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Science & Technology

Time to BeReal: Could the newly popular app be addictive?

by Niamh Stafford on

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Many students across North American university campuses receive identical notifications on their smartphones every day: Time to BeReal. The alert is sent out to all those who have downloaded the popular social media app BeReal, which delivers a less-filtered online experience to those looking to avoid overly-polished content. The recent rise in the app’s popularity has sparked some buzz among Gen Z—most notably, university students—and has reignited interest in the psychological effects of apps designed to document our lives. 

BeReal sends users a daily notification at a randomized time of day, prompting them to simultaneously capture an image of themselves and their surroundings within two minutes of receiving the notification. Users’ photos are posted to their pages for their followers to enjoy. The app is meant to be all that Instagram and TikTok are not: Unfiltered, organic, and spontaneous. In other words, the BeReal app is an interface meant to offer its users the opportunity to connect with one another’s authentic and real-life content. Its popularity, however, may not be due to the kind of interactions it offers between users.

Many organizations, such as the Canadian Mental Health Association of Ontario, consider social media and excessive internet use to be an addiction. People addicted to social media experience many of the symptoms seen in other types of addictions, such as drug and alcohol dependencies, including mood changes, increased tolerance with use, and even withdrawal and relapse symptoms. 

According to several neuropsychology studies that examined the effects of long-term social media use on chemical interactions in the brain, the  neural pathways activated while scrolling through platforms like Facebook or Instagram are the same as those when using cocaine. Many of these pathways involve dopamine, a neurotransmitter and a hormone that generates the pleasurable reward feeling we get when we gamble or take an addictive substance. Big social media corporations are well aware of this and exploit the brain’s craving for larger doses of pleasure. They do all that they can to keep users consuming content, like incorporating a refresh feature to increase session times. The longer you spend on social media, the more addictive it becomes, and the more your happiness depends on it. 

In spite of BeReal’s claims that it provides a “realer” form of social media, users may find themselves trapped by the same addictive mechanisms used by Facebook and Instagram.

“Requiring people to post at a particular time really doesn’t solve any of the problems of online interaction, and it intensifies pressure on people to represent themselves,” wrote Jonathan Sterne, a professor in McGill’s Department of Art History and Communication Studies, in an email to The McGill Tribune. 

For some, BeReal’s spontaneous notification is indeed an added stress, but its promise of authenticity is a huge plus in many users’ eyes. It remains to be seen whether the app is less addictive because, unlike other forms of social media, the whole experience is very short-lived.  

“I like the idea and I think it’s fun but other than the one photo you take a day there’s really nothing much else to it,” wrote Kate Frost, U3 Biology, in an email to the Tribune. “It’s interesting for about five minutes a day at most.” 
For some McGillians, BeReal is new, exciting, and fun. For others, the hype is over. Social media giants like Meta and Twitter, however, are harder to escape. When new apps enter the zeitgeist, it’s important to be critical of the claims they make. Maybe BeReal’s nostalgic return to authentic social media is necessary. But, if our psychological tendency to use social media apps for comparison is any indication, that’s a big maybe.

McGill, News

Bill 96 raises concerns for prospective and current international McGill community members

by Shani Laskin on

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The strict provisions of Quebec’s new French language law, Bill 96, have raised concerns among international students and faculty members at McGill about the impacts the legislation will have on their lives. With the law making it harder to access public services in English, some non-French-speaking community members are worried that Montreal will become a less desirable place to study and work. 

To fulfill the Coalition Avenir Québec’s (CAQ) mandate and to strengthen the French language charter, the National Assembly of Quebec passed Bill 96 on May 24. Since its introduction, Bill 96 has drawn criticism for the severity of some of its provisions, as well as its invocation of the notwithstanding clause, which allows the bill to override certain clauses of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

While McGill is situated in Quebec—where the official language is French—it is an English-speaking institution where 49 per cent of students self-report being beginner or intermediate level French speakers. McGill also has a significant international population: 30 per cent are foreign students, though students from France comprise 16 per cent of this group. 

In an email to The McGill Tribune, Ratna Ghosh, a professor in McGill’s Department of Integrated Studies in Education, explained that she believes Bill 96 will act as a barrier for international students wanting to come to McGill.  

“What Bill 96 is doing is making things difficult for international students who come to Quebec and don’t know French,” Ghosh wrote. “A large share of international students come to McGill thinking they are coming to an English university but in Montreal […] they will not be able to access public services in English [….] This is not the way to attract international talent at a time of intense globalization.”

Ghosh added that Bill 101, a law conceived to make French the most commonly used language in Quebec, had already been successful in promoting French since it came into effect in 1977. 

Bill 96 affects the operations of businesses, schools, and immigration services by requiring most communication to take place solely in French and by making it easier for the Quebec Board of the French Language to conduct searches and seizures of entities that fail to comply. The new law also requires that new immigrants learn French within six months of their arrival, after which all public services must, by default, be provided in French. 

Onyeka Dike, a second-year English Literature master’s student at McGill and the External Affairs Officer of the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS), echoed Ghosh’s warning about Bill 96 in an email to the Tribune. Dike gave examples of certain struggles McGill community members may face due to Bill 96, such as an international student being forced to navigate Quebec rental tribunal proceedings in French, that may deter them from establishing roots in Montreal. 

“When all these factors are considered, it goes without saying McGill and other schools in the province will become unattractive to anglophone and allophone students across the world,” Dike wrote.* 

Despite the Bill’s potential impacts on students and faculty members, McGill media relations officer Frédérique Mazerolle said it will not affect the way McGill offers services to students. In an email to the  Tribune, Mazerolle assured that McGill’s language of instruction will remain English.

“Like all businesses and institutions operating in Quebec, McGill University must comply with the laws and provisions in force, including with respect to the Charter of the French Language,” Mazerolle wrote. “The University is currently examining Bill 96 and changes to the Charter that affect universities, businesses, government agencies, workers and consumers. As we adapt to these changes, it is important to stress that we will continue to offer teaching and services in English to students.”

*The views expressed by Onyeka Dike are his own and do not represent those of PGSS.

Science & Technology

400 days of cycling and recycling

by Sara Chiarotto O’Brien on

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On July 1, 62-year-old McGill mechanical engineering professor Larry Lessard set out on the journey of a lifetime. An avid cyclist and expert on recycling, Lessard plans to travel across three continents, 28 countries, and 20,000 kilometres in 400 days. Along the way, he’ll stop at universities and wind farms to share his research into recycling and push for a faster transition to a circular economy.

On the evening of his interview with The McGill Tribune, Lessard had just finished a 125-kilometre leg of the trip from Magdeburg to Liepzig, Germany. Nearing retirement and dealing with the early stages of arthritis, there was no time left to waste.

“I’ve been wanting to do this all my life,” Lessard said.“I had a career and all kinds of things that got in the way. And now I have a chance to do it.”

 Lessard’s route started in Paris and will conclude in Montreal. He will travel through most of Northern Europe and Scandinavia before moving south through Turkey, Georgia, Iran, and Azerbaijan. After a short stint flying through India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, where roads are less friendly for bikers, he will resume his journey in Thailand, covering much of South East Asia and Japan. Finally, he will return to Canada for his final journey from Vancouver to Montreal. 

The Bike62 Project, as he calls it, is more than just a thrill-seeking adventure. In addition to spreading his knowledge about recycling, he plans to visit wind farms and speak with clean energy leaders about the need to recycle wind turbine blades, which each contain about eight tons of fibreglass—a material with high potential for reuse in recycling.

“[Wind farming] is an industry that prides itself on being green energy. But they have a big waste problem,” Lessard said. “We want to target these green people first because they have a vested interest in their green image […] and then we can expand into other sectors.”

Fibreglass, made from carbon fibre, is found in objects like bathtubs, boat bodies, and bicycles. Though notoriously difficult to recycle, its second-life potential is huge. Carbon fibre is stronger than steel and doesn’t corrode or rust, but takes 14 times as much energy to produce. Finding a way to reuse existing carbon fibre could enable mass production of longer-lasting buildings, machinery, and vehicles, while reducing the environmental impact of waste and unnecessary production of new fibreglass. 

Lessard is looking forward to the leg of his trip that will take him through countries with less robust recycling infrastructure, where citizens and governments are forced to think creatively about solutions to waste management and the climate crisis. He notes that initiatives like Canada’s public recycling pick-up program are not universal.

He plans to compile his findings into a documentary that he’s filming along the way with support from the Paragon Institute of Innovation. Each day, he films his travels on a Go-Pro that he attaches to his bike. He supplements the footage with interviews shot on a small movie camera, a drone, and an iPhone which he carries in a saddle bag. A crowdfunding campaign for the project is currently running on his GoFundMe.

Balancing the distance, the terrain, the equipment, and a busy schedule has not been easy. 

“I consider myself a naive person,” said Lessard, clearly in good spirits. “Even if it’s difficult, I can’t go back now.” 

You can follow Lessard’s trip and see a live route map at www.Bike62.com or on Instagram at @ridebike.saveplanet.

McGill, News

Library holdings to move off-island in 2023 ahead of proposed renovations

by Juliet Morrison on

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Two-point-three million items, including books and journals, will be transferred from McGill’s Humanities and Social Sciences Library to a new Collections Management Facility off the island of Montreal in mid-2023 to prepare for major renovations. The Fiat Lux project—a plan conceived in 2012 to renovate and modernize the McLennan-Redpath complex into a technologically-advanced facility with an open-concept layout—is moving ahead at full force. Construction on the complex is set to span from early-2024 to 2027. 

Physical texts currently occupy a significant amount of space in the McLennan-Redpath library complex. In a Sept. 7 press release, however, outgoing Trenholme Dean of Libraries Colleen Cook and incoming Dean Guylaine Beaudry noted it no longer makes sense to devote such a large footprint to this collection—almost half of the materials housed in the complex have not been checked out in over 30 years. As a result, many of the university’s hard-copy volumes will remain in the new Collections Management Facility, located in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, even after construction concludes.


Though library materials will be accessible to the McGill community through the interlibrary loan system during construction, the Dean of Librarians is encouraging instructors to start borrowing the texts they will need for 2023-24. All texts will be temporarily unavailable for six to eight months while they are transported to the holding facility. Once the facility is set up, library materials kept in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield will be delivered to McGill’s downtown campus within 24 hours upon request. 

During the renovations, the McLennan-Redpath complex will be completely inaccessible to students. The administration is currently looking into installing temporary satellite spaces around campus to compensate for lost study space. 

In an interview with The McGill Tribune, Laura Baek, U2 Management, expressed dismay about the closure of the McLennan-Redpath complex. Baek pointed to the importance of the complex as a prime study spot for students, and noted that the three-year-long shutdown would be an inconvenience for many.  

“It doesn’t seem ideal,” Baek said. “The [McLennan-Redpath] library is the main place on campus other than classes that students go to meet with other students and study. Especially during finals, there’s high demand for study spaces. Not having a place to go would not be great.”

McGill media relations officer Frédérique Mazerolle explained in an email to the Tribune that the complete renovation of the McLennan-Redpath complex is needed to cater to the university’s increased student population and the workspace they require. 

“A lot has changed in the last 50 years, and what worked well to serve 14,000 students back in the day isn’t necessarily the best fit for more than 40,000 students today,” Mazerolle wrote. “Students now struggle to find daily study space, a challenge made even harder during exam crunch time.” 

With most of its collection stored in the Collections Management Facility, the renovated library complex is expected to provide 5,350 seats for students. In her email, Mazerolle also detailed the various spaces the Fiat Lux project intends to create to support different styles of learning, including new areas for events and a reading room.

“Together, [the two infrastructure projects] will nearly double the space for students and create a vibrant library environment space that is accessible, comfortable, safe, and sustainable,” Mazerolle wrote. 

Though construction is set to begin after his tenure, Kerry Yang, Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) vice-president University Affairs, said in an interview with the Tribune that ensuring the administration makes plans for alternative study spots ahead of the closure would be a point of advocacy for SSMU going forward. 

“Measures should be in place before renovations start to ensure students have spaces to study,” Yang said. “Students have concerns about this and the university has to do their best to alleviate them and be very clear on how they are going to create more spaces.”

Editorial, Opinion

Mourning the Queen celebrates a violent legacy

by The McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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CW: Colonial violence

On Sept. 8, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom died following a series of health complications. As a member state of the Commonwealth, Canada has commenced a 10-day national mourning period. The House of Commons was convened on Thursday to pay tribute to Elizabeth and to proclaim the accession of King Charles III to the throne. Yet, the Queen’s death has sparked a global discussion about the monarchy’s problematic past and its relevance today. The Queen’s death presents an opportunity to reflect on her role in the violent history of the British Empire, critique the influence of the monarchy in Canada, and demand more than unquestioning reverence from our peers and institutions.

Today, the monarchy is mainly characterized by antiquated elitism, unaccountability, and scandal. Its sustained impact and legacy, however, have deeply sinister implications as the institution is predicated on exploitation, privilege, and white supremacy. Considering the long history of extractivism by the British Empire at the behest of the monarchy, many countries are still in the process of rebuilding economic systems that, in their colonial eras, existed primarily to sustain Europe’s development. With absolute impunity, the monarchy looted innumerable artifacts and treasures, monopolized trade through annexation and coercion, and caused a famine in South Asia that claimed millions of lives. The reverberations of colonial exploitation still underlie the U.K.’s relationships with many Commonwealth countries.

From the very beginning of her reign in 1952, the Queen actively participated in the colonial regime of her predecessors and brutally suppressed independence movements. The Mau Mau uprising in Kenya began the same year as Elizabeth’s accession, where British colonial troops forced hundreds of thousands of Kenyans into detention camps, subjecting them to monstrous and inhumane conditions. The history of the uprising is still obscenely misrepresented by public British institutions. In the years that followed, the Queen quashed independence movements and supported the torture of anti-colonization activists in Cyprus and in Yemen. Queen Elizabeth never once acknowledged the crimes that Britain and her family committed throughout its history as an invading force, and the majority of Britons maintain that the British Empire is something to be proud of. 

In Canada, those applying for citizenship must swear allegiance to the monarch, and the Crown’s authority is deeply embedded in the constitution. Functionally, the monarch serves as a merely symbolic rubber stamp and a relic of a bygone past. Yet, their presence as Canadian head of state continuously reaffirms their authority and perpetuates indifference towards the violent, systemic, and ongoing colonization of Indigenous peoples and their lands. 

Two particularly problematic arguments have surfaced since Elizabeth’s death. One: Despite her role in the British Empire’s imperial conquests, the Queen, as an individual, deserves our respect. Such perspectives insist that Elizabeth, the person, and Elizabeth, the violent colonizer, can and should be viewed as distinct entities. Two: Yes, she did those things, but the criticism should wait. Both positions deny the importance of the Queen’s imperial history in the context of her remembrance. 

The Queen, to much of the world, represents violence, oppression, and suffering. She orchestrated countless brutal responses to independence movements and refused to show remorse for, or even acknowledge, the crimes of her empire—normalizing an institution rooted in racism, invasion, and resource extractivism.

McGill lowered its flag to half-mast in commemoration of the Queen and the Crown’s “special relationship” with the university. The relationship in question consists of a then-Princess Elizabeth’s visit to the university, once, over 70 years ago. Aside from that, the Queen’s time in Quebec was most notable for the consistent presence of separatist protesters decrying the Crown’s influence over the French province. One could argue that McGill’s response was an insensitive and untimely attempt to flaunt its prestige and historical prominence. Yet, such actions seem wholly unsurprising in their distaste. They are consistent with the deeply problematic pasts and the shameless colonial apologetics of both the monarchy and the university.

McGill must acknowledge that its own conception is borne out of the same destructive ideology that the Queen perpetuated as an imperial tyrant. If it is serious about truth and reconciliation, Canada must use this opportunity to leave the Commonwealth. There is no better time than the present to address the wounds of Elizabeth’s role in a violent colonial regime by holding our institutions and governments to account.

Science & Technology, Student Research

Is Montreal the next powerhouse of AI research?

by Atticus O’Rourke Rusin on

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly commonplace in our society—from its implementation in smartphone apps like Siri and the curation of playlists on platforms like Spotify, to credit score calculations and even works of art. Over the past several years, McGill and, more broadly, Montreal, has emerged as a hub for artificial intelligence research. Companies such as Element AI, Stradigi AI, and Imagia—all companies using AI to push the limits of their respective fields—now call the city home.

In 2016, researchers from Université de Montréal and McGill founded Montreal’s Institute for Learning Algorithms (MILA). MILA has attracted big names in AI research, such as Joëlle Pineau, a William Dawson Scholar and associate professor at McGill specializing in robotics, healthcare, and conversational agents. It has also received generous funding from both the Canadian government and private companies such as Google and IBM. 

“MILA has contributed to the growth of the local AI sector for sure,” wrote Abdelrahman Zayed, a researcher at MILA, in an email to The McGill Tribune. “New students [and] researchers come specifically to Montreal because of MILA’s reputation.”

The positive impacts of AI are already being felt in Montreal. Major talent in AI is coming to the city, searching for the opportunities offered by numerous major tech companies, many of which receive supplemental funding from the government. MILA alone employs approximately 750 people, including industry professionals, students, and faculty members from the different universities involved in the project. 

AI’s effect on the economy is massive. From 2017 to 2021, the industry was responsible for a $1.9 billion increase in Quebec’s gross domestic product alone. The investments from the Quebec government have also led to the creation of 3,000 jobs per year in the sector. The growth of MILA is only one example of how these jobs contribute to innovation in Montreal.

“The environment is super diverse, and full of talented people from all over the world,” Zayed wrote.

“Research is all about novel ideas, so imagine when you put [hundreds of] talented researchers all in the same building.”

The AI industry, however, is not without its flaws. Zayed explained that AI algorithms can mirror some of the negative patterns in human thinking, such as racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination. For example, AI algorithms that are trained on data from historical criminal conviction records disproportionately identify Black and Indigenous cases as high-risk repeat offenders because these groups are already overrepresented in the prison population—not because they are inherently higher-risk individuals. Also, these algorithms can violate people’s privacy, such as in the case of facial recognition systems. 

“When you start deploying AI systems, you will start seeing some undesirable behaviours, such as being sexist, racist, etc.,” Zayed wrote. “They can also violate people’s privacy.”

The implementation of AI could also influence the makeup of the workforce: The highest-paying jobs are often allocated to those who can afford higher-level degrees. Furthermore, competition between companies may become more one-sided, with companies that are quick to implement AI-centric practices gaining an edge over those who do not. Additionally, a major disadvantage with AI in its current state is its limited capability to come up with creative solutions.  

“AI systems still struggle when they see new problems that don’t resemble what was seen before,” Zayed wrote. “We still have not reached our goal of having a system that is as intelligent as humans, or even close to that.”

As a leader in this burgeoning field, Montreal is at the forefront of exploring and developing new and interesting implementations of this technology. But with that comes the responsibility of ethically implementing the technologies developed. For its part, MILA has developed various initiatives that aim to tackle issues such as gender and racial bias, climate change and human trafficking using artificial intelligence. This is only the start for AI research in Montreal. 

Campus Spotlight, Student Life

The ‘World of Chemistry’ courses: Why are they so popular?

by Jiajia Li on

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Word around campus is that if you’re looking for an easy elective to fit into your schedule, Professors David Harpp and Joe Schwarcz’s World of Chemistry Courses are for you. The dynamic duo, Chemistry of Foods (CHEM 181) and Chemistry of Drugs (CHEM 183), have consistently been some of the most popular electives for science and non-science students alike. With curricula including historical, practical, and chemical aspects of food in CHEM 181 and drug history, marketing, and mental illness in CHEM 183, the courses cover a wide range of chemistry-related topics. To help gain a better understanding of their appeal, The McGill Tribune spoke with students who have taken or are currently taking these classes.

Cynthia Wang, U1 Science, is enrolled in Chemistry of Drugs and saw the course as an opportunity to balance out her hectic academic schedule.

“I heard from people that it was a relatively easy class and, as an elective, that’s kind of what I’m aiming for,” Wang said. “My courses are already pretty heavy at times and I don’t think there’s a need to find an elective that requires too much time in my schedule.” 

For Wang, the courses’ reputations as “bird courses”—a reputation built through discussion platforms such as Reddit and Facebook—have been a major selling point. The content is presented through a series of pre-recorded lectures that students are free to watch at their own pace—within reason. As part of the asynchronous learning style, students have access to the transcripts of the videos and can adjust the playback speed to their liking, making for a customizable learning experience. Even better, the exams are taken fully online.

What’s more, says Sonya Colliander, U1 Arts, who took the Foods course last winter term, is that the asynchronous style of the course offers the attractive advantage of flexibility. 

“Because they’re self-directed and there is no actual lecture time—they’re just videos uploaded on MyCourses that can be worked through whenever you want—a lot of students find that good for their schedule,” Colliander explained. 

Of course, students who have taken the courses speak highly about its content. 

“Since I used to study health science [in CEGEP], I still have interest in any subject related to that field,” Wang said. “[This class] allows me to learn about drug history and the effects of medicine throughout time, which I find interesting.”

Despite being science courses, CHEM 181 and 183 are, fortunately, not limited to science students. In fact, classes are composed of students from nearly every faculty on campus, with approximately 50 per cent from Science, 30 per cent from Arts, and 20 per cent from Management, Education, Agriculture/Environment, Music, Law, and Engineering, according to the course information.

According to Sahar Sakhi, U1 Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, little to no chemistry background is required for success in the World of Chemistry courses. Sakhi, who is taking the Drugs course this term, believes that the course is accessible to anyone because it doesn’t go into dense and incomprehensible detail about science or chemistry.

Since the courses are pre-recorded, however, they no doubt lack the essential community elements embedded in in-person classes. 

“I think one of the downsides about this class is that it’s not as interactive as other classes. You don’t see the teachers or your classmates; everything is kind of on your own,” Sakhi said. 

Colliander adds a note of caution that “it is really easy to procrastinate in the class because there are no deadlines throughout the semester, so it is up to you to stay on top of the lectures and quizzes.” 

With classes finally going back in person, students can definitely look forward to learning in a real class setting, with the teacher and classmates up close and personal. If you still want an interesting online science course that allows flexibility, however, the World of Chemistry courses could be just what you need.

McGill Recommendations, Out on the Town, Student Life

Beyond the Bixi in the big city

by Mahnoor Chaudhry on

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Although fall may be the perfect weather to head out for a walk, when you’ve barely woken up and are already late for your 8:30 class, it’s good to know all of your commuting options. For such last-minute panics, the Tribune presents various alternatives to help you make it to your lectures on time, and maybe even stop for coffee. 

1. Biking

Incorporating cycling into your morning routine is not only healthy, but also a time-efficient means of getting to school. Biking is also a fun way to start the day—unless your commute is uphill—with cool morning temperatures making it the perfect time to go for a ride. Luckily, you need not be a bike owner to incorporate this exercise into your daily life. 

Bixi, a public bike-rental service, offers monthly and yearly packages for just $18 and $92, respectively. You can rent a bike from one of their many stations and drop it off at a station near your destination, making it quite a convenient way to get to campus and around the city. There are a few stations near campus, with the most popular ones being on the corners of McTavish and Sherbrooke, and University and Milton. Other stations around campus include those on Sherbrooke and Aylmer, Sherbrooke and Hutchison, and University and Prince Arthur. 

In case you don’t want to commit to a longer membership, Bixi also offers one-way passes for a flat fee of $1, and a variable charge depending on the time of day. The regular bike costs 15 cents per minute, while an electric one is 30 cents per minute. With a membership, the regular Bixi costs 10 cents per minute, after 45 free minutes, and 12 cents/minute for an electric bike. With or without a membership, Bixi bikes are one of the cheaper options to get to campus. 

2. Public transport

The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) offers a range of flexible train, metro, and bus routes to fit into your commuting schedule. You can order a rechargeable OPUS card for $15, which you can load with tickets and passes. For students, the STM offers a reduced-fare OPUS card that you can order online through Minerva, under the student menu. 

For students, the monthly pass costs $56.50, the weekly one costs $29, and a one-way ticket costs $3.50. There are also other fare deals such as unlimited evenings, unlimited weekends, and 24 hours whose fares are accessible on their website. If you plan on making more than 15 trips a month via metro or bus, the monthly pass is definitely the way to go.  

Buses are one of the most convenient and accessible ways to get to campus. The buses most used by students are the 24 which runs on Sherbrooke and has a stop right in front of the Roddick Gates, and the 144 which has stops near the Tomlinson Fieldhouse, the Strathcona Anatomy and Dentistry Building, and the Stewart Biology Building. The metro is also a great option for those who live close to a station. You can get off at the McGill metro station––exiting a couple of streets below Sherbrooke, on boulevard Robert-Bourassa, and walk up to campus. 

3. Communauto

If you live farther away and are in an absolute rush, you can also rent a car from Communauto, a low-cost vehicle-sharing company. Prior to renting, however, you have to sign up for an account and get it verified—a process that usually takes a couple of days. 


While they do offer different memberships, they also have a free plan under which you can pick any of their marked cars off the road (called the FLEX option). This option allows you to drop the car anywhere within their parking zones and costs 40 cents per minute, $12.75 per hour, or $50 per day. With Communauto, you can also reserve a car, which is less costly than their FLEX option. Fuel costs of up to $50 per trip are covered by them, and you can learn more about how their service works here.

Research Briefs, Science & Technology

A new immunocellular therapy at our doorstep

by Maddie Perry on

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According to the Canadian Cancer Society, nearly 7,000 Canadians will be diagnosed with leukemia this year with a mortality rate of nearly 50 per cent. Similarly, over 10,000 will be diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma—a specific type of cancer that causes lymphocyte cells to develop abnormally. Many research institutions across the globe have undertaken the challenge of developing a treatment for these cancers, and some have succeeded in creating a quality care program for patients.

This past July, the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) was named one of the leading providers of immune effector cell (IEC) therapy, a revolutionary new treatment for more advanced cases of leukemia and lymphoma. Specifically, the MUHC now offers a new immunocellular therapy for adult patients diagnosed with a form of blood cancer resistant to standard treatments. Referred to as CAR-T therapy, it has been proven to prevent relapses for 60 per cent of patients in studies conducted on children over a five-year period.

Other forms of cancer treatment, such as surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy, have been standard approaches to care for years, yet are not always successful with various or new forms of aggressive cancers. 

CAR-T therapy is a form of immunocellular therapy that involves extracting T cells, a type of white blood cell, from the patient’s blood. Following this, the T cells are taken to a lab to be reprogrammed to attack cancer cells by introducing the T cells to a gene that codes for the chimeric antigen receptor, which binds to the surface of a target cancer cell and destroys it. From there, the CAR-T cells can be given to the patient via infusion.

Due to its ability to target cancer cells directly, CAR-T therapy is considered a promising treatment for leukemias and lymphomas that were previously thought to be incurable. The opening of the MUHC CAR-T program to the general public, and its designation as one of the centres in Quebec that provides this cutting-edge therapy, extends the frontiers of cancer research and therapy accessibility in Canada.

“CAR-T treatments are leading-edge therapies that offer a chance of cure for certain patients with lymphoma who have failed conventional therapies, often including high doses of chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplants,” said Dr. Michael Sebag, director of the IEC Therapy Program of the MUHC, in an email to The McGill Tribune. 

Similar to all forms of cancer treatment, CAR-T immunotherapy has several serious side effects. As an intense form of immunotherapy in which the T cells become biochemically altered, the introduction of the gene to the T cells can result in a mass eradication of B cells which produce the antibodies needed to fight off viruses. 

Therefore, patients on CAR-T can become susceptible to other infections. Some reactions to CAR-T therapy may be more severe than others, the worst and most frequent being cytokine release syndrome. This is caused by the fast release of cytokines, small proteins that regulate the immune system, into the blood from the tampered T cells. This causes respiratory problems, nausea, and fever, among other symptoms.

Despite its high success rate, CAR-T cell therapy can be hard to access. The treatment process is expensive and in Canada, it is only offered to those who meet strict needs-based criteria. In Quebec, the government has dedicated $35 million a year to fund this form of therapy, which is expected to help 60 adults and 10 children each year. In Canada, the total cost of CAR-T therapy nears half a million dollars per patient, rendering the therapy less accessible—a major point of criticism.

Despite its drawbacks, CAR-T cell therapy has been nothing short of revolutionary in the field of cancer research. It opens up a new chapter for the longed-for progression of cancer treatment and the advancement of the McGill Cancer Care mission, providing hope and inspiration for both medical professionals and patients around the world. 

“The MUHC University Health Centre is committed to bringing cutting edge therapies [to] our cancer patients,” said Sebag. “We are thrilled to have assembled a talented and dedicated team to deliver these.”

Commentary, Opinion

Sacrificing academic fulfillment for a 4.0

by Priya Maiti on

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In the midst of add-drop season, any study space at McGill is filled with students frantically scrolling through the McGill course catalogue in search of the perfect class—one that will fit into their packed schedules, help them increase their GPAs, and make their lives a little easier. How much they enjoy the course is only an afterthought. Academic fulfillment is no longer the point or, seemingly, even a prevalent factor in university life. To prevent this, McGill needs to take steps to ensure that students are able to enrich themselves academically without concern for their futures.

As an exchange student from London, the add-drop process itself was a new world for me. In the United Kingdom., studying a program where you “major” in more than one subject or have the option to “minor” is rare, although options are becoming increasingly available. In most degrees, students only have a few elective courses they can take, and there is usually a small pool to choose from. The “shopping period” doesn’t really exist for courses in the U.K. As a result, there is a smaller range of difficulty between courses that are deemed “easier” or “harder”, and, thus, students take courses for interest or to fulfill prerequisites. Even sites like Rate My Professor and the amount of Reddit forums discussing what classes to take were new territory. I’ve spoken to other exchange students who have been equally puzzled by the culture of switching classes and cultivating schedules. 

This raises the question: Why are students at McGill and other North American universities prioritizing their grades over what they really want to study? When students are paying thousands of dollars for their education, it is unclear what they truly gain in picking courses that stray miles away from their majors. 

The overwhelming answer: To be a more competitive candidate. Both the job market and grad schools expect increasingly unrealistic standards from graduates. Perfect GPAs, unblemished academic records, along with an array of internships and extracurriculars are  prerequisites. At Yale Law School, the average GPA for successful applicants is 3.94. When this is compounded with McGill’s varied course examination style and difficulty, it becomes obvious why students are hesitant to challenge themselves with courses that mean long hours and struggling grades when easier routes are available to them. The perceived rewards for high grades and GPA outweigh semesters of intellectually challenging but engaging classes.

But some contest whether this culture of picking “bird” classes is necessarily a bad thing. Not only is the motivation behind this strategy very reasonable, but students may also find themselves learning about subjects outside of their normal scope of academia. So, while I was surprised by the add-drop system, it was refreshing to see how normalized it is for students to take a variety of subjects. Arguing that this encourages a wider breadth of learning, however, can easily be countered when factoring in that most students taking these “easier” classes do not engage quite so vigorously with the syllabus as they might with a course required for their degree.

McGill needs to encourage its students’ focus on academic fulfillment. McGill contributes to the problem by allowing a disparity between course assessment styles, with some renowned for easy marking and lax teachers while others are known for intensive workloads and course content. From “Natural Disasters” (EPSC 185)  to “The Art of Listening” (MUAR 211), students only need to have a browse on Reddit to get a run-down of which classes might be favourable to their transcripts. Generations of students have publicly discussed the pros and cons of certain courses, making it impossible for course reputations to not contribute to future choices. Standardizing more cohesive workloads and attendance policies across the university would be a productive start. As an institution that prides itself in “expanding minds,” McGill allow its students to learn without their grades being the main determinant of their academic journey. 

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