As members of the international community condemn the horrific chemical attacks on the suburbs of Damascus, Syria that began Aug. 18, the past few days have cast a spotlight on the mechanisms behind chemical warfare. The recent series of events in Syria have reopened an analysis as to what exactly makes chemical weapons so much more immoral than those employed in conventional artillery warfare.
Science & Technology
The latest in science and technology.
Ask Scitech: You snooze you lose; why you should avoid the snooze button
You spend one third of your life sleeping, according to a recent study conducted by Statistics Canada. Based on an average life span of approximately 90 years, 30 of those are commited to sleep.
Interview with Alex Gershanov
Often, research requires a lot of precision and patience, which is exactly what Alex Gershanov, a U2 chemical engineering student, discovered this summer while working at Associate Professor and Chemical Research Chair Nathalie Tufenkji’s lab, the Biocolliods and Surfaces Laboratory, in ground water remediation. “My research surrounds zero valent iron nanoparticles,[Read More…]
Physics paradox proposes universal Inception
What are the chances that our existence—or lack thereof—could be a mere projection from someone or something’s mind, just like the premise of The Matrix or Inception? Ludwig Boltzmann (1844-1906), the same German physicist who derived the blackbody radiation laws, proposed this reasoning during the 1800s and it is still discussed today as one of the most interesting and disturbing ideas of science.
Interview with Blair Jia
Getting published as an undergraduate student is a honourable achievement—one of which U3 quantitative biology student Blair Jia received this August. This summer Jia designed a fabrication protocol to improve the imaging chamber used in Convex LensInduced Confinement (CLIC) microscopy under the supervision of Assistant Professor Sabrina Leslie from the Department of Physics.
Interview with Carl Ulysse
For Carl Ulysse, working at neurologist Lesley Fellows’ lab was both an inspiring and rewarding experience. Unsure what to do with his summer after completing his first year in medicine, Ulysse applied to the Faculty of Medicine’s research bursary program, which provides funding for student research for eight weeks during the summer.
Australian restaurateur develops symbol for ‘the’
With the development of social media and communications technology, language is facing external pressures to shift towards a more condensed form, as seen in the current use of slangs, abbreviations, and connotations.
This Week in Research
Dragonflies are advanced predators (Sam Reynolds) New studies on dragonflies and their hunting strategies have led researchers to believe that they may be among the most developed predators on the planet. One study, conducted by professor Robert M. Olberg from Union College, suggests that dragonflies catch nearly 95 per cent[Read More…]
Looking ahead
One of the most highly sought-after experiences for undergraduate science students is the elusive ‘lab job.’ There is no doubt within McGill’s Science student body that a lab research position is one of the most essential additions to your CV and med school application. Although working in a lab is[Read More…]
McGill engineers compete to design lunabot
Busy beneath the McConnell cafeteria is McGill’s LunarEx robotics team’s lab, where the team has been working hard for the past year to construct a robot to compete in an international competition sponsored by NASA. Through this ‘lunabotics’ (moon-related robots) mining competition, NASA aims to increase interest in robotics and[Read More…]
