Biology

What temperature can you sleep though?

When we had an abnormal heat wave last year I lost sleep, as many others I talked to did as well. It made perfect sense then when I saw the article by Minor et al. (2022) that predicts that climate change will impact people’s sleep globally. Lack of sleep has been linked with many health … Continue reading →

What are we actually importing?

When I think of imports I typically think of things that are positive. I would never have chocolate without imports for example. But new research shows that Canada, the USA, and a number of other countries are also importing extinction risks. This doesn’t mean that the imports are causing extinction at home, it means that … Continue reading →

Collaboration for Caribou

The recent paper “Indigenous-led conservation: Pathways to recovery for the nearly extirpated Klinse-Za mountain caribou” is worth your own read if you have any interest in how we can decolonize conservation and follow the lead of peoples who have lived with the land rather than as abusers of the land for many generations. From an … Continue reading →

Are robotic pollinators the future?

The plight of bees is relatively well known today. Pesticides, decreasing diversity, competition from non-native species, and a tiny little parasite have all contributed to the decline of bees. While the loss of bees on its own is distinctly negative, as with many things many humans care more when there is an impact on us. … Continue reading →

What can the eggs tell us?

If you have ever had the opportunity to go behind the scenes at a museum you may have seen many, many cabinets filled with artifacts that aren’t on display. Even just working at our local nature centre, I always found it kind of incredible to look through the different drawers and see what was there. … Continue reading →

What does the label actually mean?

Anyone else confused by the stamps on different types of plastics? You know the ones that look like a recycling symbol with a number inside? What about the idea that a plastic is biodegradable but only under certain conditions? Or perhaps which ones are going to breakdown into microplastics? I work into sustainability and about … Continue reading →

The future of snow sports

If you’ve been watching the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics you have likely heard about their use of artificial snow. The reality is that many places that once had pretty reliable snow conditions are suffering in the face of climate change. If I look around where I live, we had the best snow I think we’ve … Continue reading →

Sustainability needs diverse groups of experts to solve climate change

I teach a course on sustainability challenges. Students work in groups to help community partners with projects relating to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The students come from many different areas of study and collaborate on developing meaningful projects. According to a recent report by Cole et al (2022) working with diverse teams is … Continue reading →

Trees store air pollutants

I’ve written before about the role of urban trees. They contribute to a number of positive outcomes. A newer area of research is whether the trees actually absorb air pollutants. Klingborn et al (2022) examined the levels of a specific type of pollutant in both deciduous (leafy) trees and coniferous (cone bearing) trees. They found … Continue reading →

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