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Canada picks site for Arctic Research Station

Posted by Hannah

Cambridge Bay location offers a wealth of opportunities for studying the far north. After months of deliberation, the Canadian government has chosen Cambridge Bay — a hamlet midway along the Northwest Passage in the country’s far north — as the site for a world-class Arctic research station. Once built, the station will house scientists all year round, giving them a modern space to study Arctic issues, including climate change and natural resources. It will host conference facilities and laboratories for research on marine biology and geophysics, provide ecologists with the space to do long-term ecological monitoring in aquaria and greenhouses, … Read more…

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Report maps perils of warming

Posted by Hannah

Degree-by-degree breakdown of climate effects published. As the US Senate gears up to debate the latest incarnation of proposed climate legislation next week, a blue-ribbon panel has released what it hopes will be a definitive guide to the consequences of climate change for lawmakers and the public. In offering a degree-by-degree breakdown of the potential impacts of temperature change, the report aims to highlight the effects of stabilizing greenhouse gases at a chosen target level. Yet few are optimistic that the report will influence the fate of the scaled-back climate bill, which would cap emissions from electricity utility companies. The … Read more…

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CSWA Ottawa conference report: Tools for tomorrow’s science writer

Posted by Hannah

At Sunday’s workshop, Tools for Tomorrow’s Today’s Science Writer, four panelists shared their thoughts about online tools, transparency, and better story telling. It was no surprise to hear that journalism is experiencing a big shift from print to online. But, as Asmaa Malik pointed out, the fundamentals remain the same. We must find the stories, report them and present them. But how we’re doing that is changing. Asmaa is an associate managing editor at The Gazette. She runs the newsroom’s new media training workshops and writes Status Update, a monthly column that takes a look at how social media and … Read more…

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Few bats for Quebec’s belfries. White-nose syndrome killing North American bats.

Posted by Hannah

Photograph by: Nancy Heaslip, New York Department of Environmental Conservation MONTREAL – In March, Frédérick Lelièvre found himself crawling through a narrow passage into the final chamber of the Laflèche Cave in Val des Monts. Raising his eyes to the hibernating bats on the rock above him, his heart dropped. The tiny lime-size animals were dusted with a white powdery substance. Most of them had it on their muzzles, and it was on the wings and the feet of others. It wasn’t a good sign. Wildlife biologists in the United States have come across similar sights over the last four … Read more…

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Living Machines

Posted by Hannah

Verdant Art-Tech Contraption Descends Upon France This spring, a War of the Worlds-scale tripod carrying verdant laboratories on suspended platforms showed up in Nantes in western France. It was just the latest massive art-tech project from street theater company La Machine, which has been startling Europeans with giant robots for more than a decade. Before the “flying greenhouse,” there was the 50-foot-tall spider on the side of a building in Liverpool. All of these creatures are members of the Order of Intelligent Machines, a growing mechanical menagerie that La Machine has been assembling since 1999. “We want to fill people … Read more…