The rising concern about plastic pollution: imminent consequences and possible solutions

By Christine Thou, Environmental Sciences editor In December 2019, residents of the Isle of Harris in Scotland found a dead sperm whale washed up on a beach. The whale died after ingesting 220 pounds of plastic that had been carelessly discarded into the ocean. Over the last 60 years, plastic products have been used to […]

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Traditional Ecological Knowledge and science: a path forward

By Mary Anne Schoenhardt, Science in Society editor “A foot in both worlds” is how Ph.D. student Enooyaq Sudlovenick describes her work. An Inuk studying the health of beluga whales at the University of Manitoba, she uses a combination of the scientific method and traditional Inuit knowledge in her research. She monitors environmental contaminants and […]

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Why is your doctor still using a fax machine? Barriers to electronic health records in Canada

by Katie Compton, Policy & Politics editor In our day-to-day lives, we access digital information with such ease that we don’t really stop and think about the underlying infrastructure that makes it all possible. When we encounter the edges of this digital ease—say, when one of our trusted messaging apps goes offline unexpectedly—it can be […]

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Plastic recycling in Canada

Images by Daylen, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0 and Regan Walsh, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA modified

Esme Symons and Sri Ray-Chauduri, Technology & Engineering editors Plastic items, including single-use plastics, are ubiquitous throughout Canada. When we’re done with a disposable water bottle, many of us will spot a recycling symbol and throw it in a recycling bin, believing we’ve given the material a new lease on life. However, with Canada recycling […]

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