If you’re like me, you may have had a sudden change of venue for your workday. I’ve been working at home for about two weeks now, since the coronavirus pandemic has triggered the vacating of pretty much every public space around the world. Yesterday I gave in and accepted that this was a long term … Continue reading
I’m not willing to jump on some bandwagons. You won’t find me stockpiling toilet paper. I definitely won’t be buying a mask to wear which probably wouldn’t fit properly, would make me touch my face more, might give me a false sense of security as I rub my eyes after touching a door handle, and … Continue reading
Back when I did outdoor programming, I used to give classes of 20 kindergarteners snowshoes. They would then run en masse across the snow. On occasion, you could see the poor small mammals, who had been happily hanging out beneath the snow, run out ahead of the kids. The kids and their snowshoes were crushing … Continue reading
Our DNA is located in 23 pairs of chromosomes. These chromosomes have genes located at specific locations that contain the recipes for everything made by our bodies. The ends of the chromosomes have telomeres, which are repeating sequences of specific base pairs (the alphabet of our DNA) that don’t code for anything and act like … Continue reading
In light of today being the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, I went searching for research done by a women to profile today. I decided to start close to home and look through the biology department at the University of Alberta (U of A) where I did my undergrad and did not … Continue reading
Have you ever looked at the tracks of a snowshoe hare and wondered which way it was travelling? My experience is that most people think that the hare that left the tracks in the photo was travelling south. The two prints that are next to each other at the top of the photo are the … Continue reading
Someone asked me the difference between horns and antlers so I thought I’d make it a mini post. Horns, like those of the big horn sheep, have a bony core that grows from the skull and an outer layer of keratin which is the substance that makes your hair and nails. Horns are permanent and … Continue reading
Humans have the ability to bundle up when the weather gets cold, but how do different animals get through the cold and snow? There are many different strategies for winter survival, and most animals will do more than one. Here are three different animals and their strategies for dealing with winter. Snowy owls migrate in … Continue reading
When I was diagnosed with asthma as a kid, I remember someone saying that it wouldn’t go away unless I stopped skating because of the air quality in rinks. I was wondering what the research on this is. Rundell (2004) found that the pulmonary function, basically how well a person breaths, of a group of … Continue reading
I grew up figure skating, but I am also very comfortable on a pair of hockey skates. (Please don’t call them women’s vs men’s as this perpetuates stereotypes that just aren’t true.) When I taught learn-to skate lessons I was often asked about the differences between the two types of skates and when this question … Continue reading
