When Science Borealis launched in 2013, Canadian science blogging was at the height of its popularity. The organization was founded by a group of Canadian science bloggers (Maryse de la Giroday, Sarah Boon, Steph Taylor, Raymond Nakamura, Mike Spear, Pascal Lapointe, and Kim Moynahan) whose vision was to create increase the quality and reach of science communications in Canada through a two-pronged approach. First, Science Borealis would function as an aggregator of Canadian science blogs, creating a “one-stop-shop” for stories about Canadian science; second, we would launch our own blog, the Borealis Blog, to provide a platform and training opportunities for Canadian science communicators.
Over the past 12 years, Science Borealis has succeeded beyond our expectations, syndicating over 130 member blogs covering topics from astronomy to zoology, and publishing over 600 carefully researched and edited posts on the Borealis Blog. The organization has been wholly volunteer-powered the entire time, with as many as 50 volunteers contributing more than 1,800 hours of their time annually. Science Borealis’ founders can be proud of what they have built and their outstanding contributions to the Canadian science communication landscape.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. It is with great sadness that we announce we will be shutting down our site as of 31 January 2025. This is not the outcome the Science Borealis team were hoping for; however, difficulties in obtaining funding have made this the only possible decision in the immediate future.
The site will, however, be archived, so if you have contributed to the Borealis Blog in the past, your work will not be lost. In addition, we are still exploring a number of options moving forward and we sincerely hope we may be able to resurrect the site in some form in the next few months – so watch this space!
So for today, we won’t say goodbye, just that we hope to see you later! We thank all the members of the Science Borealis community – editors, writers, readers, volunteers, and member bloggers – for your support of Science Borealis over the last 12 years.
Feature image: Northern lights in NL. Photo: Aaron Adamack.
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