All Posts Tagged With: "science"
U Calgary gets funding from BlackBerry’s RIM for GPS
Team will try to enhance satellite signal reception in hard-to-reach places, like buildings
Ontario-based technology giant Research in Motion (TSX:RIM) is putting up more than $300,000 to allow a team from the University of Calgary to explore how to improve the performance of wireless global positioning systems.
The team, from the university’s Schulich School of Engineering, will investigate ways to enhance the performance of GPS systems in environments where it’s tough to get satellite signals, including inside buildings.
Gerard Lachapelle, the university’s Canada research chair in wireless location, says wireless technology is becoming more widespread and such navigational features will become more common in the future.
The three-year $1.3 million project will also be cost-shared by the federal and Alberta governments.
Research In Motion is the technology firm behind the popular BlackBerry wireless device.
- The Canadian Press
Sex-assault victim sues Carleton for negligence
Two years after unsolved crime, school says victim failed to keep a “proper lookout”
According to the Ottawa Citizen, the victim of a violent and unsolved sex attack in a Carleton University chemistry lab two years ago is suing the school for more than $500,000.
The 25-year-old Ottawa woman, who refers to herself as Jane Doe in the suit, says university officials were negligent in failing to take adequate security measures, which included equipping laboratory buildings with swipe-card security devices and ensuring all entrances to the building were visibly monitored by security cameras.
In its statement of defense, the university claims the victim failed to keep a “proper lookout” for her own safety and also failed to register with the school’s department of university safety as a late-working student. It also alleges that she chose to remain on the premises alone and didn’t lock the door to the laboratory where she was working.
The university says she knew, or ought to have known, the steps she could take to notify the safety department of her intention to work late on her own.
In the suit, which was filed last December, the woman is seeking $535,000 in damages for injuries she suffered in the August 2007 assault, as well as mental suffering and psychological harm, out-of-pocket expenses and the future loss of income.
Since the attack, Carleton has since spent $1.6 million upgrading security, which included more than tripling the number of video cameras on campus, enhancing the campus network of emergency phones, improving outdoor lighting, adding five security officers and 20 uniformed student-safety patrollers and installing swipe-card readers for access to the chemistry and biology buildings.
The lawsuit, which was filed in December, is ongoing.
For more on this story, click here.
Students compete in Toronto to become World’s Best Brain
Winner gets a $3,000 scholarship and a summer internship in a neuroscience lab
He plays guitar, likes tennis and has never taken an IQ test, and now Sean Amodeo of Toronto hopes to win the title of Best Brain in the World.
The 18-year-old will be matching wits against high school students from seven other countries on Saturday at the 11th International Brain Bee competition, being held at Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York Hotel in conjunction with the American Psychological Association conference.
The first-prize winner of these mind games gets a $3,000 scholarship, a trophy, a summer internship in a neuroscience laboratory, and will represent the Brain Bee around the world.
Amodeo, who won the title of best brain in Canada at the national competition in May at McMaster University in Hamilton, said he does well under pressure.
“I find I can remember things better if my heart’s beating,” he said.
But he noted there could be stiff competition from brainiacs from Australia, Grenada, India, New Zealand, Romania, Uganda and the United States.
“It’s pretty exciting and kind of nerve racking also. I don’t really know how prepared everyone else is,” said Amodeo.
The brain bee is divided into several parts. Like a game show, contestants will have 15 seconds to answer a question on neuroscience, first by writing it down, then reading it aloud. Then they have to look at brain specimens to identify their structure and function, and must diagnose a neurological disorder that’s being acted out by actors playing patients. Then they come back for several lightning rounds of questions on neuroscience.
The type of question competitors will face include: How many neurons does the brain contain? The answer is 100 billion. Stargazer mice are experimental models for which type of epilepsy? The answer is petit mal epilepsy.
Competitors must bone up on “Neuroscience: The Study of the Brain” for the neuroscience questions. But Amodeo said for the neuroanatomy section, the students have to find their own material to study.
“(On Tuesday) I met with a neurosurgeon at Toronto Western Hospital and he was helping me with the clinical part,” said Amodeo.
The students will be quizzed on everything from memory, sleep and brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and schizophrenia, to aging and perception, to their skills at patient diagnosis and neuroanatomy.
“It’s to encourage the high school students to think about neuroscience and brain research. It’s something that most of them don’t study in their regular curriculum at least not to a great depth,” said Judith Shedden, chair of the CIHR Canadian National Brain Bee Committee.
“These are the neuroscientists of tomorrow,” she said.
Shedden, who’s also associate professor of McMaster University’s Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, said part of the purpose is to raise awareness of brain research in the community and to get the students to think about neuroscience as a career choice.
Amodeo, who graduated from York Memorial Collegiate Institute this year, plans to study health sciences at McMaster University in September. Amodeo said he hopes one day to get into neurosurgery.
Although Shedden is listed as Amodeo’s Canadian co-ordinator on the program, McMaster is paying for the Ugandan contestant Wampaalu Peter to attend the competition because he did not have the financial means to come to Canada for the bee, said Shedden. He’s attending the event with Uganda’s National Brain Bee co-ordinator Sekabira Wilson.
If Amodeo does win, he’ll be the fourth Canadian and fourth Toronto student to capture the crown.
David Alpay won the first international bee in 1999, Marvin Chum came out on top in 2002 and Jong Park took the trophy in 2006. The other years, American eggheads all took the title.
Alpay went on to become an actor, appearing in the 2006 comedy “Man of the Year” and some episodes of the TV series “The Tudors.” Last year’s 2008 winner, Elena Perry, from Rockville, Md., represented the Brain Bee at receptions held at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and at the Convention of the Society for Neuroscience, also in the U.S. capital.
- The Canadian Press
Japanese professor creates baseball-playing robots
Pitching robot won’t need relief from the bullpen or ask for a pay raise
Look out Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka. A pair of baseball-playing robots that can pitch and hit with incredible results have been developed in Japan.
The pitching robot, with its three-fingered hand, can throw 90 per cent of its pitches in the strike zone, won’t need any relief from the bullpen and never asks for a pay raise.
The batting robot, which has a sensor to determine if pitches are strikes or balls, hits balls in the strike zone almost 100 per cent of the time, doesn’t swing at pitches outside the strike zone, and is guaranteed to pass all drug tests.
The two robots were created by University of Tokyo professor Masatoshi Ishikawa.
“The demand level of the robotics technology of each robot is very high,” Ishikawa said. “What was difficult was to create a mechanism to satisfy such a high level of demand.”
The pitching robot throws a plastic foam ball at 25 miles per hour, but Ishikawa is hoping to increase the speed to 93 m.p.h. and make it able to throw off-speed pitches like curves and sliders.
Ishikawa is also working on getting the batting robot to be able to hit to all parts of the field.
The robots don’t resemble humans but instead the type of robots on a car assembly line.
Japan boasts one of the leading robotics industries in the world, and the government is pushing to develop the industry as a road to growth. Automaker
Honda has developed the child-sized Asimo, which can walk and talk.
- The Canadian Press
U Saskatchewan in the lead? Check your iPhone
With new iUSASK app, students will have access to marks, maps and campus webcams
Programmers at the University of Saskatchewan have designed a new iPhone application that could revolutionize how some students get their school-related information.
The iUSASK app is set to launch in August, and will allow students to check their marks, feedback from professors, campus news, maps and even search the library catalogue.
Although the program, a first at a Canadian university, still needs to be approved by smart phone manufacturer Apple, the university is aiming to have it available — for free — by the time school starts in September.
USask’s computer science department will also be the first Canadian university to offer an iPhone programming course within the year. The class will be open to students and members of the public, who will learn how to build applications for the popular smart phone.
The iUSASK application, which can also be accessed on the iPod Touch, can currently be used to check class schedules, assignment due dates, marks and other academic notifications. The university’s athletics department has a feed, as does the students’ union and the school’s learning centre. The program even has access to a real-time campus webcam.
As they continue to develop the software, the app’s programmers plan on including a real-time map, made with Google Maps, that can track a user’s location at the university.
A spokesperson for the school recently told The StarPhoenix that the programming code used in the software could ostensibly be sold to other universities. “Yes, we could make money off of the application.”
Are you getting your money’s worth?
Canadians concerned about the value of an education, finds poll
As young people prepare to don caps and gowns this month and take the stage to grab their diplomas, Canadians confess a certain skepticism about the value of an education in this country.
Nearly half of the Canadians polled in a recent Harris-Decima survey said they feel Canada’s educational system does not adequately prepare young people for work in the modern economy.
Albertans are most pessimistic about the system – 52 per cent say they find it inadequate.
Younger Canadians, between the ages of 18-34, are more likely to say it is up to snuff than older respondents.
Nathan Seebaran, a student at Edmonton’s Ross Sheppard High School, says he feels optimistic about the training he’s getting through a registered apprentice program.
He’s studying to become a cabinetmaker and will be doing projects at the University of Alberta as part of his training.
“I was thinking of dropping out of high school because I didn’t really think I needed it, but I’m glad I stayed to do this,” Seebaran said.
Confidence is the hallmark of the so-called “Generation Y,” which is now hitting graduation age, says Harris-Decima vice-president Jeff Walker.
“Part of that self-awareness and self belief of that generation of people is the feeling that they work extremely hard and that the system has been beneficial to them,” said Walker.
When asked to grade different levels of education, Canadians gave high school the lowest marks.
Only 37 per cent felt high school did “very well” or well at preparing young people for the workforce.
Astronaut gets degree for out-of-this-world achievements
Thirsk says it would be hard to send his honorary degree through space
Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk is getting an honorary degree from the University of Calgary for his out-of-this-world achievements, but he won’t be able to sport a cap and gown.
Thirsk’s current six-month stint in space means the July 8 ceremony will be beamed aboard the International Space Station via a video link.
Astronauts train for decades for their shot in space, and it seemed only fitting to recognize Thirsk while he’s actually in orbit, University president Harvey Weingarten said Tuesday.
“We’re acknowledging the contribution this fellow has made to space exploration. We’re acknowledging a prominent Canadian we can all take pride in,” he said.
“It just seemed like a natural and neat thing to do, to recognize him while he’s actually doing his work in space.”
Thirsk, a native of New Westminster, B.C, earned his first degree at the University of Calgary in mechanical engineering. He followed that with two master’s degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a medical degree from McGill.
The 55-year-old astronaut arrived at the station May 29 on board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft along with a Russian and a Belgian, bringing the station up to a full-time crew of six.
He could soon be joined by a familiar face – Canadian Julie Payette and six other astronauts are scheduled to blast off Wednesday for a quick rendezvous with the station.
It will be the first time Canada has had two astronauts on board the space station at the same time, and will bring the number of people simultaneously to a record 13.
Thirsk is laying the groundwork for the deployment of Canadian robots on other planets and figuring out how to help people adapt to extreme environments.
RIM CEO donates $25m to quantum research centre
Couple’s total donations to the Institute for Quantum Computing now at $101 million
Mike Lazaridis, the co-CEO of Research in Motion Ltd. (TSX:RIM), and his wife are donating $25 million to the University of Waterloo.
The donation from Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis to the Institute for Quantum Computing brings their total donations to the centre to $101 million.
University of Waterloo president David Johnston says the donations have helped make the school one of the world’s best in the field of information processing research.
In a statement, Mike Lazaridis says he and his wife are excited to support what is becoming the epicentre of quantum research and experimentation.
The couple’s previous donation went toward the Quantum-Nano Centre, which will accommodate the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology and Waterloo’s undergraduate program in nanotechnology engineering.
- The Canadian Press
Mac reactor gets $22m to boost isotope production
Chalk River reactor will be offline for months, despite global need for medical isotopes
The money from the federal and provincial governments will go to upgrading Mac’s nuclear reactor – with a portion going toward medical isotope production.
The Chalk River, Ont., nuclear facility produces up to half the global supply of medical isotopes used to detect cancer and heart ailments.
But a heavy-water leak shut down the 52-year-old reactor two weeks ago and the company says it will be out of action for at least three months.
The McMaster reactor is the only Canadian one outside of Chalk River capable of producing the isotopes.
The funding will also help pay for upgrades to McMaster’s Nuclear Research Building and to accommodate and support new labs and research.
- The Canadian Press
Toxic chemical stolen from UWaterloo students
Ten vials of explosive, poisonous liquid snatched from water-testing researchers
Waterloo police say they are searching for 10 vials of an “extremely poisonous” substance that were stolen from a group of university researchers who were conducting water test studies last Saturday morning.
Students were conducting water tests at Moyer’s Landing Park along the Grand River in Cambridge, Ont. when they noticed that multiple vials of sodium azide had been taken from a cooler at the research site, according to the city’s regional police.
The stolen goods are described as a clear liquid inside clear glass vials with vacuum sealed tops. (See picture.) Each vial contains about 160 mL of the chemical, which is extremely poisonous and can cause death if touched, breathed in, ingested or injected. It could also explode if poured down a sink.
According to the Ontario Poison Centre, if the sodium azide comes into contact with certain metals, it can also create pungent, noxious fumes that can cause death. Symptoms include low blood pressure, diarrhea, vomiting, chest pain, heart rhythm problems, shortness of breath, seizures and acute heart attacks.
Exposure can be fatal if left untreated.
Anyone who finds the vials is asked to call 911, and police are asking anyone with information to call 1-519-653-7700 ext. 2299.
Feds announce more infrastructure funding for universities
Ontario will get nearly $1.5 billion to build “long-term capacity for research and innovation”
The federal and Ontario governments will spend nearly $1.5 billion over the next two years on infrastructure projects at Ontario’s universities and colleges.
Industry Minister Tony Clement said Monday the $1.476 billion will give short-term economic stimulus to communities in the province and help strengthen research and innovation.
“Our government’s investment provides significant short-term economic stimulus in local communities throughout Ontario, while at the same time strengthening Canada’s long-term capacity for research and innovation,” Clement said in a statement.
“The renewal of college and university facilities will encourage more world-class researchers to work in Canada and give them the tools they need to make further discoveries that will benefit Canadians and people around the world.”
The spending will include $587 million in federal funding, $641.2 million in provincial funding and $248.1 million from other sources including the private sector and the universities and colleges themselves.
The monies will come from the federal Knowledge Infrastructure Program announced in the 2009 budget, a two-year, $2-billion economic stimulus measure to support infrastructure enhancement at Canadian post-secondary schools. They will be used to support deferred maintenance, repair and expansion projects at the colleges and universities.
A total of 28 projects at post-secondary institutions throughout the province will be beneficiaries of the first round of funding with another round of qualifying projects to be announced Friday.
Funding released to the schools included:
- $137 million for the University of Guelph and Conestoga College
- $31.23 million for Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning
- $50 million to the Centre for International Governance Innovation, a centre established by Research in Motion (TSX:RIM) co-CEO Jim Balsillie
- $70 million for the University of Toronto’s campus in the eastern suburb of Scarborough
- $80 million for the University of Ottawa
Angels & Demons & Lectures
Universities across the country jump on film’s science-based bandwagon
This week, coinciding with the release of the film Angels & Demons, universities across the country are hosting lectures and talks on the science behind one of the movie’s key elements: antimatter.
Piggybacking on the hype surrounding the million-dollar historical mystery, Canadian physicists and professors will be speaking about the plausibility of the film’s scary premise, which is that antimatter, stolen from the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), could be made into a weapon more powerful than a nuclear bomb.
Parts of the movie, which stars Tom Hanks and Ewan McGregor, were actually filmed in the gargantuan Large Hadron Collider at CERN’s European headquarters.
“The premise in Angels & Demons is that antimatter can be used like a bomb,” says Scott Menary, a professor at York University’s physics department who will be giving his talk at the school May 21.
“When antimatter comes into contact with matter it annihilates and is converted into pure energy, which theoretically could be used in a destructive way. That’s probably the most common question that anyone watching the movie will have, and one that this lecture will examine.”
The series is taking place across North America, and was organized by the “international particle physics community” according to the group’s website.
As of May 20, upcoming lecture locations include: Victoria, Vancouver, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Windsor and Ottawa.
Ryerson prof shares chocolate secrets
Don’t keep your sweets in the fridge, and other tips
If that beautiful box of premium chocolates you received for Valentine’s or Easter has been stored in the refrigerator, don’t be surprised if the sweets develop a hazy tinge.
“When chocolate is subjected to variable temperatures its exterior gets chalky and it no longer looks appetizing,” says Derick Rousseau, a food science professor at Toronto’s Ryerson University.
He says the condition is known as fat bloom and occurs for a number of reasons, but often results when chocolate is exposed to temperature fluctuations.
When the temperature of the chocolate goes up and down, some of the cocoa butter in the chocolate melts and resolidifies. A small amount of this resolidified cocoa butter will end up on the surface as microscopic crystals or bumps. This produces the hazy whiteness called fat bloom, Rousseau explains.
“As consumers of chocolate we say, ‘gosh, the sheen has gone and it looks kind of chalky and not very appetizing.”
“But it hasn’t gone mouldy, and you can eat it. The texture might not be exactly the same, but it is still fine to eat.”
Rousseau says another drawback in storing chocolate can happen when it is exposed to damp and wet conditions. This is called sugar bloom.
“If chocolate is exposed to humid conditions, moisture in the air will condense the surface of the chocolate and dissolve the sugar. When conditions become dry again, the sugar will re-crystallize and the surface will look hazy.”
Rousseau’s work examines the microscopic appearance (the microstructure) of chocolate and the physical and chemical factors that negatively affect its quality and shelf life. His research is aimed at helping to keep chocolate fresher and tastier.
Here are some of his tips on storing chocolate:
- If stored properly, chocolate can last for years. Filled chocolates and truffles are best consumed within a month.
- To preserve the flavour of chocolate, it must be kept in a cool, dry, well-ventilated place where there is little variation in temperature and low humidity.
- To avoid fluctuations in temperature, do not store chocolate in cupboards right next to your fridge or stove.
- Chocolate should be stored in an airtight container.
- Because chocolate contains fat, it easily absorbs other flavours and odours. Don’t store near chemicals, cleaning products, perfume, air fresheners or anything else you don’t want to taste in your chocolate.
- The Canadian Press
UWinnipeg gets $18 million for research from feds
Science complex project will create 750 jobs over the next two years, says university
The University of Winnipeg has announced that it will receive $18 million dollars from the federal government to fund infrastructure in science and environment studies at the school.
According to a press release issued today, the money will be used to “secure the most up-to-date research and teaching laboratories and equipment,” which it says will attract new world-class researchers to the school’s planned science complex. There will also be a new commercialization unit within the school’s Richardson College for the Environment that it says will provide an opportunity to local business through knowledge-based jobs.
“Through this investment, our government is helping to ensure that Winnipeg becomes a leader in environmental research. As an alumni of the University of Winnipeg, I am especially proud that our government will be contributing to this worthy project,” said Vic Toews, Manitoba’s president of the treasury board.
The so-called Science Complex, which is set to begin construction this year, with a planned end date of March 2011, will allow resident students and faculty to conduct research and development studies in natural and social sciences. The complex will focus on the North, urban ecology, water stewardship, “green chemistry”, and indigenous science, and will also house some of the university’s community learning programs for inner-city and Aboriginal children and youth.
The university anticipates that the project will create approximately 750 jobs over the next two years, with an additional 30-50 faculty and staff positions that will be added to the school in the next five years.
Why do Canadian scholars win so few awards?
At the top levels of international science research, Canada punches way below its weight, says U of T pres
David Naylor delivered a speech yesterday at the Economic Club of Toronto, a kind of state of the union on higher education: where we are, where he believes we should be going.
If we look at the lay of the land, Canada’s level of higher education enrollment is the highest in the world. That’s in part driven by high levels of college and (in Quebec) CEGEP enrollment; if we take them out of the mix, we move a bit down in the league tables, but we still have a relatively high percentage of our population enrolled in university. If we consider only graduate education, and the number of PhDs our country turns out, we lag slightly behind many other OECD countries. The same goes for our percentage of university graduates with a science or engineering education.
But when we measure the very pinnacle of graduate education in science — not volume of total research, but the amount of award-winning, world-beating research — Canada is not above average. Canada is not average or even a bit below average. We’re way below the countries we consider our peers. Naylor quoted from this recent federal government report, which points out that:
In terms of distinguished science awards, however, Canada ranks lower (12th in the world, tied with Israel). During the period of 1941 to 2008, Canada has received 19 awards in science, in contrast with other countries such as the U.S. (1403), U.K. (222), France (91), Germany (75) and Australia (42). Canada last received a Nobel Prize in science in 1994, when Bertram Brockhouse won the Nobel Prize in Physics for the development of neutron spectroscopy. In 2008, Anthony Pawson, a professor of medical genetics and microbiology at the University of Toronto, was awarded a Kyoto Prize in the basic sciences category for his work on signal transduction, or how cells use chemical signals to regulate one another’s behaviour.
The global list of distinguished awards, including distinguished science awards, is compiled by this organization.
Revenge of the test tubes
What happens when test tubes get testy?
Sask. student wins top prize in biotech competition for ‘designer wheat’
16-year-old worked with two mentors at USaskatchean department of plant sciences
Scott Adams never expected to take a prize in a competition for the best student biotech research projects in Canada – he was just happy to come to the nation’s capital as one of 14 finalists.
But on Wednesday, the 16-year-old from Saskatoon was awarded the $5,000 first prize in the Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent Challenge for his genetic research involving the bread-and-butter crop of his home province, wheat.
“I didn’t come to Ottawa expecting a prize,” said a surprised Adams. “I thought the trip to Ottawa was enough of a prize.”
The Grade 10 student’s project involved a novel process for turning off a gene in wheat to alter its starch elements. The discovery might one day make it possible for farmers to grow “designer wheat” with starch content aimed at different products, from textiles and packaging to flour-based foods and glues.
Adams worked with two mentors in the department of plant sciences at the University of Saskatchewan on the gene-silencing research.
While genetics is one of his areas of interest – he reads scientific journals on the subject – he doesn’t know if he will pursue science as a career.
“It’s certainly a possibility, but I’m still keeping my options open,” he said. “My parents have often said in the past (to become an) optometrist, but that’s not final at all.”
Adams and second-prize winner Joseph McNeil, an 18-year-old, Grade 12 student in Cape Breton, N.S., will compete for Canada at the International BioGENEius Challenge in Atlanta next month.
McNeil was awarded the $4,000 runner-up prize for using antioxidant compounds like those found in green tea to promote growth of nerve cells in a study related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
He is hoping to attend Dalhousie University in Halifax next year, possibly in its biological engineering program.
Ontario pledges $100M for genomics research
Minister says funds will support “globally significant, collaborative research projects” in province
From the CBC:
The Ontario government has announced $100 million in new funding for genomics research, an effort to attract top researchers from around the world and keep them in the province.
Minister of Research and Innovation John Wilkinson announced the new $100 million Global Leadership Round in Genomics and Life Sciences will support “globally significant, collaborative research projects” headquartered in Ontario.
Scientists who work in either genomics, gene-related research, or research into stem cells or proteins will be eligible to compete for the new funds.
The announcement comes after the federal government angered researchers failing to provide a new round of funding for Genome Canada, the not-for-profit agency responsible for funding large-scale science and genetics projects.
In April, Genome Canada announced it was pulling its support for an international stem cell consortium because of the lack of funds.
The federal budget also called for $147.9 million in cuts over three years to the three agencies that grant research funds to universities.
Scientists still concerned science minister is anti-evolution
“Young Earth” creationists believe the world is only a few thousand years old
I noticed that Tony Keller is wondering if recent questions from The Globe and Mail about Canada’s minister for science holding anti-evolutionist beliefs were “worth asking”. Some Canadian scientists are still concerned about that question and the minister’s answer:
Denis Lamoureux, a professor of science and religion at the St. Joseph’s College at the University of Alberta, said Goodyear’s comments don’t rule out the possibility that he could be a young Earth creationist who believes the world is only a few thousand years old instead of four billion years old.
Even such creationists believe change occurs on a small scale, allowing different breeds of dogs to arise, for example, Lamoureux said. That would still make him an anti-evolutionist.
In order to find out for sure, one would have to ask Goodyear more specific questions, Lamoureux added.
“Let’s say he is an anti-evolutionist … If that’s the case, then I think there would be some serious concern,” said Lamoureux, a former anti-evolutionist himself who now teaches about religion and evolution. “We’re in a downturn right now, so there’s going to be some shuffling of money.”
That’s [Simon Fraser University biology professor Elizabeth] Elle’s worry. “I have some concerns about there being some prejudice against basic science that has evolution as a component of it,” she said.
Harper’s government fails science test: CAUT
Teachers’ group says Canada’s best academics will probably head south
This opinion piece, written by the executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, discusses the consequences of the Harper government’s recent cuts to academic research funding and its “attempts to dictate what research is done” in universities. The following comment echos the concerns of many:
At the same time, the Obama administration is poised to usher in $6-billion in new funding for the two American granting councils — the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. The fallout? We’re very likely to see many of Canada’s best academics leaving for the US where their research can be properly funded.
