-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
The other day I heard about Karoshi. Karoshi is the Japanese word for working yourself to death. Not just exhaustion, or even mental breakdown. No, they actually die. I hate to say it but I’m not surprised this is happening. I personally worked for a couple organizations that seemed to work to undermine my non … Continue reading
Okay, so a Tasmanian Devil might seem like an odd choice for someone born and raised in Canada, but I have relatives in Australia and I went there once when I was a kid. When I was there we had a rather eventful experience with Tasmanian Devils. We went to a wildlife park and the … Continue reading
It’s Movember! A month geared towards raising awareness of men’s health issues. The focus is particularly on prostate and testicular cancers and mental health awareness. However, because men typically have a shorter life span than women (4 years on average in Canada), and are more reluctant to talk about their health, both mental and physical, … Continue reading
I was watching the local news a few days ago and was stunned to hear a story of local farmers and ranchers wanting wolves removed from the ecosystem. I have sympathy for the individuals. I understand that the wolves affect their livelihood. I think one of the issues here, and with so many similar cases … Continue reading
Typically speaking I don’t get the flu vaccine. I cling to older guidelines that indicate that it is most necessary for the young, the old, and the otherwise compromised. However, a recent Nova episode on vaccines has forced me to think. Now I should start with the fact that I am totally for vaccination. I … Continue reading
Nudibranchs are unbelievably cool, with vibrant colours and odd shapes they really do look like aliens of the ocean. They are, in fact, a type of mollusc, which includes clams, snails, and octopus. Their name in latin means naked gills, which is what gives them the strange body forms as the gills take different shapes … Continue reading
Apparently I’m not the only one who gets irritated by the inaccessible nature of the container. Dr. Kripa Varanasi and a team of graduate students at MIT were designing water-repellent coatings for steam turbines. The intention was to improve efficiency and durability. Other possible applications were preventing ice formation on airplanes and power lines, and … Continue reading
I am a shark freak. I love them. I want to climb into a shark cage and see a great white up close. I read books about sharks, and I don’t just watch shark shows during Shark Week. Aside from some still prevalent fear of sharks and mindless person-eaters, one of the things that has … Continue reading
Someone close to my family passed away this summer of cancer. In lieu of flowers her family asked for donations to help fund a new da Vinci Surgery robot for the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton. Being me, I wanted to know what made this robot special. The da Vinci Surgery system features a 3D-High … Continue reading
It seemed fitting as it is Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend to write about the turkey. I feel safe in saying that more people have seen turkey on the dinner table than in the wild. Wild turkeys were introduced to North America from Mexico. Through their own versatility and the tendency of early Europeans to transplant … Continue reading
Connecting with Science 