The calming effects of natural soundscapes

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Jaspreet Sanghera, Biology and Life Sciences editor Birds chirping, wind brushing through treetops, the babble of running water – nature’s music is abundant and has long been a source of comfort for humanity. Shakespeare noted the beauty of nature’s sounds in The Tempest: The isle is full of noises, Sounds and sweet airs, that give […]

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

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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 […]

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Night owls or early birds: how being active at different times of day allows wildlife to coexist with people

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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 […]

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Microplastics: Small pieces of plastic with a big impact

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Dorottya Harangi, Health, Medicine & Veterinary Sciences editor In 2016, 29,000 tonnes of plastic entered Canada’s marine ecosystem. That may sound like a lot, but it amounts to only one per cent of the country’s total plastic waste. Experts estimate that, by 2050, there will be about 12,000,000 kilotonnes of plastic waste in the global […]

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Using a soapbox to plug a leaky professional pipeline

image courtesy of Isla Watton of Soapbox Science

Rebecca Dang, guest contributor   Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have a gender diversity issue. The professional pipeline, stretching from high school and undergraduate university through graduate school to post-doctoral fellowships and positions in academia, leaks. Especially at the early career stage, a higher proportion of women (cis gender, transgender, asexual, heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian, […]

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