September 24-28, 2018 This week, Sally lets us in on some tech news: 2018 is the Cambrian Explosion of Steganography. Messages can be hidden in a variety of media, and it’s very hard for law enforcement to find. “Jpgs, gifs, pngs, mp3s –all of these have loads of storage space just begging for stowaways. They just […]
September 3-7, 2018 This week, on the Last Word on Nothing: Erik is a committed father who is finding the toddler years more of a chore than some other dads make it seem. Candid soul searching ensues. Cameron’s spring cleaning uncovers unwelcome houseguests. Her research into their origins and lifestyle only serves to gross her […]
August 6-10, 2018 In a personal archaeology, your memories are the artifacts, writes Craig this week. And they are all rooted in place. Guest Melinda Wenner Moyer did us all a favour and brought together some of science writing’s greats to ask which of their stories we should read—and likely didn’t find the first time. […]
I pack four books and a magazine for a three-day trip. Then I buy more at the airport. I forget to pack a change of trousers. This will come back to bite me when I vomit on a boat. The first thing I do when I land is get hoodwinked by not one, but two […]
July 16-20, 2018 “Inscrutable, argent agent of the crepuscular” — To what does Rebecca refer? Find out in the poem she wrote this week. Guest Robin Mejia reminds us that child abduction by the state has a history, and in El Salvador the legacy has been an enduring solidarity among victims and the equally enduring […]
Some people seek out Canada Day; others have Canada Day thrust upon them. And so it was thrust upon me this year when, flying back from a wedding in Lethbridge, Alberta on Sunday, I boarded my Toronto-to-Ottawa plane at 9:15pm. Throughout our airborne hour, hundreds of tiny fireworks displays sparkled in the darkness below. […]
June 18-22, 2018 This week, Emma writes an Amazon review of her half-dome tent. That is, a review of how it fares through multiple trips through the Amazon—and everywhere else. Christie reminds herself to apply the base rate principle the next time she sees an ambiguous animal in her motion-triggered game camera. Michelle transports us […]
I remember the thrill of my first byline. The feeling faded pretty quickly but it returned every time I broke into a new publication and saw my name on the page of a magazine I respected. Having a little bit of name recognition has been useful. But for the last seven years—the same length of […]