Latest News

Emerging Trends, Student Life

Art therapy as a form of self care

by Lucy Keller on

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Starting Nov. 1, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) will waive entrance fees for visitors with doctor’s prescriptions. Throughout a one-year trial period, the museum will conduct research on art’s healing capabilities with the goal of promoting the physical and psychological benefits of a cultural outing. The city-wide program is particularly valuable for students as art is effective in decreasing anxiety, stress, and depression.

Art therapy is a form of treatment which promotes self care through artistic expression and viewing. A recent study at Texas State University found that students who partook in art therapy experienced a significant decrease in anxiety compared to another group of students who received standard forms of therapy.

The MMFA’s new program will provide McGill students with an opportunity to experience the effects of art therapy in a world class setting. While there are several McGill support groups on campus, such as the McGill Art Hive Initiative (MAHI), for students to gain relief for a range of health issues, this new alternative offers a more diverse array of facilities. Nathalie Bondil, director general and chief curator of the MMFA, piloted the program in partnership with physicians from Médecins francophones du Canada (MdFC). She hopes that the initiative will popularize creating and viewing artwork as a form of self care.

“Cultural experiences will benefit health and wellness, just as engaging in sports contributes to fitness,” Bondil said. “Just as doctors now prescribe exercise, they will be able to prescribe a visit to the MMFA.”

Social work graduate student Salima Punjani, an intern in the art therapy sector of the museum, explained that this program serves as a new way for students to augment their current self-care routines.   

“I would absolutely recommend that McGill students take time out of their days to come to the MMFA,” Punjani said. “I think it is important to take breaks and to also stimulate your mind in different ways through different textures, colours, and forms. I think listening, reading and writing are great tools for learning but it is important to step out of the box.”  

McGill students who wish to take advantage of the pricing discount will need a prescription from a physician who is a member of the MdFC; however, visitors without the proper documentation can partake in the other programs offered by the museum and its community partners. According to Stephen Legari, art therapist at the MMFA, the museum’s opportunities range from a typical trip to the museum to utilizing their educational and therapeutic services to reap the benefits of art therapy. Among these facilities is the Art Hive, an open-access space for visitors to create art with the guidance of art therapists.

“I like to think of the museum in terms of its doors,” Legari said. “There are all of these different doors [through which] you can enter the museum. You can enter through the front door as a visitor, tourist, [or] member, or you can enter through the side doors as a student, […] but how we approach these doors really depends on what the individual is looking for and what are they hoping to achieve.”

Though there are art hives across the world, the MMFA Art Hive is the only one situated inside of an art museum. Legari explained that the MMFA hive’s museum setting creates a particularly distinctive experience.  

“When art therapy is practiced in a community centre, in a school, or in a clinic, it tends to look a lot like a mental health service, with the important exception that we are always working with art,” Legari said. “The foundation of our practice is [that] we believe in nonverbal communication as a means of helping people through whatever they are living with.”

Most McGill students have a non-stop schedule and often put their mental health health aside in stressful times. However, art therapy programs, such as those offered at the MMFA, provide a way for students to take control of their mental health through new and creative outlets.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

No shame, no apologies: Lily Allen sparkles at Corona Theatre

by Caitlin Kindig on

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Following the June 8 release of her electropop record No Shame, English singer-songwriter Lily Allen brought a spirited energy to Corona Theatre on Oct. 27. A few hundred concert-goers, damp and cold from the first snow of the fall, convened near the stage in anticipation of Allen’s performance.

Accompanied by her two-man band, Allen embodied a neon dream, decked from head to toe in a glitzy ensemble. Citing an ongoing cold, she ingested her medicine and began the show, emphasizing her sickly-sweet demeanor as a pop-star. She opened with the first track off her new record, “Come On Then,” in which she describes the obsessive press coverage of the breakdown of her marriage, and how humiliating it was to be the subject of public scrutiny. Filling the room with vigour, she continued on with standouts from No Shame, such as “What You Waiting For?” and “Everything to Feel Something,” which explores Allen’s past struggles with substance abuse. She also performed hits from earlier albums: “Smile” and “Knock ‘Em Out” from her first record Alright, Still “Not Fair,” and “Who’d Have Known,” from her second album It’s Not Me, It’s You, demonstrating both her growth as an artist and the timeless appeal of her music.

Allen performed an unreleased single titled “Party Line,” recalling life on tour and adventures with her friends and bandmates. Exhilarated from her performance, the crowd received the song warmly in great anticipation of its upcoming release.

The room’s energy shifted from lively to pensive when Allen performed her hit “The Fear,” which is speculated to be about celebrity culture and fame; however, Allen insists that the song is a broader commentary on social media’s influence on day-to-day life. Allen used “The Fear” to reflect on the tragic shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, which had occurred earlier that day. Allen recounted that when she read about it on her phone, she “just kept scrolling,” citing an overwhelming sense of dread. She reminded her audience to always stay informed and aware in the face of trivial distractions.

While Allen’s more upbeat songs were energetic enough to goad fans of all ages into a frenzy, she still had a commanding ability to quiet the room. Allen performed her slower and more intimate songs, “Apples,” “Family Man,” and “Three” from No Shame with a beauty and honesty that effectively stunned the crowd into silence. These songs delve into the more private parts of her life—a contemplation on her romantic relationships, parents, and children.

“Apples” compares Allen’s marital failures to the demise of her parents’ relationship by ruminating on the decisions that led to her divorce.

“Four years and you’ve given me my beautiful babies, but it was all too much for me,” Allen sang. “Now I’m exactly where I didn’t want to be, I’m just like my mummy and my daddy, I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

A silence fell over the venue when Allen began “Three,” a song written from the perspective of one of her young daughters, expressing her sadness and disappointment about Allen always being away on tour.

To wrap up an emotional rollercoaster of a performance, Allen performed “Trigger Bang,” which energized the crowd enough to finish with “Fuck You,” her iconic hit from It’s Not Me, It’s You.

“I originally wrote this song after observing George W. Bush’s presidency from across the ocean, but little did I know there would be something much worse coming. Donald J. Trump, this one’s for you!” Allen quipped.

Allen’s willingness to accept her flaws and turn them into engaging music is part of what makes her such a dynamic artist. No Shame is, fundamentally, a record built on Allen’s vulnerability. The singer-songwriter’s ability to convey emotions live allowed the crowd to experience emotional highs and lows alongside her and dance through them all the same.

 

Creative, News

The McGill Tribune – Fall 2018 General Assembly Recap

by Kyle Dewsnap on

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The McGill Tribune recaps the most important parts of the Students’ Society of McGill University’s fall general assembly.

Video by Kyle Dewsnap.

McGill, News

Journalists discuss hyper-polarization in the media

by Clara Champagne on

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On Oct. 30, McGill’s Max Bell School of Public Policy and Media@McGill hosted a panel titled Responsible Journalism in the Age of Hyper-Polarization on partisan division in the media. The talk, moderated by Andrew Potter, assistant professor at the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, brought together Policy Options Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Ditchburn, Mark Lloyd, professor at the University of Southern California-Annenberg School of Communication, and VICE Quebec Editor-in-Chief Phil Gohier.

The panelists first discussed how journalists should responsibly report on groups with extreme political stances, explaining that, historically, journalists have avoided covering groups until they are firmly in the public eye. They agreed that social media has made it harder for media outlets to ignore radical groups gaining traction online, complicating the question of whether journalists do more harm than good by providing far-right groups with a platform.

“I think it’s a very fine line,” Ditchburn said. “It’s tricky when journalists sort of appoint themselves as the arbiters of who’s worth covering and who’s not. Each case gets decided in each newsroom in a different way [.…] I don’t think we can have in any story or any issue a kind of rule that applies because it’s just always moving.”

The panelists also reflected on whether modern journalists are engaging in  ‘both-side-ism journalism,’ an excessive commitment to balanced coverage of all sides of a story at the expense of truth. Using the left-leaning coverage of the most recent American presidential election as a recent example, Ditchburn pointed out that equality and fairness are what give people confidence in journalism.

Lloyd, who has worked as a journalist for CNN and served as associate general counsel at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, believes that objectivity in journalism is a valuable and useful modern goal but that readers should never assume that the content they are consuming is impartial.

“The check is other media, and the people that consume the journalism,” Lloyd said.

Ditchburn expressed her frustration with attempts to cover catchy yet shallow news stories, citing what she sees as excessive media coverage of President Trump’s Twitter account as an example.

“Journalism outlets have a choice,” Ditchburn said. “We don’t have to go to [every] photo-op [….] We can do something else, and we can spend our time and our money, which is in short supply, covering something deep and profound.”

The panel discussed New York University professor Jay Rosen’s idea that journalists should recognize their biases outright. Ditchburn and Lloyd argued that Rosen’s proposition was naive, as most journalists are not aware of the structural biases at play in their reporting.

“[I don’t think] Canadians journalists have done a big reflection on colonialism in journalism, [or on] overarching views about the economy, what we accept as a truism,” Ditchburn said. “When Jay [Rosen] talks about declaring your biases, I think politicians think of the biases being about liberal, conservative, or, in the States, Republican or Democratic, but the biases run way deeper than that.”

To conclude, Potter asked speakers to comment on the place of trust in journalism, and whether it should be integral to the practice.

“Journalists should aspire to be trusted,” Lloyd said. “You can earn your audience’s trust if you do good work consistently [….] Should the audience just automatically, blindly,  trust journalists? Absolutely not.”

Gohier dissented in part, arguing that relevance is a more fundamental metric.

“I look at trust as a double-edged sword,” Gohier said. “Trust is conflated with likeability [….] I think relevance is a better thing to aim for.”

The Max Bell School of Public Policy will host another event on Nov. 20, which will centre on the major public policy issues surrounding monetary policy frameworks.

Off the Board, Opinion

Learning to love my big nose

by Abeer Almahdi on

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I love my big, crooked nose, but that hasn’t always been the case. The first time I was made aware of its size was when my aunt asked me if I had broken it. Her sentiment made me feel sick. I pushed aside my childhood ambitions of becoming a writer or journalist, and instead set my sights on the ultimate achievement: A nose job. As I grew older, I fell into a chasm of self-loathing. My white-passing, thin, green-eyed mother was always my model of a perfect person, and I was her opposite. My dad and I share the same big noses, big lips, brown eyes, and thick, dark hair. My mom was always reflected in mainstream media, while my father and I were sidelined.

I remember early mornings sitting at the breakfast table, my mother struggling to comb and style my frizzy hair before school in a futile attempt to try and get it to match hers. Throughout elementary school, I would draw myself with long, straight, blonde hair and green eyes—I also remember my teachers’ confused looks when I handed in my questionable portraits. I remember when kids in my high school class would try to hide pencils in my thick hair to see if I’d notice, or ask to touch it and see if it was real. I remember pinching at my stretch marks in front of the mirror, using heaping amounts of SunIn with no effect, and learning how to use Photoshop just so I could see what my nose would look like after surgery. As soon as I was old enough to take care of myself, I stopped. I suffered from an eating disorder throughout high school, I bleached and destroyed my once fluffy curls, and I wore Spanx every time I left the house—my mom bought me my first pair.

My insecurity was not just a product of vanity, but also a safety concern. Visibly Egyptian, I was never able to escape long security checks at airports, racist cat-calls, and targeted bullying, fellow students would call me an ‘ugly Egyptian,’ amongst other slurs. Even during my time at McGill, I am constantly racially fetishized. In my first year, I was followed home at night by a man who was yelling slurs at me. This wasn’t the first, nor the last time, but, now, every time I walk on St. Catherine street, I hold my breath.

No matter where I went in the world, my appearance was a point of contention. Even in Egypt, Eurocentric colonial standards of beauty still persist, as British colonialism only officially ended in 1956—the year my dad was born. The streets are littered with billboards for Fair & Lovely, a skin lightener, and hair relaxers that my cousins would recommend to me.

Eventually, I became frustrated with constant physical self-awareness. I looked for strong Egyptian role models who looked like me, such as Mona Eltahawy and Nawal El-Saadawi: Two intersectional-feminist writers. I learned about my heritage, albeit sometimes through Wikipedia. Therapy also helped. As I began to discover more about my rich ancestry, I began to decolonize my beauty standards, and I started to love myself.

I have the crooked nose of my ancestors; I carry my history in every one of my facial features. I am now glad to be my father’s lookalike. I have come to recognize that I am like my mom in a lot of ways, too—we both have the same deafening laugh, fiery courage, and ability to bulldoze every barrier in our way. My nose is huge, as are my lips and brown eyes—and I love them.

trauma
Commentary, Opinion

Cross-border sympathy

by Sydney King on

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Once again, the world stopped to mourn American mass shooting victims. On Oct. 24, a white supremacist killed a black couple in a supermarket in Louisville, Kentucky. On Oct. 27, a white supremacist killed 11 people in a synagogue during a Shabbat service because they were Jewish. On Nov. 3, a man killed two women in a yoga studio in Tallahassee, Florida. Words cannot describe the heartbreak I feel every time this happens, and it happens too often. These murders do not exist in isolation, but instead belong to a long tradition of gun violence, radicalization, and bigotry in American history and politics. As an American living in Canada, I feel some level of separation from this trauma. In a time when a horrendous amount of horrific news comes out the U.S., I am torn between burying my head in the sand and facing reality.

It’s a little easier to avoid American news in Canada. However, crossing the border is a privilege that few enjoy. I’m lucky to be at McGill and to be a white, middle-class student who doesn’t live under the threat of violence, deportation, or bigotry. It would be much simpler for me to keep my head down, do my schoolwork, and pretend that I don’t care about what happens in the United States. I know people who don’t follow the news and choose to ignore what’s happening at home. But, when I try and push the American news cycle aside, it feels like I’m abandoning my family and friends back home who are constantly inundated with stories of mass shootings, imprisoned children, voter suppression, or any number of grim reports churned out every day. Ignoring current events—no matter how disheartening—would be shirking my responsibility as a citizen and a member of the electorate. So, when my mom asks me, every time she calls, if I’m keeping up with the news, I tell her that I have to. I’m privileged to be a citizen, to be able to vote, to study and learn about the world around me, and I refuse to squander that opportunity.

Still, it’s hard to pay attention to current events due to the very real possibility that someone I love could be a victim of gun violence. This December will mark the 26th anniversary of the mass shooting at Bard College in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, only 25 kilometres away from where I grew up. My niece just started preschool, and sometimes I can’t help but think about Santa Fe, Sandy Hook, and Parkland. I don’t know how fast I could get home if something happened.

There’s nothing for me to do but wade through gut-wrenching news. The American student group Democrats Abroad is helpful in providing a forum where fellow progressives can talk about current events. Somehow, it toes the line between commiserating and deliberating. It’s a comfort to have other people who are equally interested in what is happening at home and who share similar frustration and despair about U.S. news. In a similar way, the March for Our Lives protest on Mar. 24 was an incredibly cathartic show of support and sympathy for the people who live under the threat of violence every day. The best way to cope is to stay engaged and fight from afar through organizations like Democrats Abroad. If I can’t be physically present with my friends and family amidst the chaos back home, at least I can be there in spirit.

McGill, News, SSMU

SSMU Legislative Council discusses quorum and grades

by Katia Innes on

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The Student’s Society of McGill University (SSMU) Legislative Council convened on Nov. 1 to discuss the upcoming referendum and the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U) grading option. The Council also approved the May 31, 2018 fiscal year end report by Fuller-Landau, the accounting firm that audits SSMU’s finances, and called for a more concerted effort to livestream the Council meetings. In regard to the upcoming referendum, which will take place Nov. 9-12, the Council approved the motion on discretionary funding for the Sexual Assault Center of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS) and changes made to the Environment and Anti-Violence Fees.

Council also discussed last month’s Children of the Corn party, for which SSMU had to spend an additional $10,000 to cover the cost of transportation when six of the seven buses they chartered failed to provide return trips downtown. The buses claimed that students had violated their policies by drinking, smoking, and vomiting on board. Currently, Vice-President (VP) Internal Matthew McLaughlin is looking into reimbursing students for their personal transportation costs.

“The last possible option for transportation was to have students order taxis or take Ubers to get back home and have SSMU members pay for that,” McLaughlin said. “So, that’s what ended up happening [….] It’s tragic because of the expense, but we’ve launched a portal [….] So far we’ve had 79 requests total.”

 

Late motion regarding reduction of GA quorum postponed

SSMU President Tre Mansdoefer submitted a motion to reduce quorum of the General Assembly (GA) from 350 to 150 after the Fall 2018 GA on Oct. 29 had only 49 students in attendance.

“I do not like it being 150, I want to figure out other ways to do this,” Mansdoefer said. “[But] I do not feel like we have another choice.”

Arts Representative Andrew Figueiredo critiqued the motion as unjust and pointed out that Mansdoefer had submitted it late, not giving students enough time to contemplate it.

“0.75 per cent of the student body, less than that, actually, shouldn’t be able to dictate the direction of [SSMU],” Figueiredo said. “I think that is fundamentally undemocratic. This is an abomination to bring something up with this much gravity and to try and rush it onto the November ballot doesn’t give people the chance to organize ‘No’ campaigns or ‘Yes’ campaigns on this.”

The motion was postponed indefinitely by Arts Councillor Ana Paula Sanchez.

 

VP University Affairs (UA) motion advocates for S/U grading option  

Upholding his platform promise, VP University Affairs Jacob Shapiro proposed the Motion Regarding VP UA Mandate to Advocate for S/U Grading Option. In the motion, Shapiro asks that SSMU approve his mandate to lobby for students to be given the option to switch to a letter grade in their S/U courses. Shapiro reasoned that the S/U system would continue to encourage students to venture out of their comfort zones, with the possibility of a letter grade also incentivizing them to do well.

“It kind of gives people a fail-safe,” Shapiro said. “If more are taking classes pass-fail, more people can deprioritize the course if they’re [having] a rough or rocky semester, and I think a lot of students would appreciate the value of taking a class pass-fail.”

Senate Caucus Representative Andre Lametti disagreed with Shapiro’s reasoning.

“For me, I believe that motivation to get an A is not the only motivation to take a course,” Lametti said. “If you have the option to change an S/U option into an A […], the motivation to get the grade might still exist. I enjoyed taking courses with the S/U option, and I think that removing the [pre-existing] S/U option removes this and is bad for educational standards, and goes against [the] VP University Affairs Mandate.”

Ultimately, the motion passed with 17 in favour, four opposed, and four abstentions.

Council will reconvene on Nov. 15 in McConnell Engineering 603.

Martlets, Sports, Volleyball

Martlet volleyball beats UdeM in three sets

by Kaja Surborg on

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On Nov. 2, the McGill Martlets (5-0) won in three sets against their crosstown rival Université de Montréal (UdeM) Carabins (4-1) and took their fifth consecutive victory in front of a crowd of nearly 300 fans. With the win, they stayed atop the RSEQ and cemented their number six spot in the U Sports national rankings.

After dropping the first set 25-18 and narrowly winning the second set 25-23, the Martlets dominated the third 25-15.

“We know that the Carabins are a really offensive team,” third-year power hitter Claire Vercheval said. “We knew that we would have to be patient […] and do our own thing […], and that worked.”

Defence was vital in the win. Vercheval, fifth-year power hitter Emilie Matte De Grasse, had nine digs and fourth-year libero Lea-Marie Duguay had eight digs for the game. First-year middle blocker Charlene Robitaille led McGill with four blocks throughout the evening.

Matte De Grasse, who scored a Martlet-high 11 points, noted that their teamwork was a deciding factor.

“Today, we showed up as a whole team and worked really well together,” Matte De Grasse said. “We were really ready for it today.”

Vercheval had nine points of her own, with six kills and two aces. She agreed that team chemistry played a significant part in the win.

“We really worked as a team and really concentrated on trying to bring all of our skills [together],” Vercheval said. “[We didn’t want] to be individuals on the court.”

Beyond teamwork, McGill Head Coach Rachele Beliveau also emphasized the development of many of the Martlets.

“The majority of the group are only third-years, and, when they came in, they had a lot of potential,” Beliveau said. “They are getting better and better, and, hopefully, we can keep improving.”

With 14 games left in the season, the Martlets will look to keep improving and extend the winning streak as the season progresses.

“[We need to] improve decision making,” Beliveau said. “It’s getting better, and we saw some good digs tonight. Staying sharp on the game plan and knowing when to execute [is also important], and we’re always working on skills.”

Matte De Grasse also emphasized the mental component of their game.

“We’re [working on] our attitude and how we show up on the court,” Matte De Grasse said. “We know we have the skills to win, so we want to build a consistent team that plays well together to be able to go to nationals.”

Moment of the Game:

The Martlets came out firing in the final set, taking the first five points. They went into the technical timeout with a lead of 16-4, and won the set 25-15.

Quotable:

“We knew there were going to be big plays and that they would be strong, but we had to do our own thing on our own side, and we knew it was going to work.” – Claire Vercheval on how the team’s mentality affected play.

Stats Corner:

McGill’s 33 kills dominated the Carabins’ 21.

Campus Spotlight, Student Life

Letters for resistance: Writing to sexual violence survivors

by Sophia White on

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On Oct. 29, the McGill Women’s Health Advocacy Club (MWHAC) hosted an open letter-writing campaign for students to voice solidarity with survivors who have publicly come forward with accusations of sexual violence. The event was prompted by the recent confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. At the event, disheartened students wrote to public figures such as Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Anita Hill, and Andrea Constand to express their support. Attendees were encouraged to express their concerns and engage in a broader dialogue about sexual violence in a supportive environment.

The primary aim of the event was to uplift sexual violence survivors, and the organizers urged attendees to recognize the hardships that survivors face when telling their stories. Iris Kim, U3 Physiology and president of MWHAC, expressed her frustration with the public’s frequent hasty dismissal of survivors’ accusations.

“Any society, and any environment, really, that turns a blind eye to sexual harassment, sexual assault, and sexual violence is an environment that refuses to acknowledge the importance of survivors’ wellbeing, including their mental health,” Kim said.

The organizers also extended a personal invitation to all survivors of sexual violence at the event to write letters to themselves as a part of their healing process. Listeners from McGill’s Office for Sexual Violence Response, Support and Education (O-SVRSE) were present to help facilitate discussion and provide support for anyone in need.

The gathering was initially politically-motivated and intended to be held earlier this academic year before Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court. However, the O-SVRSE suggested that it would be better to wait and focus on building support for survivors instead, many of whom are not offered spaces to heal after their assaults. Tori Ford, U3 Arts  and Head of Events for O-SVRSE, explained that the focus of the event was modified to celebrate the bravery of survivors who come forward with their accusations.

“I find that, when sexual violence enters the news cycle, survivors can often feel isolated and alone,” Ford said. “I thought it would be a nice event to have people come together where they can really voice their concerns in a safe environment.”

In recent months, many students may have felt frustrated and unsure of how they could speak up and make a difference during the hearing. Though international activism can be intimidating, Kim stressed the need for advocacy.

“Sexual violence is everywhere, and it doesn’t really matter whether it’s in the news cycle for some prominent case,” Kim said. “It’s always happening. So, in that sense, it absolutely makes a difference for us to be advocating for survivors, wherever and whenever.”

Kim and Ford both highlighted the importance of believing survivors, as well as the need for fundamental societal change in how the public responds to survivors’ accusations.

“Despite the progress that has been made in terms of women’s advocacy, we have to acknowledge how difficult it is still for a woman to come forward and all of the different factors at play, such as privilege, race, and education status,” Kim said. “We can’t blame women for not coming forward immediately or ever, but, [when they do come forward], we need to provide support in the ways they want to be supported.”

Survivors of sexual violence seeking support can contact O-SVRSE and the Sexual Assault Center of the McGill Students Society (SACOMSS).

Private, Science & Technology

Fantastic alien microbes and how to find them

by Kimberly Johnston on

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The 2015 discovery of water on Mars, an essential for life on Earth, sparked theories of thriving Martian life. Ideas of interstellar travel to find extracellular beings were suddenly within reach. The second Montreal Space Symposium on Oct. 18 to 19, offered a forum for the future of space exploration, where speakers shared their passion for the next frontier.

Surface formations on Mars indicate that water may have swept up sediment and debris, before being flushed underground and sequestered away for billions of years in lava-formed rock passages. These Martian lava tubes now serve as stores for icy water and would provide a protective environment to microbes that may may exist within the rocks. These possible alien microbes would explain the persistent traces of methane in Mars’ atmosphere.

The Martian subsurface matches Earth’s own, where a thin film of water lies in lava tubes between ice and rock. Despite this harsh environment, Earth’s microorganisms thrive in large populations in lava tubes at oxygen concentrations very similar to those on Mars. They have adapted to using iron or other inorganic compounds as sources of energy.

“What this tends to indicate to us is that there could be a broad range of metabolisms as well as survival strategies,” Brady O’Connor, a Master’s student in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences, said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “From a habitability standpoint and an astrobiology standpoint, this is encouraging.’’

Samples of these Earth-residing microbial communities reveal a diverse variety of organisms, providing an encouraging sign for the existence of similar life on Mars.

Theorizing life via analogy is promising, but scientists at the Space Symposium were eager to discuss how to find real evidence of life on Mars, which would be no easy task.

Such a mission would first require aerial surveillance for laval chutes into which robots could be lowered. After making it underground, there are more challenges. The uneven and unpredictable terrain of the caves could shred the wheels of the exploration rover in minutes. To circumvent the difficult geography, the mission would need to use robots that hop or rovers better adapted to the terrain.

Mars is only one of many planets to explore, however, and Andrew Higgins, associate professor in mechanical engineering,  has set his sights on interstellar flight.

The bulk of stars and exoplanets surrounding Earth is at least 10 lightyears, or 100 trillion kilometres, away. Speed aside, it would be impossible to reach these celestial bodies with rocket fuel because the sheer amount of chemical propellant required would have a greater mass than the entire known universe.  

Based on the American physicist Robert L. Forward’s conception of interstellar travel,  Higgins suggested leaving engine-powered spaceships aside and instead hitching a ride on a laser sail spaceship. The laser on the spaceship provides thrust by shining light—made up of photons and carrying momentum—on the sail to apply pressure. The light would shine with the help of photovoltaic mirrors focusing a  light beam on a metre-large ultra thin glass sail. It would take a contraption of this type just three minutes to reach 30 per cent of the speed of light, at which it could reach the nearest star, Proximus Centauri, in 10 years. With only a three minute launch time, it would be possible to send super lightweight micro-data-collecting devices to all nearby stars of interest.

Higgins’ research coincides with NASA’s new interest in interstellar missions.

“We are in the interstellar age,’’ Higgins said. “This really is a project for a century.”

Plenty of questions have yet to be answered, such as how a micron thick sail would hold up under laser thrust and what would happen if the sail hit a grain of interstellar dust. However, scientists at the Space Symposium believe that interstellar travel is a very real possibility.

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