On Wednesday December 4, University of Toronto Professor Emeritus Dr. John Percy will give a public lecture at the North York Central Library. His topic: Toronto's Astronomical Heritage. This is the last talk in TPL's fall 2013 Thought Exchange series Science in History, presented in partnership with University of Toronto Science Engagement. Dr. Percy is […]
By NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo1331a/) [Public domain] Composite image of Comet ISON taken from the Hubble Space Telescope in April 2013 The astronomy world has been following the progress of Comet ISON for the past few months. First spotted over a year ago at the outer reaches of the solar […]
With apologies to T.S. Eliot, my vote for the cruellest month would have to go to November. The days are getting shorter and the weather is getting colder. The trees have lost their leaves, but we haven't yet had a good fall of snow to brighten the landscape. There isn't a holiday to look forward to in November. […]
…a poem lovely as a tree". It may not be good poetry (Columbia University's Philolexian Society has named its annual bad poetry contest after him), but I must say I agree with Joyce Kilmer's sentiment. Trees are wonderful and amazing. They can feed us and shelter us, and they provide us with materials – from […]
I've been reading a mystery series (the Shardlake series by C.J. Samson) set in Tudor England. One of the key characters is an apothecary and physican from Moorish Spain whose knowledge of anatomy, disease and remedies is far beyond that of his British contemporaries. Great advances in science and medicine were made in the Islamic […]
One of the most difficult family discussions has to be the one around older adults and driving. Concerned children worry about their aging paren’ts being injured, or causing injury to others, in a collision. Older drivers fear the loss of independence that results from giving up their driver's licences. The good news is that there […]
These busy days before the new school year begins can be stressful for children and paren’ts. Did you know the library has resources that can help make the transition from summer vacation back to school routines a little easier? One of the challenges I remember from when my children were young was getting them into […]
In 1493 Leonardo da Vinci sketched his idea for a human-powered flying machine: Over 500 years later, a team from the University of Toronto has won a 33 year old competition by designing, building and flying a human-powered helicopter: courtesy of AeroVelo To win the AHS Human Powered Helicopter Competition $250,000 […]
The recent floods in Alberta have brought home to Canadians the costs of natural disasters. In addition to the loss of life, the disruption to the lives of thousands of evacuees and the impact on the environment and wildlife, early estimates place the economic costs at between $3 and $5 billion. Some believe that climate […]
Although I've been a student of yoga for many years, I'm certainly no expert. So when I came across a recently published book by Wiiliam J. Broad, Pulitzer Prize-winning senior science writer at the New York Times, I welcomed the opportunity to learn more about the science behind my weekly workout. The book is The […]