McGill Podcasts » Science & Technology

This year’s Trottier Symposium narrows in on the topics of the origin of life on Earth as well as the possibilities of extraterrestrial life. The third speaker is Dr. Sara Seager (MIT) who was named in Time Magazine’s 25 Most Influential in Space in 2012.

This year’s Trottier Symposium narrows in on the topics of the origin of life on Earth as well as the possibilities of extraterrestrial life. The first speaker is Dr. Jim Bell (Arizona State University, Cornell University).

This year’s Trottier Symposium narrows in on the topics of the origin of life on Earth as well as the possibilities of extraterrestrial life. The second speaker is Dr. Jill Tarter (SETI Institute), who was named onf ot eh Time 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2004 and Time 25 in Space in [...]

Guest: Anže Slosar (Brookhaven Nat.Lab.) By observing the light scattered from very distant quasars, Anže uses hydrogen in the line of sight of these quasars to understand the 3-dimensional structure on matter in the Universe. Hosts: Robert Archibald andSebastien Guillot Duration: 23 minutes

Guest: Douglas Scott (UBC) He is a member of the PLANCK Satellite team, and we talked about the last results from this great cosmological mission. Host: Ryan Lynch Duration: 17 minutes  

Guest: Wesley Fraser (NRC-HIA) We talked about the Kuiper Belt, a zone of the outer Solar System, where the demoted planet Pluto sits, and the information we can get from Kuiper Belt objects. Host: Sebastien Guillot and Dave Tsang Duration: 20 minutes

Guest/Invité: Antoine Strugarek (Université de Montréal) We discussed his work on the numerical simulations of the Sun’s interior and the link with the observations of the Sun / Nous avons parlé de sa recherche sur les simulations numériques de l’interieur du Soleil, et le lien avec les observations du Soleil. Host: François Dufour and Sebastien Guillot Duration: 18 minutes

We live in a Universe of remarkable structure. From super-clusters of galaxies, tens of millions of light years across, to grand-design spiral galaxies and  small rocky planets like Earth,  structure exists on all scales.   It wasn’t always this way: through the extraordinary advancements of observational cosmology of the last several decades,   we now [...]

Speaker: Christie Rowe (Assistant Professor, Dept. Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University) Earthquakes happen every day all over the world.  Most are concentrated along the boundaries of tectonic plates, but occasionally, earthquakes happen where we don’t expect them.  How do these events start? What controls the location of earthquakes?  And what happens to all the [...]

Leading McGill scientists cover many major aspects of pain science, from molecular and neural pathways to the psychological modulation of pain. The series bridges our understanding of how factors such as environment, genetics, gender, age and lifestyle are related to pain. This lecture presents the latest advances in pain genetics, evidence that the sexes may [...]

More than a billion people, mostly in developing nations, still serve as hosts to roundworms. They are a source of diseases that often kill – yet medicines for these diseases have generally been adopted from veterinary use and have not been optimized for humans. This lecture provides an introduction to parasitic diseases of poverty and [...]

Professor Costopoulos argues that while humans are probably selected to have a limited ability to make good decisions. Under the ‘diversity-tolerance’ model of cultural evolution, humans are smart enough to come up with a range of potential solutions to the problems we face but not very good at determining which solution is the best.

As a specialist in three-dimensional modeling of the living brain, Alan Evans works to understand neurological pathologies inside-out: the natural history of a disease,” He asks: “What parts of the brain exhibit abnormal changes in cortical thickness, for example, over the duration of Alzheimer’s disease? How does that brain map relate to behaviours, such as [...]

This special Black History Month lecture by Frederic Bertley (Vice-President, Franklin Institute, Philadelphia) focuses on contemporary black and brown scientists who are contributing significantly to science. The talk challenges the idea that scientists in general, regardless of race, are not well recognized and celebrated. This talk is sponsored by the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, and [...]

By Elena Bennett (Natural Resource Sciences and McGill School of Environment, McGill) Agricultural landscapes can provide many different ecosystem services, including food, high quality freshwater, opportunities for recreation, and flood control. Yet we often focus narrowly on the production of food, which can unintentionally undermine provision of other key services.  The idea of managing for [...]

Special presentation by Steve Rayner (James Martin Professor of Science and Civilization at the Saïd Business School and Director of the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society, Oxford University). He describes himself as an “undisciplined” scholar lending a social science perspective to major matters of science and technology. He was also listed by Wired Magazine on [...]

Of the nearly 600 species and subspecies of primates living today, approximately half are in danger of going extinct.  In fact, one subspecies in West Africa, Miss Waldron’s red colobus, is likely extinct.  Furthermore, the number of recognized threats to primate survival has increased dramatically over the last decade.  A decade ago, disease was not [...]

Every tissue in the body requires blood flow to bring nutrients to the tissue. For this reason, there is significant therapeutic advantage to controlling when and where new blood vessels develop. If we could induce new blood vessels, we could improve wound healing. In situation likes cancer, inhibiting blood vessels from growing into a tumour [...]

2012 will be the 100th anniversary of Max von Laue’s paper first demonstrating the diffraction or interference of x-rays. X-ray diffraction was the first way scientists had of directly seeing the atoms of the world around us.

This talk takes an overview of the history and the challenges of prediction, from the oracle at Delphi, right up to the latest methods being developed in areas such as systems biology and economics — and argues that our search for the “perfect model” often reveals as much about our sense of aesthetics as it [...]

Advances in electronics, optics and nanotechnology have led to a tremendous progress in optical imaging over the past years. Gonzalo Cosa presents the specific case of fluorescence imaging, where the possibility of visualizing single fluorescent molecules with exquisite resolution gave rise to the field of Single Molecule Spectroscopy.

Find out how ants have modified their genes in order to reinforce their social behaviors. Learn the latest in research on romantic relationships: how childhood attachment affects one’s success at speed dating and beyond. And go inside the popular Peacebuilding Simulation as political science students struggle to resolve a civil war in a fictional land.

In February 2011, McGill students participated in a field study course in Antarctica, co-ordinated by the non-profit Students on Ice. They crossed the Southern Ocean from Ushuaia to the Antarctic Peninsula and visited many landing sites, conducting oceanographic sampling and exploring the Antarctic environment. Led by Earth and Planetary Sciences prof Eric Galbraith, the 10 [...]

David Gorski, MD PhD FACS (Surgical oncologist; Managing Editor, "Science-based Medicine" Blog) and Michael Shermer, PhD (Scientific American columnist; Editor in chief, Skeptic magazine) share their wealth of experience and views on confronting pseudoscience.

James Randi first rose to fame as The Amazing Randi, performing magic and escapes in the tradition of Houdini. His background as a conjurer led to a second career as the world’s premier investigator of paranormal and pseudoscientific phenomena. Randi’s investigations of medical frauds and purported psychics are legendary.

The 6th annual Trottier Symposium focuses on the difference between science and “pseudo” science. While real science accumulates facts and formulates testable theories to gain a unified understanding of the physical world, pseudoscience relies on anecdotes, ideology and cherry-picked data to support preconceived notions. Pseudoscience masquerading as real science can lead to troublesome consequences, particularly when it comes to matters of health. Unfortunately, aided and abetted by the Internet, pseudoscience has been growing by leaps and bounds. Outstanding, world-famous science communicators discuss various aspects of pseudoscience and provide guidance for separating sense from nonsense.

Dinosaurs have undergone a remarkable renaissance in recent decades. Far from being sluggish reptilian monsters doomed to extinction, new discoveries and new methods of scientific investigation have revealed dinosaurs as complex, highly active animals capable of sophisticated behaviors and as one of the most diverse and successful groups of land creatures in the history of [...]

We often think of humans as the most intelligent organisms on the planet. Evolution, we think, has equipped us to make good decisions even in difficult or challenging conditions. At the same time, we lament our species’ tendency to over-exploit our environment to the point of self-destruction. Join Andre Costopoulos as he discusses his team’s [...]

Dave Williams graduated from McGill’s Faculty of Medicine and embarked on a fulfilling career as a physician… then he applied to be an astronaut. Hear about his first trip into space and life lessons learned along the way.

More than 1 billion people suffer from Neglected Tropical Diseases, which cause disfigurement, disability and even death in the developing world. McGill’s Timothy Geary has received a $1-million grant for landmark research to tackle these diseases — with medicines derived from African biodiversity.

Is there life on Mars? Microbiology Prof. Lyle Whyte and his team of students head up to the McGill Arctic Research Station in search of microbes surviving in the permafrost.

What do butterfly wings, Venus flower baskets and healthy doses of elements from the Periodic Table have to do with conveying digital data, music, voice and video by light? They can all be designed to make “light work”.

In the history of the universe, there is a period which is extremely difficult for us to see because there were no sources of light. These cosmic “dark ages” ended when the first stars turned on, providing the first view of the somewhat evolved universe.

Some scientists argue mitigation alone can no longer prevent dangerous levels of atmospheric CO2 and propose directly intervening in the climate system to counter the effects of greenhouse gas induced warming. Can we successfully manipulate the climate system to avoid dangerous climate change? Do we understand the global climate system well enough to determine the [...]

Some scientists argue mitigation alone can no longer prevent dangerous levels of atmospheric CO2 and propose directly intervening in the climate system to counter the effects of greenhouse gas induced warming. Can we successfully manipulate the climate system to avoid dangerous climate change? Do we understand the global climate system well enough to determine the [...]

McGill celebrates Darwin Day and Valentine’s Day with this special presentation by Dr. David Green, the director of Redpath Museum, on courtship and sexual selection in a range of species.

If we could functionally erase a memory to make someone’s life better would that be acceptable? What if the memory was of a trauma that has incapacitated someone for decades? Why do we need memories if they keep us down? In a very playful manner, Dr. Karim Nader addresses some of the science that is [...]

The connection between textiles and mathematics is intimate but not often explored, possibly because textiles and fiber arts have traditionally been the domain of women while mathematics was viewed as a male endeavour. How times have changed! Today, textiles and mathematics, like art and science, are recognized for their interwoven, complimentary attributes. In this presentation, [...]

Green Chemistry is a relatively new field of research, with McGill playing a leading role worldwide. Find out how our researchers are developing processes and products to reduce or eliminate hazardous substances and manufacturing waste.

Broadband research is a McGill area of expertise. Meet researchers such as David Plant, Tho Le-Ngoc, and Mark Coates who are on the cutting edge of machine to machine communication, high-speed internet technologies, and wireless communications.

In 1609, one man using a simple device proved the universe to be a place very different from what most people were prepared to believe. In this lecture, Bruno Paul Stenson speaks about the evolution of our view of the universe that came as a result of Galileo Galilei’s astronomical findings.

McGill Chemistry Professor David Burns uses spectroscopy to identify the healthiest embryos for in vitro fertilization. This breakthrough could lead to an end to multiple births from in vitro fertilization, and early detection tests for diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Dr. Andrew Kirk of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering describes some of the current research being done as to the applications of nanophotonics in the future of telecommunications and also in the field of biosensing. This lecture was recorded as part of the Royal Society of Canada’s “The Cutting Edge” seminar series.

Hans Larsson guides you through his office oddities through an interactive audio slideshow.

Dr. Stephen Suomi, Chair of the Laboratory of Comparative Ethology at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, speaks on risk, resilience, and gene X environment interactions in rhesus monkeys and other primates.

Through her award-winning research, Vicky Kaspi, a world-renowned McGill astrophysicist and pulsar expert, makes stars out of her students and headlines around the world.

How can 20th-century fibre optics handle the connectivity needs of the 21st-century?  David Plant’s lab in McGill’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is in a global race to meet the demands of high-definition video.

Meet legendary neuropsychologist Dr. Brenda Milner, credited with many landmark discoveries in the study of human memory and the temporal lobes.

The Lorne Trottier Public Science Symposium brings together leading scientific experts with differing views on the origin of life to debate a question that has been asked for millennia.

The Lorne Trottier Public Science Symposium brings together leading scientific experts with differing views on the origin of life to debate a question that has been asked for millennia.