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McGill, News, The Tribune Explains

Tribune Explains: The Golden Key Honour Society

by Sofia Sida on

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Every year, a select few top-performing students are contacted by the Dean of Students to join McGill’s chapter of The Golden Key Honour Society. With this year’s invitations having just been sent out, The McGill Tribune explains what joining the society entails. 

What is the Golden Key Honour Society? 

The Golden Key Honour Society is a nonprofit international society that aims to offer its members scholarship and networking opportunities. It claims to be the world’s largest honour society for post-secondary students, with over 400 chapters in 180 countries around the globe. The McGill chapter was founded in 1997 and was the first to be established in Canada.

How popular is it at McGill? 

According to Ian Sankey, the Canadian director of the Golden Key Honour Society, there are around 500 McGill undergraduate and graduate students currently enrolled in the Society. While the process of becoming a member differs for undergraduate and graduate students, the Golden Key website claims that both groups can benefit from the connections, networking opportunities, and other resources they provide. Post-graduation, alumni members still have access to some promotions and career fairs, and the Society pledges to keep in contact.

How does one qualify? 

Membership in the Golden Key Society is for undergraduate and graduate students at McGill whose cumulative GPA is in the top 15 per cent of their program. Undergraduates who qualify will receive an email in the Fall semester inviting them to join. Graduate students, however, must apply online. 

A lifetime membership to the society costs $95 CAD, but the fee may be waived for those who receive need-based financial aid to cover tuition. 

How has the McGill chapter been involved in the Society and how can students benefit from it? 

The Society has three pillars: Academics, leadership, and service. It claims to provide members with exclusive scholarships and awards programs, and encourages members to get involved in their communities. 

In an email to the Tribune, Sankey explained that offering in-person gatherings, such as conferences and summits, was a large part of the Golden Key’s mandate before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“In 2018, the McGill University chapter co-hosted the CANCON summit in Montreal and welcomed students and alumni from across Canada, the U.S., and we even had a member from Australia join in,” Sankey wrote. “Our last in-person summit in Canada was held at Niagara Falls in 2019. We hope to start up the in-person summits again, but no timeline for a future in-person summit has yet been set.”

While in-person gatherings have stalled, membership to the Society now includes access to the Golden Key Academy (GKA), a new online resource giving students access to webinars, training videos, and other exclusive online content for no additional fees. The type of content and training offered, however, is not specified on the Society’s website. According to Sankey, the emphasis on online resources was borne out of the COVID-19 pandemic and around 60,000 members have used the Academy’s resources since its inception.

“The GKA is an online resource that was launched soon after the pandemic hit to offer members a virtual platform to continue to connect and learn,” Sankey wrote. “There are live webinars on a wide variety of topics that the members can attend, and they are all recorded and added to the online library for viewing at a later date if someone cannot attend the webinar live.”

Many of the latest events offered by the McGill chapter have been online raffles to win small prizes such as gift cards to coffee shops, massages, or tutoring sessions for final exams. The group’s most recent event was a “Battle of the Brains” with Concordia’s chapter of the Society in March 2022. The most recent scholarship awarded to a McGill student through the Society was the $1,000 Golden Key Undergraduate Achievement Award, presented in April 2022. 

Hockey, Sports

Martlets hockey loses 4-3 to Queen’s in suspenseful overtime

by Sophia Gorbounov on

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On Sept. 17, the McGill women’s hockey team (0–2) played their first game of the semester. Matched up against the Queen’s University Golden Gaels (2–0), the game was marked with aggressive plays on both sides that left viewers wishing they could watch them on replay. After a long fight, the Martlets were defeated in overtime, losing 4-3. 

The team saw a lot of turnover from the previous year, with many fresh faces and a new team captain, master’s student and forward Christiana Colizza. Despite the ultimate loss, third-year forward Quynn Campbell was proud of all the players, new and returning. 

“It was so awesome to watch four of our first-years play their first games as Martlets today,” Campbell told The McGill Tribune. “They all played great. Heads were held high after today’s game.”

The Martlets opened the first with strong defensive tactics. The Gaels made immediate attempts on goal, but were blocked left and right by second-year goalie Sophie Lajeunesse.

On the offensive side, the first minutes of the period were slower, the puck often being passed to open ice. The slow start did nothing to prevent the Martlets from opening the scoring a mere four minutes into the game. Easily missed if one wasn’t paying attention, Campbell, assisted by third-year defender Suraiya Suleman, made a lightning-fast shot from just beside the goal, whipping the puck into the back of the net.

The start of the second period saw penalties on both sides, leaving the Gaels and the Martlets down one player each. Still, McGill pushed through the four-on-four matchup, and the next goal of the game went to the Martlets, scored by defender Lydia MacLellan and assisted by fellow defender Jaime Kastelic.

The 2-0 lead is the most dangerous one in hockey. For the Gaels, it served as a wake-up call and they scored two back-to-back goals with eight minutes remaining, bringing the score up to a tie. A frantic energy permeated the end of the period, with both teams spreading themselves thin as they sped around the ice chasing the puck back and forth.

“There were a couple of minutes [when] we let the other team take the pace over us,” centre and assistant captain Marika Labrecque told the Tribune. “We have to work on that.”

The final period brought more strife for the Martlets when the Gaels scored on an excellent rebound shot, edging them above their opponents 3-2.

But this didn’t hinder the spirit of the players as the game was far from over. With only five minutes remaining, Labrecque scored.

Hope was injected back into the veins of every McGillian in the crowd as the game moved into overtime. Hit with a penalty right off the bat, Queen’s managed to survive with a shorthanded team, letting no goals in. Alas, in the last minutes of overtime, the Gaels scored, ending the game with a 4-3 score for the away team.

Despite the loss, Campbell knows her team fought tooth and nail, and that they have the whole season ahead to grow together. 

“We fought hard for all 60 minutes,” Campbell said. “[We] have shaken off all our first-game-of-the-season nerves.”

The Martlets played their second game against the Gaels on Sept. 18 in Kingston. McGill fell once again to their opponents, ending the game with a 4-2 loss.

Moment of the game: Team centre Marika Labrecque scored an unbelievable third goal, ending the Martlets’ short dry spell, tying the scores, and ensuring the team had one more go at a win in overtime. 

Quotable: “We’re taking away a lot of positives from it, but also have a lot to learn moving forward. We’re excited for the upcoming season and can’t wait to hit the ground running at our season opener!” – Second-year forward Mika Chang

Stat corner: The game saw Queen’s receive twice as many penalties as McGill (six to three).

Science & Technology

McGill alumni create world’s first carbon-negative concrete

by Sara Chiarotto O'Brien on

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After water, concrete is the most commonly used resource in the world. From the buildings we live in to the roads we drive on, nearly everything in our built environment is made from concrete. Unfortunately, it’s also the most destructive material in the world, responsible for approximately eight per cent of global carbon emissions. But, what if there was a way for us to construct our world without killing it?

CarbiCrete, a start-up co-founded by McGill alumnus Dr. Mehrdad Mahoutian, PhD ‘14, and Chris Stern, BEng ‘94, has figured out a way to produce the world’s first commercially available, carbon-negative concrete. CarbiCrete’s concrete is made from steel slag, a waste material from the steel production process, and CO2 gas sourced from industrial vents. This means that their concrete takes more CO2 out of the atmosphere than it emits.

Mahoutian first developed the techniques used by CarbiCrete as a PhD student at McGill. During his studies, Mahoutian’s doctoral supervisor was toying with the idea of creating concrete using CO2, so Mahoutian built on this idea in his own research. He addressed the question of how to make concrete without cement, while also trapping CO2. After years of trial and error, Mahoutian and his team created a successful prototype.

Mahoutian’s process reduces greenhouse gases in two ways. First, steel slag is mixed with conventional minerals using typical concrete manufacturing machinery. In this first step, cement is not required, so CarbiCrete eliminates the environmentally destructive process of creating cement from its production line. Next, the mixture is poured into molds and cured for 24 hours in an absorption chamber. CO2 captured from industrial byproducts is then injected into the chamber where it reacts with the mixture, becoming calcium carbonate. The CO2 becomes trapped in the calcium carbonate and never makes it to the atmosphere.

McGill assisted Mahoutian and his team throughout the patent application process. Mark Weber, McGill’s Director of Innovation and Partnerships, connected Mahoutian with Chris Stern, a seasoned executive who had spent a large part of his career working with renewable energy companies.

“I knew the technology […] but [I did not have] lots of knowledge about how business works,” said Mahoutian in an interview with the The McGill Tribune. “On the other hand, [Stern] didn’t know anything about concrete or cement, but he was perfect and very experienced in business development.”

Working together, the two formally incorporated CarbiCrete in 2016. 

Rather than sell physical blocks of concrete, the CarbiCrete team licenses out its technology to concrete manufacturers. In addition to providing environmental benefits, CarbiCrete’s concrete blocks also allow companies to save money on carbon taxes, access the green materials market, and reduce costs of warehousing—CarbiCrete’s curing process only takes 24 hours as opposed to the 28 days required for common cement blocks.

“Concrete is the largest contributor to embodied carbon in the built environment,” said Yuri Mytko, CarbiCrete’s chief marketing officer, in an interview with the Tribune. “This presents a massive opportunity to permanently remove large amounts of CO2 [from the atmosphere].” 

In May 2022, CarbiCrete secured $23.5 million in Series A, or early stage, funding from mostly Canadian investors. This new cash flow, combined with the recent launch of a pilot manufacturing project, leaves the company well-positioned to begin commercial sales and expand access to its technology. On Sept. 19, CarbiCrete announced that Gary Belisle, former CEO of the Canadian concrete giant Permacon, will step in as its chief of operations.

CarbiCrete’s success is one of many examples of how science and creativity can work in tandem to solve the world’s most pressing problems—in this case, the climate crisis. And it all started at McGill.

Sports

Trent scrapes past Redbirds in homecoming lacrosse game

by Karan Kumar on

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After a two-year hiatus, the McGill men’s lacrosse team returned to the Percival Molson Stadium on Sept. 10.The long-awaited homecoming was marked by cheerful support from team alumnus and former coach Tim Murdoch who retired at the end of the 2019-20 season. The Redbirds, who last played the Trent Excalibur on Oct. 26, 2019, were hopeful to start the 2022-23 CUFLA season with a win. 

Excitement soon turned into tension, however, with Trent catching the Redbirds’ defence off-guard, scoring their first goal just seconds into the first quarter. The Redbirds attack, led by fourth-year attacker Isaiah Cree, soon regrouped and punched a hole through the Trent back line with three goals in the next 10 minutes. The lead could not be sustained by the Redbirds, though, and the Trent attack caught up with two goals in the final minutes of the first quarter, ending at a 3-3 truce.  

The second quarter was nothing short of a roller coaster, with Trent dominating in possession and goals early on, only to be outmatched by the Redbirds in the latter half. Midfielder Louis-Antoine Habre inspired the Redbirds in the quarter through a phenomenal run and pass to first-year attacker Patrick Aber that was stifled by the opponent’s goaltender. A few minutes later, Redbirds forward Cameron McGinnis and midfielder Ethan Forgrave added their names to the scoresheet. A robust defence and organized forward line saw the Redbirds tie the game to 6-6 at the end of the first half.

It was the third quarter where the game slipped away from the Redbirds, with Trent scoring four consecutive goals. Although McGill goaltenders Steven Pelliccione and Joseph Boehm tried their best to save the Redbirds some grace, the Excalibur attack was too formidable to defend.

The Redbirds fought back and displayed a spirited performance in the final quarter. With nine minutes left until the final whistle, the Redbirds scored, giving hope to a tense crowd on home turf. Another goal by the Redbirds in the final two minutes pushed the Excalibur defence to its limit. A time-out requested by coach Nicolas Soubry with a minute and 18 seconds on the clock was too late for redemption, and the final score sat at 10-8, recording a Trent win.

Soubry praised the team for their dedicated performance, and acknowledged the need to work on finer details as they proceed in the 2022-23 season.  

“When we were down 10-6, [the question was] are they going to fight back,” said Soubry in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “Those moments when the team scored the first and second goal, you could see on the bench that they were ready to fight back.The things we need to work on are the details—the substitution, the fast restarts, man up and man down, [and] the last two minutes of the game.”

McGinnis, a fourth-year attacker from Scarborough, Ontario, is excited to lead the Redbirds this CUFLA season and to learn from the game against Trent.

“It’s good to take a loss early on in the season so that we can turn that to a win later on,” said McGinnis. “We are going […] hard in our practices throughout the week, and have a long way to go. One thing we need to work on is coming together as a team and staying consistent with our rate of play.”

The Redbirds’ next game is against the Nipissing Lakers on home turf on Sept. 17 where the team will look to record their first points in the Eastern division of the CUFLA.

Moment of the game: Trailing by four goals at the end of the third quarter, midfielder Rowan Birrell’s two goals in the final 10 minutes of the game inspired the Redbirds to a nail-biting finish.

Quotable: “The boys rallied together in the fourth quarter – we moved the ball well and put it in the back of the net a couple of times, unfortunately we ran out of time.”–Redbird’s forward Cameron McGinnis on the team’s performance in the final quarter.

Stat Corner: Midfielder Dylan James shines for the Redbirds, scoring two goals in the first quarter.

Arts & Entertainment, Pop Rhetoric

Spit-takes: Harry Styles vs. Chris Pine?

by Suzanna Graham, Adrienne Roy on

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To spit or not to spit? That is the question. After months of alleged drama amongst the cast and crew of Olivia Wilde’s new film Don’t Worry Darling, it’s only fitting that press for the premiere centred around gossip rather than the mediocre-at-best movie. The moment in question happened just before the screening when, while taking his seat, Harry Styles may or may not have spit on his co-star Chris Pine.

Spitting for box office sales— Suzanna Graham

At this point, the Don’t Worry Darling set is just a breeding ground of chaos and cancel culture—#Spitgate was tweeted nearly as much as the Queen’s death. 

Harry Styles absolutely spat on Chris Pine. I don’t care if the projectile spittle was visible or not—it happened. Look at Styles’ pursed lips, perfectly in sync with Pine’s surprised face and subsequent smile at the honour. No questions here, friends. But, let’s entertain the conspiracy theorists: Why did Pine smile? Simple—he knows that his co-stars are just continuing the media circus surrounding the film. This stunt in particular adds to the drama surrounding Styles’ and Olivia Wilde’s on-set romance.

Styles and Wilde met and started dating while working on the film. Twitter initially believed they might have broken up Wilde’s nine-year relationship with Jason Sudeikis—but Wilde has nipped that theory in the bud. They might have already broken up, as Styles proved at the premiere when he’d rather kiss Nick Kroll than his “girlfriend.” While neither Styles nor Wilde have commented on the current status of their relationship, their cool body language seems highly telling. 

So why spit on her? Why spit on anyone? The only thing the internet agrees on about #Spitgate is that spit is difficult to see. So why do it at all? The chaotic cast has evidently taken the phrase “all press is good press” to heart. With the reviews for Don’t Worry Darling being shockingly subpar, Styles has clearly decided to poke the media bear even more. Without the spit, without the feuds, DWD would flop harder than Morbius did—twice. After the disputed moment, Styles looks at the camera—not like Jim in The Office, but in genuine confusion. Honestly? Give the man an Oscar because it’s the best acting he’s done to date. But sure, he didn’t spit. If you don’t believe me, believe Styles at his Madison Square Garden concert—#Spitgate is real. 

Harry would never – Adrienne Roy 

As a borderline criminally insane fan of Harry Styles, his return to acting was something I had been looking forward to since his small role in 2017’s Dunkirk. Without having seen Don’t Worry Darling (yet), it’s hard to fathom the movie being any more psychologically thrilling than its premiere. It was mad. It was baffling. It was everything I wanted it to be and more. Between Styles (eloquently) reassuring his audience that the movie does, in fact, “feel like a movie” and Olivia Wilde and Florence Pugh’s dissertation-worthy feud, it seemed like anything could happen, even spitting.

Despite the circumstances, the theory that Harry Styles spat on Chris Pine—who proved he was God’s strongest soldier in Venice—is absurd. If anything, Pine had more reason to spit on Styles, not the other way around. The DWD premiere had many internet-breaking moments—which made Spitgate perfectly conceivable—but this situation can definitely be chalked up to poor timing. Quite frankly, it would’ve been more on-brand for Styles to choke Pine with a seaview. And they were even by the ocean! Not to mention that we’re talking about the person who wrote a song called “Treat People With Kindness” and frequently waves pride flags at concerts. Styles wouldn’t have such a massive, sometimes terrifying, yet unconditionally supportive fanbase if he weren’t a loving and respectable person. Also, he’s a carefully media-trained Libra moon. 

Although Pine and Styles’ PR teams have confirmed that no spitting occurred between the co-stars, I think that having the saliva of the world’s most wanted man on your shoe—or in your mouth, if you’re Nick Kroll—is a privilege that anyone with eyes and a good head on their shoulders would accept with gratitude.

No contributors spit or were spat on in the writing of this debate.

Art, Arts & Entertainment

McGill Arts Collective champions collaboration in the campus art scene

by Dana Prather on

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With the Fall 2022 semester in full swing, students are once again faced with the barrage of decisions typical of a busy September. Selecting the most efficient route between classes, finding study spots to frequent, and picking clubs to join are just a few of the choices that are top-of-mind during those first few days after the add-drop period ends. 

While these decisions may take a student weeks of trial and error, the new McGill Arts Collective (MAC) hopes to make joining a club an easy decision for seasoned artists and enthusiastic beginners alike.

Founded by undergrads Brune Bettler, U2 Science, and Darren Li, U2 Science and Management, MAC is a new multimedia fine arts club dedicated to developing a diverse community where artists from all disciplines can connect and collaborate. At a university without a dedicated fine arts program, MAC aims to fill an oft-neglected niche by creating space for an interdisciplinary group of artists and art enthusiasts. 

“McGill does a really good job of providing students with academic services and clubs, but we found there wasn’t a lot of room for multimedia artistic opportunities,” Bettler said in an interview with The McGill Tribune.

As passionate artists that work across mediums themselves—Bettler is an avid photographer and creator of 2D-collages while Li enjoys painting and experimenting with mixed media—MAC’s co-presidents felt compelled to start the club after discussing their mutual desire for a space where McGill students could foster artistic conversations across mediums. 

“[MAC] can bring a community together of people who do all kinds of different arts […] they can meet each other, talk about their work, and get a multimedia perspective on what they make,” Li explained. 

Going forward, MAC will hold bi-weekly events that fuse different mediums through collaborative activities. The organization is membership-based, meaning students can attend all of the year’s events with the purchase of a $15 full-year membership, or they can opt to attend specific events for $5 each. These events will range from exhibitions where students can display their latest artworks to interactive challenges such as the upcoming poetry-inspired paint-off on Sept. 22. There, participants will work in teams to paint their own masterpieces inspired by lines from an original poem before discussing the finished pieces as a group at the end of the evening. 

To kick off the year, MAC held its “club-warming” event on Sept. 8, at Jeanne-Mance Park. With the bright beginnings of a harvest moon as the backdrop, the event saw a revolving group of interested students munch on delicious snacks while mingling with fellow art lovers.

Josie Brooks, a U2 Psychology student with a love for painting and music, was most enticed by the community aspect of MAC. “I’m excited about the prospect of connecting with other artists. I’ve already met some really cool people here,” she said. 

Bettler and Li hope to expand the club’s focus to include events and initiatives that will connect students with the larger Montreal arts scene. 

“We’re thinking we could set up a shop on our website that would allow McGill artists to sell their art and then also communicate with different museums and art institutions to get reduced prices for students,” Bettler said of the club’s future trajectory.

“Definitely!” Li agreed emphatically. “Connecting McGill students to what’s happening within the Montreal art world, I think that’s a great opportunity to give McGill students.”

While the co-presidents acknowledged the importance of focusing the MAC’s efforts on the McGill community before expanding their scope, it was clear from the club-warming event’s atmosphere and enthusiastic chatter that students were looking forward to bigger things to come.

Baseball, Sports

Redbirds baseball makes long-awaited return to varsity field with 4-4 record on season

by Tillie Burlock on

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After two long years, McGill’s men’s baseball is finally back. The highly-anticipated return of one of McGill’s most competitive teams kicked off with a series against the University of Toronto (UofT) (4–0) where the Redbirds did not disappoint. McGill cleaned out the Blues, sweeping the series and scoring 18 runs over the three games. 

The team then packed their bags for the Toronto Labour Day classic tournament. After dropping their first game to UofT, the Redbirds trounced the Humber College Hawks (0–4) in a dominating 15-6 win. Unfortunately, this would be their only win of the tournament as the team suffered back-to-back losses at the hands of the Laurier Golden Hawks (2–2), bringing their record to 4–3. 

On Sept. 6, the Redbirds (4–4) set out to bounce back after a losing weekend against the Concordia Stingers (2–0). On Tuesday night, right-handed pitcher and first-year Marcus De La Cruz got the ball for the Redbirds and quickly put away Concordia’s leadoff hitter, earning his first strikeout of the night. 

After a hit-by-pitch, an unlucky bloop single from Concordia’s Jarod Pita knocked in the first run of the game, giving the Stingers a 1-0 lead coming out of the first. 

Starting on the bump for Concordia was Benjamin Powell, who sent McGill back to the field with a quick 1-2-3 first. 

Still down 1-0, McGill’s offence began to warm up after catcher Chris Bodine gave the Redbirds their first hit of the game with a single in the bottom of the third. After two wild pitches, Bodine made his way to third, scoring on a balk and tying the game 1-1. 

But the Redbirds couldn’t hold on and the Stingers scored on back-to-back singles, giving Concordia a 2-1 lead. 

In the top of the fifth, Concordia’s offence opened up the game with an RBI double, giving the Stingers a 3-1 lead and ending De La Cruz’s night on the bump with a final line of 4.0IP, 6H, 4ER, and 3Ks. 

With Donovan Worrall now in to pitch for McGill, the Stingers cashed in on an RBI single from Pita and exited the fifth with a 4-1 lead.  

After continued silence from McGill’s offence in the bottom of the fifth, Concordia scored again in the top of the sixth and again in an error-filled top of the seventh to make it 6-1. 

Despite the team’s defensive struggles, head coach Casey Auerbach remained optimistic about the team’s prospects.

“It’s so early. We’ve been off for three years,” said Auerbach in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “We’re just kind of keeping our expectations realistic and we haven’t had a ton of time to practice. Obviously there was a bit of disappointment with the way we played defensively tonight.” 

Auerbach also noted the success of the team’s offence in previous games, and hopes it can bounce back for the team’s upcoming games. 

“I think we’ve been swinging the bat pretty well to start games, so I just kind of hope we come out with that same fire and hopefully we can keep it consistent for seven innings.” 

The crowd caught glimpses of the team’s offensive potential as they threatened a comeback in the bottom of the seventh. After back-to-back walks, infielder Milo Young stepped up with an RBI single on a line drive to left field, giving the Redbirds some life and making it 6-2.

With runners on first and second, outfielder Jonas Press grounded into a fielder’s choice and scored McGill’s last run of the game. Despite the disappointment of the 6-3 final score, Young feels hopeful about the team going forward. 

“It was a tough loss,” said Young. “Obviously, we hate losing to our rivals but I think there’s a lot of positives that we can take from it. We know what we have to do better to improve and we’ll come out and beat these guys [Concordia] next time we play them.”

Moment of the game: In the second inning, McGill’s defence struggled with a couple of errors, but a timely double-play turned by second-baseman Milo Young and first-baseman Brad Marelich held the inning intact. 

Stat Corner: Auguste Guern led the team in hits, going two for three with two singles. 

Quotable: “I always hunt fastballs, so I was just looking for a fastball to just drive in the gaps.” —Second-baseman Milo Young on his hitting approach 

Science & Technology

Time to BeReal: Could the newly popular app be addictive?

by Niamh Stafford on

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Many students across North American university campuses receive identical notifications on their smartphones every day: Time to BeReal. The alert is sent out to all those who have downloaded the popular social media app BeReal, which delivers a less-filtered online experience to those looking to avoid overly-polished content. The recent rise in the app’s popularity has sparked some buzz among Gen Z—most notably, university students—and has reignited interest in the psychological effects of apps designed to document our lives. 

BeReal sends users a daily notification at a randomized time of day, prompting them to simultaneously capture an image of themselves and their surroundings within two minutes of receiving the notification. Users’ photos are posted to their pages for their followers to enjoy. The app is meant to be all that Instagram and TikTok are not: Unfiltered, organic, and spontaneous. In other words, the BeReal app is an interface meant to offer its users the opportunity to connect with one another’s authentic and real-life content. Its popularity, however, may not be due to the kind of interactions it offers between users.

Many organizations, such as the Canadian Mental Health Association of Ontario, consider social media and excessive internet use to be an addiction. People addicted to social media experience many of the symptoms seen in other types of addictions, such as drug and alcohol dependencies, including mood changes, increased tolerance with use, and even withdrawal and relapse symptoms. 

According to several neuropsychology studies that examined the effects of long-term social media use on chemical interactions in the brain, the  neural pathways activated while scrolling through platforms like Facebook or Instagram are the same as those when using cocaine. Many of these pathways involve dopamine, a neurotransmitter and a hormone that generates the pleasurable reward feeling we get when we gamble or take an addictive substance. Big social media corporations are well aware of this and exploit the brain’s craving for larger doses of pleasure. They do all that they can to keep users consuming content, like incorporating a refresh feature to increase session times. The longer you spend on social media, the more addictive it becomes, and the more your happiness depends on it. 

In spite of BeReal’s claims that it provides a “realer” form of social media, users may find themselves trapped by the same addictive mechanisms used by Facebook and Instagram.

“Requiring people to post at a particular time really doesn’t solve any of the problems of online interaction, and it intensifies pressure on people to represent themselves,” wrote Jonathan Sterne, a professor in McGill’s Department of Art History and Communication Studies, in an email to The McGill Tribune. 

For some, BeReal’s spontaneous notification is indeed an added stress, but its promise of authenticity is a huge plus in many users’ eyes. It remains to be seen whether the app is less addictive because, unlike other forms of social media, the whole experience is very short-lived.  

“I like the idea and I think it’s fun but other than the one photo you take a day there’s really nothing much else to it,” wrote Kate Frost, U3 Biology, in an email to the Tribune. “It’s interesting for about five minutes a day at most.” 
For some McGillians, BeReal is new, exciting, and fun. For others, the hype is over. Social media giants like Meta and Twitter, however, are harder to escape. When new apps enter the zeitgeist, it’s important to be critical of the claims they make. Maybe BeReal’s nostalgic return to authentic social media is necessary. But, if our psychological tendency to use social media apps for comparison is any indication, that’s a big maybe.

McGill, News

Bill 96 raises concerns for prospective and current international McGill community members

by Shani Laskin on

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The strict provisions of Quebec’s new French language law, Bill 96, have raised concerns among international students and faculty members at McGill about the impacts the legislation will have on their lives. With the law making it harder to access public services in English, some non-French-speaking community members are worried that Montreal will become a less desirable place to study and work. 

To fulfill the Coalition Avenir Québec’s (CAQ) mandate and to strengthen the French language charter, the National Assembly of Quebec passed Bill 96 on May 24. Since its introduction, Bill 96 has drawn criticism for the severity of some of its provisions, as well as its invocation of the notwithstanding clause, which allows the bill to override certain clauses of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

While McGill is situated in Quebec—where the official language is French—it is an English-speaking institution where 49 per cent of students self-report being beginner or intermediate level French speakers. McGill also has a significant international population: 30 per cent are foreign students, though students from France comprise 16 per cent of this group. 

In an email to The McGill Tribune, Ratna Ghosh, a professor in McGill’s Department of Integrated Studies in Education, explained that she believes Bill 96 will act as a barrier for international students wanting to come to McGill.  

“What Bill 96 is doing is making things difficult for international students who come to Quebec and don’t know French,” Ghosh wrote. “A large share of international students come to McGill thinking they are coming to an English university but in Montreal […] they will not be able to access public services in English [….] This is not the way to attract international talent at a time of intense globalization.”

Ghosh added that Bill 101, a law conceived to make French the most commonly used language in Quebec, had already been successful in promoting French since it came into effect in 1977. 

Bill 96 affects the operations of businesses, schools, and immigration services by requiring most communication to take place solely in French and by making it easier for the Quebec Board of the French Language to conduct searches and seizures of entities that fail to comply. The new law also requires that new immigrants learn French within six months of their arrival, after which all public services must, by default, be provided in French. 

Onyeka Dike, a second-year English Literature master’s student at McGill and the External Affairs Officer of the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS), echoed Ghosh’s warning about Bill 96 in an email to the Tribune. Dike gave examples of certain struggles McGill community members may face due to Bill 96, such as an international student being forced to navigate Quebec rental tribunal proceedings in French, that may deter them from establishing roots in Montreal. 

“When all these factors are considered, it goes without saying McGill and other schools in the province will become unattractive to anglophone and allophone students across the world,” Dike wrote.* 

Despite the Bill’s potential impacts on students and faculty members, McGill media relations officer Frédérique Mazerolle said it will not affect the way McGill offers services to students. In an email to the  Tribune, Mazerolle assured that McGill’s language of instruction will remain English.

“Like all businesses and institutions operating in Quebec, McGill University must comply with the laws and provisions in force, including with respect to the Charter of the French Language,” Mazerolle wrote. “The University is currently examining Bill 96 and changes to the Charter that affect universities, businesses, government agencies, workers and consumers. As we adapt to these changes, it is important to stress that we will continue to offer teaching and services in English to students.”

*The views expressed by Onyeka Dike are his own and do not represent those of PGSS.

Science & Technology

400 days of cycling and recycling

by Sara Chiarotto O’Brien on

More in Science & Technology:

On July 1, 62-year-old McGill mechanical engineering professor Larry Lessard set out on the journey of a lifetime. An avid cyclist and expert on recycling, Lessard plans to travel across three continents, 28 countries, and 20,000 kilometres in 400 days. Along the way, he’ll stop at universities and wind farms to share his research into recycling and push for a faster transition to a circular economy.

On the evening of his interview with The McGill Tribune, Lessard had just finished a 125-kilometre leg of the trip from Magdeburg to Liepzig, Germany. Nearing retirement and dealing with the early stages of arthritis, there was no time left to waste.

“I’ve been wanting to do this all my life,” Lessard said.“I had a career and all kinds of things that got in the way. And now I have a chance to do it.”

 Lessard’s route started in Paris and will conclude in Montreal. He will travel through most of Northern Europe and Scandinavia before moving south through Turkey, Georgia, Iran, and Azerbaijan. After a short stint flying through India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, where roads are less friendly for bikers, he will resume his journey in Thailand, covering much of South East Asia and Japan. Finally, he will return to Canada for his final journey from Vancouver to Montreal. 

The Bike62 Project, as he calls it, is more than just a thrill-seeking adventure. In addition to spreading his knowledge about recycling, he plans to visit wind farms and speak with clean energy leaders about the need to recycle wind turbine blades, which each contain about eight tons of fibreglass—a material with high potential for reuse in recycling.

“[Wind farming] is an industry that prides itself on being green energy. But they have a big waste problem,” Lessard said. “We want to target these green people first because they have a vested interest in their green image […] and then we can expand into other sectors.”

Fibreglass, made from carbon fibre, is found in objects like bathtubs, boat bodies, and bicycles. Though notoriously difficult to recycle, its second-life potential is huge. Carbon fibre is stronger than steel and doesn’t corrode or rust, but takes 14 times as much energy to produce. Finding a way to reuse existing carbon fibre could enable mass production of longer-lasting buildings, machinery, and vehicles, while reducing the environmental impact of waste and unnecessary production of new fibreglass. 

Lessard is looking forward to the leg of his trip that will take him through countries with less robust recycling infrastructure, where citizens and governments are forced to think creatively about solutions to waste management and the climate crisis. He notes that initiatives like Canada’s public recycling pick-up program are not universal.

He plans to compile his findings into a documentary that he’s filming along the way with support from the Paragon Institute of Innovation. Each day, he films his travels on a Go-Pro that he attaches to his bike. He supplements the footage with interviews shot on a small movie camera, a drone, and an iPhone which he carries in a saddle bag. A crowdfunding campaign for the project is currently running on his GoFundMe.

Balancing the distance, the terrain, the equipment, and a busy schedule has not been easy. 

“I consider myself a naive person,” said Lessard, clearly in good spirits. “Even if it’s difficult, I can’t go back now.” 

You can follow Lessard’s trip and see a live route map at www.Bike62.com or on Instagram at @ridebike.saveplanet.

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