Next week I’ll be heading to Los Angeles to present at the American Physical Society (APS) March meeting, so before that, I need to finish telling you about my travels in Toronto! As I mentioned previously, I returned from Toronto at the end of the SciComm field trip, but the very next day headed back to visit a friend I had not seen since November. Here’s a look at all the shenanigans that went down during my visit. Probably the highlight of the visit, though, happened Sunday night. The Toronto Light Festival was happening in the Distillery Historic District! Armed with a fluffy coat and my camera, I headed over to see what all the hype was about. I was not disappointed. With Reading Week coming to a close (Reading Week is essentially spring break), I'll need to start getting serious about preparing for end-of-semester projects, but I promise I'll post again once the next cool thing occurs!
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Having already seen the hub of theoretical physics, experienced behind-the-scenes for the commemoration of Ripley’s 100th anniversary, and electrocuted ourselves in water, what more could we possibly accomplish on the last day of the SciComm field trip? Fear not, reader, there are plenty of things to describe from our last hurrah, including wildlife from around the world, the true life of Vikings, and a look at the filming of a daily television show! Royal Ontario Museum The day started with a walk downtown to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). There was a little oopsie with the schedule, since we were supposed to start at 9:30 a.m. but my professor thought it was 10 a.m., so…it still worked out, no worries!
The first student to take advantage of this partnership took classes with us last semester, though she didn’t have to take all the classes since the Environmental Visual Communication courses fulfilled some of the requirements. It’s so cool to hear how my program is networking with other programs around the province! After discussion, we were brought to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. This exhibition showcases the world’s 100 best nature photographs from the past year, selected from over 48,000 entries from 92 countries. The competition started in 1965, when the BBC Wildlife Magazine was still called Animals, and there were only three categories with about 500 entries. In 1984, the Natural History Museum of London took over the running of the competition, and the rest is history. After perusing through these photos, I left to go see another special at the museum: Vikings, The Exhibition. My best friend did her undergraduate history thesis on the Norse, specifically Ivarr the Boneless, so when I saw the ROM was hosting a traveling exhibition from Sweden on Vikings, I just had to go check it out for her sake.
Daily Planet The whole ROM visit took only two hours, and then we rushed off to our next stop: Discovery Channel and Daily Planet! Our connection to Daily Planet is Alan Nursall, one of the founders of Science North (this is the science center my program partners with for several classes). Nursall regularly appeared on Daily Planet to engage the public with science through his special, the Alan Nursall Experience. He connected our program director with the hosts of Daily Planet, and a visit to see a filming of the show became a staple of the annual SciComm field trip.
The part I remember most about the whole experience is when Ziya and Dan compared their daily makeup routine. Dan: 2 minutes. Ziya: 1 hour. Even though Daily Planet is overall a very warm environment in which to work, this reminder of the inherent sexism within the televised media field gave me pause for reflection on the inequities I’ll likely face when I enter the workforce at the end of my studies. Thus ended our annual SciComm field trip! But the fun for me in Toronto wasn't over quite yet, since I headed back the next day to catch up with a friend I hadn't seen since November. Details on my personal trip to the south next time!
While Perimeter Institute set a pretty high bar by which to compare the rest of the trip, day two of our touring did not fail to disappoint in any way. We arranged this second day around meeting two alumni of our SciComm program: one at Ryerson University, and one at Ripley’s Aquarium. Science Everywhere – Anthony Morgan Our first stop was Ryerson University, but not because an alumnus is a professor there. Nope—our alumnus simply uses a space in the university as a place from which to run his start up. This alumnus is Anthony Morgan.
Anthony said the idea behind Science Everywhere is to make science fun and engaging for people, to take the science from the textbook and set fire (sometimes literally) to it in the streets. He’s done events on television, cultural institutions, and just the general streets of Toronto, and during our visit with him at Ryerson, Anthony had us pilot test a new activity he’s developing.
Anthony also showed us one of his most popular activities—electrocuting people in a tub of water—which sounds way more terrifying than it actually is. Ripley’s Aquarium – Kevin McAvoy Our next stop for the day was Ripley’s Aquarium. We got to explore the place for a couple hours, and then we met up with our other alumnus, Kevin McAvoy, for a behind-the-scenes tour. Kevin got the science communication graduate diploma in 2010 and began working at Ripley’s in 2013.
Kevin gave us a special look at Curious Creatures—which was super cool!—but we didn’t take any pictures for privacy reasons. However, we did take a ton of photos of the regular aquarium part! While going through the aquarium, the students in the Exhibits course with me kept pointing out bad labeling on the exhibits. I also found myself looking at the different exhibits to see how they measured up to the class criteria, and thought this exhibit was a good example of a well-done exhibit. Sorry it took a few days for me to put up this second post! After returning from the field trip I immediately returned to Toronto to see a friend, so there's been a lot of driving for me the last few days. However, now that I'm back home, I will post about the rest of my trip soon. :)
It has begun. I present… The annual SciComm field trip to the south!! Of course, when I say south, that simply means south of Sudbury. While Waterloo and Toronto might not seem that different to those in Florida, 6°C weather (43°F) seems like a blessing after suffering through -20°C (-4°F). The first day of the field trip is also the one I was looking forward to most, since we visited Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. What is Perimeter Institute besides a place for theoretical physics? Well, let me tell you. Perimeter Institute is THE place for theoretical physics! History of Perimeter Institute Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI) was technically established in 1999, but in October 2000, Mike Lazaridis donated $100 million to the institute, drastically shaping its future operations. Does Lazaridis’ name sound slightly familiar? If it does, that’s probably because Lazaridis is the founder of BlackBerry. This donation is believed to be the biggest private donation in Canada’s history up to that point, and it is also the reason there was some legal dispute at the beginning of Perimeter’s existence over how research information should be distributed.
Perimeter's Foundational Pillars Ever since the very first day, Perimeter dedicated itself to three key goals: research, training, and…outreach. I emphasize this last point because ever since its founding days, Perimeter recognized the importance of engaging the public with the science they did. While it took a little to figure out what that outreach could mean (considering the issue of private funding discussed in the previous section) Perimeter now runs many activities in pursuit of this goal. Public lecture series Perimeter hosts a monthly public lecture series that is free to attend. However, it is so popular, people must reserve tickets in advance. But fear not! All lectures at Perimeter are recorded, and posted online for people to view. International Summer School for Young Physicists Each summer, Perimeter hosts the International Summer School for Young Physicists (ISSYP), which brings together 40 Canadian and international students aged 16-18 to spend two weeks at Perimeter listening to physics lectures, receiving mentoring, and participating in social activities meant to heighten their appreciation for physics. Below: We played with one of the activities given to the high-school students during the two-week camp, and tried to guess what the ropes looked like inside the mystery tube. Inspiring Future Women in Science During this annual half-day conference, Perimeter brings together high-school women with a strong interest in science to listen to speakers, talk with a panel, and receive speed mentoring from a diverse group of female scientists. An example of the panel discussion from 2017 can be seen here. During our tour, the guide mentioned that though this event focuses on encouraging women to pursue science, men are invited as well, since acceptance and inclusion of women in science cannot happen if only half the population (i.e., women) are talked to. For Teachers Perimeter’s website also hosts resources for teachers, including in-class resources to help teachers explain a range of physics topics, multimedia resources (like videos and PowerPoints), and workshops for teachers at the institute. Touring the Institute The day we visited Perimeter, we got the chance to talk with a ton of people from the publications and outreach team. There was an equal number of people on the team who came to science communication from the science side and those who came to science communication from the journalism side, and getting to hear their different perspectives on the benefits and challenges those different backgrounds gave each of them was enlightening. While I wish we could have met some of the famous physicists you hear about all the time in the news, I did get to stand in the spot that Justin Trudeau did when answering that infamous question on quantum computing in 2016. Stay tuned for my next post, where we get up to some "fishy" things!
Hello, everyone! While we're now a month into 2018, that's not the case for every country. Specifically, China hasn't had their new year...yet! On Friday, February 16, China will celebrate their new year, which kicks off the Year of the Dog (my birth year!) Is the Chinese New Year always February 16? How do we know which animal will represent the new year? And how did I get a jump-start on celebrating it here at Laurentian? All these questions will be answered in this post! :) History of Chinese New Year First of all, the Chinese New Year does NOT take place on February 16 every year. The new year is based on the lunar calendar instead of the solar one, meaning a calendar based on the cycles of the moon instead of the sun.* Because of this, the new year can take place anywhere from January 21 to February 20, depending on when there is a new moon. *The Chinese New Year is also called the Lunar New Year. The new year celebrations last for 15 days, and a prominent decoration color is red since red symbolizes good luck in China. One common decoration are fai chun, or red paper containing phrases of good luck and prosperity that are hung in doorways. How is the animal decided each year? As many of you likely know, there are 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac. Why 12? The 12-year cycle approximates the 11.86-year orbital period of Jupiter around the Sun (meaning it takes almost 12 years for Jupiter to revolve around the Sun one time). Of course, that is the scientific reasoning. The reasoning is slightly less other-wordly in Chinese folklore. While there are many variations of the tale, the main gist goes that the Jade emperor called for all the animals in the kingdom to come participate in a race, but only 12 showed up. The order of the zodiac is based on the order the 12 animals crossed the finish line. You can see the 12 animals below. Images courtesy Kitakutikula - Deviant Art New Year at Laurentian Last night, the Laurentian University Chinese Student and Scholar Association hosted a Chinese New Year Gala with the theme "New Year, New Chapter." The event was essentially a talent show, with students taking the stage to perform songs, dance routines, and even calligraphy! Between every few acts, there was a break for games involving the audience, and during the trivia game, I won this cute little ceramic dolphin pair!! (I confess, my friend in the picture gave me the answer, claiming, "They won't pick me, but they will pick you since you're international!") "Thinking Out Loud" (this guy gives Ed Sheeran a run for his money) "He is a pirate" music compilation (the violinist is my friend's roommate!) Rap Music (This is my first time hearing Chinese rap) Jiuzhangji of Song Dynasty (her voice is so pretty!) Hopefully you enjoyed a taste of Chinese New Year!
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