The television show, The Boys, just ended its second season with an explosive finale (don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything). Known for subverting many superhero tropes, the show’s main premise is that the superheroes are not the good guys, they do not have humanity’s welfare in their hearts, and they certainly do not sacrifice themselves […]
Halifax Regional Municipality is in the middle of a municipal election, and it’s also in the middle of a period of transformative change. The effects of COVID-19, of course, loom large for Halifax, and indeed for municipalities across the country. Yet the foundations of life in Halifax were shifting long before the pandemic upended the […]
In a world where Netflix high-fives you with one hand and slaps you with the other, we constantly have to battle the chaos of misinformation. Although Netflix picked up scientist and policy advocate Dr. Tim Caulfield’s show debunking fake health practices, “A User’s Guide to Cheating Death”, they ended up letting go of any desire […]
“A special kind of beauty exists which is born in language, of language, and for language.” – Gaston Bachelard I have always been a good eavesdropper. For an energetic (read: obnoxious) little kid, I was surprisingly good at making myself as small and quiet as possible when adults were talking. I got a certain sense […]
My last blog explained how large-scale energy storage enables cleaner electricity grids by making wind and solar resources controllable and flexible. Now I will show how energy storage technology works in practice, and explore a few specific technologies that will play important roles in our clean energy future. All energy storage technologies follow the same […]
Modern agricultural science has changed food production systems in dramatic ways, and this green revolution has yielded much to be grateful for. Globally, crop yields have increased dramatically over the past 50 years. We’ve also seen a steady decline in global hunger and undernutrition, despite the fact that the human population doubled between 1950 and […]
As we replace fossil fuel power plants with renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, the electricity grid loses two critical features that make it reliable: – Control over the amount of power being generated – Flexibility to withstand disturbances and avoid blackouts If we want to keep reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, […]
November 1, 2018 Halifax, Nova Scotia 44°38’10.5″ N, 63°35’37.9″ W It’s nearing the end of my guest lecture on language evolution in a class at Dalhousie. We’re locked in a good-natured, but heated, debate about the “right” word to use to refer to a hooded sweatshirt. Most of the class—myself included—says ‘hoodie’, but a single […]
This post was first published on The Conversation, which features relevant and informed articles written by researchers and academics in their areas of expertise and edited by experienced journalists. Health products, like detox teas and mood-boosting waters, rely on a lack of neuroscientific knowledge to make their claims. Some of these claims are unsubstantiated, while […]
Jointly written by Phillip Joy and Pharmacology PhD student Stefan Heinze-Milne, this post was first published on The Conversation, which features relevant and informed articles written by researchers and academics in their areas of expertise and edited by experienced journalists. Unapproved muscle-building drugs are being sold over the internet. These chemicals, called SARMS or selective […]