Science (general)

Please review each article prior to use: grade-level applicability and curricular alignment might not be obvious from the headline alone.

CBC Majid Kermani of Selkirk, left, and Gord Bakaluk of East St. Paul represented Manitoba.
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New show pits sand carvers against each other, Bay of Fundy tides

Alan Small 5 minute read Preview
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New show pits sand carvers against each other, Bay of Fundy tides

Alan Small 5 minute read Thursday, Sep. 9, 2021

A new CBC show aims to put the fun in the Bay of Fundy.

The series is Race Against the Tide, and it pits 10 teams of two sand sculptors from around the world against the one of the Earth’s most relentless of timers — the record-breaking tides of the Bay of Fundy, where Atlantic Ocean waves surge between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

The fast-paced show, hosted by comedian Shawn Majumder, debuts Thursday at 7 p.m. on CBC with its first two half-hour episodes kicking off a five-week run that combines the labour of packing pounds of sand for a base with the careful carving of grains of sand to create remarkable works of art.

The sculptures are temporary though. The teams are given six hours to create their works, but shortly after they are judged, the Bay of Fundy waves wash the works away.

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Thursday, Sep. 9, 2021
JESSICA LEE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Students arrive for first day of classes Wednesday at Glenelm School.
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Anxiety, hope as children return to school

Maggie Macintosh 6 minute read Preview
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Anxiety, hope as children return to school

Maggie Macintosh 6 minute read Wednesday, Sep. 8, 2021

On one side of the chain-link fence separating Glenelm School from the street, nervous elementary students fidgeted with their masks and bulky backpacks on the playground as they waited to meet new teachers and friends in lines.

On the other side, parents on the sidewalk — among them, Joisy Fernandez — peeked through the grey diamonds with anxieties of their own.

"I wish I could go in there and just stand next to her and say, ‘It will be OK,’" said Fernandez, who dropped off her daughter Natalie for the first day of Grade 5 on Wednesday morning. "As tough as it is on us, we have to show them that (a safe school year) is possible."

Glenelm, a K-6 building at 96 Carmen Ave., has kept its pandemic policy for drop-offs intact this year to prevent congestion on the playground. Parents are discouraged from entering both the Winnipeg school's grounds and building.

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Wednesday, Sep. 8, 2021
CBC Xiangguo Qiu was escorted out of the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg in July 2019 along with her husband, Keding Cheng, months after the Public Health Agency of Canada reported a 'policy breach' at the lab to the RCMP. The two virologists were fired in January 2021. The RCMP is still investigating, and the reasons behind the firing remain a mystery to the public. (CBC)
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New book debunks Winnipeg-lab coronavirus conspiracy theory

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New book debunks Winnipeg-lab coronavirus conspiracy theory

CBC News 2 minute read Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021

A new book concludes co-operation between Canada's National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg and China's Wuhan Institute of Virology played no part in the origin of the coronavirus pandemic but raises questions about links between one of the researchers fired from the lab and a prominent Chinese virologist affiliated with the military.

Toronto-based freelance journalist Elaine Dewar says she set out to investigate the hypothesis that the coronavirus was leaked from the Wuhan lab by looking at the science and financial and geopolitical interests related to the theory.

As part of that, she looked into whether an approved shipment of Ebola and henipah viruses in March 2019 from the Winnipeg lab to Wuhan had anything to do with the pandemic after conspiracy theories suggesting it did surfaced online.

To read more of this story first reported by CBC News, click here.

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Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021
Cloud pruning is a technique used to train mugo pines into a shape resembling a cloud.
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Japanese garden an enduring cultural experience

Colleen Zacharias 7 minute read Preview
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Japanese garden an enduring cultural experience

Colleen Zacharias 7 minute read Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021

The Japanese Cultural Association of Manitoba, 180 McPhillips St., opened to the public in 1987. The centre offers a wide range of programs which are designed to promote and enhance the understanding of Japanese culture. The centre also serves as the site for a beautiful Japanese garden. Built by Yoshimaru Abe who was born in Japan in 1914 and came to Canada with his family in 1927, the garden is an enduring cultural experience.

Prior to building the garden at the centre, visitors to the Japanese Folklorama exhibit in 1971 and in the years following had the opportunity to see a Japanese garden recreated by Abe. Using moss, rocks, and pieces of wood, Abe recreated an authentic Japanese garden on a concrete arena floor.

A gardener is called niwashi in Japanese. Abe was the distinguished niwashi at the Japanese cultural centre’s garden into his 90’s and was followed by Sam Matsuo, who maintained the garden for 10 years. Both Abe and Matsuo were assisted by dedicated volunteers. Today the niwashi is Raymond Normandeau, who has been involved with the centre for several years as well as in the building of the garden at the Japanese Pavilion at Folklorama. Normandeau will oversee an expansion of the garden at the Japanese Cultural Association — which is slated to begin this fall.

Currently, there are two different areas to the garden. The front garden is a long narrow strip on the outside of the building that faces into a concrete parking lot. The inner garden is an enclosed garden accessed by a short bridge and tall wooden gate. “It is not a pure Japanese garden,” says Normandeau. “It is representative of a Japanese garden. We don’t have the stalwarts of Japanese gardens — bamboo, clipped azaleas, and the black pine which is one of the most popular pine species in a Japanese garden.” But many fine elements of Japanese garden design can indeed be found here.

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Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021
Rylee Nepinak and his brother River led Anishiative’s first land-based leadership camp for youth over three days at Cedar Lake. (Supplied)

Landing young leaders

Julia-Simone Rutgers 6 minute read Preview

Landing young leaders

Julia-Simone Rutgers 6 minute read Monday, Aug. 16, 2021

Sitting in the shade of some trees between Hope and Princeton, B.C., on Thursday, 25-year-old Rylee Nepinak is 230-kilometres into a coast-to-coast bike ride raising funds for youth in Tataskweyak Cree Nation, a northern Manitoba community struggling with the impact of a suicide crisis among its young people.

He’s been on the road for two days; he drove west earlier in the week, pivoting quickly after the completion of another project fuelled by his passion to support and empower Manitoba’s Indigenous youth.

Back home in Winnipeg, Nepinak heads up the North End community volunteer group Anishiative, which leads Indigenous youth in caring for their relatives and community.

The organization has grown and adapted, since its origins in 2019, when Nepinak dreamed up a camp to equip Indigenous youth with land-based traditional teachings, health and well-being tools and survival skills.

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Monday, Aug. 16, 2021
Mat Wooller, director of the Alaska Stable Isotope Facility, kneels among a collection of some of the mammoth tusks at the University of Alaska Museum of the North. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-JR Ancheta, University of Alaska Fairbanks MANDATORY CREDIT
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'Cheering for the mammoth': Scientists retrace the steps of 17,000 year-old animal

Emma Tranter, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview
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'Cheering for the mammoth': Scientists retrace the steps of 17,000 year-old animal

Emma Tranter, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026

More than 17,000 years ago, a woolly mammoth roamed enough of the Alaskan landscape to circle the Earth twice.

That's according to a new paper from an international team of researchers who retraced the lifetime of one of the extinct ancient Arctic creatures.

The mammoth's story is written in its tusk through tiny isotopes, which are tiny atoms, said Mat Wooller, a paleoecologist at the University of Alaska.

"Isotopes are like a little chemical GPS (global positioning system) recorder," Wooller said.

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Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026
Tim Smith / Brandon Sun files If proposed changes to a city bylaw pass, Winnipeggers will legally be able to own a pit bull.
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Pit bulls legal, ball pythons banned?

Gabrielle Piché 6 minute read Preview
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Pit bulls legal, ball pythons banned?

Gabrielle Piché 6 minute read Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021

Laura Baker has wanted a pit bull for 20 years, but hasn’t bought one because of the city’s ban.

“I just feel like the whole breed has been so misrepresented, misunderstood and given a raw deal in terms of being able to find loving homes,” the St. James resident said.

If proposed changes to a city bylaw pass, Baker will legally be able to own a pit bull, while it could become illegal to feed wildlife and to leave pets in vehicles at certain temperatures.

The city is looking for feedback on suggestions to its Responsible Pet Ownership bylaw. Winnipeg Public Service reviewed the rules this summer and came back with a number of ideas, including a removal of breed-specific bans.

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Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021
MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Auto detail shop poised to fight pandemic

Willy Williamson 5 minute read Preview

Auto detail shop poised to fight pandemic

Willy Williamson 5 minute read Saturday, Apr. 18, 2020

Since COVID-19 has taught us to continually wash our hands, and many of us have already cleaned every corner of our homes, it's a sure bet a few of us have also turned our efforts to sanitizing our vehicles.

Your usual Saturday morning ritual of washing your car on the driveway with the garden hose and vacuuming the interior and wiping down hard surfaces with car cleaning products is likely all you'll need to keep your vehicle shiny and safe — but if you know or suspect your vehicle has come into contact with coronavirus, or just want to increase your peace of mind, it may be time to call in a professional.

The majority of auto detail shops, which fall under the same essential services category as automobile repair shops, have remained open during the pandemic.

Tom Segal, 45, the owner of Blue Ocean Auto Detailing in Headingley, has seen it all in the more than 25 years he's been cleaning cars, including dirty diapers, rotten food crammed between seats and rodent infestations, but this is his first pandemic.

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Saturday, Apr. 18, 2020
Manitoba-born scientist Peebles wins Nobel Prize in physics

Manitoba-born scientist Peebles wins Nobel Prize in physics

Maggie Macintosh 5 minute read Preview

Manitoba-born scientist Peebles wins Nobel Prize in physics

Maggie Macintosh 5 minute read Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019

The most recent Canadian recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics, cosmologist James Peebles, will be honoured with about $600,000 in prize money — and his picture will hang in at least one Winnipeg dorm room.

"He has become an icon of mine since today, this morning," said Harshan Singh, an aspiring physicist enrolled in his first-year at the University of Manitoba. "I will probably put his picture on my wall and then look at him every morning."

The Winnipeg-born, U of M educated Peebles' theories predicted the existence of dark matter and dark energy, as well as a distant radio signal created after the Big Bang.

There was a "muted murmur" among the world's scientists that he should have won the Nobel Prize 41 years ago, when two other scientists were awarded it for stumbling on the faint signals from space Peebles had first theorized with a colleague, according to the U of M newspaper archives.

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Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019
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André Marchildon : son dynamisme au service de l’aérodynamique

Amélie DAVID de La Liberté pour le Winnipeg Free Press 3 minute read Saturday, Jun. 29, 2019

ANDRÉ Marchildon, un Franco-Manitobain de 25 ans, n’a plus beaucoup de temps pour lui-même. En ce vendredi de la mi-juin, ce Winnipégois rentre à peine de sa journée de travail qu’il doit déjà se préparer pour son prochain voyage au Texas. Dans ses valises, l’étudiant en ingénierie aérospatiale à l’Université de Toronto emporte une présentation de ses recherches.

Il vient de remporter la bourse Vanier pour ses recherches dans le domaine de l’aérospatiale. Ce prix prestigieux récompense chaque année une centaine d’élèves à travers le Canada pour leurs recherches dans les domaines des sciences humaines, des sciences naturelles, du génie ou encore de la santé, mais aussi leur implication sociale.

André Marchildon : “Cette bourse est une chance, car ça me permet d’aller à plus de conférences et de pouvoir présenter ma recherche à beaucoup plus de monde, comme c’est le cas avec cette conférence au Texas.” Il porte ainsi les couleurs de sa communauté au-delà des frontières du Manitoba.

Actuellement en maîtrise, l’étudiant cherche à rendre les algorithmes utilisés pour calculer le mouvement de l’air autour des avions plus efficaces.

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L’avenir de l’Arctique au cœur de Breaking Ice

Morgane Lemée de La Liberté pour le Winnipeg Free Press 4 minute read Saturday, Apr. 7, 2018

Breaking Ice, c’est un aperçu de la vie sur un brise-glace de recherche, au beau milieu de l’Arctique. À travers son premier long-métrage documentaire, Christopher Paetkau transmet un message sur des enjeux environnementaux cruciaux pour le Canada et le monde entier. Entre frissons et passion.

Christopher Paetkau, Trevor Gill et Carlyle Paetkau ont fondé la maison de production manitobaine Build Films en 2013. Après plusieurs documentaires et publicités, Breaking Ice est leur plus grand projet. Il vise d’ailleurs à répondre au point central de leur mission: les enjeux de l’Arctique.

“Nous travaillons beaucoup dans l’Arctique, surtout sur des aires marines protégées. Au début, c’était une question de curiosité. Puis, ça nous a vraiment pris aux tripes. Une fois là, on réalise à quel point ces paysages sont complexes et fascinants. Pour nous, l’émotion n’est pas d’avoir une caméra entre les mains. Elle vient d’être capable de transmettre un message.

“Quand vous sentez le sol littéralement fondre sous vos pieds et que vous savez que des gens vivent ici, il y a vraiment de quoi se poser des questions. À mon avis, l’Arctique est d’une actualité brûlante. Il y a tant de choses à entreprendre.”

Daniel Bahuaud photo Vanessa Ahing: ‘Je mange du chevreuil, de la bernache et du canard. C’est la viande la plus naturelle qui soit.’
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Chasser, pour avoir la conscience tranquille

Daniel Bahuaud de La Liberté pour le Winnipeg Free Press 4 minute read Preview
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Chasser, pour avoir la conscience tranquille

Daniel Bahuaud de La Liberté pour le Winnipeg Free Press 4 minute read Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017

Vanessa Ahing a été végétarienne pendant plus de quatre années. Par refus de l’industrie de la viande qui, à son avis, est cruelle et nuit à l’environnement. Pourtant, un bon steak lui manquait. Pour réconcilier conscience et palais, un choix nouveau s’imposait...

Un soir de septembre, 2013, Vanessa Ahing rentrait de la campagne, où elle avait abattu son premier chevreuil. Souvenir de l’enseignante de 31ans: “J’étais toute seule. J’avais suivi une formation de chasse pour femmes, organisée par la Manitoba Wildlife Foundation. Mon chevreuil, coupé en quarts, était dans un sac de hockey dans le coffre de ma Honda Civic. C’était mon premier animal. Je voulais vivre l’expérience complète de la chasse. Donc pas question pour moi d’aller chez un boucher. D’ailleurs, j’étais étudiante. Je n’avais pas le fric pour me payer un tel service.

“Je me demandais comment j’allais faire pour préparer cette viande. Je n’ai pas été élevée dans une famille de chasseurs, ou même de jardiniers. Mes parents n’étaient pas prêts à avoir un chevreuil chez eux. Et moi, je vivais dans un petit appartement pour célibataires au centre-ville de Winnipeg.

“Il était tard. Trop tard pour dépecer l’animal tout de suite. Alors, j’ai ouvert les fenêtres de mon appartement. Je me suis endormie dans mon sac de couchage. Le lendemain, j’ai tapé ‘Comment couper de la viande de chevreuil’ sur YouTube. Et je me suis mise à l’œuvre.”

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Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017
MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Chi Liao, a U of M assistant professor, whose expertise is in behavioural finance, says biases can lead to bad decisions.
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Investors behaving badly

By Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Preview
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Investors behaving badly

By Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Saturday, Apr. 30, 2016

Finance professor Chi Liao’s background in mathematics often comes in handy in her line of work.

After all, both corporate and investment finance are built upon numbers. Yet financial reporting — balance sheets and cash-flow analysis — is not her area of interest.

In fact, her expertise has less to do with the numerical side of money and more to do with how our emotions affect how we manage our hard-earned cash.

“I’ve always been fascinated by people-watching and why it is we do what we do,” says Liao, who studied mathematics and finance before completing a PhD in behavioural finance from the University of Toronto in 2014.

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Saturday, Apr. 30, 2016
MANITO MÉDIA PHOTO Jules Desjarlais: ‘Au pays des Michifs, ce sera bien plus qu’un aperçu sur nos chasseurs, pêcheurs et trappeurs. C’est la présentation d’un mode de vie.’
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Saint-Laurent la télé en 2017

Par Daniel Bahuaud 5 minute read Preview
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Saint-Laurent la télé en 2017

Par Daniel Bahuaud 5 minute read Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016

Les pêcheurs, chasseurs et trappeurs métis de Saint-Laurent seront bient¥t connus au Québec gr¢ce une série documentaire produite pour le Canal D. De plus, la caméra se posera sur la culture métisse. Bienvenue Au pays des Michifs.

Ce qui étonne Jules Desjarlais n'est pas que Manito Média, l'entreprise de production bonifacienne fondée par Charles et Patrick Clément, ait réussi convaincre le Canal D commander une série documentaire portant sur les Métis de Saint-Laurent. C'est que les Métis se soient laissés photographier par les caméras télé!

Jules Desjarlais en est persuadé: "Nous, les Métis, on est pas mal gêné. Notre vie privée, on y tient. Mais tranquillement, dans les dernières décennies, le public respecte pas mal plus notre culture. Chez nous, c'est l'exposition sur les Métis présentée entre 2004 et juillet 2015 (au National Museum of the American Indian, un des musées du Smithsonian Institution de Washington), qui a fait une différence énorme. On est plus portés dire "oui" quand on nous propose des projets comme la série Au pays des Michifs. On s'intéresse faire connaître notre culture, la faire respecter, pour que les gens nous connaissent plus."

Résultat: Gerry Bruce et Roland Bruce, Norbert Langellier et son fils, Charles et Langellier, ainsi que Laurent Dumont, figureront parmi les chasseurs, pêcheurs et trappeurs présentés dans l'émission, en tournage depuis l'automne 2015. Le natif de Saint-Laurent, vétéran de plusieurs productions hollywoodiennes, notamment la série Docteur Quinn, femme médecin et le film Terrain miné (On Deadly Ground) sera le narrateur et présentateur de la série.

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Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016
WILLIAM SINEUX / LA LIBERTÉ Réal Bérard fait des cartes uniques et très précises des rivières manitobaines, agrémentées de croquis et descriptifs de tout ce qui fait l’identité des rivières qu’il explore.
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Réal explorateur

By William Sineux / De La Liberté pour le Winnipeg Free Press 5 minute read Preview
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Réal explorateur

By William Sineux / De La Liberté pour le Winnipeg Free Press 5 minute read Saturday, Apr. 14, 2012

RÉAL Bérard est l’un des rares explorateurs des temps modernes à partir à l’assaut des rivières capricieuses armé de son canoë, de papier et d’un crayon.

Réal Bérard est en effet le premier à avoir entrepris de cartographier pour le gouvernement puis par passion l’ensemble des rivières manitobaines.

Depuis 1961 le cartographe parcourt ainsi des kilomètres de rivières et des jours durant, pour les dessiner et les décrire dans les moindres détails afin de créer des cartes uniques en leur genre.

“Après avoir fait les Beaux-arts de Montréal j’ai travaillé pour le ministère des ressources naturelles et je patrouillais sur les rivières jusqu’au jour où j’ai voulu intégrer mon art à mon travail de tous les jours en dessinant et peignant ce que je voyais.”

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Saturday, Apr. 14, 2012
WAYNE GLOWACKI/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS U of W Prof. Chris Wiebe shows off some of the equipment at the PRIME.
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Locals find loophole in laws of physics

By Nick Martin 3 minute read Preview
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Locals find loophole in laws of physics

By Nick Martin 3 minute read Wednesday, Sep. 21, 2011

A University of Winnipeg scientist leads an international team of researchers who may have found a loophole in the laws of physics.

Magnetricity could have practical applications down the road to store data in computers or conduct electricity, said U of W chemistry Prof. Chris Wiebe.

"All of magnetic (knowledge) is based on 'You can't have a single pole,' " explained Wiebe, a graduate of the U of W and Transcona Collegiate. There is always a north pole and a south pole, and a single pole cannot occur naturally.

So say the laws of physics, but...

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Wednesday, Sep. 21, 2011