From Our Own Borealis Blog

Communicating science through picture books: Illustrator Kari Rust

By Raymond K. Nakamura, Multimedia editor Picture books about scientists heighten younger readers’ awareness that science is a human endeavour. Picture books not only help young readers develop literacy; they are also an art form all their own. To find out more about this often-overlooked style of science communication, I reached out to Canadian illustrator, […]

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If you can’t beat the cold, join it: How animals cope with Canadian winters

By Nada Salem and Zahra Nassar, Chemistry co-editors We’re almost there! We’ve survived another Canadian winter. It’s just about time to take off our scarves and hats and leave this winter season behind. This year was a tad colder than usual, with Vancouver (Canada’s characteristically warm haven) experiencing its lowest temperatures in 52 years. While […]

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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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Navigating Canada’s path towards open science

By Sonja Soo, Communications, Education & Outreach editor Open science is a movement that encourages scientists to freely share their data, tools, and infrastructure to foster collaboration and accelerate research. Many forms of open science have been gaining traction over the last decade. For example, in 2009, mathematician Timothy Gowers posted a complex unsolved math […]

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Microfibre mitigation: Keeping clothing fibres out of the environment

by Esme Symons, Technology & Engineering editor Washing can be hard on clothes. It removes dirt but can also remove tiny strands of clothing. These microfibres then go down the drain and into the environment. As the “micro” prefix suggests, each fibre is at most 5 mm long. Together, the impact of these fibres is […]

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