The changing landscape of permafrost data

By Nick Brown, new science communicator As permafrost research heats up, national and territorial geological surveys are digging up old data to help answer new questions about Canada’s cold regions. The need for permafrost data in Canada Permafrost – ground that is colder than 0°C for at least two years – is changing as Earth’s […]

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Why frozen mud is a technical challenge for climate scientists

By Charles Gauthier, new science communicator “So, it’s frozen mud?” my roommate asks when I try to explain my research topic to him. Since starting his own research in quantum physics, he has mastered the art of simple idioms. Perks of the trade, I suppose. This frozen mud, however, covers half of Canada’s land mass. […]

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The future of carbon: capture, storage, sequestration, re-use

Photo by Sander Weeteling on Unsplash, CC0

Nada Salem and Zahra Nasser, Chemistry editors The world is on fire. From British Columbia to Greece, the growing effects of climate change have become impossible to ignore. In its latest report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that “it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.” So, […]

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A journey to the Canadian Arctic and its impact on the environment

Photo by Jamie D’Souza, 2018

Jamie D’Souza, guest contributor Since the 1960s, Churchill, Manitoba, the self-proclaimed ‘polar bear capital of the world’, has attracted thousands of tourists who hope to see polar bears lounging in the willows or on the shoreline of the Hudson Bay. But spotting a polar bear in its natural habitat near Churchill may soon become less […]

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Zombies and miracles: What lingers below the frozen surface of the warming Arctic?

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Ainslie Butler, Health, Medicine & Veterinary Sciences editor What mysterious critters and creatures are lying dormant, frozen beneath the Arctic’s surface, and what will emerge as a result of thawing permafrost and melting ice in a globally changing climate? Recently, pop culture has taken notice of the threat of ancient diseases in the age of […]

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