Hadfield urges Shatner to 'soak up' spaceflight

One Canadian spaceman to another, former astronaut Chris Hadfield is encouraging William Shatner to follow the wise words of Captain James T. Kirk as he braces himself for a real-life blastoff: "Boldly go."

Hadfield said he quoted the "Star Trek" star's iconic mantra in a note wishing him well on his voyage aboard Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket ship on Wednesday.

The flight was originally planned for Tuesday but Blue Origin has announced it is being delayed 24 hours due to forecasted high winds.

Hadfield, a self-identified Trekkie who commanded the International Space Station, said he's thrilled that after decades of service in the fictional Spacefleet, the Quebec-raised actor will soon get to experience the final frontier for himself.

2 win medicine Nobel for showing how we react to heat, touch

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Two scientists won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for their discoveries into how the human body perceives temperature and touch, revelations that could lead to new ways of treating pain or even heart disease.

Americans David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian separately identified receptors in the skin that respond to heat and pressure, and researchers are working on drugs to target them. Some hope the discoveries could eventually lead to pain treatments that reduce dependence on highly addictive opioids. But the breakthroughs, which happened decades ago, have not yet yielded many effective new therapies.

Julius, of the University of California at San Francisco, used capsaicin, the active component in chili peppers, to help pinpoint the nerve sensors that respond to heat, the Nobel Committee said. Patapoutian, of Scripps Research Institute at La Jolla, California, found pressure-sensitive sensors in cells that respond to mechanical stimulation.

“This really unlocks one of the secrets of nature,” said Thomas Perlmann, secretary-general of the committee, in announcing the winners. “It’s actually something that is crucial for our survival, so it’s a very important and profound discovery.”

Roads quieted by COVID fill with birdsong: study

The Conservative party has locked its MPs and candidates out of its central voter database in a move that critics say is an attempt by Erin O’Toole to protect his leadership.

Me, hate cute little squirrels? You must be nuts

I was standing in the backyard next to a very tall tree, sipping the first coffee of the day, trying to think of a topic for today’s column, when suddenly it hit me.

No, I was not struck by a sudden inspiration. I was bonked on the top of my head by a pine cone the size of a regulation volleyball.

In quick succession, several more potentially lethal pine cones plummeted from the sky and thudded into the ground near my feet.

“I can see you up there!” I shrieked, waving my fist at the sky. “You are not going to get away with this!”

Shoal Lake 40 toasts clean water

SHOAL LAKE 40 FIRST NATION – As he raised his glass, Chief Vernon Redsky looked at the water and a memory came rushing back. It reminded him of when he was a kid, he said, and the water in Shoal Lake was crystal-clear like that, back when he and his friends would splash along the shore, drinking from the lake when they got thirsty.

So he thought about that as he clinked his glass against two others, and took a sip. A toast, to the first officially safe tap drinking water in Shoal Lake 40: on Wednesday, after 24 years, the Treaty Three First Nation’s boil water advisory officially ended.

“It’s surreal to be at this moment,” Redsky said at a ceremony to celebrate the achievement, as well as the opening of the community’s new school.

One day earlier, a government official in Kenora, Ont., had officially approved the latest test results from Shoal Lake 40’s new water treatment plant, which started pumping this summer. That night, Redsky couldn’t sleep; he called a former chief to talk about the long road they had travelled to get to this point.

New show pits sand carvers against each other, Bay of Fundy tides

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.

Anxiety, hope as children return to school

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.

New book debunks Winnipeg-lab coronavirus conspiracy theory

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.

Japanese garden an enduring cultural experience

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.

Landing young leaders

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.

'Cheering for the mammoth': Scientists retrace the steps of 17,000 year-old animal

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.

Pit bulls legal, ball pythons banned?

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.

Auto detail shop poised to fight pandemic

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.

Manitoba-born scientist Peebles wins Nobel Prize in physics

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.

Chasser, pour avoir la conscience tranquille

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.”

Investors behaving badly

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.

Saint-Laurent la télé en 2017

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.

Réal explorateur

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.”

Locals find loophole in laws of physics

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...