Lost relatives, friends, careers, jobs and money The cancellation of plans that were long in the making. In the months since the SARS-Cov-2 virus has spread across the globe, people have experienced losses, big and small. I am sad to write, that so many are grieving for family and friends who died (increasingly, un-necessarily) from […]
Field Work
What Trees Talk About features the excellent research of Canadian ecologists
I'm always thrilled when one of my colleagues contacts me, to alert me to their research hitting the mainstream media. On November 26th, 2017, CBC's Nature of Things, which is introduced by Dr. David Suzuki, broadcast an absolutely fabulous documentary on the ecology of Canada's boreal forest: What Trees Talk About. I loved the programme […]
Biology Graduate Students Bring the Bioblitz to YorkU
My friend and colleague, Guelph professor, Dr. Shoshanah Jacobs (left, with her new son) invited me to give a guest talk in her first year Biology course: Discovering Biodiversity. I introduced the bioblitz concept in my talk, and encouraged students to join in with one, or to even organize a bioblitz of their own. The general […]
Must-read books for scientists: 2. The Invention of Nature
When I launched this lab website in 2013, I had a vague idea that I would write one to two posts a year, in which I urged fellow scientists to read some book that I had found particularly inspiring or educational. My first post in 2013 was about Stephen Clarkson and Stepan Wood's A Perilous Imbalance. Sadly, Stephen Clarkson […]
Science Fairs & Science on Ice at York University
The annual Science Fair is a right of passage for many aspiring, young scientists. I've been fortunate (if that's the right word), to experience them as both a judge, and a parent. Back in the 1990s, I was blown away by the creativity and enthusiasm of the young citizen scientists when I was a judge at the annual […]
The Awesome Applied Plant Ecology Students of Fall Term 2016
My 24th and final 2016 blog post is a shout-out to the amazing students who took my 4th year Applied Plant Ecology course (BIOL 4095), in Fall Term, from September 2016 to a couple of weeks ago. Many of you are pictured above in the last class in early December. Not only did you embrace blogging, tweeting […]
Why I'm involved with Nature Canada's Women for Nature initiative
That really is me (centre), Dave Reid (far left), and Heidi Langille (near left) with a live Great-Horned Owl, and their very calm, young handler, at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, on September 30, 2016. Dave, Heidi and I had a reunion, after working together on Adventure Canada's Arctic Explorer expedition cruise in August 2016. Other attendees at Nature […]
What I learned about Instagram from #ResearcherTakeoverTuesday at the COU
The clip of sea butterflies, below is from Anne Todgham's Go Pro. It didn't make it onto my Research Matters Instagram #ResearcherTakeoverTuesday in September. Anne, who is a Biology prof. in animal physiology at UC Davis, was an expedition cruise passenger on my Arctic Safari trip with Adventure Canada. Here's the text I wrote to accompany this clip: The arctic oceans […]
My 6 favourite #SciComm tweets since I got back on the grid
August 15 post: Biodiversity & Watershed Management Field Course
The 2016 Biodiversity and Watershed Management field course that ran in the first half of July was awesome! This exclusive course is tailored for YorkU students who can't get away from their weekend summer jobs to go on pricey field courses in distant locations. Read the student blog: Urban Watershed Management & Biodiversity I made the posters for […]
