Planting cleaner air: Can roadside plants reduce air pollution?

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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 […]

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Bike helmets protect your head from injury, but there’s a catch

Katrina Brain, guest contributor If you ever fall off your bicycle, you’ll want to be wearing a helmet. If you’re in a bike accident, a helmet could reduce your odds of a head injury by about 51 per cent, and reduce your odds of a fatal head injury by 65 per cent. This makes wearing […]

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Data-sharing in the time of COVID-19

Coronavirus eye - data by Matrix cc0 via pixabay

Katie Compton, Policy and Politics editor As the COVID-19 pandemic has upended our lives, we’ve all become health-data seekers. Each day, we scan our newsfeeds for information about whether we’re flattening the curve, wonder what the #NewNormal will look like, and search hopefully for any news about treatments or vaccines. Answering the questions foremost on […]

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Katie Compton, Policy & Politics editor

While finishing up her undergraduate degree in biology at the University of Prince Edward Island, Katie realized that she loves writing about science. After earning a master’s degree in science communication at Drexel University, she worked as a science writer and editor at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. At CIHR, she had the opportunity […]

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Immigrating to Canada with a STEM degree in hand

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Nahomi Amberber, Policy and Politics co-editor Fifty years after it was first established, the Canadian point system for immigrants continues to have large effects on our culture, our economy and our diversity. The 1967 regulations valued education, occupational demand and age, a dramatic change from the racially discriminatory policies of the time. These regulations were […]

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