Technology

AI Comes for Academics. Can We Rely on It?

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

By now, the fact that artificial intelligence can hallucinate is, I hope, well known. There are countless examples of platforms like ChatGPT giving the wrong answer to a straightforward question or imagining a bit of information that does not exist. Notably, when Robert F.

Scrambler Therapy: Rewiring Pain, or Just Static?

Sophie Tseng Pellar BSc — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 15:09:46 +0000

Our bodies are wired to avoid pain—and yet, for millions, it’s a daily, unwelcome companion. One minute you’re climbing stairs, opening a jar, or just existing, and the next you're googling “is this what nerve damage feels like?” If you’ve ever lived with chronic pain, or loved someone who has, you know it’s not just about hurting. It’s about how the hurting takes over everything.

Virtually Virtuous: Are Video Games the Future of Medicine?

Eva Kellner B.A.Sc. — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 17:28:26 +0000

One day in 2014, I came home from school only to see my uncle fiddling with a small cardboard box on the couch. This wasn’t any old cardboard box, but one that looked like the world’s chunkiest pair of binoculars. He called me over and told me to hold the strange apparatus up to my eyes. Suddenly, I was transported from my living room to the great outdoors. Despite making me quite dizzy, I was able to look around and even move within this unfamiliar place.

Med Beds: Not Today, Maybe Tomorrow?

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

“Oh dear, I can just see, when I take the dogs out tonight, I’m gonna have all of these people standing around that only I can see because, you know, they’re very directional like that.”

Say Cheese!

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 17:27:26 +0000

It was the 1960’s and cheese producers were cheesed off. People were just not eating enough veal. Slaughterhouses were running short of calf stomachs and the cheese industry was feeling the pinch. There was not enough rennet to meet the demands of turophiles (that's "cheese lovers" from the Greek “turo” for cheese) around the world.

What Wild Animals Can Teach Us About Cancer

Lysanne Desharnais PhD — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In a lab in Rochester, New York, a group of scientists were trying to grow cells taken from a naked mole rat. Instead, they ended up with a petri dish full of goo. The cells had secreted a thick, viscous substance, unlike anything typically seen in standard lab cultures. The scientists discovered that the goo contained hyaluronan, a molecule that helps keep the mole rat’s skin elastic as it navigates its cramped underground tunnels. But it may also do something far more remarkable: prevent tumours from forming.

Shedding Light on UV Blood Irradiation

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Would you allow someone to draw your blood out, expose it to ultraviolet light, and pump it back into your body, even if I told you it wouldn’t turn you into the Incredible Hulk?

Patchy Science on LifeWave’s Mysterious Patches

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

They came in droves.

What If We Were Able To Graze on Grass Like Cows?

Shona Hanaishi — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

On a future field trip to Mount Royal, I imagine opening up my lunch box to find a small forest of fried insects flavoured with MSG and curry powder. On the side are some salmon rice balls. Noting I missed some greenery, I grab some grass and sprinkle it onto my rice balls.

Disrupting Science with Crypto

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 18:04:27 +0000

Let’s say I am afflicted by a common but non-life-threatening condition. I shall refer to this fictional misfortune as “chin gribbles.” I have chin gribbles. Many people have chin gribbles. It’s annoying and it affects our quality of life. When we go to the pharmacy or speak to a doctor, we’re told there are very few treatment options for chin gribbles, if any.

Your Blood Predicts Alzheimer’s Disease

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 23 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

My first laboratory job was right after earning my Master’s degree, and it was on a research project on Alzheimer’s disease. I had to test DNA samples from participants for a particular form of the gene APOE. We get one copy of the gene from our mother and another from our father, and this gene like all others comes in different flavours. People who had a very specific form of the APOE gene, I learned, were predisposed to Alzheimer’s disease.

Confronting Nefarious Nitrosamines

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 09 May 2025 20:44:53 +0000

“Boil the nipples!” was the advice given in 1984 by the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. to parents who were bottle feeding their infants or calming them with pacifiers. The presence of nitrosamines, compounds that had been found to cause cancer in animals, had been recently detected in rubber products and the concern was that they could be transferred to babies.

RECCO Reflectors Echo Safety Signals

Cat Wang, B.Sc. — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 20:56:48 +0000

A goal of mine in 2025 was to tackle a new outdoor sport: backcountry skiing. With the promise of untracked snow and uncrowded runs, venturing off-piste was enticing. But with that also came the need to ensure safety — I geared up with an avalanche kit, most of which was intuitive: Shovel? Check. GPS? Check. But one thing that kept coming up was the RECCO tag on all sorts of gear. As I read the logo time and time again, I wondered — what was this technology?

Harm from Noise-Cancelling Headphones? More Questions than Answers

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 18:50:51 +0000

Are noise-cancelling headphones making it harder for teenagers and young adults to understand speech in a noisy environment?

The Dangers of Mirror Life

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 10 Jan 2025 18:40:42 +0000

One of the better-known episodes of the original Star Trek series is called “Mirror, Mirror” and it dramatizes a freak transporter accident which sends Kirk, Uhura, Bones, and Scotty to an alternate universe. Their mirror universe colleagues on the Enterprise are greedy, violent, and bent on conquest. And Mirror Universe Spock sports a goatee, so we know he’s evil.