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 […]
Biology and Life Sciences
Why do we (dis)trust? A look at the science of credibility
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 […]
Bats: COVID-19’s unexpected victim
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 […]
Why are some Canadians hesitant about COVID-19 vaccines?
Michael Ralph Limmena, Health, Medicine and Veterinary Sciences editor In the wake of the Canadian government’s approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines in December 2020, many Canadians are eager to get vaccinated. However, some people remain hesitant. According to an IPSOS survey of 1,001 Canadians in November 2020, 28 per cent would […]
Night owls or early birds: how being active at different times of day allows wildlife to coexist with people
Alina C. Fisher and Tanya Samman, Environmental and Earth Sciences co-editors While looking out your office (or home office) window, do you give any thought to wildlife? Many city dwellers may not think about wildlife often during a regular day. We don’t see bison roaming our city streets or cougars in the trees of […]