At 15:11:11 Eastern Daylight Time on July 19, 2014, two Canadian-designed satellites were launched from Yasny, Russia. Named BRITE-Toronto and BRITE-Montreal, these devices – no bigger than a car battery – will stare for long periods of time at the brightest stars in the night sky, monitoring shifts in their brightness and colour. Monitoring these shifts […]
Posts by SMCCadmin (SMCCadmin)
Alberta’s Bow River: Climate change and human impacts | SMCC Backgrounder
In the days leading up to June 20, 2013, Alberta experienced extreme rainfall that led to flooding on the Bow River and its associated watershed. Total damage was estimated at $3 to 5 billion. While there is no way to prevent such floods, scientific research by climatologists, hydrologists and other experts can help us understand […]
Le nouveau pergélisol en Arctique ne durera pas
Alors que les lacs arctiques réduisent comme peau de chagrin, du nouveau pergélisol se forme autour de ceux-ci. Une nouvelle étude montre toutefois que ce pergélisol fondra d’ici la fin du siècle. Des chercheurs de l’Université McGill ont suivi la réduction d’un lac en Alaska et ont observé que du nouveau pergélisol se forme autour de […]
New Arctic permafrost won’t last
As Arctic lakes shrink, new permafrost develops around them, but according to a new study, it’s not expected to last the century. Researchers looked at a retreating lake in Alaska and saw new permafrost had formed along the old lakebed in areas where willow trees had altered the soil’s moisture and heat content. The new […]
New method to detect bogus ‘male enhancement’ drugs
A new technique can successfully distinguish between 82 different compounds used in both real and bogus ‘male enhancement’ pills in less than 10 minutes. Compounds – both natural and synthetic – that are chemically similar to the active ingredients in erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra and Cialis are often mixed into pills and sold as […]
Groundwater depletion in California may move mountains
Removal of groundwater in California’s San Joaquin valley may be causing small seismic events, according to a new paper. Researchers used GPS measurements to show that land surrounding the valley is rising by between 1 and 3 mm per year, in response to draining of the underlying aquifer. The pattern is correlated with wet and […]
L’épuisement des eaux souterraines soulève des montagnes
L’épuisement des eaux souterraines dans la vallée de San Joaquin en Californie serait la cause de plusieurs petits séismes selon une nouvelle étude. Des chercheurs ont utilité des mesures GPS et ont constaté que les terres autour de la vallée se soulèvent à un rythme de 1 à 3 mm par année en réaction avec […]
Coronavirus MERS: deuxième cas détecté aux États-Unis | Liste d’experts disponibles
Coronavirus MERS : deuxième cas détecté aux États-Unis Liste d’experts disponibles, 14 mai 2014 Les Centres pour le contrôle et la prévention des maladies ont annoncé hier qu’une seconde personne vivant aux États-Unis souffrait du syndrome respiratoire du Moyen-Orient (MERS). Le diagnostic a été fait en Floride et survient plus d’une semaine après le […]
Second U.S. case of MERS | Experts Available
Second U.S. case of MERS | SMCC Experts Available | May 14, 2014 On Monday May 12, 2014 the U.S. Centres of Disease control reported the “unwelcome but not unexpected” news that a second person in the US has been diagnosed with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. This second case, which occurred in Florida, follows […]
West Antarctica Ice Sheet is Collapsing
On May 12, 2014, two papers were released which indicated that the Thwaites glacier, a major component of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, is already under collapse, possibly irreversibly. The first paper, accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, was done by researchers from the University of California Irvine and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and was the subject […]
Que faire avec nos infrastructures délabrées?
Depuis le 27 mars dernier, les provinces et les villes au Canada peuvent appliquer pour aller chercher du financement dans le Nouveau Fonds Chantiers Canada d’une valeur de 14 milliards de dollars au cours des 10 prochaines années afin d’aider les investissements dans des projets d’infrastructure. Cela survient alors que le pont Champlain à Montréal […]
Canada’s crumbling infrastructure
As of March 27, 2014, Canadian provinces, cities and municipalities can apply for their share of the federal government’s New Building Canada Fund, which provides $14 billion over 10 years to help improve infrastructure across the country. This comes as structures like the Champlain bridge in Montreal and the Gardiner expressway in Toronto are already […]
Risques potentiels pour la santé humaine associés aux champs de radiofréquences
Les cellulaires, les tablettes et tous les autres appareils électroniques sans-fil prennent de plus en plus de place dans notre société. Alors que nous les utilisons de plus en plus souvent, certains s’inquiètent des effets sur la santé causés par les champs de radiofréquences émis par ces appareils. Le Code de sécurité 6 de Santé […]
Radiofrequency Fields and Potential Health Risks
Mobile phones, tablets and other wireless devices are more ubiquitous than ever, and as their use increases, so do concerns over the health impacts of the radiofrequency fields they emit. Health Canada’s Safety Code 6 sets out the guidelines for human exposure to such fields based on the best available science. In an effort to […]
Changements climatiques : impacts, adaptation et vulnérabilité
À 20 heures HE, le dimanche 30 mars 2014, le Groupe de travail II du Groupe d’experts intergouvernemental sur l’évolution du climat (GIEC) publie son rapport en lien Changements climatiques : impacts, adaptation et vulnérabilité après une semaine de rencontres à Yokohama au Japon. C’est le deuxième d’une série de trois rapports qui mis tous […]
Climate change: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability
At 8 PM Eastern Time on Sunday, March 30, 2014, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II released its Summary for Policymakers at the end of a week-long meeting in Yokohama, Japan. This is the second of the three working groups that together produced the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). For more […]