Every year, 200 to 250 Canadians die while waiting for an organ transplant
In an unprecedented surgery, a 57-year-old American with serious heart disease had a heart transplant with a genetically-modified pig’s heart on Jan. 7. Almost two weeks later, the patient is reportedly still doing well. This surgery was a first, performed by a team from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. It’s among the first…
Oh, the weather outside is.... wonderful! Ontarians are making the most of a huge snow storm
There’s no day like a snow day. In that same vein, there’s no column like a snow day column! On Monday, Toronto and most of southern Ontario got hammered by one of the biggest snowstorms in this region in many years. Toronto was originally supposed to get 25 to 35 cm of snow, according to…
While outside, stop a moment and watch. You might see a rabbit hop by or birds searching for a snack
I know how tough it is to amuse kids when times are normal, but during this COVID-19 crisis, I can appreciate that it’s much harder. I raised three wonderful children and two of them are now raising children of their own. So I thought I’d share some ideas on how to engage your kids and…
Indigenous resource management key to ending environmental degradation and loss of culture
When Danika Littlechild was growing up in Maskwacis, Alta., her uncle would pick her up after school and walk her home through the bush to her kôhkom’s (grandmother’s) house. He would show her different plants and fungi along the way, teaching her their names and telling stories about when to harvest and how to use them for…
Diving at dawn and dusk could save time and money in battle against the voracious predators
Although time is in short supply in the war against the lionfish invasion in the Atlantic and Caribbean, a University of Alberta study suggests taking time to plan the where, when and who of this fight will give wildlife officials the best shot at keeping the voracious trespassers at bay. “Many invasive species removal plans…
In winter a young bird will practice singing as it tries to mimic its elders
As winter settles in and the cold enshrouds our northern landscape, we expect the woods to be pretty quiet, with only the rustling of windblown leaves and the occasional chirp of a chickadee or the scolding of a red squirrel. But what’s that? Is that bird singing its spring song when it’s so cold outside?…Will significantly improve estimates of current and future methane emissions
Researchers have developed new tools that will better track methane emissions from northern permafrost ecosystems, ultimately allowing for more accurate global predictions of future greenhouse gas emissions. The new emission dataset and map of northern wetlands and lakes the new tools will yield will significantly improve estimates of current and future methane emissions, said McKenzie…
Life's tough for polar bears: climate is extreme, ice varies, food's scattered. Yet they persist
I recently had several encounters with polar bears in the Canadian Arctic at Coningham Bay on Prince of Wales Island, along the Nunavut coast. We had been advised that bears sometimes frequented this interesting area because Beluga whales often came here to moult and feed, and they are a plentiful and reliable source of food…
Supply chains in Western Canada have always been vulnerable and that’s not going to change anytime soon
Images from British Columbia over the past week have been heartbreaking: human casualties, dairy cows barely breathing above water before being pulled to safety, the loss of livestock across the Fraser Valley. Just devastating. And the flow of goods on rail and roads is severely compromised. Many now claim that flash floods and atmospheric rivers…
Mimicry is usually designed to protect prey from predators. But some also use the tactic to fool prey
What you see may not be what you get when it comes to the natural world. Many animals use mimicry to fool predators and prey into thinking they’re something else, with insects putting on the best show in this regard. Tens of thousands of species of insects aren’t what they seem at first glance. But…