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Student Life

Shag Shop gets physical

by ET Wu on

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The Shag Shop, McGill’s sexual health wellness boutique, has reopened their location in the Healthy Living Annex on the third floor of the Brown Building after going digital in 2014. The return to a physical location seeks to increase awareness of the store among the student body and give people an opportunity to get more accurate representations of the products they are buying. 

“It’s really hard to reach students [online], so having a physical space is a great way to have people interact and get people to come,” Leigh Hoffman, Coordinator of the Shag Shop, said. “When you’re shopping, you want to be able to touch the things, you want to be able to ask questions [… and] looking at measurements on a computer screen is not exactly the same as being able to see [a product].”

The Shag Shop hopes to make sexual health products more accessible to students. An important mandate since a survey by the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada found that 72 per cent of university and college students were reported to be sexually active .

“Our mission is to promote sexual wellness and health on campus,” Hoffman said. “We do that through the boutique [by] providing financially accessible sexual wellness products. That ranges from menstrual products, both reusable and disposable, to sex toys, lubes, and condoms.” 

The shop also wants to educate students on what chemicals are in their sexual health products such as lubes, condoms, and tampons, as well as provide alternatives to products they may have an allergic reaction to. 

“The goal of health services is to promote health and wellness, and part of that is paying attention to what we put in or on our bodies,” Hoffman said. “[…] A lot of lubes are made with chemicals that can be toxic or irritating.” 

The boutique emphasizes their commitment to health by offering a range of organic and natural products at accessible prices, a good choice for students either on a budget or who don’t want bleached products, such as pads and tampons. Most of the time, unbleached menstrual products and organic plant-based lubricants can be hard to find and are expensive at pharmacies; Shag Shop aims to make these products cheaper and more available to those who need them. 

“It is a priority for us to offer options, […] because sometimes people don’t know about those things, and sometimes they can be inaccessible as in harder to find and much more expensive,” Hoffman said. 

In addition to quality assurance, the boutique also vows to show their values of inclusivity through their diverse range of products which aim to serve all sexual and gender orientations. 

“It’s been a priority of mine to have our stock reflect the diversity of experiences in terms of sexuality and gender,” Hoffman said. 

While walking into a physical space to buy or even discuss sex products can be an intimidating experience, the staff at the Shag Shop are completely prepared to handle such situations in an open and welcoming manner. 

“In terms of the staff, all the ambassadors are trained to be able to talk about sex in ways that are sensitive to the multitudes of realities that people live in,” Hoffman said. 

For those who feel overwhelmed at the thought of going to the Shag Shop, however, the boutique will still maintain its online site. 

 

Research Briefs, Science & Technology

29th edition of Soup and Science

by Amir Hotter Yishay, Madison McLauchlan, Daria Kiseleva, Katherine Dulong, & Shafaq Nami on

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McGill professors presented their scientific research to crowds of students in the Redpath Museum at the 29th iteration of Soup and Science from Jan. 13–17. After snacking on complementary soup and sandwiches, writers from The McGill Tribune compiled highlights from the week.

Nutrient cycling and ecosystem science

Fiona Soper, assistant professor in the Department of Biology, just started at McGill this semester, bringing the Soper Lab with her. Soper specializes in ecosystem science, drawing on plant physiology and biogeochemistry to explore the ways in which plants interact with their environment. In particular, Soper analyzes nutrient cycling processes to understand how plants respond to climate change. 

“One of the big questions in ecosystem science is the extent to which plants can capitalize on having more [carbon dioxide] in the atmosphere to increase their growth and to change the trajectory of climate change,” Soper said. 

An upcoming project will involve field and lab work on the mechanisms by which tropical plants scavenge for nutrients in high carbon environments, which will take the Soper Lab to the slopes of a volcano in Costa Rica.

Exploring species distributions

Professor Anna Hargreaves from the Department of Biology described her lab’s exploration of species range distributions, the areas in which species can be found during their lifetime.

“Thinking about species distribution is interesting [because it is] a fundamental way of understanding a whole bunch of our modern conservation issues,” Hargreaves said.

For example, the effects of climate change can be studied through the response of species distributions. Hargreaves discussed several tools that the lab used, including in-depth field experiments at the community scale, global data syntheses that incorporate worldwide data, and the Biotic Interaction Gradient (BIG) experiment, which is run on mountain ranges in various parts of the world.

Data mining for cybersecurity

Benjamin Fung, an associate professor in the School of Information Studies, gave an overview of his research on data mining for cybersecurity. 

“Data mining is a process of extracting interesting patterns or knowledge from a large volume of data,” Fung said.

Some of Fung’s research focusses on predicting the identity of anonymous communicators on the dark web based on patterns in writing style. He is also interested in preserving privacy in cases where large amounts of sensitive data, such as patient records, need to be released for data mining to a third party, like a university. Anonymization algorithms transform data so that outsiders can no longer obtain sensitive data about patients but can still extract useful information from the dataset.  

The human genome

Guillaume Bourque, an associate professor in the Department of Human Genetics, is focussed on the human genome and the presence of viral DNA within it. After the Human Genome Project sequenced the human genome in 2003, researchers realized that only two per cent of it is DNA that can be used to make proteins, termed coding DNA. Meanwhile, viruses’ inactive genetic code comprise eight per cent of the human genome.

“Part of the placenta is actually derived from viruses in our genome,” Bourque said. 

Bourque’s work shows that viral DNA is integral to humanity. Aside from being involved in pregnancy, viruses in our genome also activate the immune system to fight against disease.

The psychology of pain

Assistant Professor Mathieu Roy from the Department of Psychology presented his research on how brains make decisions between pain and competing rewards. Roy’s research shows that as monetary rewards grow higher, the likelihood of people choosing to endure more pain increases.

“I was interested in how the brain generates consciousness […] and emotions,” Roy said. “Pain is a sensory experience, but it’s also an emotional one, and, contrary to other emotions, it is easy to study in the laboratory [because] pain implies consciousness.” 

In the future, Roy hopes to expand his research by analyzing databases like the UK BioBank and studying the response of the brain as it makes conscious decisions. This understanding of the brain might change the way we treat chronic pain.

Soccer, Sports

Higher wages lead to change in NWSL draft classes

by Kaja Surborg on

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The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) held its annual college draft on Jan. 16 in Chicago, and for the second year in a row, an underclassman was selected first overall. This year’s first pick was 19-year-old Sophia Smith, who, along with being the first teenager drafted into the NWSL, is coming off a national-title-winning sophomore season at Stanford University. This growing trend of drafting young players with remaining collegiate eligibility is indicative of a changing landscape in professional women’s soccer, especially in North America.

It was, and still is, common for female professional soccer players to have careers outside of playing. Until relatively recently, many leagues did not pay a living wage, sponsorships were not particularly lucrative, and even if a player could earn a decent salary, it was unlikely that they could fund a retirement starting before the age of 40. 

In North America, and especially the United States, collegiate athletics are a common gateway to a professional sports career. The introduction of Title IX in 1972 required universities receiving federal funding to offer equal access to coaching, equipment, facilities, and other services to both women’s and men’s teams. This eventually created an environment in which university athletics became a viable route to a professional career for female athletes and introduced college drafts in various iterations of professional soccer leagues in the United States as well as in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). 

Players declaring for the draft with remaining NCAA eligibility, however, suggests a shift in the way women are approaching their careers and raises the question of whether the college system is still the best way to facilitate the development of the game. Collegiate athletics as a development program and pipeline to professional careers has provided female players with a safety net in the form of an education that, for many years, was necessary. But athletes who feel that their playing careers can now support them without a university education calls into question the value the college system still holds. 

The NWSL is home to the vast majority of players on the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT), who are back-to-back reigning world champions. While most players on the roster that won the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup spent at least some time playing in the NCAA, perhaps they could have been better served by an academy system integrated into the structure of professional club teams, as is the practice in Europe. It is a model that has helped the best men’s leagues develop over the years, as players have been able to invest more time in training and playing. While the NCAA has served to centralize the development of women’s soccer in North America, an academy system that decentralizes that development has the potential to make soccer more accessible and broaden the talent pool for professional leagues. At a time when players are willing to take risks to pursue their professional careers, youth development programs that feed directly into the club system may be a step toward developing women’s soccer and continuing to attract interest from players, sponsors, and supporters alike. 

Of course, there are valid criticisms of these club academy systems, and there is an argument to be made that women’s leagues should not necessarily seek to imitate men’s leagues. Putting too much emphasis on training and playing could deprive young people of opportunities to pursue other interests, and education has rarely had negative impacts. But, should women’s soccer continue on its current trajectory of growth, investing in academies could help foster homegrown talent for clubs in one of the world’s most competitive leagues. 

Commentary, Opinion

The CAQ’s secular mission masks discrimination

by Kennedy McKee-Braide on

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The Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) recently announced its intention to abolish the mandatory Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) course taught in schools around the province. The decision comes less than a year after Bill 21, a law that prohibits certain public servants from wearing religious symbols, passed in the National Assembly. Some have called the move to end the course an extension of Québec’s commitment to ‘secularism.’ The CAQ has also launched a consultative survey that invites the public to suggest new themes for the course’s replacement, which will partially or wholly abandon religious topics. Like in the case of Bill 21, Québec is using the separation of government and religion to mask its xenophobia. Ending ERC courses will ultimately be harmful to the province’s youth, who stand to benefit from the added understanding of the province’s multitude of religions. 

  Created in 2008 under the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party, the course, which looks into the vast array of different cultures in the province and encourages students to consider ethical dilemmas, has remained controversial since its outset. Following its introduction, the Supreme Court of Canada considered : One in which parents complained that the course went against the religious and moral beliefs they taught at home and another, Loyola High School v Quebec AG, where a Catholic private school fought against having to teach students about morality in the context of other religions. While the Court ruled against the parents in the first case, their decision in the latter led to an exemption for some private institutions from having to teach the course. 

 In this context, it becomes clear that numerous interest groups in Quebec are more preoccupied with avoiding exposure to a diverse range of religions than protecting secularism, as the CAQ claims. In 2009, sociologist Joëlle Quérin published an article that denounced the course, claiming that it went too far in promoting multiculturalism and served to fundamentally change the nature of Quebec’s culture, traditionally conceived of as French-speaking and Catholic. 

Querin’s view is representative of a broader debate between proponents of multiculturalism and those of ‘interculturalism’: The latter claims to stand in defence of a common Québécois French culture that integrates newcomers into a secular society as opposed to encouraging cultural pluralism. ‘Interculturalism’  is supposedly the logic behind Bill 21, and now the decision on ERC courses. The consultative survey outlines eight potential themes for the replacement class: Citizen participation and democracy, legal education, green citizenship, sexuality, personal development and interpersonal relationships, ethics, digital citizenship, and societal culture. These themes, the government claims, are meant to reflect the values of a modern, secular Quebec. However, these themes can and should stand alongside the currently existing religious component of the course.

Despite their alleged commitment to secularism, the actions of some CAQ politicians suggest other priorities. As of 2011, 82.36 per cent of Quebec residents identified as Christian, and 75 per cent as Catholic more specifically. Premier Francois Legault drew criticism in December for telling California Governor Gavin Newsom that all French Canadians are Catholic. Legault’s comment exemplifies how Quebec politicians use the secularism argument only when it serves them, and evidently to specifically target religious minorities. 

The fact that such a large proportion of Quebecers practice a single religion reinforces the need for a course like ERC. Despite McGill’s location in a relatively multicultural city, a large portion of Québec’s population is rural, and many Québecers have little exposure to cultures other than their own. As such, ERC can serve to introduce those living in less diverse areas to different cultures. Doing away with this course means that some students may be less likely to learn about religious acceptance, which could be particularly damaging to religious minorities in the context of rising immigration rates in the province and country. 

There is no doubt that the new themes that the education ministry has proposed are important and relevant. However, it seems clear that the priority in scrapping ERC is to avoid teaching students religious tolerance. Unfortunately, the CAQ’s policies are popular, and the changes will likely be made before the end of Premier Legault’s mandate. Still, as young people living in Quebec, McGill students opposed to these policies have a responsibility to organize with faculty associations, contact Members of the National Assembly to voice their disapproval, go to demonstrations against discriminatory policies, similar to the Jan. 17 student protest, and defend those made vulnerable by the province’s xenophobia. 

Science & Technology

Immortalizing the mortal: Merging art and medicine

by Angelina Giordano on

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At its annual ‘Immortalizing the Mortal’ event in November 2019, the Maude Abbott Medical Museum revealed its chosen specimen: A uterus with large leiomyoma (or fibroids), benign tumours that occur when smooth tissue or connective tissue grows in the uterus. The event, which uses medical specimens to inspire artists and celebrate the artistic prowess of the participants, aims to explore the intersection of art and science to enable mortals to be immortalized through art focussing on their mystic medical histories. The specimen, which should be ‘artistically clothed with flesh,’ may be expressed through poetry, sketch, photography, or any other medium. 

The Maude Abbott Medical Museum opened around the same time as the founding of the Montreal General Hospital in 1822 and the Montreal Medical Institute in 1823. The Holmes heart, acquired by McGill’s first Dean of Medicine Dr. Andrew Holmes in 1824, is the museum’s oldest and most recognizable specimen. In 1899, the museum was curated by Maude Abbott, the first woman to graduate from McGill with a Bachelor of Arts and the first woman to be admitted into McGill’s Faculty Club. After being denied entry into McGill’s medical school, Abbott went on to transform the medical museum into one of the best teaching museums in North America.

Richard Fraser, a pathologist at the McGill University Health Centre and curator of the museum, supervised the event. Fraser explained that the museum uses the specimens in the way that they were traditionally meant to be used, for analysis and medical diagnosis. However, hosting a creative event uncovers another side of the specimen. His vast knowledge on the topic allows event guests to learn about both pathology at McGill and the history of the field. 

Pathology is a type of medical science in which scientists study surgically removed organs and tissues to diagnose disease. There are three different kinds of pathology: Cytopathology, molecular, and surgical pathology. Cytopathology is used to diagnose diseases such as cancer at the cellular level, while in molecular pathology, scientists study the molecules within the organs, tissues, and bodily fluids of the subject to diagnose and classify disease, such as cancer. For the 2019 specimen, participants applied surgical pathology, which involves examining tissues with the naked eye to provide a definitive diagnosis of the disease.

“The idea was to have an exercise whereby we get a specimen [that] clearly shows pathology but to treat it in a way that brings out the different aspects of the specimen,” Fraser said. “In other words, […] we take a structure […] and then find just the shapes or colours and the way it’s lined up […] or to try and look at the specimen from the point of view of the person that it came from.”

Fraser asked event participants to describe the specimen but not give it a diagnosis, before guessing what part of the body it was.

“I see circles and it’s symmetrical on both sides,” Henriette, a first-year Medicine student, said. “From what I can see it’s quite even, but there’s like a piece here that’s missing.” 

Henriette guessed that the specimen was a brain, after which Fraser revealed the actual name.

“In fact, it’s a uterus, so you’re at the wrong end of the body,” Fraser said. “That’s an ovary, that sac, so this is an ovarian cyst, and the uterus has this whirl structure to it.”

The event staff hope that fellow participants will be similarly inspired by the shape or story of the specimen. All of the submissions of art will be presented at the wine and cheese on Jan. 17 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. 

Features

Finding your place

by Leanne Young on

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At a large school like McGill, located in the epicentre of an even bigger city like Montreal, it is easy to feel lost and isolated. Many students are stressed by academic pressure, being far from home, and the pressures of living independently. It is normal to feel alone at first, and it may take some effort before you find your community. However, here is a plethora of opportunities to help find your place on campus. Whether you decide to join a new club, hang out and study in a new place, or talk to new people in class, it all starts with a single step outside of your comfort zone. Here are just some of the many opportunities worth exploring on campus.

Creative

Word on the Y | New Year’s resolutions

by Sarah Ford and Aidan Martin on

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With a new decade and the beginning of the winter semester, we asked some McGill students what 2020 means to them, and what resolutions they have for the new year.

Video by Multimedia Editors Sarah Ford and Aidan Martin

Sports

Inside Montreal’s ultimate scene

by Adam Burton on

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We’ve all spent a warm summer day lazily throwing a frisbee around with our friends. But if one were to go to Parc Jeanne-Mance on a sunny Sunday afternoon, they would find a group of adults throwing a disc in ways you would not think were possible. With full uniforms, cleats, and players barking directions at each other, this looks more like a game of football or basketball than the friendly, carefree context that usually accompanies the graceful toss of a frisbee. This is ultimate, and it’s been growing, quietly, since its founding in 1968. 

The first ultimate team was forged in a high school parking lot in the heart of suburban New Jersey by high schooler Joel Silver, later known for producing The Matrix. The teams were separated into student government versus school-newspaper kids and were first coached by a janitor who had some spare time. Silver had invented a new sport with soaring discs, endless possibilities for creative growth, and most importantly, ‘spirit of the game’: A loose concept that emphasizes the burden of sportsmanship and the responsibility of governance on the player. Thus, ultimate is the only sport that operates without referees at every level. The “win first” mentality that is so heavily encouraged in other sports is regarded with disdain in ultimate.

Ultimate has grown from a borderline joke in a parking lot into a professional sport with paid contracts and touring teams. Its development can be attributed to growth throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, with the initial founders bringing ultimate to their colleges and laying the foundation for what would evolve into a competitive international sport. 

Today, ultimate has grown to the professional level, but those who play know that the real basis for the sport lies in the intense, tight-knit club and intramural scene that exists in almost every major urban area in North America. Every week, communities of eccentric and competitive players of all backgrounds, ages, and skill levels gather for a few hours of unadulterated, exhilarating fun.

Everybody has a different story for how they got involved in ultimate. Gwany Patenaude had been a lifelong athlete when she picked up ultimate as her primary sport in secondary school. Previously, she was a swimmer, but found herself without a sport, and so she decided to reestablish her CEGEP ultimate team. 

“I thought the combination of the team aspect of the sport [and] how much you could improve individually is what really drew me in,” Patenaude said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. 

Within three months, she joined Team Quebec and, later, Team Montreal as well. As a CEGEP student, she balances playing on two high-level teams, on top of coaching the McGill Men’s B ultimate team. 

For Kevin Quinlan, a professional player for the Montreal Royal, ultimate started as a more casual activity.  

“It started more […] like a social event than [as] a competitive thing for us,” Quinlan said in an interview with the Tribune. “We were just hanging out. Frisbee was just complementing the goofy people we were. It was when I got to college that I realized that this was more of a competitive sport, and […] people take it really seriously.”

For those who play it, ultimate is a lot more than a sport; everybody has their own reasons for loving the game.

“At first, it was really just a way to hang out with […] a really cool group of people,” Quinlan said. “But then it became the creativity you can use within the sport. There’s a lot of different ways to win. You’re always learning [and] adapting to different situations. That’s what I really love about the game.” 

For Patenaude, it is the sense of community that lies at the core of the game that she believes makes ultimate so appealing. 

“When you’re playing the game, it doesn’t matter [if you are] advanced or [a] beginner, you are all together,” Patenaud said. “I started out as a beginner, surrounded by people on national teams, and felt accepted.” 

The level of acceptance and fair style of play speaks to the sense of community that runs deep and is integral to the sport itself. The “spirit of the game” concept has been ingrained in ultimate since its founding in 1968 and is still taken very seriously. The American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL) maintains the player-officiated structure of the game, only recently implementing the use of “observers” who help mediate disagreements between teams. On the more local pick-up scene, the ‘spirit of the game’ translates to more than just sportsmanship and a self-officiated game: Players take pride in creating a competitive yet accepting and fun environment that prioritizes a sense of inclusivity and fun, which is lacking in most other competitive sports. 

“I’ve very rarely seen anyone intentionally try to abuse the rules or be unsportsmanlike,” second-year computer science student Adrien Philardeau-Planche of the McGill Men’s B team said. “There is always a high level of respect between opponents, and games essentially always remain fair, even though there are no referees in the sport. People play hard, but they don’t play dirty [….] The same can be said about Montreal’s Frisbee community. It’s very Québécois, very friendly, and quite competitive. It’s a lot of fun.”

In Montreal, ultimate flourishes every week through rain, sleet, and snow. Montrealers meet up in self- or club-organized groups to compete and have fun. Ultimate Grand Montreal, a volunteer based group, has been facilitating the growth of the community since 1993 with a mission of “encouraging the practice and development of recreational and competitive ultimate in the Montreal metropolitan area, by promoting and upholding the Spirit of the Game.” Today, UGM organizes dozens of leagues all throughout Montreal in addition to facilitating outreach programs to teach children, encourage development, and reinforce the values of hard work and the spirit of the game. 

Ultimate also exists in open pickup groups, a more casual and less organized form of the game. Every week, groups of university students, tourists, Mile-End tech professionals, and even middle-aged doctors talk on Facebook and schedule meeting times. People from across the city toss their bikes and work bags into a haphazard pile on the side of a field, and don light or dark shirt in accordance with a loosely adhered-to lights and darks policy. Then the frisbee takes flight and everything else is left behind.

“What’s unique about Montreal is that there [are] so many ways to get involved in ultimate, and to learn ultimate, and that’s really what’s unique about the city,” Quinlan said. “In smaller towns, it’s really hard to find that community. [Here,] you can start and work your way up from any level.”

Ultimate’s popularity is growing in Montreal, with kids, for the first time, picking it up at a young age. Pathenaude, who co-captains the McGill Men’s B Team, was especially surprised by her experience coaching youth outreach ultimate programs. 

“I had never met so many kids who were only playing ultimate […] as their primary sport,” Pathenaud said. “They were nailing throws I didn’t learn until I was 17.” 

Kids picking up the sport at younger and younger ages speaks wonders for the growth of ultimate in future years. The graceful, floating nature of the disc, the intricate strategic positioning and cuts, and the free flowing nature of the game, along with the endless possibilities for creativity, truly make for the ultimate sport.

Research Briefs, Science & Technology

Weathering the storm of aerosol emissions

by Caroline Lou on

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There has long been concern surrounding the environmental impacts of extracting oil from Alberta’s Athabasca oil sands, the world’s third largest oil reserve. According to a McGill-led study published in Environmental Pollution, contamination from the Athabasca oil sands is impacting the weather patterns of nearby regions. The study was led by Parisa Ariya, a professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. Ariya worked with McGill PhD candidate Rodrigo Rangel-Alvarado, as well as other collaborators from the Université de Montréal, the University of Alberta, and Environment and Climate Change Canada. 

The  researchers found that snow from areas surrounding the oil sands had much higher concentrations of particulate matter than snow from downtown Montreal. The atmospheric pollutants near the oil sands were also more efficient at ice nucleation—a process involved in the formation of clouds—than dust particles normally found in the atmosphere. This is because snow-borne particles from the Athabasca oil sands region have a higher mean freezing temperature than mineral dust. 

Snow from areas surrounding the Athabasca oil sands also had a high concentration of particles greater than 100 nanometres in size, two orders of magnitude higher than snow from Montreal. Additionally, most concentrations of metals, including chromium, nickel, copper, arsenic, selenium, cadmium, and lead, were higher in snow samples taken near the oil sands.

Ariya mentioned that there are feedbacks between air pollution, weather, and climate, which affect how pollution-induced changes to weather patterns can interact with other climate change impacts. Aerosols affect cloud properties such as the initiation, frequency, intensity, and quantity of precipitation, and can alter natural processes, such as floods and droughts.

“Climate change is known to affect urban pollution, which is the main source of climate change driving factors,” Ariya wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “Similarly, the weather conditions impact air pollution, and weather, as we show[ed] in this study, is also impacted by air pollution. In short, these three processes are linked.” 

Moreover, the ability of aerosols from the oil sands to be captured in clouds means that these pollutants can be spread to other areas through precipitation, causing damage to ecosystems, wildlife, and public health. Ariya cited reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and World Health Organization (WHO), although she noted that these intergovernmental organizations recognize the need for further research. She described how the impacts of air pollutants are not completely understood, as scientists still have to do further research into the physicochemical characteristics of aerosols, such as size and composition, to understand how they interact with clouds.

“The [IPCC and WHO] concurred that particulate air pollutants are their utmost knowledge gap,” Ariya wrote. “Air pollution is linked to eight million premature deaths worldwide every year.”

Despite the lack of knowledge on health impacts of particulate air pollutants, emissions from the Athabasca oil sands operations have been linked to health risks, such as increased likelihood of developing cancer and respiratory problems. 

“I think that we opened up a closed door to show that anthropogenic airborne nanoparticles can play [a] key role in weather processes, which [has] not [been] considered before,” Ariya wrote. “It builds […] on our leading contributions on air and snow nano-emerging compounds in urban centres or other polluted sites, such as oil sands covered in this study, and their importance in both health and climate research.” 

In the meantime, Ariya’s lab is conducting further research to explore the effects of other major industrial pollutants. The lab is also developing novel sustainable technology for air and water pollution remediation, as well as for the detection of gaseous and particulate matter, which will play an important role in tackling the mounting problems associated with anthropogenic pollution.

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV, Pop Rhetoric

Pop Dialectic: ‘Cats’ divides theatre aficionados

by Kyle Dewsnap, Gabe Nisker on

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Every generation has its signature so-bad-it’s-good movie: Before there was The Room, there was Showgirls, then Plan 9 From Outer Space. This week, The McGill Tribune decided to investigate Cats, the newest addition to this canon. 

A real cat-astrophe

Gabe Nisker 

One cat takes a couple of attempts to launch Bustopher Jones, performed by top-billed James Corden in one of two fat-shaming roles, the other from Rebel Wilson, into a garbage can so he can eat. It doesn’t work: Corden lands on the rim of the garbage can, and squarely on where his human genitals would be. It hurts, obviously, and it is played for laughs, because the film loves focussing the camera on crotches. Director Tom Hooper’s Cats movie is surprisingly and incredibly sexualized, usually to its detriment. The characters give longing looks, sidle up to, and nuzzle each other far too often.

Hooper’s bizarre directorial decision to use the same shaky camerawork he employed in his 2012 adaptation of Les Miserables often makes the work feel like a nature documentary, minus the David Attenborough narration. However, unlike the other 2019 musical nature documentary The Lion King, Cats does not depict anything resembling a feline on screen. The computer-generated fur in Hooper’s film is patchy and incomplete: Dame Judi Dench, whose lazy performance suggests that her check must have cleared prior to shooting the film, wears her wedding ring on her visible human hands. When antagonist cat Macavity (Idris Elba) removes his fur—yes, many cats have fur coats on top of, well, fur coats—to reveal a six-pack, the audience gasped. Sure, Elba is handsome—a key factor for those suggesting he play James Bond—but his furry body is more like Frankenstein’s Monster than a suave British spy.

Ultimately, Cats is an absolute trainwreck. The choosing of the Jellicle Choice—the winning cat of what appears to be a singing competition—is one of the major plot points of the film. The winning cat is floated up to the Heaviside Layer, which is the film world’s version of Heaven. Despite these references to paradise, the film presents something more hellish.

 

Cats is purr-fect

Kyle Dewsnap

Cats is a movie that, arguably, should never have existed. However, seeing that Universal and Andrew Lloyd Weber decided to curse Tom Hooper with turning the infamous Broadway show into a feature film, the director did absolutely everything in his power to make sure that his Cats was the best it could possibly be. In the end, he ended up creating one of the most fascinating movies that I have ever seen.

Even when performed onstage, Cats  is already a horribly awkward thing to watch: The show is comprised of two and a half hours of spandex-wearing actors introducing themselves to the audience as they all compete to be the next cat to die and be reborn. Hooper’s movie is strongest when it fully embraces this awkwardness. In the best scene of the movie, we see Skimbleshanks, played by Australian ballerino Steven McRae, lead a row of other cats as they tap dance on a railway line towards King’s Cross station, making for an absolutely delightful musical number. However, the movie also has startling moments of self-awareness where it acknowledges how embarrassing the subject matter is. This leads Hooper to make bold creative choices to distract the audience from the singing furries, such as making Jason Derulo waterboard James Cordon with CGI champagne. These scenes are incredibly disturbing, lending Cats the same horrifying energy reminiscent of a middle school’s theatre production.

As a result, Cats remains engaging throughout its entire 109 minute runtime, which cannot be said of many films. Watching Cats is like being unable to look away from a five-car pileup on the side of the highway. It’s degenerate, ugly to look at, and will haunt me for weeks to come.

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