rates, the basic unit being 10 gigabits per second—a thousand times faster than regular home internet connections.  Moreover, the bundles of cables have 50 to 60 such wavelengths, and therefore, carry tens of thousands of video streams in parallel, which is essential to keep pace with the rate at which content is growing online—hours of YouTube videos are uploaded, and thousands of pictures are posted on Facebook every second.

Such enormous undertakings to create the “physical” internet are not limited to remote corners of the globe. There are about a dozen data centres in the world that consume about as much energy as the cities that they sit in. A striking example of such a mammoth centre is located at 60 Hudson Street in lower Manhattan.  This building, in particular, has more networks of the internet that connect to each other than anywhere else in the world.

60 Hudson Street is an example of that physical intimacy of the internet. It is where the wires from the routers of Facebook, for instance, plug into the wires from the routers of, say, Google. It houses more than half a dozen of the world’s most important networks, in particular the ones that service the undersea cables connecting Europe and North America. Though the internet might seem intangible, these connections are an unequivocally physical process.

Science fiction author Neal Stephenson, says that wired people should know something about wires. We, too, should know where the internet—the virtual web that physically connects us all—meets reality.

As a faculty member, Kaspi recognizes the challenges faced by female physics students. (Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune)
a, Science & Technology

Extreme, observable physics

by Tracy Yuen on

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In honour of “Women’s Month,” the Tribune is profiling different female researchers at McGill, and the story behind their work. 

 

Imagine walking into a classroom filled entirely with people of the opposite gender. McGill Physics Professor Dr. Victoria Kaspi remembers her shock at the overwhelmingly male cohort during her undergraduate studies at McGill. While a part of the minority, her gender was never an issue until she started graduate school. During her university orientation, she attended a “Women in Physics” luncheon. At the time, Kaspi was surprised by the need for such an event, but in retrospect, she sees it as a hint of the challenges she would later face in her career.

As a faculty member, Kaspi is more aware of these issues than she was as a student, and she is not alone. The need to address gender inequality in the physics department is also felt by her colleagues. The department started a “Women in Physics” program that aims to mentor and foster the community of women in the field. Through organizing various speaker events, including breakfasts featuring host speakers from other universities, students can learn more about the challenges faced by, and opportunities available to women in physics. What’s more, these events provide students with the chance to hear about the career paths of other female physicists, building a stronger sense of community amongst the women enrolled in the physical sciences at McGill, and their professors.

At the faculty level, the proportion of female professors in the physics department at McGill is higher than average. While the department is always interested in more female applicants, Kaspi stressed that there’s no compromising on quality.

“Ultimately, it comes down to research excellence, and teaching ability,” Kaspi said.

With over 200 publications and numerous scientific awards, Dr. Kaspi embodies both of these qualities. Along with her role as a physics professor, she holds the positions of the Lorne Trottier Chair in Astrophysics and Cosmology, Canada Research Chair in Observational Astrophysics, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society, a group of scientists, engineers and technologists from the UK and the Commonwealth, all of whom are elected for life on the basis of excellence in science.

Kaspi’s research focuses on neutron stars—highly dense stars that are the close cousins of black holes.

“It’s a way to study something in an extreme environment, and [with] extreme properties: extremely high density, such that it’s higher than the atomic nucleus; extremely high gravity, so that regular gravity as described by Newton doesn’t work—you need Einstein’s theory of relativity, and extreme magnetic fields, highest in the universe and stars,” Kaspi explained. “You get to study a lot of extreme physics, but [neutron stars] are observable, so it’s not like a black hole, which is hard to observe.”

One subject of Kaspi’s research is pulsars, a type of neutron star characterized by the light they emit at precise time intervals. Based on Kaspi’s research, these stars could potentially act as beacons to guide spaceship navigation in the future.

“They rotate really fast and with a beam of light, almost like a lighthouse,” said Kaspi.

On top of her impressive research accomplishments, Kaspi is also the mother of three young children. She commented that while she has now struck a great work-life balance, juggling her children with her career was one of the hardest challenges in her life that she has faced—and one she never anticipated.

While Kaspi points out the challenges of being a female in the field of physics, she does not mean it as a deterrent. Her career has allowed her to travel all over the world, and engage in amazing opportunities.

“[I’ve been to] mountain peaks in Chile, and spent months in the outback of Australia,” Kaspi recalled, noting that she has also met amazing colleagues through her work. “I feel totally blessed doing it, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Viruses contain both living and non-living characteristics, making them difficult to classify. (static.ddmcdn)
a, Science & Technology

Viruses develop a life of their own

by Veronica Rozynek on

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Researchers have hotly debated the topic of viral classification for the past several decades. While scientists are still undecided as to whether or not viruses should be considered “living,” it is clear that these organisms do not meet the classical definition of life—maintenance of homeostasis, cellular organization, metabolism, growth, adaptation, response to stimuli, and reproduction. Viruses are complicated assemblies of molecules, including proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids; however, they lack some of the defining characteristics of life, such as the ability to replicate without the assistance of a host cell.

Recently, researchers have encountered convincing evidence that demonstrates that viruses may possess more complex immune systems than previously explored. This discovery adds to the ambiguity surrounding the nature of viruses, and presents the possibility that viruses may be gradually evolving into living organisms.

In an interview with Discovery News, Andrew Camilli, a molecular biology and microbiology professor at the Tufts University School of Medicine, noted that his recent research with cholera bacteria might possibly add to the argument that viruses exist as living entities. Camilli’s research focused on the feasibility of this bacteria’s role as a viral predator. However, while analyzing DNA sequences of phages taken from stool samples of  Bangladeshi cholera patients in the lab, postdoctoral fellow Kimberley Seed was presented with persuasive evidence that could potentially accelerate the virus’s classification as a  living species.

Seed discovered genes in these phages, usually present only in a fully operative immune system of different types of bacteria. In search for further evidence, Seed and her fellow team conducted experiments with viruses that did and did not contain immune related genes to infect another new strain of cholera bacteria. The results demonstrated that only the phages with a fully functional immune system were able to successfully kill the cholera bacteria.

The team also conducted research demonstrating that viruses have the capacity to acquire the immune systems of bacteria during their primary stage of infection. Essentially, the virus acts like a thief that invades the home of another living organism, stealing its efficient immune system, and transforming it, so that it is capable of providing an immunologic function for the virus itself.

In NBC’s interview with Gustavo Caetano-Anollés, a researcher at the University of Illinois, further evidence was presented in favour of the virus as a life form. In Caetano-Anollés’ lab, researchers conducted a census of protein folds, present in over 1,000 organisms. They sampled from the three conventional branches of life: bacteria, eukaryotes, and microbes. Different types of large viruses were also present in the study, in order to compare their genomes with genomes of the different life forms sampled.

The proteins and enzymes found in the viruses rivaled some of those of bacteria. For example, a virus called Crov, which originates in the ocean contains genes that repair themselves. Moreover, the virus may produce sugars that aid in the repair of its genome, and this allows it to gain more control over the equipment in host cells that allow the virus to replicate itself.

The research team also looked at the different characteristic features of life forms, and compared them to the structure of a virus. They found several ancient protein folds—present in different living organisms, also in the viruses examined—which exhibited more proof that a virus contains the origins of life.

While the ongoing debate has caused many scientists to ponder over whether viruses are more than simple genetic material, recent advancements are proof enough that viruses may be gradually, but efficiently moving towards being classified as a form of life. On one hand, they are considered parasites because they require the bodies of host cells to survive. However, viruses meet all of the requirements of life when living within the host cells, so some researchers have gone as far to classify them as the simplest living organisms. As for now, in the midst of controversy, viruses seem to exist in a purgatory between living and non-living, containing characteristics from both classifications.

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