If you’ve never heard of Mad Libs before, it is a game that presents the player with a skeleton of a short story, with blank spaces interspersed throughout that are each labelled with certain types of words (noun, verb, adjective, etc.). The player fills in the blanks with words of their choice, and is generally […]
Last month, the world experienced the 2024 Summer Olympics, hosted in Paris, France, with reports of an estimated 34.5 million viewers across the world tuning in for the opening weekend. On August 27th Paris will also host the 2024 Summer Paralympics – however, the Olympic committee estimates only 1.5 million people will tune in to […]
Sitting comfortably in the corner of the conference room at ComSciCon 2024, a whirlwind of thoughts raced through my mind. It was fascinating—and somewhat surprising—how much I could grasp from research presentations by astrophysicists, neuroscientists, and experts from fields far removed from my own. The ComSciCon flagship workshop was held at Emerson in Boston, MA, […]
If I double your salary, will you work twice as hard? Maybe, but likely not. What if I just increase your salary by a substantial amount, will you work any harder? Some people will for some finite time before reverting to their prior level of exertion; other people will accept the raise but not work […]
With the increasing complexity of the data we can obtain from behaving systems, among which Homo sapiens, as a species, tends to be one of the most well studied, machine learning pipelines have now become routine for both predicting behavior by decoding physiological signals and the opposite – detecting functional abnormalities (disease) based on subtle […]
In 2022, Merriam-Webster crowned gaslighting, defined as “the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one’s own advantage,” as the Word of the Year. It felt like one day, we were thinking “What’s gaslighting?” and the next, we can’t open social media without reels and posts and media articles warning us of the […]
Imagine being able to study marine life without disturbing it or even seeing it. That’s what environmental DNA, or eDNA, allows scientists to do. eDNA is a groundbreaking tool that helps us learn more about the creatures living in our oceans, from the tiniest bacteria to the largest fish, without ever needing to lay eyes […]
Various regulatory measures must be taken to protect species at risk and their habitats under the Species at Risk Act, 2002 (SARA) when there is likely harm from Offshore Wind Energy (OWE) activities. For instance, SARA states that the proponent is not permitted to carry out an activity (e.g. construction of OWE) if such activity […]
The concept of smart cities has rapidly evolved from a futuristic vision to a tangible reality. Central to this evolution is the role of technology in transforming urban mobility and transport systems. With cities accounting for a significant proportion of global greenhouse gas emissions, particularly from the transport sector, the integration of smart technologies offers […]
Whether or not you’re returning to a classroom this month, September is a great time to find something new to learn. In that back-to-school spirit, here’s a list of American road novels, short stories, films, and poems designed to simulate a twelve-week course in American road culture. Each of these texts deals with some aspect […]
Precision agriculture (PA) is a modern farming approach that utilizes technology and data to enhance agricultural practices. By integrating tools such as GPS, sensors, drones, and advanced data analytics, PA enables farmers to make informed decisions based on real-time information about their crops and fields. The journey of precision agriculture began with yield monitoring systems […]
Deep learning models are making headlines for their incredible applications, from diagnosing diseases to powering self-driving cars. But how do we ensure these models work flawlessly? One powerful method is called mutation testing. Let us dive into what this means and why it is crucial for developing reliable AI systems. Imagine you are a teacher […]
The renown historian Basil Davidson was apt in his assertion that “if you had been living in the 1920s you would think that Africans would never again be free to run their own countries.” Davidson was not referring to Africans’ ability to organize politically. That was not in question. His assertion stemmed from the fact […]
In today’s digital world, screens have become a regular part of life, affecting everything we do—including the lives of young children. In Canada, screen time for kids, especially in early childhood, is raising concerns among parents, educators, and health professionals. The Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) advises no more than one hour of screen time per […]
Fish and fish habitats should be protected from the potential harmful effects of offshore wind energy (OWE) activities. The Fisheries Act applies to the effects of OWE projects at least from two aspects: the impact on fish and the impact on fish habitats. Fish and fish habitats are defined under the Fisheries Act. The Act […]
In the rush to create innovative software, we’ve often overlooked the full spectrum of sustainability. True sustainability in software development reaches deeply into every aspect of a product’s lifecycle. It’s about considering the entire lifecycle of a product—from how it’s designed and built to how it’s used and eventually retired. Oftentimes, we assume the sustainability […]