Science + Tech – Views & Research

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Chinese women wearing traditional red performance clothing raise their arms in dance gestures as they follow a robot

Wherever AI is heading next, older people want a say

Rachel Weldrick, Concordia University

How we are engineering bacteria to eat cancer

Brian Ingalls, University of Waterloo and Marc Aucoin, University of Waterloo

The U.S. just approved a giant space mirror to test ‘sunlight on demand.’ Low Earth orbit is getting weird

Samantha Lawler, University of Regina and Aaron Boley, University of British Columbia

Jeremy Hansen is leaving the Canadian Space Agency, but Canada will still support NASA’s return to the moon

Gordon Osinski, Western University

Three men and one woman in blue NASA uniform pose for a group photo.

A new CRASH Clock measures the chance of satellite collisions, and it’s ticking down fast

Samantha Lawler, University of Regina; Aaron Boley, University of British Columbia; Sarah Thiele, Princeton University, and Skye Heiland, University of British Columbia

Canada’s AI strategy must reckon with the environmental implications of data centres

Sibo Chen, Toronto Metropolitan University

a middle aged white man in a suit speaking at a podium in front on a red background

‘Agrivoltaics’ can both power AI data centres and increase food production — new study

Joshua M. Pearce, Western University

Green crops grow between large vertical solar panels against a blue sky

People work in reflective yellow/orange jackets at the base of a cliff, with a high-pressure jet of water spraying across

Earth’s deep memory is thawing with the Arctic permafrost, degrading records of our ancient world

Duane Froese, University of Alberta; Hendrik Poinar, McMaster University; Scott L. Cocker, Stockholm University, and Tyler J. Murchie, McMaster University

a rendering of molecules joined together

Ammonia from wastewater: How we’re turning a pollutant into fertilizer and clean fuel

Navid Noor, McMaster University and Drew Higgins, McMaster University

A viw of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool from above, with green algae bloom down the middle of the pool.

What science tells us about the algae bloom in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

Marguerite Xenopoulos, Trent University and Paul Frost, Trent University

A 3D render of a cubicle-filled office space. Ever cubicle has a computer in it, but only one central cubicle in the middle features one with the screen on

Tracking your employees doesn’t make them more productive

Nick Turner, University of Calgary and Justin Weinhardt, University of Calgary

How AI and digital data shape our understanding of migration

Tuba Bircan, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Anna Triandafyllidou, Toronto Metropolitan University

Palestinian boys carry buckets and containers of water away from a water truck.

How generative AI and physics can help design new antibiotics

Rachael (Ré) A Mansbach, Concordia University and Jyler Menard

If you flirt with an AI companion, does that count as cheating?

David Lafortune, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM); Ellfie Chen, Université de Montréal, and Valerie A. Lapointe, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

A heart with a face on it on a phone screen

In Toy Story 5, it’s tech versus toys — something families are grappling with

Natalie Kirby, Université de Montréal and Audrey-Ann Deneault, Université de Montréal

Adults in a row with large cowboy, spaceman and cowgirl characters.

We discovered a new rock type containing garnet inside a meteorite fragment from Mars

Tanya Kizovski, Brock University

A piece of rock with shiny green crystals embedded.

What are the risks of contracting West Nile virus from a mosquito in Canada?

Mehra Balsara, Carleton University; Antoinette Ludwig, Université de Montréal; Catherine Cullingham, Carleton University, and Marc Avramov, Carleton University

An orange tent and orange campfire flames at dusk with the sun setting on the horizon

The oldest evidence of mourning rituals reveals Palaeolithic communities grieved like we do

Layla Tiseo, Université de Montréal

Stéphane Dion: The case for unified and effective Canadian science diplomacy

Stéphane Dion, Université de Montréal

Stéphane Dion standing at the microphone, with a Canadian flag in the background

What everyone gets wrong about the modern job search — and what actually works

Leda Stawnychko, Mount Royal University and Mehnaz Rafi, University of Calgary

A woman interviews a young woman for a job

Sovereign AI? Anthropic shutdown reveals Canada’s weakness

Simon Blanchette, McGill University

Artificial intelligence raises profound moral questions — for all of humanity answer

Emmanuelle Vaast, McGill University and Renée Sieber, McGill University

A woman and man dressed in futuristic silver clothing stands expressionless behind two humanoid robots in similar clothing on the catwalk.

Are algorithms unfairly screening out immigrant job applications?

Hari KC, Toronto Metropolitan University and Rupa Banerjee, Toronto Metropolitan University

The giant viruses that orchestrate life in the polar regions

Thomas M. Pitot, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC) and Catherine Girard, Université Laval

Snow covered mountains between a blue sky and frozen blue water

What happens to microplastics when swallowed?

Ryan Prosser, University of Guelph and Nicholas Letwin, University of Guelph

Can stimulating the sense of smell be beneficial for the brain?

Coline Zigrand, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and Benoît Jobin, Harvard University

Why brain health is an urgent priority for G7 member countries

Guy Rouleau, McGill University

A doctor in mask and scrubs looks ta a large screen with an image of a brain on it.

Real science from real scientists

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The Earth

A chimpanzee peers at the camera with green leaves in the background

Why do male chimpanzees throw rocks at the same trees for more than a decade? We travelled to remote Guinea-Bissau to find out

Robyn Nakano, University of Victoria and Ammie Kalan, University of Victoria

Close up of a cricket against a background of leaves.

Cricket nuggets? Caterpillar cookies? Canadians would consider eating insects if they can’t see them

Rassim Khelifa, Concordia University

Why your pet reptile ‘surfs’ the glass or rubs against the barriers of their enclosure

Melanie Denomme, Brock University

A lizard touches a glass barrier with one hand and looking out through the barrier.

We found a way to turn Canada goose poop into chicken feed and crop fertilizer

Rassim Khelifa, Concordia University and Carlos Antonio Lopez Manzano, Concordia University

Paris has successfully cut noise pollution, but urban birds still can’t sing at their natural pitch

Dan Mennill, University of Windsor

A great tit with a black head and yellow belly, against a pink-orange backdrop.

The way primates parent their young shows how strict labels miss the mark

Libby Ware, Université de Montréal

A non-human primate looks at and cuddles its infant.

Queen bumblebees can breathe underwater — for days. We discovered how

Sabrina Rondeau, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa; Charles-Antoine Darveau, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa, and Nigel Raine, University of Guelph

A Queen bumblebee is seen on a plant with pink flowers.

The raccoon raiding your garbage bin might just be solving a puzzle — for the fun of it

Hannah Griebling, University of British Columbia and Sarah Benson-Amram, University of British Columbia

Wild macaques don’t abandon babies. So why did Punch’s mother?

Sarah E. Turner, Concordia University; Brogan M. Stewart, Concordia University; Megan M. Joyce, Concordia University, and Mikaela Gerwing, Concordia University

A Japanese macaque mother sits with her infant in the forest

Tracking wildlife using DNA: A scientific breakthrough made with an Indigenous community

Valérie S. Langlois, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) and Annie Claude Bélisle, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)

A white-tailed deer spotted in Chelsea, Quebec

How plants keep a genetic memory of the past

Daniel J Schoen, McGill University

A plant with yellow flowers and green leaves

What bite marks tell us about T. rex’s eating habits

Taia Wyenberg-Henzler, University of Alberta

A dinosaur biting the head of another dinosaur

Scientists have identified unique sounds for 8 fish species

Darienne Lancaster, University of Victoria

How ocean hydrothermal systems made the first life on Earth possible

Long Li, University of Alberta

black smoke emitted from a rock formation underwater

Space

NASA's Curiosity rover robot on the brown, rocky surface of Mars

Did NASA’s Curiosity rover find signs of ancient life on Mars? An astrobiologist explains how we determine ‘life’

Allyson Brady, Carleton University

A man in a red t-shirt wears a harness and holds medical equipment.

How mobile deep-space medical systems could support future landings on the moon and Mars

Dr. Farhan M. Asrar, Toronto Metropolitan University

Are aliens real? Scientists have been hunting for extraterrestrial life since the time of Aristotle

Robert William Smith, University of Alberta

A star cluster is shown inside a large nebula of many-coloured gas and dust.

A million new SpaceX satellites will destroy the night sky

Samantha Lawler, University of Regina; Aaron Boley, University of British Columbia, and Hanno Rein, University of Toronto

A Starlink train passing through bright green and pink auroras over rural Saskatchewan

As corporations race for the stars, we need international collaboration on space governance

Peter Brown, Western University

Space-time doesn’t exist — but it’s a useful concept for understanding our reality

Daryl Janzen, University of Saskatchewan

white abstract figures repeated in a pattern on a black background

A muted blue Earth with bright white clouds sets behind the cratered surface of the moon.

How the Artemis II crew trained to observe and photograph the moon: A NASA science team geologist explains

Gordon Osinski, Western University

I watched Artemis II lift off — as the first humans ventured to the Moon since 1972

Gordon Osinski, Western University

The Earth seen from a distance in space. Only a crescent of it is visisble; the rest is in shadow

NASA announces a big shake-up of the Artemis Moon program

Gordon Osinski, Western University

A dark illustration of Artemis astronauts on the moon.

Man in glasses stares at his phone with two brightly coloured computer screens beside him

Focus apps are failing neurodivergent minds, new research finds

Joanna McGrenere, University of British Columbia and Kevin Chow, New York University

A large dinosaur emerges form the ocean.

Netflix’s The Dinosaurs rehashes a very old story of empire and conquest

Frederick Oliver Beeby Maglaque, University of British Columbia and Kirsten F. Hodge, University of British Columbia

An ancient parchment leaf with calligraphy and colourful illustrations sits under a microscope.

As a ‘book scientist’ I work with microscopes, imaging technologies and AI to preserve ancient texts

Christina Dinh Nguyen, University of Toronto

A woman sits at a computer examining medical tests results.

Canada’s fragmented electronic health records harm patients and cost taxpayers billions: New research

Braden Manns, University of Calgary; Stephanie Hastings, University of Calgary, and Sunand Kannappan, University of Calgary

AI ‘deadbots’ can fuel pathological grief and affect how we deal with death

Emmanuelle Marceau, Université de Montréal

Image showing a face-to-face encounter between a woman and a robot

Your browsing history could soon set your grocery bill — and Canada isn’t ready for it

Jake Okechukwu Effoduh, Toronto Metropolitan University

A shopper reaches for groceries in a grocery store

Truth, or misinformation? A statistician explains the challenge of assessing evidence

Mu Zhu, University of Waterloo

A raw steak with potatoes and fresh vine tomatoes.

Why teens are so vulnerable to Big Tech social media platforms

Salima Kerai, University of Toronto

Is someone watching you? Facial recognition tech is here and Canada offers little privacy protection

Neil McArthur, University of Manitoba

A man wears a pair of black Ray-Ban smart glasses produced by Meta.

Smart glasses with facial recognition could be devastating to sex workers

Brynn Colledge, University of Waterloo

Two men examine smart glasses at a trade show in China.

How emoji use at work can determine how competent your colleagues think you are

Erin Leigh Courtice, Toronto Metropolitan University

A series of yellow emojis on a smartphone screen.

Why Iran keeps turning off the internet during mass protests

Niloofar Hooman, McMaster University

A person balances on a rock as the sun sets behind them.

Novel ‘body-swap’ robot provides insights into how the brain keeps us upright

Jean-Sébastien Blouin, University of British Columbia and Patrick A. Forbes, Erasmus University Medical Center

A man dubiously shakes the hand of a humanoid robot

Humanoid home robots are on the market – but do we really want them?

Eduardo B. Sandoval, UNSW Sydney

When words look like their meaning, we process them faster, new research reveals

David Sidhu, Carleton University

What happens to your brain in nature? The neuroscience

Mar Estarellas, McGill University

No, your brain doesn’t suddenly ‘fully develop’ at 25. Here’s what the neuroscience actually shows

Taylor Snowden, Université de Montréal

The tryptophan switch? Why exercise boosts your mood

Meghan McCue, McMaster University

How nanomedicine gets inside your cells and treats you from the inside out

Suiyang Liao, University of British Columbia

a red capsule split open to reveal a strand of DNA separating into two single strands, against a background of blue capsules

How number systems shape our thinking and what it means for learning, language and culture

Jean-Charles Pelland, University of Bergen

Two children sit side-by-side, counting on their fingers

Bugonia: Why some people’s brains cling to the idea that aliens are real

Dan Baumgardt, University of Bristol

Physicists and philosophers have long struggled to understand the nature of time: Here’s why

Daryl Janzen, University of Saskatchewan

rows of monochromatic gray clocks showing different times

a person in a white lab coat using a syringe to take a liquid from a vial

To lead in global innovation, Canada must prioritize basic science

Shay M. Freger, McMaster University and Mathew Leonardi, McMaster University; Adelaide University

To achieve ‘AI for All’ in agriculture, Canada’s farmers need systems-level change

Charles Conteh, Brock University

A white and red tractor drives up a field spraying rows of green crops

Where does the data you upload to the cloud go? The challenge of dual-use technologies

Bryn Williams-Jones, Université de Montréal

Two young women with long hair sit in a cafe smiling at something on their phone.

Is your AI chatbot manipulating you? Subtly reshaping your opinions?

Richard Lachman, Toronto Metropolitan University

Holocaust education has a growing Gen AI problem

Regan Lipes, MacEwan University

A close-up of a finger pointing at an old photograph of a couple and their child.

A safe AI strategy for Canadian youth should include age-associated risks

Adam Kenneth Dubé, McGill University

From AI companions to climate action, we undervalue what lies ahead

Rahul Ravi, Concordia University

A man builds a companion on the Character.AI website.

College students are noticing their AI-smoothed writing sounds strong — and not like them

Nurul Hassan Mohammad, University of Toronto

A person at a computer looking stonyfaced and chagrined.

Just how bad are generative AI chatbots for our mental health?

Alexandre Hudon, Université de Montréal

A boy holds a smartphone so it obscures his face.

From Anthropic to Iran: Who sets the limits on AI’s use in war and surveillance?

Emmanuelle Vaast, McGill University

MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter prepares to take off from the USS Abraham Lincoln

Slanguage: Why AI’s stylistic negation — ‘it’s not X, it’s Y’ — is both annoying and doesn’t work

Joshua Gonzales, University of Guelph

A simulation of a robot sitting at a desk and typing on a keyboard while they look at a computer screen.

Does ‘federated unlearning’ improve AI data privacy, or create cybersecurity risk?

Abbas Yazdinejad, University of Regina and Ann Fitz-Gerald, Balsillie School of International Affairs

A view of large buildings housing an AI data centre.

How principles of self-compassion help fight loneliness in the age of AI

Li-elle Rapaport, University of Manitoba

A woman going through her laptop while alone on her bed.

A close-up image of a yellow charging cord plugged into a blue electric car.

Will your electric car burst into flames? A solid-state battery would reduce the risk

Taiana Lucia Emmanuel Pereira, McMaster University

What a gaping hole on a bridge reveals about aging infrastructure in Canada

Amirreza Torabizadeh, Concordia University and Emre Erkmen, Concordia University

Canada could use thermal infrastructure to turn wasted heat emissions into energy

James (Jim) S. Cotton, McMaster University and Caleb Duffield, McMaster University

Investigators are increasingly using technology in conflict-related sexual assault cases

Valerie Oosterveld, Western University

a woman sits with her back to the camera in a tent

Dense, compact urban growth is favoured by mid-sized Canadian cities

Rylan Graham, University of Northern British Columbia and Jeffrey Biggar, Dalhousie University

a lake in the foreground with a city in the bakcground

Montréal’s bike infrastructure hardly takes up any space from cars on city roads

Daniel Romm, McGill University

cyclists on a designated lane next to cars

Science + Tech – Views & Research – The Conversation

Top stories

Help us bring you real science from real scientists

Wherever AI is heading next, older people want a say

How we are engineering bacteria to eat cancer

The U.S. just approved a giant space mirror to test ‘sunlight on demand.’ Low Earth orbit is getting weird

Jeremy Hansen is leaving the Canadian Space Agency, but Canada will still support NASA’s return to the moon

A new CRASH Clock measures the chance of satellite collisions, and it’s ticking down fast

Canada’s AI strategy must reckon with the environmental implications of data centres

‘Agrivoltaics’ can both power AI data centres and increase food production — new study

Earth’s deep memory is thawing with the Arctic permafrost, degrading records of our ancient world

Ammonia from wastewater: How we’re turning a pollutant into fertilizer and clean fuel

What science tells us about the algae bloom in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

Tracking your employees doesn’t make them more productive

How AI and digital data shape our understanding of migration

How generative AI and physics can help design new antibiotics

If you flirt with an AI companion, does that count as cheating?

In Toy Story 5, it’s tech versus toys — something families are grappling with

We discovered a new rock type containing garnet inside a meteorite fragment from Mars

What are the risks of contracting West Nile virus from a mosquito in Canada?

The oldest evidence of mourning rituals reveals Palaeolithic communities grieved like we do

Stéphane Dion: The case for unified and effective Canadian science diplomacy

What everyone gets wrong about the modern job search — and what actually works

Sovereign AI? Anthropic shutdown reveals Canada’s weakness

Artificial intelligence raises profound moral questions — for all of humanity answer

Are algorithms unfairly screening out immigrant job applications?

The giant viruses that orchestrate life in the polar regions

What happens to microplastics when swallowed?

Can stimulating the sense of smell be beneficial for the brain?

Why brain health is an urgent priority for G7 member countries

Real science from real scientists

The Earth

Why do male chimpanzees throw rocks at the same trees for more than a decade? We travelled to remote Guinea-Bissau to find out

Cricket nuggets? Caterpillar cookies? Canadians would consider eating insects if they can’t see them

Why your pet reptile ‘surfs’ the glass or rubs against the barriers of their enclosure

We found a way to turn Canada goose poop into chicken feed and crop fertilizer

Paris has successfully cut noise pollution, but urban birds still can’t sing at their natural pitch

The way primates parent their young shows how strict labels miss the mark

Queen bumblebees can breathe underwater — for days. We discovered how

The raccoon raiding your garbage bin might just be solving a puzzle — for the fun of it

Wild macaques don’t abandon babies. So why did Punch’s mother?

Tracking wildlife using DNA: A scientific breakthrough made with an Indigenous community

How plants keep a genetic memory of the past

What bite marks tell us about T. rex’s eating habits

Scientists have identified unique sounds for 8 fish species

How ocean hydrothermal systems made the first life on Earth possible

Space

Did NASA’s Curiosity rover find signs of ancient life on Mars? An astrobiologist explains how we determine ‘life’

How mobile deep-space medical systems could support future landings on the moon and Mars

Are aliens real? Scientists have been hunting for extraterrestrial life since the time of Aristotle

A million new SpaceX satellites will destroy the night sky

As corporations race for the stars, we need international collaboration on space governance

Space-time doesn’t exist — but it’s a useful concept for understanding our reality

How the Artemis II crew trained to observe and photograph the moon: A NASA science team geologist explains

I watched Artemis II lift off — as the first humans ventured to the Moon since 1972

NASA announces a big shake-up of the Artemis Moon program

Digital life

Focus apps are failing neurodivergent minds, new research finds

Netflix’s The Dinosaurs rehashes a very old story of empire and conquest

As a ‘book scientist’ I work with microscopes, imaging technologies and AI to preserve ancient texts

Canada’s fragmented electronic health records harm patients and cost taxpayers billions: New research

AI ‘deadbots’ can fuel pathological grief and affect how we deal with death

Your browsing history could soon set your grocery bill — and Canada isn’t ready for it

Truth, or misinformation? A statistician explains the challenge of assessing evidence

Why teens are so vulnerable to Big Tech social media platforms

Is someone watching you? Facial recognition tech is here and Canada offers little privacy protection

Smart glasses with facial recognition could be devastating to sex workers

How emoji use at work can determine how competent your colleagues think you are

Why Iran keeps turning off the internet during mass protests

Novel ‘body-swap’ robot provides insights into how the brain keeps us upright

Humanoid home robots are on the market – but do we really want them?

Mind & body

When words look like their meaning, we process them faster, new research reveals

What happens to your brain in nature? The neuroscience

No, your brain doesn’t suddenly ‘fully develop’ at 25. Here’s what the neuroscience actually shows

The tryptophan switch? Why exercise boosts your mood

How nanomedicine gets inside your cells and treats you from the inside out

How number systems shape our thinking and what it means for learning, language and culture

Bugonia: Why some people’s brains cling to the idea that aliens are real

Physicists and philosophers have long struggled to understand the nature of time: Here’s why