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Title: Using artificial intelligence for safer and more efficient blood donations.
Presenter: Chen-Yang Su (Grad student).
Donating blood could help save a life, but donors may be at risk of side effects. Did you know that artificial intelligence (AI) is helping to make blood donations safer and more efficient? That's right, computers are getting in on the action! I will describe how, by looking at past donations, AI can help keep donors safe from negative health effects and enable them to donate blood more efficiently so that they can keep saving lives.
Audience : High School (Sec. III-V), CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
Title: The Balanced Brain (Fall 2024 only)
Presenter: Dr. Amy Smith-Dijak (Post Doc).
A balanced brain cell is a healthy brain cell: if they're too active or not active enough, they'll hurt themselves or the cells around them. My research focuses on how brain cells stay balanced and how that balance can fall apart. In this talk, I'll walk through my findings in Huntington disease and ataxia, and how they relate to the wider world of brain health.
Audience : High School (Sec. III-V), CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).听This talk is also available in French.
Title: Liars, cheaters and thieves: when pollinators aren't pollinators.
Presenter: Dr. Anna Hargreaves (faculty).
Pollination is a mutualism, but many plants and animals will trick their way to success if they can. We'll talk weird flowers & surprising culprits...听
Audience : High School (Sec. III-V), adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).听This talk is also available in Spanish.
Title: What if we lost just a tad(pole): the effects of toad tadpoles on the environment (Fall 2024 only)
Presenter: Jessica Ford听(grad student).
Tadpoles are small and only live in ponds temporarily, can they really make a difference? We will discuss the changes to the ecosystem that occur when we lose toad tadpoles, as well as why frogs and toads are disappearing, and the conservation work we are doing to help an endangered toad population.
Audience : Elementary, high School (Sec. I-V), adults. Length : 30-60 minutes (including questions).
Title: The vigorous shake that could save onions.
Presenter: Anthony Iheonye (grad student).
The talk describes how we could improve the quality of dry food products by using an innovative drying method. This drying method preserves the color and nutrient content of dry foods, heating the food material uniformly. During the talk, i would explain how and why this heating method vigorously shakes onions in order to improve its quality.
Audience : High School (Sec. I-V), CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
Title: Using small microbes to understand big questions about life.
Presenter: Rodrigo Reyes (faculty).
How is DNA, the genetic material, inherited without mistakes across countless generations? How do cells in our body decide how big to grow? What defines how resistant a cell can be to antibiotics? In this presentation, I will describe how I use genetics and fancy microscopy to understand these questions in tiny microorganisms.
Audience : High School (Sec. III-V), CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).听This talk is also available in Spanish.
Title:听Host-microbiome dynamics as a source of coral reef resilience (Fall 2024 only)
Presenter: Victoria Glynn (grad student).
Coral reefs are the most biodiverse habitat in the ocean, providing a home to over 25% of all marine life, and sustaining the livelihoods of over 500 million people. This diversity extends past the charismatic macrofauna that live on the reef, such as sharks and turtles, as these ecosystems encompass an equally incredible microbial diversity. Unfortunately, as atmospheric CO2 levels increase, corals and the marine biodiversity they support face increasing extinction risk. I will discuss how taking a host-microbiome perspective, that is considering the coral animal and its microbial symbionts together, presents a more holistic view of these ecosystems, and how this may be a critical lens for protecting reefs in the Anthropocene.
Audience : High School (Sec. I-V), CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).听
Title: Virtual chemistry: a safer, faster, cheaper and cleaner chemistry and its application to pharmaceutical discovery.
Presenter: Dr. Nicolas Moitessier (faculty).
Discovering new molecules as effective medications requires a lot of trial-and-error organic chemistry and biology, and remains associated with low success rates. Testing/simulating experiments before running experiments is an attractive approach. What if software could guide scientists in their discoveries? Learn how the the use of computers to solve chemistry problems is being applied to drug discovery.
Audience : CEGEP (Grades 12-13/college level).听Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions). This talk is also available in French.
Title: What do we do with all that crustacean waste? (NOTE: Only available in winter 2025)
Presenter: Dr. Audrey Moores (faculty).
Every year, we generate 6 to 8 million tons of crustacean waste worldwide. That's crazy, right! What can we do with it? This talk will discuss strategies that my group has developed to turn this burden into a resource, in a clean way.
Audience : Elementary, Secondary, CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions). This talk is also available in French.
Title: Velvet worm slime: a recyclable sticky trap made of unique molecules
Presenter: Dr. Alexandre Poulhazen (post doc).
Onychophorans, also known as velvet worms, are mysterious animals hunting their prey spraying them with their sticky saliva called slime. Once trapped in this liquid, the fiber gets even more adherent and hardens, leaving no chance to the prey. Interestingly, these fibers can be recycled and dissolved in water only! Using different biophysical techniques, we detected rare molecule decorations named phosphonates that have an important structural function. Overall, these finding could be applied to new biomaterials and plastics.
Audience : Sec III-V, CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions). This talk is also available in French.
Title: Picky eaters: understanding the diet of marine microorganisms.
Presenter: Dr. Nagissa Mahmoudi (faculty).
My talk focuses on research that examines what microbes are eating in the ocean and what that means for oil spills/climate change.听
Audience : High school (Sec. I-V), CEGEP.听Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
Title: Global warming: we've had this coming for a long time.听
Presenter: Dr. Ni colas Cowan (faculty).
I will explain the 19th century physics that led to the first prediction of global warming, and the 20th century confirmation of this prediction.
Audience : CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
Title: The search for life around other stars.听
Presenter: Dr. Nicolas Cowan (faculty).
I will describe how we measure the properties of planets tens of light years away, and how we can search them for signs of life.
Audience : High school (Sec. III-V),听CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
Title: Methane: the good, the bad, and the ugly .
Presenter: Dr. Peter Douglas听(faculty).
Methane is an source of energy and a greenhouse gas. By better understanding how it enters the atmosphere we can help stop global warming.
Audience : High school (Sec. I-V), CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
Title: What molecules in mud can tell us about the Ancient Maya.
Presenter: Dr. Peter Douglas (faculty).
The amazing cities of the Ancient Maya mysteriously fell into ruin 100 years ago听鈥� measurements of mud can help us understand why.
Audience : High school (Sec. I-V), CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
Title: Surviving Snowball Earth .
Presenter: Maxwell Lechte (post doc).
Hundreds of millions of years ago, when complex life was first beginning to evolve, the world froze over completely. This event known as "Snowball Earth" threatened the survival of life on Earth. Clues found in rocks deposited by ancient glaciers provide answers to how life survived this extreme ice age.
Audience : High school (Sec. I-V), CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
Title: How to destroy a rock (and your equipment) in hyperacidic water .
Presenter: Vincent Van Hinsberg听(faculty).
Kawah Ijen volcano in Indonesia has the largest hyperacidic lake in the world. Water from this lake seeps out and reacts with rocks and soils with a negative environmental impact. However, the lake also provides us with an opportunity to understand how volcanoes work and to monitor their hazards.
Audience : High school (Sec. I-V), CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
Title: Ocean acidification: The indisputable problem!
Presenter: Alfonso Mucci听(faculty).
Ocean Acidification (OA) is seen as the other carbon dioxide (CO2) problem. Oceanic uptake of anthropogenic CO2 decreases the pH, carbonate ion concentration and saturation state of surface ocean waters with respect to calcium carbonate (CaCO3) minerals. OA is a potential threat to the health of marine ecosystems, notably to calcifying organisms whose ability to secrete their CaCO3 skeletons might be hindered. OA also triggers the dissolution of carbonate minerals on the seafloor, neutralizing man-made CO2. OA threatens the marine food chain and may lead to the demise of coral reefs.
Audience : High school (Sec. I-V), CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
Title:听Everything everywhere all the time: environmental monitoring and citizen science
Presenter: Dr. William Minarik (faculty).
Sensors that quantify the world around us: ground motion, water/sea level, greenhouse gases, etc. have become inexpensive and 鈥媋ccessible. In parallel, software advances have made operating these sensors easy for nearly anyone. I will explore the contributions that citizen science and networks of inexpensive sensors can make to advancing our 鈥媢nderstanding, documenting our environment, and engaging local communities.
Audience : High school (Sec. III-V), CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
Title:听Journey towards the center of the Earth, via Japan
Presenter: Dr. William Minarik (faculty).
Experimental petrology uses presses and furnaces to squeeze and heat rocks to the conditions found in the Earth's interior. Uncommon instruments called synchrotrons (one of which is in Japan) allow us to use X-rays to peer inside our experiments while they are running; it's like a window into the deep Earth. The results of these studies help us to understand the workings of plate tectonics and the origin of volcanic lavas.
Audience : CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
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Title: Lessons Learned from an Accidental Career in Medical Journalism.听
笔谤别蝉别苍迟别谤:听 Christopher Labos (Faculty)
Is most published research wrong? Sometimes it seems that way. Almost every food has at one point been shown to both cause and prevent cancer. So how does this happen? In this talk we will look at how some famous studies got it so wrong. We will try to understand why chocolate probably won鈥檛 help you win a Nobel prize, why red wine might not be that heart healthy, and why cell phones likely don鈥檛 cause cancer.
Learn about: experimental design, the process of science, health guidelines. Audiences: Sec III-V, CEGEP, adult.
Presenter: Christopher Labos (Faculty)
Vaccines are probably one of the great public health achievements of the 20th century. They have saved, who knows how many lives over the past 50 years. And yet people are terrified of them. After having wiped out diseases like smallpox and polio, diseases on the verge of extinction like measles are making a comeback. In this presentation we will answer some of the common questions and concerns surrounding vaccination including mercury and other metals in vaccines, the threat of autism, why we vaccinate infants, and why alternative vaccine schedules are problematic.
Learn about: vaccines, epidemiology, immunity. Audiences: Sec III-V, CEGEP, adult.
鈥嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌� Presenter: Christopher Labos (Faculty)
If you watch the news, you will slowly come to believe that everything is bad for you. At some point, everything has caused cancer. But the one thing that is almost universally acknowledged to be good for you is exercise. Exercise is good, not just for heart health, but also for healthy bones, lung function, preventing dementia, cancer and arthritis. So why don鈥檛 we do it more? Some may be worried they are too old and some may worry that they are not in good enough health to exercise. In this talk we will look at how and how often to exercise because the reality is that exercise is generally only bad for your health if you don鈥檛 do it.
Learn about: exercise, health, immunity. Audiences: Sec III-V, CEGEP, adult.
鈥嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌� Presenter: Christopher Labos (Faculty)
Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer in women and yet few women are aware of the risks. But how much of what you鈥檝e heard is actually true? Do most heart attacks come on with no warning? Are women less likely to have chest pain when they have heart disease? Does the birth control pill and hormone replacement therapy increase the risk of heart disease? Have most cardiac medications not been tested on women? Do women do worse after a heart attack compared to men?
Learn about: cardiac health, women's health. Audiences:
鈥嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌� Presenter: Christopher Labos (Faculty)
One week eggs are good for you, the next week eggs are bad for you. It鈥檚 impossible to keep up. Why has cholesterol been so controversial? Why is cholesterol so hotly debated whereas the other cardiac risk factors like diabetes, hypertension, and smoking don鈥檛 generate the same vicious arguments? In this talk we will look at the roots of the apparent cholesterol controversy and see why the lipid hypothesis has been so problematic over the years. We will also see what the latest scientific research says about treating cholesterol and look at why statins have gotten such bad press over the years.
Learn about: Audiences:
鈥嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌� Presenter: Christopher Labos (Faculty)
Why is it so hard to communicate science to the public? Part of the problem is that medical research can sometimes be wrong. Whether we are talking about how eating chocolate can help you win a Nobel prize or whether coffee can cause a heart attack, sometimes what we hear on the news is not the whole story.
Learn about: Audiences:
鈥嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌� Presenter: Christopher Labos (Faculty)
Common pain medications like Advil or Aleve are great for relieving arthritis pain or headache. But are they safe? Do they increase the risk of heart disease and raise the blood pressure? And if they aren鈥檛 safe, what alternatives are out there?
Learn about: Audiences:
鈥嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧�嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌� Presenter: Christopher Labos (Faculty)
Does climate change and pollution affect our health? Absolutely. But how do we approach the problem? Are all the studies on the issue reliable? How can we approach such a broad topic?
Learn about: Audiences:
Title: Why light Matters and Why We Should Conserve It.
Presenter: Hannah Fronenberg (grad student)
We humans have been studying light from the cosmos for millennia. But why? Why is light so important and what does it tell us about our universe? Learn about the discoveries we have been able to make using light from the night sky, and the risk light pollution poses to all types of observations.
Learn about: observations using light,light pollution. Audiences: Secondary, CEGEP.
Title: Watching the universe grow up using radio waves.
Presenter: Adrian Liu (faculty)
How big is our Universe? How old is it? How do we use telescopes to look into the past, and how far can we look? How did the universe transform from its "baby" state to the its currently majestic adulthood?
Learn about: radio waves, telescopes, changes in our universe. Other physics topics available. Audiences: Sec III-V, CEGEP, adult.
Title: CHIME: probing the radio sky.
Presenter: Charanjot Brar听(staff)
This talk will focus on how to build a radio telescope and how to do astronomy in the age of immense data!
Audience : CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60听minutes (including questions).
Title: Weather, macroweather, climate: our random yet predictable atmosphere.
Presenter: Dr. Shaun Lovejoy (faculty)
A popular saying is 鈥渢he climate is what you expect, the weather is what you get鈥�. Based on a new popular book, we will show why this is wrong.
Audience : CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60听minutes (including questions). This talk is also available in French.
Title: Global warming: we've had this coming for a long time.听
Presenter: Dr. Nicolas Cowan (faculty)
I will explain the 19th century physics that led to the first prediction of global warming, and the 20th century confirmation of this prediction.
Audience : CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
Title: The search for life around other stars.听
Presenter: Dr. Nicolas Cowan (faculty)
I will describe how we measure the properties of planets tens of light years away, and how we can search them for signs of life.
Audience : High school (Sec. III-V), CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
Title: The wave, particle, and mechanical properties of light .听NOTE: available in winter 2023.
Presenter: Dr. Jack Sankey (faculty)
Depending on the situation, light can behave like a wave or a "quantum" particle. Additionally, it can actually push things around (helping to give comets their tails!). In this talk, I will discuss the physics of light and how we can use its mechanical properties to control the motion of solid objects in the lab.
Audience : High school (Sec. I-V), CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
Presenter: Dr. Peter Grutter听(faculty)
We are presently living at the dawn of a new age. The societal impact of the Nanotechnology Age is expected to be larger than that of all of life sciences and IT in the past 50 years! Nanotechnology allows us to image, measure and control matter at the nano-meter (i.e. atomic) length scale. Small is different! I will describe how these nano abilities allow us to create structures with amazing properties, leading to huge opportunities as well as challenges in material science, medicine and information technology.
Audience : High school (Sec. I-V), CEGEP. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
Title : Smashing very small things together really hard: why?
Presenter: Nicolas Fortier 听(grad student)
An overview of why colliding particles together is a thing (and obviously also why it's important), which will include topics such as matter (energy), velocity (relativity), and forces (amongst other things).
Audience : High school (Sec. I-V), CEGEP. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
Title : Quantum machine learning: Artificial Intelligence enters the Quantum World.
Presenter: Michael Hilke听 (faculty)
I present here the basics and applications of machine learning together as well as quantum information in the context of new quantum technologies. This leads to the exciting prospect of combining quantumness into machine learning with new applications in technology and everyday experiences.
Audience : High school (Sec. I-V), CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
Title: P erfectionism: the "good", the bad, the ugly.
Presenter: Shelby听Levine (graduate student).
My research explores the influence of multidimensional perfectionism on mental health in adolescence and emerging adulthood.听
Audience : High school (Sec. I-V), CEGEP. Length : 45-60听minutes (including questions).
Title: Mindfulness, Contemplation, and Creating a Kinder World.
Presenter: Syeda Shireen (Grad student)
I will discuss the importance of self-reflection and contemplation, specifically through mindfulness as a tool and way of life in the development of self-awareness, kindness, and wisdom. I will offer a discussion of these topics within the context of Maslow's hierarchy of needs that culminates in the less well-known stage of self-transcendence that is crucial to the spread of prosociality and compassion within our society.
Audience : High school (Sec. I-V), CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
Title: Blind at first sight? The role of positivity and accuracy of first impressions in romantic interest.
Presenter: Lauren Gazzard听(Grad student)
On a first date, is it only important to see a person positively or is it beneficial to accurately perceive their personality as well? Using three speed-dating samples where participants briefly met with and rated the personalities of opposite-sex dating partners, we found that forming more positive personality impressions of potential dating partners was associated with greater romantic interest. In contrast, viewing a potential dating partner more accurately, or more in line with their unique personality, was associated with significantly less romantic interest. This was especially the case for potential partners whose personalities were less romantically appealing, specifically, for those who were lower in extraversion. Thus, on a first date, it may be more romantically beneficial to form a positive, yet inaccurate, first impression.
Audience : High school (Sec. I-V), CEGEP, adults. Length : 45-60 minutes (including questions).
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