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The poor snowshoe hare

These two snowshoe hares were on my way into work this morning and it was pretty hard not to stop and take a photo of the difference in their coat colours. Admittedly, neither is especially camouflaged on the manicured greenway they were hanging out on, although the white one could be mistaken for a plastic … Continue reading

Smiling: Placebo or Real Effect

There are certain things that I really care about a possible placebo effect versus actual benefits on (for an awesome review of the placebo effect check out this video by It’s Okay to be Smart). Anything that involves putting a foreign substance (medication, needles, etc) into my body, I don’t care if I might perceive … Continue reading

How Harry Potter can help us relate to others

I’m a fan of the Harry Potter series. One of the remarkable things about the character of Harry is his ability to identify with individuals who are oppressed. He rises in defence of muggle-born individuals and house elves. He bristles at talk of pure blood, even before he really knows what that means. The question … Continue reading

My favourite science podcast: Ologies

I have only recently jumped on the podcast bandwagon but I am really enjoying it. It makes my daily commutes on public transit significantly more interesting. One of the podcasts I found is Ologies hosted by Alie Ward and I absolutely love it. Alie talks with a different -ologist in each episode about a specific … Continue reading

I was in pain today, so I went to the gym

I went to the gym today. I didn’t want to. I’m tired and my arm that has been a saga of five surgeries and three and a half years was giving me some definite grief, not to mention the pain of some of my other injuries, both recent and chronic. But I went with the … Continue reading

A dose of sugar makes the future seem worth waiting for

I wrote a post last fall on the impact of seeing nature on our ability to pass on small rewards now in order to receive bigger rewards in the future. To be honest, I had since forgotten about this but having been in a pretty good deep freeze off and on (but mostly on) for … Continue reading

Resource or relationship?

I’m in the process of reading In search of the canary tree: The story of a scientist, a cypress, and a changing world by Lauren Oakes (2018) and I got to a section that related to something I have struggled with a lot in my own career. The issue of resources. The issue of resources … Continue reading

How to run faster…

I’ve been noticing this trend when I run. If I try to follow the main recommendations right now that to run faster I need to increase my steps per minute I get uncomfortable (fair enough, I’m not used to running like that), my knee hurts more (that’s a little more troublesome), and now that I’m … Continue reading

Street Trees For Residents?

In my Masters research I looked into the influence of local greenspaces on why people chose to move out to the suburbs. That apparent connection to nature featured in the top three of most of my participants decisions. This isn’t really surprising as local nature has been previously found to be connected to greater sense … Continue reading

Thinking creatively requires suppressing your brain – sort of

At the work Christmas party yesterday, we were all attempting to come up with the names of specific Christmas carols based on different images. Things like a weigh scale sitting in a manger to represent “Away in a manger”. There was one in particular that I knew I didn’t have correct but I couldn’t stop … Continue reading

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