How American farms are supporting people with intellectual disabilities A surging number of U.S. farms are giving people with developmental disabilities self-confidence, community, and connection. Beyond gainful employment, these farms provide another valuable gift for the workers: nurturing an element of nature in a way they may have never done.
The regenerative agriculture revolution starts with women: Q&A with Stephanie Anderson In her new book, Anderson, a former farmer turned creative writing professor, talks to women across the U.S. who are leading the movement to transform the food system. From a mother/daughter team who run a diversified fruit and vegetable farm to Kelsey Scott, a Lakota Sioux member who runs a direct-to-consumer regenerative beef business, DX Beef LLC., each chapter tackles a different agricultural topic and someone devoted to making a change.
Inside the tragic state of geriatric care in Canada As Canada’s aging population reaches unprecedented levels, there is growing evidence they will need more geriatric care. But a gap is widening between the services needed and what is available to Canadians. Figures from Environics Analytics, a marketing and analytical services company, reveal the country’s senior population is projected to surpass 11 million by 2043.
Converting offices to residential space requires thinking different Walking down Bay Street on a weekday morning, it can feel like the city is trying to regain what it lost during the pandemic. Yes, there are lineups at Starbucks, but it’s clear: remote work has cratered workplace norms, and buildings in downtowns across Canada are pockmarked by empty offices. They are spaces that should be leveraged for residential use instead of accumulating dust, cobwebs and memories of forgotten office parties.
Meet The TikToker Exposing Homophobia And Racism Online Complex caught up with Michael "TizzyEnt" McWhorter to chat about how he uses his social media platform to 'right a wrong.' This kind of public doxing has led to these perpetrators losing their jobs and, in some cases, facing criminal charges. He brings detective-like skills to his videos, pointing out identifying labels on work uniforms or tattoos that could lead to the person’s identity. But, in a conversation over Zoom, McWhorter is quick to deflect credit to his many fans.
Blue Hydrogen: Bridge or Barricade? Business interest in the blue hydrogen sector is expanding across the United States, but a supportive policy framework still needs to be developed. Currently, the US’s flagship incentive programme lacks support for blue hydrogen, and experts say the technology needs support to scale up
Telling Tales of the Brave and Daring When author and journalist Jennet Conant ’82 was researching the subject of her seventh book—legendary correspondent Maggie Higgins, who covered World War II and the Korean War—she couldn’t help but see parallels between her subject’s career and her own. Conant’s latest book, Fierce Ambition: The Life and Legend of War Correspondent Maggie Higgins, tells the story of Higgins, a female reporter making her way through a boys’ club of journalists who didn’t take her seriously, even though she won praise at the New York Herald Tribune with a harrowing account of the liberation of Dachau at the end of World War II.
The fakes are rising: Why Canadian students need a crash course in AI literacy For too long, educators have been left in limbo as to how to teach youth about AI-generated images that can do more harm than pairing an actor with a classic tune. It’s up to individual teachers to dedicate their class time to discuss the risks of AI-generated content, which can range from, say, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announcing the war is over or Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promoting a financial “robot trader,” to former U.S. president Donald Trump accepting the endorsement of Taylor Swift.
Aaron Lansky, founder of the Yiddish Book Center, pays tribute to his Montreal roots The Yiddish Book Center has Canadian roots, thanks to its founder and CEO Aaron Lansky, who recently announced he will be stepping down from his role after 44 years of helming one of the leading Jewish cultural institutions in the U.S. When Lansky, 68, was studying Yiddish literature at McGill University, he had a difficult time finding the books he needed. He visited the Jewish Public Library to source what he could, but he extended his outlook toward the Jewish community.
How a new type of ‘smart soil’ can capture water out of thin air A hydrogel developed by researchers from the University of Texas at Austin could give plants the power to feed and water themselves, allowing farmers to rely less on irrigation. The research, published over the summer in ACS Materials Letters, found that radish plants rooted in hydrogel soil saw a 138% increase in stem length while using approximately 40% less water. “With this kind of smart soil, you don’t need to actually irrigate as often due to how abundant moisture is, and it allows for the slow release of the fertilized in a controlled manner.”
I’m in my zero-proof summer era and I have zero shame about it Supply is growing to meet this demand in the form of de-alcoholized spirits, wines and beer, which, up against the products of yesteryear, actually taste great. Sure, I felt something was missing when I sipped that first zero-alcohol beer but I got used to it, much like I got accustomed to almond milk when I transitioned away from dairy milk.
Inside one of Toronto’s oldest bars — a grimy tavern with cockfights turned King West mainstay The Wheat Sheaf Tavern has evolved over the decades but there’s one tendril of its past that continues to fascinate: the rumour of a secret tunnel running from under the bar.
How To Intercept Weapons, at Dragonfly Speed If you’ve ever watched a dragonfly zig and zag over a pond in search of dinner, you know how fast these gauzy-winged insects can move. In less than half the time it takes a human eye to blink, a dragonfly calculates the coordinates of where its prey is headed and gets there in time to snatch it up. Neuroscientist Frances Chance, GSAS MS’97, PhD’00, a principal member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is studying the dragonfly’s amazing interception skills at the neural circuit level.
New York joins cities questioning ShotSpotter costs, benefits The gunshot detection system may waste NYPD resources, a June audit states. Chicago and Houston are among the cities that plan to drop the technology. When the system was performing at its best, 20% of ShotSpotter’s alerts related to “confirmed shootings,” the audit found. But its performance was often below that level: Of the 940 alerts officers responded to in June 2023, for instance, only 13% corresponded to confirmed shootings.
‘Going to the World’s Biggest Bookstore was an event.’ 10 years after closing, it still has a grip on former readers I remember that first time I walked into the World’s Biggest Bookstore. It was 1999 and I was a book-loving journalism student at Ryerson (now Toronto Metropolitan University). “Wow!” I thought as I tried to take it all in. “Is this for real?” What was very real about the sprawling 64,000-square-foot space at 20 Edward St., brimming with 17 miles of shelves, was the sheer selection available to me. It reminded me of Honest Ed’s, urging you to get lost in its maze of products.
Could a housing revolution transform Canadian cities? A new type of home called a fourplex is being hailed as the answer to Canada's acute housing shortage. But why is there so much opposition? Proponents of fourplexes, which include the Canadian government, hope they will spread out across the country. They want them to provide the “missing-middle” between large apartment buildings and single residency houses.
How Princeton grad Michael Elowitz researches changing cells and their health-care impact When someone builds a computer from scratch, or codes a software program, they can better understand the system at their fingertips. The same theory applies to understanding the cells in our bodies, and for his entire career, Michael B. Elowitz has been blazing a trail in synthetic biology to better analyze how cells change over time.
Why Weezer’s ‘The Blue Album’ Is One Of The Most Influential ’90s Indie Pop Debuts In my debut report for the Grammys website, I look back at at how Weezer's The Blue Album' stands tall for the ways it redefined indie pop and rock 30 years after its release.
The United States is facing its own alternative energy NIMBY battle Wind and solar energy projects are popular in the US but face and increasing level of local bans, putting the country’s decarbonisation targets at risk. A USA Today analysis found that more than 380 US counties have blocked wind energy development. While solar power has found broader acceptance, 2023 was the first year to see almost as many individual counties block new solar projects as the ones adding their first projects.
How this 110-year-old Toronto bakery sets out to build the perfect bagel Gryfe’s Bagels and Baked Goods has been in business, under one name or another, for nearly 110 years. And yet it might surprise even the shop’s most zealous fans that its signature product came to be as a result of a simple question lobbed at the shop’s owners in the 1960s. Find out more about this iconic Toronto bagel shop that bakes up to 18,000 bagels daily.
Why brands should go all-in on composable commerce The monolithic e-commerce platform is outdated. The rise of composable commerce is giving brands more flexibility and scalability, and shifting to this approach isn't as complex as you might think. According to MACH Alliance, 79% of surveyed tech leaders are looking to increase composable elements in their architecture in the next 12 months.
Restoring the “Black Angels” to medical history Maria Smilios's book chronicles role of Black nurses in the fight against tuberculosis. For more than 20 years, the nurses—“Black women in white whose decades of service changed the course of medical history,” Smilios writes—toiled on the wards, where “they bathed and fed and then shrouded the dead.”
What you need to know about this year’s global farmer protests The animated outcries, sparked by Ukrainian grain import measures last year and fueled by a complex set of farmer frustrations, are picking up steam in major agricultural regions.
The inside story of how journalists are covering AI today "I do think journalists have a tendency to focus on the negatives, and I'd like to see more headlines about the positive uses of AI - formatting new medicines, for example, and providing breakthroughs in the search for nuclear fusion - alongside the risks it poses."
The best Shopify apps of 2024 It can be dizzying for Shopify merchants to scroll through the thousands of available apps, and sometimes, you just want a recommendation. That's why I turned to Shopify merchants to find out which apps they use.
Food waste for energy scales up in North America Using food waste to produce biogas is not a new idea. But the levels of wasted produce continue to rise in line with the need to find greener forms of gas.
The luxury is in the details for celebrity designer William Sofield A sought-after designer of the interiors and exteriors of residential buildings, retail outlets, hotels, private clubs, and fitness clubs, Studio Sofield, based in New York, has created spaces for brands such as Tom Ford, Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Harry Winston, and Ralph Lauren. He’s also designed residences and commercial projects for Tom Ford himself, and celebrity couple Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos.
As RCMP chief psychologist, Norman Shields helps treat the trauma of Canada’s crime fighters The three-time Concordia grad brings expertise in alcohol and gambling addictions, veterans’ PTSD to crucial role. First working as divisional psychologist for RCMP Quebec before promoting to a national position, the Montreal-based Concordia grad frequently meets with RCMP officers and employees who endure harrowing interactions and confrontations, including in domestic abuse or child-exploitation cases.
Toolkit for senior corporate responsibility leaders This toolkit for the Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose was created with the understanding that internal corporate communications are consistently noted as the most trusted form of communications, among all others. ESG is good for business and this toolkit breaks down each benefit.
Will AI swamp social media with fake accounts? Academics, cybersecurity researchers and AI experts warn that ChatGPT could be used by bad actors to sow dissent and spread propaganda on social media.
When an old friend returned from battling addiction. My best friend could’ve been another CP24 news report, another body slumped on his couch after an overdose. Whenever a mutual friend called me, I feared the worse.
The NFT market hasn’t recovered. But they’re still bullish on the tech. While it may be difficult to identify what triggered the crash, the fall in demand—spurred by a slump in the cryptocurrency market—has wiped billions from the combined value of all NFTs in circulation.
Digital repression across borders is on the rise Activists who flee repression increasingly face zero-click software hacks and other digital threats
Devastating wildfires spur new detection systems Based in Germany with a Vancouver office, OroraTech has two satellites in low-earth orbit with special infrared sensors that monitor temperatures in grids of four-by-four meters, and plans to have eight in orbit next year.
Toronto’s Google Sidewalk Labs battle comes to the stage Playwright Michael Healey says there’s comedy in the story about Sidewalk Labs’ failed housing development on the Toronto waterfront. Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk both wanted do something vitally important in the world and the future, and this play, and the book, looks at what drives people to do great big things, and how interests can be comically at odds with each other, such as the Canadian versus U.S. vantage points, or the financial motive versus the city-building motive.”
How I’ve been managing my tinnitus I’ve been embarrassed to admit I have tinnitus - anxious I’ll feel “othered” in a community or dismissed as a whining victim when others struggle to hear at all. Shame is such a debilitating emotion, but I’ve gradually learned how the stigma of this chronic condition can be alleviated by simply saying its name aloud.
