I’ve been working lately to get a handle on where awe fits into our lives, especially the intersection of awe and science. In my journeys, I met someone who sheds light on the awe appeal of science fiction and how it has changed over the history of filmmaking. Michael Backes worked in Hollywood for decades. […]
Can I just tell you about something funny that happened/is happening? I’ve been working at a university, and one of the most appealing perks—given I’m not anywhere in the world of tenure or sabbaticals—is the free tuition on any course in the whole place. I could get an MBA…for free! I could become some crazy […]
On November 6, 2015, when this was originally published, I had just arrived back from the most bizarre trip my work has ever taken me on–and I’ve been on some pretty weird reporting expeditions. It was my first (and probably last) experience of being a royal guest in a place where royalty really runs the […]
Very occasionally, a post we write here is, unbeknownst to us, incomplete. It will only be concluded by our readers, who finish the job in the comments section. On August 28, 2015, I posed a mystery in the form of a very old document, and I thought I had more or less solved that riddle […]
According to Lev Vygotsky’s psychological development theory, children should be given experiences that are in their zone of proximal development. That is, things that are beyond their own independent capability, but that can be achieved or understood with the guidance of a “knowledgeable other.” The adult’s help provides scaffolding that can eventually be dismantled as […]
On a February day in Ottawa, the Rideau Canal is teaming with skaters. Along the 7km length of canal, kids and adults alike enjoy some small compensation for the face-burning cold of our long winters. We eat the thick, sugared pancake known as the Beavertail, drink hot chocolate, and feel the ice whip by under […]
For two years, I have felt like Eloise in the beloved 1950s children’s classic of the same name. A sudden need for shared office space led me to a reasonably priced desk in downtown Ottawa, but the exact location stunned me. Much like the entitled Eloise who lives in New York’s Plaza Hotel, I also […]
There is a hyper-intelligent mammal in the oceans with whom we might communicate if only we were a more empathetic and patient species. This is the unspoken assumption behind most coverage I see of dolphins. But since 2013, when I read the book reviewed below, I view those ideas in a completely different light. One […]