Science Matters archives
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What will be Gordon Campbell's legacy in Peace country?
March 10, 2011One of Canada's longest-serving politicians, Gordon Campbell, recently stepped down as leader of the B.C. Liberal Party and premier of British Columbia. Mr. Campbell's long tenure as premier was fraught... More »
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Politicians who reject science are not fit to lead
March 3, 2011My life as a scientist got its boost in the United States. I was attending college in Massachusetts in 1957 on a scholarship when the Soviet Union launched the first... More »
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If there is a war on cars, which side is winning?
February 24, 2011We humans like our wars. We have a war on drugs, a war on terror, a war on crime, and now, it seems, a war on cars. The latter "war"... More »
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Teach your children — by example — how to be healthy
February 16, 2011My newest grandchild is 18 months old and even has a nickname, Gunny. What a joy it is to escape the complexities of adulthood to focus on him, just playing.... More »
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If a tree falls in the International Year of Forests, does anybody hear?
February 10, 2011The UN General Assembly recently met in New York to declare 2011 the International Year of Forests. The idea is to raise awareness of the priceless role that forests play... More »
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It will take more than rebranding to make tar sands oil "ethical"
February 3, 2011Ripping a page — or the cover — from fellow Conservative and former tobacco industry lobbyist Ezra Levant's book, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his new environment minister, Peter Kent,... More »
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Struggling with salmon farming and sustainability
January 27, 2011The past few weeks have marked an interesting time for salmon and salmon farming in B.C. The first commercial-scale ocean-based closed-containment salmon farm tanks are being installed near Campbell River,... More »
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Is there a cure for the bluefin blues?
January 20, 2011The bluefin tuna is extremely valuable. One fish weighing about 340 kilograms sold for almost $400,000 in Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market in early January. But that's just the market value... More »
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Aflockalypse Now: Mass animal die-offs and the ongoing extinction crisis
January 13, 2011On New Year's Eve, 5,000 red-winged blackbirds dropped out of the sky in Beebe, Arkansas. Necropsies revealed no evidence of poisoning but did indicate the birds had suffered massive internal... More »
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Rediscovering the sacred balance
January 6, 2011What a sign of maturity it would be for our species to acknowledge the profound limitations inherent in human knowledge and the destructive consequences of our crude but powerful technologies. More »
