The same technology that safeguards the authenticity of the bills in our purses and wallets has provided a new medium for creative visual expression, thanks to an innovative collaboration between artists and the engineers who originally developed that technology. The roots of this work lie in the Bank of Canada’s never-ending quest to make the...
Read More >>University of Ottawa Chemistry and Biomolecular Science Professor Alison Flynn, MCIC, has had a longstanding interest in the way her chosen discipline is taught and the tools that instructors devote to that purpose. Her efforts led to her joining the prestigious ranks of the 3M Teaching Fellows in 2017 and she has been especially enthusiastic...
Read More >>We live in an age of disruption. The sharing economy has likely changed your behaviour around booking hotels, riding in taxis, or ordering food. These massive transformations have been made possible through a combination of technology and human creativity. Yet, nature has once again demonstrated its awesome power as the ultimate agent of disruption. COVID-19...
Read More >>In February, Phil De Luna, who directs the National Research Council of Canada’s (NRC) new Materials for Clean Fuels Challenge Program, attended Globe 2020, a business and innovation event dedicated to sustainable technologies. The Vancouver-based conference, which is now in its 30th year, touts itself as the largest such summit in North America, drawing participants...
Read More >>As the ranks of the world’s professional journalists have been decimated over the past few decades, so too has their ability to report the work of science to an audience that extends beyond the scientific community itself. If you are part of that audience, you may not have noticed, because there appears to be more...
Read More >>Chemists from around the commonwealth will be converging on Trinidad and Tobago this spring for the inaugural Commonwealth Chemistry Congress from 18-21 May 2020. The event is being organised by Commonwealth Chemistry, the Federation of Commonwealth Chemical Sciences Societies, bringing together chemists from across the Commonwealth under the banner of equality for all. The Commonwealth...
Read More >>While attending the Canadian Science Policy Conference for CIC last fall, I was introduced to cOAlition S, a European-based open-access publishing initiative that is spearheading a project called Plan S. First launched in 2018, Plan S has been championed by the European Commission and the European Research Council as well as the World Health Organization...
Read More >>What do you do at the CIC? I am the CIC’s graphic designer and webmaster. What does a graphic designer do? Well, we make things look fabulous! We do this by ensuring consistent brand identity across all CIC marketing materials, which ensures the visual elements have a professional look and feel. I literally illustrate the...
Read More >>Few things can change a student’s mind like hearing the voice of experience, especially if the speaker is being brutally honest. For his part, Nobel laureate Martin Chalfie did just that when he told an audience at Queen’s University about the roots of his own scientific career. “I worked in a lab as a junior...
Read More >>There are only four weeks left for ambitious young chemists at the Chemical Institute for Canada to apply to the Reaxys PhD Prize 2020! Remember, anyone who is currently doing a PhD in the chemical sciences or who completed their PhD after January 1, 2019 is eligible to enter. The submission deadline is March 11....
Read More >>What do you do at the CIC? I am CIC’s conference program coordinator. As such, I work cohesively (and constantly!) with the conference organizing committees from the Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition and the Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference to deliver an exceptional experience for attendees. It’s an exciting opportunity to work closely with leaders in...
Read More >>For all of the majestic, mountain-ringed landscape that Utah’s Great Salt Lake region embodies, local residents can encounter a threat to their health each winter as the atmosphere succumbs to a thick smog. To help local officials develop mitigation strategies, Dr. Alexander Moravek and his collaborators wanted to pin down the composition and source of...
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