At a 2024 auction, a portrait of Alan Turing was sold for $1.08 million USD. Although a compelling painting, it was created by the artificial intelligence (AI) robo-artist Ai-Da, built in 2019. Now the most valuable AI-generated artwork ever sold, the piece represents what most artists have been fearing: The[Read More…]
Author: Julia Lok
We can’t all be superheroes
One year ago, I wrote an article titled ‘Disruption is the essence of effective protest,’ arguing that radical activism is more effective than catering to the politically neutral, and that fence-sitters aren’t worth engaging with. But after another year spent watching and reporting on student activism, I can see that[Read More…]
Think you know plants? These six fun facts might surprise you
From the giant sequoias of the Sierra Nevada to the stinking corpse lilies of tropical forests in Southeast Asia, plants take astonishing forms. Despite all relying on the same basic ingredients to thrive—sunlight, water, air, and nutrients—the plant world is endlessly diverse. But what do plants mean to people at[Read More…]
English Montreal School Board and other groups challenge Bill 21 in Supreme Court of Canada
On March 26, a four-day hearing concluded in the Supreme Court of Canada, where six groups challenged the Quebec government regarding Bill 21, continuing the debate over religious freedom, minority rights, and the use of the notwithstanding clause. The six opposing groups include the English Montreal School Board (EMSB), the[Read More…]
Not just ice caps: Shorter frozen seasons causing concern for climate scientists
The climate crisis, painfully familiar and distressing, continues to demand our attention. Some researchers are devoting this attention to analyzing the number of frozen land surface days—days when the ground surface is in a frozen state. A recent paper led by Shadi Hatami, a hydrologist and climate scientist at the[Read More…]
Student artistry: Made at McGill, yet advanced by artists
Watching a show in Tuesday Night Café Theatre’s (TNC) space, the first thing you will notice is that the separation between crew and audience—or cast and audience, if the director so decides—is almost non-existent. The small theatre at Morrice Hall, whose seating can be configured as the director wishes, creates[Read More…]
How to avoid a messy move-out
When finals season finally ends, you might have thought that the last of your worries would be gone. Instead, you’re faced with the final test—having to figure out how to transport your whole personal ecosystem somewhere else. To make the transition easier, The Tribune has put together some pointers that[Read More…]
Know Your Athlete: Loïc Courville-Fortin
At the U SPORTS National Swimming Championships, held from March 12 through 14, Loïc Courville-Fortin, U2 Science, won one gold, one silver, and three bronze medals, rewriting his personal bests and breaking McGill and Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) records. This is only the beginning. Courville-Fortin has his[Read More…]
‘ARIRANG:’ BTS’s most divisive and misunderstood album
On March 20, the South Korean boy band Bangtan Sonyeodan (BTS) released its first group album in nearly four years: ARIRANG. Long-awaited and highly anticipated, the album sparked an influx of online debate after defying some listeners’ expectations, quickly becoming one of the group’s most divisive projects. As someone who[Read More…]
Shame as a market inefficiency: The rise of prediction markets
Prediction markets began in the 1980s as an academic research tool at the University of Iowa. The aim was to see if collective wisdom could predict political outcomes more accurately than traditional polling. This idea appears to have merit: While polls viewed the 2024 U.S. election as a coin toss,[Read More…]