May 1, 2012

SCIENCE MATTERS by David Suzuki A colleague told me his toddler was wandering through a neighbourhood park picking up twigs and sticks, brandishing them as tools for digging, poking and tapping. Suddenly, the boy stopped and pointed excitedly to the canopy of branches above. “Look papa. Sticks come from trees!” Mentally reconnecting fallen branches to their...

May 1, 2012

FILMS WORTH WATCHING by Robert Alstead • The annual documentary festival DOXA is on this month. The Vancouver fest is hosting 72 screenings across five different venues from May 4 to 13. DOXA opens with the NFB Digital Studio’s interactive documentary Bear 71, which makes extensive use of surveillance footage of an electronically tagged grizzly in...

May 1, 2012

“Don’t worry, be happy” slogan could harm your baby DRUG BUST by Alan Cassels The people's briefing note on prescription drugs • It’s springtime in Canada and with nature in full bloom, it’s timely to reflect on reproduction in all its forms. If you’re in the drug manufacturing business, your organization exists to...

May 1, 2012

UNIVERSE WITHIN by Gwen Randall-Young I recently listened to a documentary about parallel universes. The suggestion is that the visible universe could lie on a membrane – combined strings of energy – floating within a higher-dimensional space. Two of these membranes could lie very close together and gravity could leak from one to the...

May 1, 2012

ON THE GARDEN PATH by Carolyn Herriot Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. – Michael Pollan Spring has finally sprung. It’s a time that inspires spring cleaning so why not put some pep in your step and cleanse and detoxify your body? Here are some good plants to help you do this: Milk thistle (Silybum...

May 1, 2012

NUTRISPEAK by Vesanto Melina In the past few years, kickboxing has increased in popularity among both men and women. People participate to lose weight, gain muscle, increase fitness and have fun. Whatever your reasons, it is important to complement your training regime with proper and adequate nutrition. Kickboxing is a high-intensity sport...

May 1, 2012

by Mac McLaughlin • Aries | Taurus | Gemini | Cancer | Leo | Virgo | Libra Scorpio | Sagitarius | Capricorn | Aquarius | Pisces Life’s activities intensify dynamically and dramatically around full Moon time. The effects of the full Moon can be felt two days before and two days after its actual date. The full Moon on May 5 will bring things sharply...

Apr 1, 2012

DRUG BUST by Alan Cassels The people's briefing note on prescription drugs • Why is more money going towards drug discovery research than drug safety research? Because that’s what the government of Canada is paying for. Today's fortune-tellers, horoscope writers and other modern soothsayers are very compelling figures. They are magnets for...

Apr 1, 2012

SCIENCE MATTERS by David Suzuki Cities cover just two percent of the world’s land area, yet they account for about 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. According to the United Nations, 59 percent of us now live in cities; in developing countries, 81 percent of people are urbanites. And those figures are rising every day. Even though cities are a major...

Apr 1, 2012

FILMS WORTH WATCHING by Robert Alstead • Given that recent polls suggest that around 40 percent of Americans believe that God created human beings in their present form 10,000 years ago, some people might consider Journey of the Universe quite a radical documentary. This story of the universe, which has screened on PBS, starts around 14 billion years ago...