Planting cleaner air: Can roadside plants reduce air pollution?

Image by Pexels from Pixabay, CC0

Katie Compton and Silvie Harder, Policy & Politics editors If you’ve gone shopping for a houseplant recently, you might have noticed that some species, like spider plants and peace lilies, are identified as having air-purifying qualities. This labelling isn’t just empty marketing. A study done by NASA 30 years ago tested the air-purifying capacity of […]

Continue reading


Why do we (dis)trust? A look at the science of credibility

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels

Alice Fleerackers, Science in Society editor It’s March 9, 2021, exactly one year after the first COVID-19-related death was reported in my home province of British Columbia. I wake up to see Canadian Doctors Speak Out trending on Twitter. Curious, I click through. There, I uncover heated streams of tweets, some calling out misinformation, others […]

Continue reading


Bats: COVID-19’s unexpected victim

It remains unclear how or where these transfers between species occurred. Image: Jody Confer, CC0, via Unsplash.

Elizabeth Benner, Biology & Life Sciences editor COVID-19 was the major villain of 2020. But another biological life form received a lot of press, as media speculation centred on bats as the origin of the virus.   Bats and viruses Virus scientists found that SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, came from a virus in […]

Continue reading


Better disposal for disposable masks

Esme Symons, Technology & Engineering editor   They are appearing everywhere like dandelions in spring: disposable masks. But while dandelions are a natural phenomenon that heralds warmer weather, disposable masks on the sidewalk or in the street are just garbage. Uptick in disposable mask usage Disposable mask usage has increased dramatically due to the COVID-19 […]

Continue reading