McGill Podcasts » Science & Technology

AstroMcGill Episode 70 – Tom Prince

Carol Zhang — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 17:46:51 +0000

Tom Prince visited McGill as part of the opening of the new McGill Space Institute. We talk to Tom about his work with the Palomar Transient Factory and the upcoming Zwicky Transient Facility.

Guest: Tom Prince(California Institute of Technology).

Hosts: Robert Archibald and Emilie Parent.

Duration: 25 minutes.

Production: Nick Adelson.

AstroMcGill Episode 69 – Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Carol Zhang — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 16:03:34 +0000

We were visited by Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who discovered pulsars during her graduate studies in the 1960s. She talks to us about the still highly active field of pulsar astronomy and her varied career since their discovery. We also discuss her tireless advocacy for women in physics and astronomy.

Guest: Jocelyn Bell Burnell (Oxford University).

Hosts: Robert Archibald and Gabrielle Simard.

Duration: 20 minutes.

Production: James O’Callaghan.

AstroMcGill Episode 68 – Chiara Mingarelli

Carol Zhang — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 16:00:51 +0000

Chiara talks to us about how timing the rotation of pulsars can be used to detect gravitational waves–ripples in the very fabric of the cosmos.

Guest: Chiara Mingarelli (California Institute of Technology).

Hosts: Erik Madsen and Chitrang Patel.

Duration: 19 minutes.

Production: James O’Callaghan.

AstroMcGill Episode 67 – Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz

Carol Zhang — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 15:56:24 +0000

Enrico talks to us about the formation of heavy elements in the Universe through processes such as neutron star mergers.

Guest: Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz (University of California Santa Cruz).

Hosts: Robert Archibald and Chitrang Patel.

Duration: 17 minutes.

Production: James O’Callaghan.

AstroMcGill Episode 66 – Bryan Gaensler

Carol Zhang — Mon, 08 Jun 2015 15:07:45 +0000

Bryan talks to us about magnetic fields in the Universe (and a little bit about cows).

Guest: Bryan Gaensler (University of Toronto, Dunlap Institute).

Hosts: Erik Madsen and Gabrielle Simard.

Duration: 21 minutes.

Production: James O’Callaghan.

AstroMcGill Episode 65 – Beth Wilman

Na'Ama Rock — Thu, 14 May 2015 14:28:01 +0000

We discussed how astronomers can studied cosmology, the formation and evolution of the Universe, by observing nearby dwarfs galaxies, instead of extremely distant galaxies at the edge of the Universe.

Guest: Beth Willman (Haverford College).

Hosts: Erik Madsen and Gabrielle Simard.

Duration: 23 minutes.

Production: James O’Callaghan.

AstroMcGill Episode 64 – Jason Wright

Michelle Huang — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 20:08:56 +0000

We talked about exoplanets, detecting exoplanets through measurements of radial velocities, and what we can look forward to from this field in the near future. The two websites mentioned during the podcast are exoplanets.org and the Habitable Zone Planet Finder.

Guest: Jason Wright

Hosts: Sebastien Guillot and Erik Madsen

Duration: 40 minutes

Production: James O’Callaghan

AstroMcGill Episode 63 – Kendrick Smith

Michelle Huang — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 20:32:40 +0000

We discussed the large-scale structure of the Universe and how we can understand it from observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background emission, the relic light from the formation of the Universe.

Guest: Kendrick Smith

Hosts: Robert Archibald and Gabrielle Simard

Duration: 13 minutes

Production: James O’Callaghan

AstroMcGill Episode 62 – Sara Ellison

Michelle Huang — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 19:46:28 +0000

The topic of this week’s podacst with Sara Ellison was the merging of galaxies.

Guest: Sara Ellison

Hosts: Sean Griffin and Gabrielle Simard

Duration: 19 minutes

Production: James O’Callaghan

AstroMcGill Episode 61 – Laurens Keek

Michelle Huang — Wed, 04 Feb 2015 19:30:09 +0000

In this podcast, we talked about the nuclear explosion happening on the surface of neutron star, and how these objects located thousands of light years away can be used to better understand nuclear physics.

Guest: Laurens Keek

Hosts: Sebastien Guillot

Duration: 20 minutes

Production: James O’Callaghan

Trottier Symposium – Are We Alone?: The Search for Earth 2.0

Michelle Huang — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 21:58:23 +0000

This year’s Trottier Symposium narrows in on the topics of the origin of life on Earth as well as the possibilities of extraterrestrial life. The third speaker is Dr. Sara Seager (MIT) who was named in Time Magazine’s 25 Most Influential in Space in 2012.

Trottier Symposium – Are We Alone?: Postcards from Mars

Michelle Huang — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 21:51:15 +0000

This year’s Trottier Symposium narrows in on the topics of the origin of life on Earth as well as the possibilities of extraterrestrial life. The first speaker is Dr. Jim Bell (Arizona State University, Cornell University).

Trottier Symposium – Are We Alone?: Looking for Technosignatures

Michelle Huang — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 21:35:39 +0000

This year’s Trottier Symposium narrows in on the topics of the origin of life on Earth as well as the possibilities of extraterrestrial life. The second speaker is Dr. Jill Tarter (SETI Institute), who was named onf ot eh Time 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2004 and Time 25 in Space in 2012. As well, she received a TED prize in 2009 and public service awards from NASA.

AstroMcGill Episode 60 – Gilles Fontaine

Michelle Huang — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 17:57:53 +0000

We talked about white dwarf stars, and the possible existence of planets around them.

Guest: Gilles Fontaine (Université de Montréal)

Hosts: Sebastien Guillot and Gabrielle Simard

Duration: 22 minutes

Production: James O’Callaghan

AstroMcGill Episode 59 – Sara Seager

Michelle Huang — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 18:00:51 +0000

Sara Seager was one of the invited guest of the Lorne Trottier 2014 Public Science Symposium, and we had the chance for record a podcast with her. The topic of this episode was the search for planets outside of our Solar System, including planets that could be hosting life, and how we would detect those planets.

Guest: Sara Seager

Hosts: Sean Griffin and Sebastien Guillot

Duration: 26 minutes

Production: James O’Callaghan

AstroMcGill Episode 58 – Jim Bell

Michelle Huang — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 17:57:38 +0000

During his visit for the Lorne Trottier 2014 Public Science Symposium, we had the chance to sit with Jim Bell for an AstroMcGill podcast We talked about exploration of the Solar System, and his involvement with Mars exploration missions.

Guest: Jim Bell (Arizona State University and Planetary Society)

Hosts: Robert Archibald and Sean Griffin

Duration: 30 minutes

Production: James O’Callaghan

AstroMcGill Episode 57 – Marc Delvin

Atin Ramola — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 21:52:29 +0000

We discussed galaxy clusters, the growth of large scale structure in the Universe, and Marc’s work on the MUSTANG 2 detector at the Green Bank Telescope.

Guest: Marc Delvin (U. of Pennsynvania)

Hosts: Sebastien Guillot and Robert Archibald

Duration: 24 minutes

Production: James O’Callaghan

AstroMcGill Episode 56 – Kyle Story

Atin Ramola — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 14:33:50 +0000

During this episode, we talked about his PhD research work on the observations of the gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background with the South Pole Telescope.

Guest: Kyle Story (U. of Chicago)

Hosts: Sebastien Guillot and Gabrielle Simard

Duration: 15 minutes

Production: James O’Callaghan

AstroMcGill Episode 55 – Julie Lavacek-Larrondo

Michelle Huang — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 16:01:10 +0000

Following her lecture for the Physical Society Colloquium at McGill, we recorded this episode during which we talked about supermassive black-holes and active galactic nuclei.

Guest: Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo (U. Montreal)

Hosts: Sebastien Guillot and Gabrielle Simard

Duration: 19 minutes

Production: James O’Callaghan

AstroMcGill Episode 54 – Wladimir Lyra

Atin Ramola — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 16:45:45 +0000

Welcome to the 4th season of the AstroMcGill Podcasts. This week with Wladimir Lyra, we discussed how gases and tiny rocks around a star combine to form the different objects of a planetary system.

Guest: Wladimir Lyra (CalTech/JPL)

Hosts: Sebastien Guillot and Dave Tsang

Duration: 20 minutes

Production: James O’Callaghan

AstroMcGill Episode 53 – Emmanuel Fonseca

Atin Ramola — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 19:21:15 +0000

The discussion was focused on pulsars in binary systems, which are very useful to test different theories of gravity. General relativity – Einstein’s theory – wonderfully predicts the observations of pulsars in the highly-relativistic environments of binary systems.

Guest: Emmauel Fonseca (UBC)

Hosts: Sebastien Guillot and Chen Karako.

Duration: 22 minutes.

Production: James O’Callaghan.

Infectious Music: How microbes have shaped our music

Na'Ama Rock — Thu, 14 Aug 2014 17:55:52 +0000

In this episode, Professor Joaquin (Quim) Madrenas discusses how certain diseases impacted the way compsers created music, and how these diseases influenced the way societies experienced this music.

Why We Love Music: A Neuroscience perspective

Na'Ama Rock — Thu, 14 Aug 2014 17:36:41 +0000

Professor Robert L. Zattore discusses the reason why people have continued to love music throughout history and proposes that affinity for music is inherently human (and undoubtedly neurological).

Nature’s Chorus: Frog Calls and Bird Songs

Na'Ama Rock — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 15:52:59 +0000

Prof. David M. Green enlightens us about various types of frog calls, followed by a lesson on bird songs by Prof. Jon Sakata.

AstroMcGill Episode 52 – Dick Manchester

Jessica Mineau — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 19:04:54 +0000

Guest: Dick Manchester (ATNF)

We had the chance to receive Dick at McGill for a special visit. During this episode, we had a broad discussion about pulsars, these very compact objects that we still do not understand very well, but that are extremely useful to better understand some areas of physics.

Hosts: Sebastien Guillot and Dave Tsang

Duration: 23 minutes

Production: James O’Callaghan

AstroMcGill Episode 51 – Sarah Burke Spolaor

Na'Ama Rock — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 14:29:13 +0000

Guest: Sarah Burke Spolaor (CalTech)

The discussion of this podcast was centered on a new and unknown type of astrophysical phenomenon, called Fast Radio Bursts, very brief bursts of radiation disappearing as fast as they appeared.

Hosts: Ryan Lynch and Sebastien Guillot.

Duration: 22 minutes

Production: James O’Callaghan

AstroMcGill Episode 50 – Coleman Miller

Na'Ama Rock — Tue, 13 May 2014 16:19:15 +0000

Guest: Coleman Miller (U. of Maryland)

We had a great discussion about the formation of supermassive black-holes, and black-holes of all sorts.

Hosts: Ryan Lynch and Sebastien Guillot.

Duration: 21 minutes

Production: Mike Collicutt.

AstroMcGill Episode 49 – Leslie Rogers

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 06 May 2014 16:53:47 +0000

Guest: Leslie Rogers (CalTech)

During this podcast, we had a general discussion about exoplanets.

Host: Dave Tsang

Duration: 11 minutes

Production: James O’Callaghan.

AstroMcGill Episode 48 – Mariska Kriek

Atin Ramola — Mon, 28 Apr 2014 20:15:50 +0000

Guest: Mariska Kriek (U. of California, Berkeley)

Mariska’s work is focused on the study of galaxies. We discussed how galaxies formed, how they evolved across cosmic times, and how they form stars from the gas and dust they contain.

Host: James Kennedy and Ryan Lynch

Duration: 23 minutes

Production: James O’Callaghan.

AstroMcGill Episode 47 – Falk Herwig

Atin Ramola — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 18:11:40 +0000

Guest: Falk Herwig (U. of Victoria)

This podcast discussion focused on stars and how they create the “heavy” elements present in the Universe, in other words, the nuclear reactions that led to the expression “We are made of star stuff”. To view the videos mentioned in this episode, see this page and this page.

Host: Ryan Lynch

Duration: 26 minutes

Production: Mike Collicutt

AstroMcGill Episode 46 – Jeff McMahon

Atin Ramola — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 18:11:34 +0000

Guest: Jeff McMahon (U. of Michigan)

Jeff’s field of study is cosmology. During this podcast, we talked about his work on measurements of the cosmic microwave background and his involvement with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope.

Hosts: Ryan Lynch and Sebastien Guillot

Duration: 26 minutes

Production: Mike Collicutt

AstroMcGill Episode 45 – Matt Mountain

Atin Ramola — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 18:11:27 +0000

Guest: Matt Mountain (Director of STScI)

We had a very interesting and inspiring discussion about the Hubble Space Telescope, and the many discoveries made by this telescope. We also talked about Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, and its potential to search for life outside of our Solar system.

Hosts: Ryan Lynch and Sebastien Guillot

Duration: 35 minutes

Production: James O’Callaghan.

AstroMcGill Episode 44 – Anna Frebel

Atin Ramola — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 21:17:47 +0000

Guest: Anna Frebel (MIT).

Anna studies very old stars, almost as old as the Universe itself. We discussed the implication of their existence and how she is looking for these peculiar and very faint stars. She also posts videos sharing her experiences at some of the largest telescopes in the world. Check out her YouTube channel.

Hosts: Ryan Lynch and Sebastien Guillot.

Duration: 28 minutes

AstroMcGill Episode 43 – David Nataf

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 14:56:45 +0000

Guest: David Nataf (Australian National University).

David observes the stars in the bulge of our Galaxy to measure their abundance of helium and their ages, an important step to understand the history of our Galaxy.

Host: James Kennedy.

Duration: 22 minutes.

Production: James O’Callaghan

AstroMcGill Episode 42 – Daisuke Nagai

Xiao Huang — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 16:31:07 +0000

Guest: Daisuke Nagai (Yale)

We talked about computational cosmology, and how computer simulations can help us understand many things about the Universe.

Hosts: Sebastien Guillot and James Kennedy

Duration: 22 minutes

AstroMcGill Episode 41 – Andrea Ghez

Xiao Huang — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 16:30:44 +0000

Guest: Andrea Ghez (UCLA)

Andrea visited the Physics Department to give the Anna I. McPherson Lectures 2013/2014 and it was our pleasure to record this podcast with her. We discussed her recent work on the supermassive black hole at the center of our Galaxy, and the observational techniques developed to indirectly observe it.

Hosts: Ryan Lynch and Sebastien Guillot

Duration: 25 minutes

AstroMcGill Episode 40 – Anže Slosar

Xiao Huang — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 16:28:06 +0000

Guest: Anže Slosar (Brookhaven Nat.Lab.)

By observing the light scattered from very distant quasars, Anže uses hydrogen in the line of sight of these quasars to understand the 3-dimensional structure on matter in the Universe.

Hosts: Robert Archibald andSebastien Guillot

Duration: 23 minutes

AstroMcGill Episode 39 – Douglas Scott

Xiao Huang — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 16:27:19 +0000

Guest: Douglas Scott (UBC)

He is a member of the PLANCK Satellite team, and we talked about the last results from this great cosmological mission.

Host: Ryan Lynch

Duration: 17 minutes

AstroMcGill Episode 38 – Wesley Fraser

Xiao Huang — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 15:57:22 +0000

Guest: Wesley Fraser (NRC-HIA)

We talked about the Kuiper Belt, a zone of the outer Solar System, where the demoted planet Pluto sits, and the information we can get from Kuiper Belt objects.

Host: Sebastien Guillot and Dave Tsang

Duration: 20 minutes

AstroMcGill Episode 37 – Antoine Strugarek

Xiao Huang — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 15:43:35 +0000

Guest/Invité: Antoine Strugarek (Université de Montréal)

We discussed his work on the numerical simulations of the Sun’s interior and the link with the observations of the Sun / Nous avons parlé de sa recherche sur les simulations numériques de l’interieur du Soleil, et le lien avec les observations du Soleil.

Host: François Dufour and Sebastien Guillot

Duration: 18 minutes

AstroMcGill Episode 36 – Philip Muirhead

Xiao Huang — Fri, 04 Oct 2013 17:42:00 +0000

Guest: Philip Muirhead (Boston University).

He is interested in the wide variety of exoplanets orbiting other stars, especially low-mass stars. We talked about the detection of exoplanets and the results from the Kepler mission.

Host: Ryan Lynch.

Duration: 18 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 35 – Andrey Timokhin

Xiao Huang — Fri, 04 Oct 2013 17:40:47 +0000

Guest: Andrey Timokhin (NASA/GSFC). We discussed his research on pulsars and their emission mechanism.

Hosts: Robert Archibald and James Kennedy.

Duration: 18 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 34 – Peter Martin

Xiao Huang — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 14:55:19 +0000

Guest: Peter Martin (CITA, UToronto). His current research focuses on the dust present in our Galaxy. We discussed what this galactic dust is, how it is detected, and what we can learn from it.

Hosts: Ryan Lynch and Sebastien Guillot.

Duration: 25 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 33 – Robert Archibald

Xiao Huang — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 17:28:54 +0000

Guest: Robert Archibald (McGill)

Robert Archibald published the first firm detection of an anti-glitch in a magnetar. An anti-glitch is a sudden decrease of the rotation period of a magnetar (a neutron star with a very large magnetic field), by opposition to the frequently-observed glitches which are sudden increase of the period (spin-up). This discevery can have important implications for the understanding of the internal structure of these extreme objects .

Hosts: Ryan Lynch and Sebastien Guillot

Duration: 18 minutes

AstroMcGill Episode 32 – Ryan Lynch

Xiao Huang — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 18:21:10 +0000

Guest: Ryan Lynch (McGill)

Ryan studies neutron stars and in particular, pulsars. He was part a collaboration who discovered a massive pulsar in a binary system, which allows to test Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

Hosts: Robert Archibald and Sebastien Guillot

Duration: 25 minutes

Sexual and Natural Selection – The Fist-fight in Nature

Xiao Huang — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 18:11:17 +0000

Is it true that natural and sexual selection oppose each other? For instance, why should male peacocks have such large tails? Even Darwin noted this evolutionary puzzle: there are some traits of organisms that would seem to decrease their survival. This lecture will explore this situation using examples from Dr. Hendry’s research from a variety of species.

“(S)he’s Being Mean to Me”: How Should Boys and Girls Respond to Aggression by Peers?

Xiao Huang — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 18:09:03 +0000

This lecture discusses ongoing work in Dr. Dirks’ lab that examines how children respond to different types of peer aggression, how those responses are perceived by important people in their social worlds, and how the effectiveness of a given response may vary depending upon who is enacting it and when they do it. Implications for intervention programs targeting children’s social functioning will also be discussed.

A Gene Underlying Sexual Conflict in Insects

Xiao Huang — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 18:07:44 +0000

This lecture will show how sexual conflict or sexually antagonistic behaviour in insects can influence the evolution and elaboration of novel sexually dimorphic traits in distinct and potentially opposing ways.

Chemistry, Love and Gender

Xiao Huang — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 18:03:48 +0000

This presentation features a lighthearted but scientific look at a topic of interest to all. The chemistry of the brain “in love” is examined, as well as the possible existence of aphrodisiacs and love potions. Chemical sex attractants in insects constitute the background to a discussion of possible analogues to these compounds in humans. This talk is of interest to anyone who ever has been, or ever plans to be “in love,” as well as to anyone else.

Witnessing the Formation and Evolution of Galaxies

Isabella Liu — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:15:07 +0000

We live in a Universe of remarkable structure. From super-clusters of galaxies, tens of millions of light years across, to grand-design spiral galaxies and small rocky planets like Earth, structure exists on all scales. It wasn’t always this way: through the extraordinary advancements of observational cosmology of the last several decades, we now know the Universe was homogeneous at its beginning. While the physics which links the young and smooth Universe to its underlying Dark Matter skeleton is well-established, perhaps paradoxically we know very little about how the objects composed of regular matter – the stuff you and I are made of – assembled. In a general sense, cosmological structure grows hierarchically; small systems collapse first then merge to form progressively more massive objects. But this is a violent and energetic process, triggering bursts of star formation, feeding matter onto super-massive black holes, stripping galaxies of their interstellar medium, and fundamentally shaping the complex structure we see around us today.

Dr. Webb’s research centers on the growth of structure in the universe, and galaxies in particular. Her approach is to use data at many different wavelengths of light; each wavelength probes a different physical process and tells us something unique about galaxy formation. Because a lot of the physics in galaxies happens behind thick veils of dust, she focusses much of her research on submillimeter (~400-1200µm) and mid/far-infrared (~3-400µm) observations, which directly detect the dust and provide clues to what’s happening behind it. She primarily studies galaxies in the very distant and young universe (i.e., high-redshift); because of the finite speed of light we are seeing these systems as they existed 5-12 billion years ago and can literally watch them form! However, she is also beginning programs to study near-by galaxies since these systems can be studied in much more detail and will provide insight into the processes which formed the galaxies of today.

AstroMcGill Episode 31 – David Shoemaker

Isabella Liu — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:29:28 +0000

Guest: David H. Shoemaker (MIT). David is part of the advancedLaser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), and we discussed gravitational waves and how LIGO is expected to detect these ripples in the curvature of space-time predicted by Einstein.

Hosts: Ryan Lynch, Sean Griffin, and Dave Tsang.

Duration: 21 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 30 – Lucy Fortson

Isabella Liu — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:26:56 +0000

Guest: Lucy Fortson (U. of Minnesota). While Lucy’s initial research interest were focused on high-energy astrophysics, she joined the Zooniverse collaboration (initially the GalaxyZoo project), an online citizen-science project. We discussed what the project its challenges are, as well as some of the science that resulted from it. If you are interest in joining one of the projects of Zooniverse, visit their page and select a project.

Hosts:Ryan Lynch and Sebastien Guillot.

Duration: 33 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 29 – Dan Stinebring

Isabella Liu — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:30:43 +0000

Guest: Dan Stinebring (Oberlin College).

The discussion was focused on gravitational waves and the NANOGrav collaboration.

Hosts: Ryan Lynch and Sean Griffin.

Duration: 17 minutes.

Bugs, Drugs and the Amazing Race

Isabella Liu — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:11:40 +0000

Wonder why you keep hearing about so many new infectious diseases? How do we manage them? Come explore the perpetual arms race between humans and microbes as we both battle for survival in our modern world.

AstroMcGill Episode 28 – Aaron Parsons

Isabella Liu — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 17:50:50 +0000

Guest: Aaron Parsons (UC, Berkeley). We talked about the PAPER experiment, which is hoping to shed light on the end of the “dark ages” of the Universe, just as the first stars and galaxies started to form.

Hosts: Ryan Lynch and Sean Griffin.

Duration: 19 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 27 – Maxim Lyutikov

Isabella Liu — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 20:03:11 +0000

Guest: Maxim Lyutikov (Purdue University). We discussed how and why pulsars emit radiation at radio wavelengths, and at higher energies in the gamma-ray and X-ray bands.

Hosts: Ryan Lynch and Dave Tsang.

Duration: 19 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 26 – Brian Schmidt

Isabella Liu — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:30:55 +0000

Special podcast with 2011 Physics Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt (Australian National University). We had the honor of receiving Brian Schmidt for a podcast interview, during which we talked about his discovery that the Universe was expanding. Brian Schmidt, Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011.

Hosts: Ryan Lynch and Dave Tsang.

Duration: 27 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 25 – Christian Ott

Isabella Liu — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:29:07 +0000

Guest: Christian Ott (CalTech). We discussed the death of massive stars, called supernova explosions, and how we can try to understand them with computer simulations. Here is a link to the YouTube channel mentioned during the podcast: SXS Collaboration YouTube Channel.

Hosts: Ryan Lynch and Dave Tsang.

Duration: 24 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 24 – Joanna Rankin

Isabella Liu — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:27:02 +0000

Guest: Joanna Rankin (U. of Vermont). In this episode, the discussion was focused on her work on the emission mechanism of pulsars, sometimes called “cosmic lighthouses”.

Hosts: Sean Griffin, Ryan Lynch and Dave Tsang.

Duration: 20 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 23 – Chris Thompson

Cody Rei-Anderson — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 18:10:45 +0000

Guest: Chris Thompson (CITA, U of Toronto). We discussed his research on gamma-ray bursts and magnetars.

Hosts: James Kennedy, Ryan Lynch and Sebastien Guillot.

Duration: 19 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 22 – Chelsea Sharon

George He — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 19:19:19 +0000

Guest: Chelsea Sharon (Rutgers University). We talked about the study of star formation in very distant galaxies.

Hosts: James Kennedy and Sebastien Guillot.

Duration: 18 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 21 – Victoria Scowcroft

George He — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:43:10 +0000

Guest: Victoria Scowcroft (Carnegie Observatory). We talked about her involvement in the Carnegie Hubble Program, a project dedicated to the measurement of the Hubble constant by calibrating the steps of the distance ladder.

Hosts: James Kennedy and Sebastien Guillot.

Duration: 17 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 20 – David Tsang

George He — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 19:39:42 +0000

Guest: David Tsang (McGill). We talked about neutron star mergers as emitters of gravitational waves. These waves are ripples in the curvature of space-time.

Hosts: James Kennedy, Ryan Lynch and Sebastien Guillot.

Duration: 23 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 19 – Dong Lai

George He — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:47:32 +0000

Guest: Dong Lai (Cornell). We discussed his research on hot Jupiters, a type of exoplanets on which tidal forces play an important role.

Hosts: James Kennedy and Sebastien Guillot.

Duration: 22 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 18 – Ue-Li Pen

George He — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 19:00:32 +0000

Guest: Ue-Li Pen (CITA, U of Toronto). We talked about his involvement with the rehabilitation of the Algonquin Radio Observatory, and how it was used for radio pulsar scattering observations.

Hosts: James Kennedy and Ryan Lynch.

Duration: 10 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 17 – Mathias Zaldarriaga

George He — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:42:00 +0000

Guest: Mathias Zaldarriaga (IAS/Princeton). We discussed various topics of cosmology (the Big Bang, inflation, the Cosmic Microwave Background, etc…).

Hosts: James Kennedy, Ryan Lynch and Sebastien Guillot.

Duration: 25 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 16 – Abby Vieregg

George He — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 14:40:04 +0000

Guest: Abby Vieregg (Harvard CFA). We talked about her work on the detection of neutrinos (hard-to-detect fundamental particles) with the balloon-borne instrument ANITA at the South Pole.

Hosts: James Kennedy, Ryan Lynch and Sebastien Guillot.

Duration: 23 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 15 – Abe Falcone

George He — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 18:29:26 +0000

Guest: Abe Falcone (Penn State). The discussion was about cosmic rays, very energetic particles with cosmic origin.

Hosts: James Kennedy and Ryan Lynch.

Duration: 30 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 14 – Marco Viero

George He — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 17:43:14 +0000

Guest: Marco Viero (CalTech). He studies the cosmic infrared background and dark matter. We discussed these topics with him.

Hosts: Sebastien Guillot and Ryan Lynch.

Duration: 20 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 13 – Mansi Kasliwal

George He — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 14:03:27 +0000

Guest: Mansi Kasliwal (Carnegie Institution for Science). Her research aims at the discovery and the understanding of new types of stellar explosions. We discussed what these explosions are and how she discovers them.

Hosts: James Kennedy and Ryan Lynch.

Duration: 17 minutes.

Christie Rowe: In Search of the Source of Earthquakes

George He — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 21:46:51 +0000

Speaker: Christie Rowe (Assistant Professor, Dept. Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University)

Earthquakes happen every day all over the world. Most are concentrated along the boundaries of tectonic plates, but occasionally, earthquakes happen where we don’t expect them. How do these events start? What controls the location of earthquakes? And what happens to all the energy that is released? Thousands or millions of years of erosion can reveal the deeper crustal rocks, which were the source of ancient earthquakes. Seeking out surface exposures of these ancient faults can give some insight into the physical and chemical controls on earthquakes. Professor Rowe will present stories from her field work across North America, Africa, and the deep ocean offshore Japan in search of answers to these questions. She will show the discoveries made during her April-May 2012 ocean drilling expedition to study the deep ocean fault which produced the great Tohoku 3/11/11 earthquake, and compare this fault to ancient faults in Alaska and Namibia which produced great earthquakes millions of years ago. Finally, she will argue that earthquakes are a key process in forming ore deposits and show examples from Québec and around the world. Here are some links to Scientific American Blog postings written by Dr. Rowe about D/V Chikyu this spring off the coast of Japan and about Earthquake prediction.

AstroMcGill Episode 12 – Joaquin Viera

George He — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 19:58:18 +0000

Guest: Joaquin Viera (CalTech). We discussed his research focused on bright and distant galaxies discovered with the South Pole Telescope and observed with the ALMA telescope.

Hosts: James Kennedy and Sebastien Guillot.

Duration: 17 minutes.

Petra Schweinhardt: The Pain-Reward Connection

Minya Yang — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 17:39:33 +0000

Leading McGill scientists cover many major aspects of pain science, from molecular and neural pathways to the psychological modulation of pain. The series bridges our understanding of how factors such as environment, genetics, gender, age and lifestyle are related to pain.

Pain and reward are two motivational processes that oppose each other. This talk will explore how pain and reward processing interact.

Mark Ware: Just say Know – What Marijuana has Taught us about Pain Control

Minya Yang — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 17:13:23 +0000

This presentation explores the science behind the extraordinary claims that are made around marijuana and pain management, from demon drug to miracle herb, and suggest there are some intriguing avenues of new research opening up that offer some new ways to treat pain.

Michael Sullivan: Helping People with Pain resume Occupational Involvement

Minya Yang — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:56:12 +0000

This presentation will highlight some of the psychosocial factors that have been shown to contribute to occupational disability in individuals with pain conditions.

Jeffrey Mogil: Pain, Friends, Sex and your Mother: Complexity and Opportunity in Pain Science and Treatment

Minya Yang — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:38:21 +0000

This lecture presents the latest advances in pain genetics, evidence that the sexes may differ qualitatively in their neural processing of pain, and intriguing evidence that pain can be powerfully modulated by social interactions and communication, even in mice.

Catherine Bushnell: How the Mind can alter Pain

Minya Yang — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:19:48 +0000

This lecture will discuss the mechanisms by which psychological state alters pain and how this may be changed in chronic pain conditions.

Joe Schwarcz: The Chemical Conquest of Pain

Minya Yang — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:04:24 +0000

When you are in pain, nothing else matters. ou just want relief. And the right chemicals can provide it. Tracing mankind’s efforts to conquer pain makes for a fascinating romp through chemical history. Fret not, it is painless!

Tim Geary: Medicines for Neglected Tropical Diseases: Reversing the Equation

Minya Yang — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 16:10:35 +0000

More than a billion people, mostly in developing nations, still serve as hosts to roundworms. They are a source of diseases that often kill – yet medicines for these diseases have generally been adopted from veterinary use and have not been optimized for humans. This lecture provides an introduction to parasitic diseases of poverty and describes a novel drug discovery process – involving scientists living in the most affected areas – that has been implemented in South Africa and Botswana. The integration of multiple levels of development is a significant challenge – but one with great rewards.

AstroMcGill Episode 11 – Kristen Coppin & James Geach

Christophe Philippona — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 17:48:01 +0000

Guest: Kristen Coppin and James Geach (both post-doctoral researchers at McGill University). We interviewed Kristen and Jim to discuss their results, recently published in a press release. They discovered a large structure of packed galaxies joining two galaxy clusters. We discussed this new result and its implications.

Hosts: James Kennedy, Sebastien Guillot and Ryan Lynch.

Duration: 14 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 10 — Stephanie Juneau

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 18:50:48 +0000

Guest: Stephanie Juneau (CEA Saclay, France). We talked about supermassive black-holes, in other galaxies and in our Galaxy, the Milky Way.

Hosts: James Kennedy and Sebastien Guillot.

Duration: 16 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 9 — Oded Aharonson

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 23 May 2012 18:07:32 +0000

Guest: Oded Aharonson (Center for Planetary Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel). We discussed the study of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, as well as his interests in other planets of the Solar System.

Hosts: James Kennedy and Kevin MacDermid.

Duration: 17 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 8 – Eric Linder

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 02 May 2012 18:12:27 +0000

Guest: Eric Linder, Co-director of the INPA at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. We talked about cosmology and particularly the composition of the Universe (Dark energy, dark matter, normal matter, etc…) and ways to study these different components.

Hosts: James Kennedy, Sebastien Guillot and Ryan Lynch.

Duration: 23 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 7 – Rosalba Perna

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:19:30 +0000

Guest: Rosalba Perna, associate professor at University of Colorado in Boulder. We discussed her research focused on the modelisation of various astrophysical phenomena, including magnetars and hot Jupiters (a type of exoplanets).

Hosts: James Kennedy, Sebastien Guillot and Ryan Lynch.

Duration: 20 minutes.

Alanna Watt: What is brain assembly?

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:59:26 +0000

This Freaky Friday explores the fascinating field of brain development (assembly) and what happens when it goes wrong, in particular in the spinocerebellar ataxia SCA6.

AstroMcGill Episode 6 – Adam Showman

George He — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:19:07 +0000

Guest: Adam Showman, professor at the Lunar and Planetary Lab (University of Arizona). We discussed different aspects related to his research on exoplanets.

Hosts: James Kennedy, Sebastien Guillot and Ryan Lynch.

Duration: 20 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 5 – John Tomsick

George He — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:22:14 +0000

Guest: John Tomsick, Assistant Research Scientist at the Space Sciences Laboratory (UC Berkeley). We discussed his research in the field of X-ray astrophysics, namely, observations of X-ray binaries (black holes or neutron stars in binary systems with bright X-ray emissions).

Hosts: James Kennedy, Sebastien Guillot and Ryan Lynch.

Duration: 18 minutes.

André Costopoulos: A diversity / tolerance model of cultural evolution

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:09:09 +0000

Professor Costopoulos argues that while humans are probably selected to have a limited ability to make good decisions. Under the ‘diversity-tolerance’ model of cultural evolution, humans are smart enough to come up with a range of potential solutions to the problems we face but not very good at determining which solution is the best.

Alan Evans: Non-invasive mapping of the human brain

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:04:21 +0000

As a specialist in three-dimensional modeling of the living brain, Alan Evans works to understand neurological pathologies inside-out: the natural history of a disease,” He asks: “What parts of the brain exhibit abnormal changes in cortical thickness, for example, over the duration of Alzheimer’s disease? How does that brain map relate to behaviours, such as a decline in language skills?

AstroMcGill Episode 4 – Keith Vanderlinde

George He — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:15:55 +0000

Guest: Keith Vanderlinde, CIFAR Junior Fellow at McGill University. We discussed his research on cosmology and galaxy clusters, as part of the South Pole Telescope collaboration.

Hosts: James Kennedy, Sebastien Guillot and Ryan Lynch.

Duration: 23 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 3 – George Helou

George He — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:11:28 +0000

Guest: George Helou, Executive director of the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at CalTech, and deputy director of the Spitzer Infrared Telescope Science team. We discussed his scientific research: Space infrared astronomy and galaxies.

Hosts: James Kennedy and Sebastien Guillot.

Duration: 24 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 2 – Richard Cyburt

George He — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:00:16 +0000

Guest: Richard Cyburt, assistant professor at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA) of Michigan State University. We discussed his research on nuclear astrophysics, and how it bridges nuclear physics and astrophysics.

Hosts: James Kennedy, Sebastien Guillot and Ryan Lynch.

Duration: 20 minutes.

AstroMcGill Episode 1 – Laura Lopez

George He — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:48:43 +0000

Guest: Laura Lopez, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We discussed her research on supernova remnants and massive stars, as well as her involvement in public outreach.

Hosts: James Kennedy and Sebastien Guillot.

Duration: 21 minutes.

The Importance of Recognizing the Color of Science

George He — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:22:42 +0000

This special Black History Month lecture by Frederic Bertley (Vice-President, Franklin Institute, Philadelphia) focuses on contemporary black and brown scientists who are contributing significantly to science. The talk challenges the idea that scientists in general, regardless of race, are not well recognized and celebrated. This talk is sponsored by the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, and the Garvey Institute Inc. in Montreal.

The future of Quantum Mechanics

George He — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:44:15 +0000

By Bill Coish (Physics, McGill). How can we realistically use large scale quantum mechanical effects to our advantage? Check out these interviews in Nature and on CBC Radio 1 where Dr. Coish talks about quantum information science.

Nature or Nurture: Do genes actually determine your personality?

George He — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 22:09:04 +0000

By Roberta Palmour (Genetics, McGill). How do specific personality traits themselves predispose to particular types of mental illness? Listen to Roberta Palmour’s interview on CBC about personality disorders and her work with monkeys’ personality traits.

Oxytocin me, baby — the truth about the so-called love hormone

George He — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 22:05:39 +0000

By Jennifer A. Bartz (Psychology, McGill). Oxytocin is widely known as the “love hormone” released during birth and breastfeeding to bond a mother and child, but it’s released other times, too. Like during an orgasm. Or a romantic date. Oxytocin supposedly overflows us with positive feelings about one another. Or does it?

Read more about Dr. Bartz work with oxytocin in this Time Magazine report. Tune into the CBC interview with Dr. Bartz on Freaky Sunday, Feb. 5, that explains how oxytocin is critical in mammalian pair-bonding.

The misunderstanding of dinosaurs

George He — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 21:59:42 +0000

By Emily Bamforth (Ph.D. candidate, Redpath Museum and Biology, McGill). Is a Pterodactyl really a dinosaur? Could ‘Jurassic Park’ actually happen? Come and find what you may not have known about society’s favorite prehistorical creatures. Check out this interview on CBC Radio 1

Elena Bennett: Feeding the world without destroying the planet

George He — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:45:47 +0000

By Elena Bennett (Natural Resource Sciences and McGill School of Environment, McGill)

Agricultural landscapes can provide many different ecosystem services, including food, high quality freshwater, opportunities for recreation, and flood control. Yet we often focus narrowly on the production of food, which can unintentionally undermine provision of other key services. The idea of managing for ecosystem services compels us to consider more than one service and obliges us to consider the interactions and relationships among ecosystem services on the landscape. Yet we don’t know very much about these interactions. Thus, a key goal for science in the coming decade is to improve our understanding of how multiple services are provided across agricultural landscapes. What affects the relative proportions of services? Can trade-offs be reduced or synergies strengthened? We are working with local communities in the Vallée-du-Richelieu MRC (Municipalité Régionale de Comté), a 750 km² regional governance body involving 13 towns southeast of Montréal to build models that they can use to objectively quantify the effect of today’s resource and land management decisions on the current and future provision of multiple ecosystem services.

Steve Rayner: Climate Geoengineering Governance

George He — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:01:34 +0000

Special presentation by Steve Rayner (James Martin Professor of Science and Civilization at the Saïd Business School and Director of the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society, Oxford University). He describes himself as an “undisciplined” scholar lending a social science perspective to major matters of science and technology. He was also listed by Wired Magazine on the 2008 smart list as one of the 15 people the next President should listen to. Join us as we listen to him in the Redpath Museum Auditorium.

Colin Chapman: Primate conservation: Is the cup half empty or half full?

George He — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:35:50 +0000

Of the nearly 600 species and subspecies of primates living today, approximately half are in danger of going extinct. In fact, one subspecies in West Africa, Miss Waldron’s red colobus, is likely extinct. Furthermore, the number of recognized threats to primate survival has increased dramatically over the last decade. A decade ago, disease was not considered a factor that could threaten primate populations with extinction, while today there are a number of cases of dramatic primate population declines caused by disease and it is considered a vital factor in conservation planning. Similarly, in the last decade climate change has gone from something largely ignored by many countries to a phenomenon of grave concern. This lecture will discuss the current threats to primate populations, consider how perceptions of these threats have changed, and consider if the situation is hopelessly grave (the cup half empty) or if there are reasons for optimism (the cup half full).

Elizabeth Jones: Blood Flow and Cardiovascular Development

Cody Rei-Anderson — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:48:12 +0000

Every tissue in the body requires blood flow to bring nutrients to the tissue. For this reason, there is significant therapeutic advantage to controlling when and where new blood vessels develop. If we could induce new blood vessels, we could improve wound healing. In situation likes cancer, inhibiting blood vessels from growing into a tumour could starve the tumour and inhibit its growth. This lecture will explain the process of vascular development, the physical forces created by blood flow in cardiovascular physiology and the role that these forces play in forming a mature network of blood vessels.

Mark Sutton: In Awe of Atoms – Lego blocks of the world around us

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:53:49 +0000

2012 will be the 100th anniversary of Max von Laue’s paper first demonstrating the diffraction or interference of x-rays. X-ray diffraction was the first way scientists had of directly seeing the atoms of the world around us.

David Orrell: Perfect Model: Prediction, Science and Aesthetics

Cody Rei-Anderson — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:33:17 +0000

This talk takes an overview of the history and the challenges of prediction, from the oracle at Delphi, right up to the latest methods being developed in areas such as systems biology and economics — and argues that our search for the “perfect model” often reveals as much about our sense of aesthetics as it does about the future.

Joe Schwarcz: Chemicals for better and for worse

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:10:35 +0000

Mini-Science 2011, episode 1: In the public mind, “chemicals” equate to “toxins”. The truth is that chemicals are just the building blocks of all matter; they are not good or bad, safe or dangerous. There are safe ways and dangerous ways to use chemicals. The decision is ours.

Amir Raz: From the chemistry of chicken soup to the chemistry of the brain and behaviour

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:10:35 +0000

Mini-Science 2011, episode 2: With its underlying chemistry and physiology, the brain is the organ of behaviour. It is fascinating to explore some highlights from neurochemistry and see how these shape our theoretical and practical understanding of behavioural science.

Scott Bohle: From Jesuit’s bark to synchrotrons – the rise and fall of an antimalarial

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:10:34 +0000

Mini-Science 2011, episode 3: Malaria and its consequences have shaped human history. Science’s attempts to control and understand this disease have also evolved. Tracing how successive generations have grappled with, conquered, and ultimately lost the malaria challenge makes for a fascinating scientific adventure.

Donald Smith: Biofuels — sustainable energy as the oil runs out?

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:07:35 +0000

Mini-Science 2011, episode 4: Three of the great challenges for the 21st century are energy supply, climate change and global food security; these come together in biofuels. Biofuels can play an important role as a source of renewable and sustainable energy over the long term.

Paul Wiseman: The dance of the molecules in cells

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:02:10 +0000

Mini-Science 2011, episode 5: Cells are the basis of life. However, their function is entirely regulated by the interactions and actions of macromolecules inside the cell as well as in their environment. Modern biophysical chemistry explores the complex choreography of the dance of molecules in cells.

Ariel Fenster: Nuclear power — energy for the future?

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:01:45 +0000

Mini-Science 2011, episode 6: Three Mile Island and Chernobyl clouded the future for nuclear power. However now, with concerns about our dependence on foreign sources of energy and the evidence of climate change, the nuclear option is gaining some new respectability.

Ariel Fenster, David Harpp, Joe Schwarcz: The magic of chemistry

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:00:08 +0000

Mini-Science 2011, episode 7: Combining science, humour, music and magic, you’ve never seen a stage show quite like it! Mini-Science 2011 closes with a blend of entertainment and meaningful science.

Gonzalo Cosa: Structure and dynamics of Supramolecular systems one molecule at a time

Cody Rei-Anderson — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 15:58:27 +0000

Advances in electronics, optics and nanotechnology have led to a tremendous progress in optical imaging over the past years. Gonzalo Cosa presents the specific case of fluorescence imaging, where the possibility of visualizing single fluorescent molecules with exquisite resolution gave rise to the field of Single Molecule Spectroscopy.

Research on Relationships – from ants to humans to nations

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 24 May 2011 17:47:54 +0000

Find out how ants have modified their genes in order to reinforce their social behaviors. Learn the latest in research on romantic relationships: how childhood attachment affects one’s success at speed dating and beyond. And go inside the popular Peacebuilding Simulation as political science students struggle to resolve a civil war in a fictional land.

McGill Students on Ice — Antarctica 2011

Cody Rei-Anderson — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 16:01:41 +0000

In February 2011, McGill students participated in a field study course in Antarctica, co-ordinated by the non-profit Students on Ice. They crossed the Southern Ocean from Ushuaia to the Antarctic Peninsula and visited many landing sites, conducting oceanographic sampling and exploring the Antarctic environment. Led by Earth and Planetary Sciences prof Eric Galbraith, the 10 McGill students from several faculties joined students from four other universities aboard this spectacular and eye-opening expedition.

Radiation as a weapon of mass benefaction

Cody Rei-Anderson — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:33:05 +0000

The applications of radiation are as wide as the myths surrounding it. In this lecture, Arman Sarfehnia will discuss what radiation is, and look at a brief history of radiation, how it was discovered and what role it has played in our lives. The applications of radiation in diagnostic radiology and radiation oncology will be discussed, and a brief cost-benefit analysis for medical applications will be presented.

The Aging Process — Myths and Realities

Cody Rei-Anderson — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:31:05 +0000

What is aging? Recent animal studies have shown that clioquinol — an 80-year-old drug once used to treat diarrhea and other gastrointestinal disorders — can reverse the progression of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s diseases. According to Dr. Siegfried Hekimi, clioquinol acts irectly on a protein called CLK-1, often informally called “clock-1,” and might slow down the aging process. Learn about this anti-aging medication and the gut realities about the process of getting old.

Trottier Symposium — Confronting Pseudoscience: The Threat of Pseudoscience

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:23:36 +0000

The 6th annual Trottier Symposium focuses on the difference between science and “pseudo” science. While real science accumulates facts and formulates testable theories to gain a unified understanding of the physical world, pseudoscience relies on anecdotes, ideology and cherry-picked data to support preconceived notions. Pseudoscience masquerading as real science can lead to troublesome consequences, particularly when it comes to matters of health. Unfortunately, aided and abetted by the Internet, pseudoscience has been growing by leaps and bounds. Outstanding, world-famous science communicators discuss various aspects of pseudoscience and provide guidance for separating sense from nonsense.

David Gorski, MD PhD FACS (Surgical oncologist; Managing Editor, “Science-based Medicine” Blog) and Michael Shermer, PhD (Scientific American columnist; Editor in chief, Skeptic magazine) share their wealth of experience and views on confronting pseudoscience.

Trottier Symposium — Confronting Pseudoscience: Investigating pseudoscientific and paranormal claims

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:23:36 +0000

James Randi first rose to fame as The Amazing Randi, performing magic and escapes in the tradition of Houdini. His background as a conjurer led to a second career as the world’s premier investigator of paranormal and pseudoscientific phenomena. Randi’s investigations of medical frauds and purported psychics are legendary.

Trottier Symposium — Confronting Pseudoscience: Roundtable

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 15:50:36 +0000

From Embryos to Adults: The Life and Times of a Dinosaur

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:48:21 +0000

Dinosaurs have undergone a remarkable renaissance in recent decades. Far from being sluggish reptilian monsters doomed to extinction, new discoveries and new methods of scientific investigation have revealed dinosaurs as complex, highly active animals capable of sophisticated behaviors and as one of the most diverse and successful groups of land creatures in the history of life on Earth.

Are humans really as smart as we think we are?

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:46:19 +0000

We often think of humans as the most intelligent organisms on the planet. Evolution, we think, has equipped us to make good decisions even in difficult or challenging conditions. At the same time, we lament our species’ tendency to over-exploit our environment to the point of self-destruction. Join Andre Costopoulos as he discusses his team’s latest results, which suggest that humans may in fact have evolved to have a very limited capacity to decide what is good for them.

Is love a big equilateral triangle?

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:54:25 +0000

McGill Psychology prof John Lydon delivers a Freaky Friday lecture on the science of close relationships: what are the physiological and psychological mechanisms that keep us in “love” ?

Birds, brains, and songs

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:52:34 +0000

Not only do some birds sing but they sing cleverly. Female birds prefer males that sing ‘prettier songs’, but sometimes they have a strange definition of ‘pretty’. Neeltje Boogert discusses some amazing facts about animal communication.

Science and Fiction in popular films — the good, the bad and the robotic

Cody Rei-Anderson — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 17:02:04 +0000

How and why has science found its special place in popular films? What is the scientific significance of films like Avatar, Gattaca, and Tron?

How I learned to stop worrying and love genetic modification

Cody Rei-Anderson — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 17:00:59 +0000

Genetic engineering is the direct human manipulation of an organism’s genetic material in a way that does not occur under natural conditions. It involves the use of recombinant DNA techniques, but does not include traditional animal and plant breeding or mutagenesis. Learn about the genetic modification in experimental mice being used for research purposes.

Life as an Astronaut: Dave Williams

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 19:54:54 +0000

Dave Williams graduated from McGill’s Faculty of Medicine and embarked on a fulfilling career as a physician… then he applied to be an astronaut. Hear about his first trip into space and life lessons learned along the way.

Saving lives by addressing parasitic diseases

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 20:52:31 +0000

More than 1 billion people suffer from Neglected Tropical Diseases, which cause disfigurement, disability and even death in the developing world. McGill’s Timothy Geary has received a $1-million grant for landmark research to tackle these diseases — with medicines derived from African biodiversity.

Black Hole

Cody Rei-Anderson — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:05:53 +0000

Find out about the evolution of this baby black hole, and learn why, contrary to popular myth, a black hole is not a cosmic vacuum cleaner. What does it mean to be “sucked” into a black hole? Does the CERN reactor have anything to do with it?

Earth’s earliest life — where did it come from?

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 22:08:31 +0000

Find out the origins of the planet’s oldest rocks and how they are linked to meteorites and the start of life on earth.

UFOs and Close Encounters, Science and Society

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 21:58:59 +0000

This lecture considers the public and scientific reaction to the UFO phenomenon from the perspectives of personality, psychology and the philosophy of science.

Searching for Arctic Microbes

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 17:32:24 +0000

Is there life on Mars? Microbiology Prof. Lyle Whyte and his team of students head up to the McGill Arctic Research Station in search of microbes surviving in the permafrost.

Are Cell Phones and WiFi Harmful to your Health?

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 18:18:06 +0000

There is growing public alarm about the possible harmful health effects caused by cell phones, microwaves, WiFi, etc. This concern has been fed by a wide array of misleading information on the Internet as well as various reports in the media. What does the real scientific evidence show?

Homeopathy: Dilution or Delusion?

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 18:16:12 +0000

The basis of homeopathy is that substances, diluted to such an extent that there is essentially nothing left in solution, can be used to treat a variety of medical problems. This lecture critically examines the principles, the history, and the reasons for the enduring popularity of homeopathy.

Vaccines: Panaceas or Poisons

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 17:36:23 +0000

Vaccines are among the crowning achievements of medical science yet many are convinced that vaccination can cause autism and autoimmune diseases — even death. The most virulent opponents believe that vaccines are the sharp end of a global conspiracy. How did we get to this polarized state?

What is the Role of Climate Scientists in the Climate Change Debate?

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 17:32:57 +0000

While the scientific understanding of climate change is firm, public opinion concerning the impact of human activities on the observed changes is much less certain. This lecture focuses on the necessity of curbing the damage of climate change, as opposed to simply exposing the facts and letting people form their own conclusions.

Science of the Paranormal

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 17:37:09 +0000

History is peppered with accounts of psychics predicting the future, mediums conversing with the dead, and aliens abducting earthlings. Today, “psychic surgeons” claim to remove tumours without making incisions and “paranormalists” bend spoons with the power of their minds. What does science say about these claims?

Materials Make Light Work

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 17:32:57 +0000

What do butterfly wings, Venus flower baskets and healthy doses of elements from the Periodic Table have to do with conveying digital data, music, voice and video by light? They can all be designed to make “light work”.

The First Stars and the End of the Dark Ages

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 17:21:21 +0000

In the history of the universe, there is a period which is extremely difficult for us to see because there were no sources of light. These cosmic “dark ages” ended when the first stars turned on, providing the first view of the somewhat evolved universe.

Avoiding dangerous climate change: Geo-engineering or mitigation? (Part 2)

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:49:25 +0000

Some scientists argue mitigation alone can no longer prevent dangerous levels of atmospheric CO2 and propose directly intervening in the climate system to counter the effects of greenhouse gas induced warming. Can we successfully manipulate the climate system to avoid dangerous climate change? Do we understand the global climate system well enough to determine the feasibility and risks involved? In this year’s Lorne Trottier Public Science Symposium, climate scientists and a historian of science will discuss the scientific and social ramifications of geo-engineering the climate.

Avoiding dangerous climate change: Geo-engineering or mitigation? (Part 1)

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:47:02 +0000

Darwin and Love

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:26:03 +0000

McGill celebrates Darwin Day and Valentine’s Day with this special presentation by Dr. David Green, the director of Redpath Museum, on courtship and sexual selection in a range of species.

UFOs: Close Encounters

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:18:35 +0000

This lecture reviews the evidence about “Close Encounters,” the most controversial aspect of the UFO phenomenon, in which humans allegedly encounter and interact with extra-terrestrial beings. Donderi will review several well-documented close encounter cases and describe his own involvement in interviewing witnesses. He will illustrate a psychological science approach to these observations by describing two of his own research studies with groups of people who reported UFO close encounters.

Mushrooms: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:48:18 +0000

Expert mycologist Suha Jabaji speaks about the world of fungi and their integral relationship with the health of the planet in this Freaky Friday presentation.

Can we erase memories for therapeutic benefits?

Cody Rei-Anderson — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:51:11 +0000

If we could functionally erase a memory to make someone’s life better would that be acceptable? What if the memory was of a trauma that has incapacitated someone for decades? Why do we need memories if they keep us down?

In a very playful manner, Dr. Karim Nader addresses some of the science that is at the heart of memory research today. The science suggests that memories can be functionally erased, a concept which was taken and expanded to the point of fiction in the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Quilts as Mathematical Objects

Cody Rei-Anderson — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:36:55 +0000

The connection between textiles and mathematics is intimate but not often explored, possibly because textiles and fiber arts have traditionally been the domain of women while mathematics was viewed as a male endeavour. How times have changed! Today, textiles and mathematics, like art and science, are recognized for their interwoven, complimentary attributes. In this presentation, Dr. Gerda de Vries examines the connection between textiles and mathematics, in the context of both traditional and contemporary quilts.

Bats and Vampires: More Myth than Fact

Cody Rei-Anderson — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:06:35 +0000

Dr. Angelika Meschede speaks about the amazing world and diversity of bats, how vampire bats really feed, and how they may one day help prevent heart attacks and strokes.

UFOs: The Psychology of a Phenomenon

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:12:18 +0000

In this Freaky Friday presentation, McGill psychology professor Don Donderi explains how and why he came to study the UFO phenomenon, and describes the chronology of the popular, official, and scientific viewpoint on the matter. He also reviews two UFO cases he has personally investigated.

UFOs: The Evidence in Detail

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:10:25 +0000

In his second lecture on UFOs, Donderi reviews the UFO evidence in detail and outlines the relationship between the evidence and the psychology of perception, motivation and belief. He also covers the interactions between skeptics like Carl Sagan and non-skeptical scientists and scholars like James E. McDonald and C.G. Jung. Finally, in keeping with the Freaky Fridays theme, he reviews the position of the UFO and close encounter phenomena in popular culture.

Green Chemistry

Cody Rei-Anderson — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:16:15 +0000

Green Chemistry is a relatively new field of research, with McGill playing a leading role worldwide. Find out how our researchers are developing processes and products to reduce or eliminate hazardous substances and manufacturing waste.

Broadband Technology

Cody Rei-Anderson — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:40:42 +0000

Broadband research is a McGill area of expertise. Meet researchers such as David Plant, Tho Le-Ngoc, and Mark Coates who are on the cutting edge of machine to machine communication, high-speed internet technologies, and wireless communications.

Galileo Galilei: The man who looked and changed the world

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:24:27 +0000

In 1609, one man using a simple device proved the universe to be a place very different from what most people were prepared to believe. In this lecture, Bruno Paul Stenson speaks about the evolution of our view of the universe that came as a result of Galileo Galilei’s astronomical findings.

Spectacular Spectroscopy

Cody Rei-Anderson — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:41:13 +0000

McGill Chemistry Professor David Burns uses spectroscopy to identify the healthiest embryos for in vitro fertilization. This breakthrough could lead to an end to multiple births from in vitro fertilization, and early detection tests for diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Probability Surprises – Math or Magic?

Cody Rei-Anderson — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:16:49 +0000

Presented by Matthew de Courcy-Ireland in honour of the late William Moser, Professor Emeritus at the McGill Department of Mathematics and Statistics, this lecture looks at some of the surprises to be found when dealing with mathematical probability.

The Cutting Edge: Nanophotonics

Cody Rei-Anderson — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:04:57 +0000

Dr. Andrew Kirk of the D epartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering describes some of the current research being done as to the applications of nanophotonics in the future of telecommunications and also in the field of biosensing. This lecture was recorded as part of the Royal Society of Canada’s “The Cutting Edge” seminar series.

…in a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Measuring the Size of the Universe

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:38:03 +0000

Prof. Rutledge helps you understand our place in the universe, and how the physics of stars, and the evolution of the universe, plays out.

Exploring Mars on Earth: The Arctic as an analogue for Mars

Cody Rei-Anderson — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:25:35 +0000

Prof. Pollard describes the enigmatic nature of Martian landscapes and the overriding geological and environmental forces that drive the evolution of Martian landforms.

Island Universes: The Nature and Origin of Galaxies

Cody Rei-Anderson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:14:26 +0000

Professor Tracy Webb describes the basic characteristics of galaxies, outline the methods we use to study them, and highlights some of the main results and open questions in the field of galaxy formation and evolution.

An Astronomer’s Window on the Birth of the Universe

Cody Rei-Anderson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:56:44 +0000

Professor Matt Dobbs outlines the field of cosmology – the quest to understand the birth, evolution, and fate of the universe as a whole.

Neutron Stars: Lighthouses of the Cosmos

Cody Rei-Anderson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:45:45 +0000

Professor Vicky Kaspi describes the astonishing properties of pulsars, as well as how observations of these amazing objects help to constrain several interesting aspects of the physics of extreme environments.

Workspace: Hans Larsson

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:11:41 +0000

Hans Larsson guides you through his office oddities through an interactive audio slideshow.

Big Hairy Spiders

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:53:37 +0000

Dr. Christopher Buddle, McGill’s foremost spider expert, elaborates on the how Arachnids are misunderstood and under-appreciated.

The Future of Biodiversity: Science and Solution

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:11:00 +0000

Andrew Gonzalez, Professor in the Department of Biology, discusses how our understanding of extinction can be used to make estimates of future rates of extinction under various scenarios of environmental change.

Primates in Peril: What Can be Done?

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:10:10 +0000

What is the impact of the decline of tropical rainforests on primates and what current and future actions might advance primate conservation? Dr. Colin Chapman, who holds appointments in McGill’s Departments of Anthropology and Biology and School of Environment, is also Honorary Lecturer, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Biodiversity Lost and Found: Lessons of the Lake Victoria Basin

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:09:35 +0000

McGill Biology professor Lauren J. Chapman looks at key lessons from Lake Victoria in East Africa, the world’s largest tropical lake. Her research reveals both the vulnerability and the resilience of native and introduced species in the face of environmental change.

Ecosystems and Human Well-Being

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:08:24 +0000

Garry Peterson, a professor in McGill’s Department of Geography and School of Environment, looks at what the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment reveals about the state of the world and what ecological futures are possible.

Adaptation, Extinction and Global Change

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:07:48 +0000

McGill Biology professor Graham Bell describes examples of rapid evolution as well as situations where adaptation hasn’t happened. He further explains how organisms are likely to evolve in the coming period of rapid environmental change.

The Visible Brain

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:06:48 +0000

Dr. Alan Evans is a Professor at the Montreal Neurological Institute and the Principal Investigator of the Data Coordinating Centre for the MRI Study of Normal Brain Development.

Fear and Memory

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:06:06 +0000

Dr. Karim Nader is a professor of Psychology, William Dawson Scholar, Alfred P. Sloan Fellow and CIHR New Investigator. His work on memory manipulation could revolutionize treatment of disorders from post traumatic stress syndrome to drug addiction.

How do Neurons Work?

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:05:29 +0000

Dr. Paul Wiseman is an Associate Professor in both Physics & Chemistry and holds the Fessenden Professorship in Science Innovation.

Brainy Chemistry

Cody Rei-Anderson — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:04:29 +0000

Dr. Joe Schwarcz is a Professor of Chemistry and Director of McGill’s Office for Science and Society.

Ophidophobia

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:51:12 +0000

“What is it with snakes?” asks McGill reptile specialist, Dr. David Green, as he explores snake phobias and misconceptions.

Shark Tales

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:49:15 +0000

McGill paleontologist Hans Larsson tells us why sharks have been misunderstood as relentless man-eaters.

The Effect of Environment on Genes

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:34:18 +0000

Dr. Stephen Suomi, Chair of the Laboratory of Comparative Ethology at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, speaks on risk, resilience, and gene X environment interactions in rhesus monkeys and other primates.

Double Pulsars

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:31:34 +0000

Through her award-winning research, Vicky Kaspi, a world-renowned McGill astrophysicist and pulsar expert, makes stars out of her students and headlines around the world.

Fibre Optic Research

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:29:30 +0000

How can 20th-century fibre optics handle the connectivity needs of the 21st-century? David Plant’s lab in McGill’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is in a global race to meet the demands of high-definition video.

Neuropsychology

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:26:22 +0000

Meet legendary neuropsychologist Dr. Brenda Milner, credited with many landmark discoveries in the study of human memory and the temporal lobes.

Origin of Life: What was the Spark of Life? (Part 2)

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:10:46 +0000

The Lorne Trottier Public Science Symposium brings together leading scientific experts with differing views on the origin of life to debate a question that has been asked for millennia.

Origin of Life: What was the Spark of Life? (Part 1)

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:07:48 +0000

The Lorne Trottier Public Science Symposium brings together leading scientific experts with differing views on the origin of life to debate a question that has been asked for millennia.

Apes or Angels: What is the Origin of Ethics? (Part 2)

Cody Rei-Anderson — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:04:27 +0000

The Lorne Trottier Science Symposium brings together an international panel of experts in economics and evolutionary biology to see what economic theory and natural selection have to say about ethics and human development.

Apes or Angels: What is the Origin of Ethics? (Part 1)

Cody Rei-Anderson — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:22:15 +0000

How do Birds Really Do it

Cody Rei-Anderson — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:37:49 +0000

Dr. David Bird from the Avian Science and Conservation Centre at McGill discusses reproduction in birds.