The Path To Bettering Your Soil
Gardening in the Yukon can sometimes feel like a perennial struggle when in other parts of the country it might appear almost effortless.
Science
More Than Just Waste
Let’s be honest, for most of us, poop is normally seen as something to be quickly flushed down the toilet. We call it “waste…”
Lichens
Endless forests stand as the majestic backdrop to much of the Yukon, but by looking down, you can see a much more…
Managing avalanche terrain
Eirik Sharp, owner and operator of The Sharp End: Mountain Adventures, with his extensive avalanche background, is bringing change to how the Yukon manages avalanche terrain.
Snow!
Thanks to snow-nerd scientists. Their lives revolve around snow and they couldn’t wait to “nerd-out” on the subject:
Feeding our feathered friends … do it for joy, and do it for science
It’s winter—time to check out the bird feeders and stock up on “fast food” for our feathered friends. A huge variety of bird feeders are available in local stores or can be made easily from milk jugs or cartons. The cheerful black-capped chickadee is the most frequently reported “feeder bird” in the Yukon and in …
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Ross River coal: Transforming plants to carbon
The widespread use of coal was one of the major factors in fueling the Industrial Revolution of the late 1700s and early 1800s. In recent decades, however, coal has received a bad reputation as a major source of acid rain and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Then there has always been the proverbial threat of …
Earth to Yukon College
The Yukon will be launching a satellite into orbit for the first time, as part of a Canadian Space Agency-led project.Yukon College students are in the conceptual stage of their first-ever space mission. “A Yukon satellite will expand the depth of knowledge we have in the territory and will hopefully lead to other space-related projects …
Google the Top of the World
Located on the northeastern corner of Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, Quttinirpaaq National Park is Canada’s northernmost national park. Until recently it was virtually inaccessible to your average earthling. Quttinirpaaq just became a bit more reachable with the completion of a partnership project between Parks Canada and Google Street View, which aims to increase access to …
Canada Wide Science Fair Winners
All three Yukon participants in the 2018 Canada Wide Science Fair have brought home medals
Finding the keys to safer camping
On the Canada Day long weekend in 2012, the Congdon Creek Campground, located on the shore of Kluane Lake near Burwash Landing, played host to a furry teenaged visitor. A medium-sized grizzly found its way into the campground and proceeded to lounge around in the central meadow, feeding on the tasty flowers.
The ecological web: A story of salmon caught in the middle
“Nature is not something else, isolated, out there; it is as much a part of us as we are of it, and neither can be altered without impacting on the whole.” – Adam Weymouth The Yukon River holds many roles—the namesake of a territory, the history of peoples for thousands of years and home to …
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Molasses, methanol, and mine-water remediation
Yukon College mine-life-cycle researcher Dr. Guillaume Nielsen likes to find innovative solutions to problems.
The Northern Review looks at literature
The Northern Review, which is published by the School of Liberal Arts at the Yukon College, describes itself as “a multidisciplinary journal exploring human experience in the Circumpolar North.
Moving Mountains
Student Sharon Bubsy examines one of the seismometer stations in remote areas of the Yukon and Northwest Territories. PHOTO: courtesy of the Yukon College Researchers investigate how Earth movement on the coast can affect inland mountains The white-capped Mackenzie Mountains, which spill over the border between Yukon and the Northwest Territories, are surprisingly active… …
That’s a real pain in the back!
Acupuncturist Stephen Potter offers advice on dealing with back pain
Powering up the North
Diesel power generators are like cars: the more efficient they are, the less fuel they need. And that increased efficiency translates into less cost, both for drivers at the pump and for the communities that rely on diesel fuel for heat and electricity.
I Hate Springing Forward
Spring. Daylight. Forward. Change. These words all individually invoke positivity and renewal.
The philosophy behind yoga
Yoga, or yoga shastra (science), is part of an ancient philosophical system from India that is thousands of years old. Yoga literally means “connection with the Ultimate.”
From the field to the lab
Yukon College archaeologist Norm Easton has been unearthing the secrets of the area around the Yukon-Alaska border for more than 25 years. This year, for the first time, he is leaving the field to focus on doing research in the laboratory.
Increasing the chance of survival
For the past two years, Yukon College student Cheyenne Bradley has been working at the McIntyre Creek Salmon Incubation Site while taking classes at the College.
Is stress the root of your health concerns?
As a Naturopathic Doctor in Whitehorse with a focus on women’s health, I see a lot of burnout caused by chronic stress. Often my patients don’t realize that their daily pressures are adversely affecting their physical health.
What do you think?
ResearChats, devised by Northern Studies Instructor Amanda Graham and Chemistry Instructor Ernie Prokopchuk, are weekly opportunities for researchers from all disciplines to share ideas and learn from one another. They happen on Fridays from noon to 1 p.m., and everybody is invited to attend.
Calling both the pot and the kettle black
No matter how you wish to phrase it – “act in haste, repent in leisure” or “what goes around comes around” – the piper will eventually show up to demand payment. My wallet is considerably lighter this week because of one such lesson.
Kids and parents can play in the big sandbox
The 45th annual Geoscience Forum is organized by the Yukon Chamber of Mines as an opportunity for everyone to learn more about mining, aviation, the environmental sciences and other aspects of the mineral exploration industry.
The power of art
Looking at recorded history, humans have been using dances and music as well as storytelling and visual arts as healing rituals. Art and health are a well known pair; a healthy mind in a healthy body.
Ride for Dad Rolls Into Town
Sixteen of the country’s top prostate researchers are meeting in Whitehorse this month and it’s partly because of Mike Thorpe. “Mike is very much responsible for this,” said Garry Janz, president of Ride for Dad – a non-profit organization that raises money and awareness about prostate cancer. Thorpe is co-chair of the Whitehorse branch. “Without …
It seems we can’t always tell what comes first
It’s the age-old debate about the chicken and the egg. Sometimes, we simply don’t know what is cause and what is effect. This is especially true when it comes to matters that touch on personal feeling. As a for-instance, do you love cream of broccoli soup because your Grandma used to make it? Or do …
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
The history of how we move is full of wild and wondrous stories about survival, romance, perseverance and everyday life. It’s also a great lens through which we can explore science and technology. Two new summer programs at the Yukon Transportation Museum will explore stories and science with kids and seniors to celebrate Canada 150 …
The Super Bowl of Ethics
It might be called a “bowl,” but in this competition, you won’t see any kickoffs, quarterbacks, punted balls or wide receivers. You will, however, see contestants huddled in tactical contemplation, quietly discussing obligations, responsibilities and best strategies on how to advance the play, and if the judges have anything to say about it, getting a …
So, Is Our Planet Round, or Flat?
Until a couple of years ago, there was a wonderfully entertaining fantasy writer by the name of Terry Pratchett. Perhaps there still is, somewhere on an alternate plane of reality, since Sir Terry Pratchett succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease in the Earth year of 2015 at the tender age of 66. Let me be clear: I …
Birding on the Fly
I’ve joined her in a Riverdale neighbourhood in search of a rare Mountain chickadee. The first species we see, however, is a noisy woodpecker, a “Hairy.” Whitehorse resident Tracy Allard brings out her smartphone and taps an app called eBird to start her checklist: the type, number and location of each bird she’ll see on this …
Gathering Memories of Clinton Creek Proves Difficult
The original purpose of the Clinton Creek Oral History Project was to gather information about how the area around the former asbestos mine and company town had been used by locals prior to the establishment of the mine in the mid-1960s. The mine was about a decade getting off the ground from the time that …
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A Change in the Climate
Yukon College is expanding their offerings in one the hottest (pardon the pun) arenas today: climate change. Often described as one of the greatest challenges of our time, human-induced climate change is already having major impacts on northern communities and ecosystems. Many factors will determine how the trends we are witnessing now will play out …
Predator and Prey 14,000 Years Ago
Zhoh, the Clan of the Wolf: Fiction of the first humans to inhabit The Yukon. I knew Bob Hayes novel would be physically accurate.
Exercise May Eliminate the Harmful Effects of Overeating
As the season of overindulgence is upon us, binging and overeating becomes an almost daily occurrence. From cookies and treats at the office to endless dinners and potlucks, for the next month we will all likely be filling our bellies beyond their normal capacity. People who for 11 months of the year may eat well …
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Get Used to More Glowing, Dancing Skies
The visible green line of the aurora is about 100 to 120 kilometres above Earth, Hampton says. The rockets will soar well beyond that — up to 300 to 400 kilometres or more, as high as the International Space Station. They will take photos and measure particle and electrical fields, among many other things. Hampton …
And now for something completely cifferent …
Straddling comedy, horror and drama genres, Anders Thomas Jensen’s 2015 film Men & Chicken is on the brink of insanity. It is certain to be any dark comedy director’s dark comedy; Jensen has crafted a unique blend of laconic humour, deadpan wit and outlandish setting. Upon learning from their father, posthumously, that they are not …
The Little Nag: What is Mindfulness? And Why Do It?
You’ve heard the word on talk shows or around the water cooler at work, seen it on the cover of Time magazine and books on every shelf, but what is mindfulness? What does it mean? And why is everyone talking about it? The world is a mess right now; the division and fear and hatred …
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A Fat Chance of Healing Concussions
When I was a teenager, I took karate twice a week. One year, my instructor got really into throws. Given that he never really taught proper falling technique, combined with the class having a lot of young people in it, it is not surprising that I ended up with a concussion. It was one of …
Yukon Astronomical Society wants to make Whitehorse the Science-Centre of the North
Stargazing has long been part of the human psyche. For thousands of years, we – and our ancestors before us – have turned our eyes upward and wondered. With myths and legends, we have explained the sky’s magic with demons, heroes, gods and goddesses. Ancient Greek astronomers observed the heavens and began to explain the …
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Your Fibre-less Diet is Making You Allergic to Everything. Here’s Why.
You know those moments when you realize something awful? Your whole body goes cold as the dread sets in. Your eyes go wide and the panic rises from the pit of your stomach. Maybe it’s when you remember a moment from last night. Maybe it’s when you discover you just hit reply all. Maybe – …
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Learning to Fry
A small assembly of structures along Mountainview Drive has been quietly housing 45,000 young salmon each year for the past 25 or so years. The McIntyre Creek Salmon Incubation Facility is located midway between Range Road and Porter Creek. Now an educational facility under Yukon College, it was previously operated by Department of Fisheries and …
Pioneer Agronomist
The Hidden Histories Society Yukon collects stories and research on people of Asian and Black heritage who have contributed to the Yukon. It’s been doing this for 15 years. Yoshikazu (Joe) Tsukamoto was an early pioneer in the development of northern agricultural research and practice in Yukon. Here is his story. The Early Years Yoshikazu …
Neuroscience and Everyday Living: Part 3
Gridlock. We hardly ever have it in Whitehorse and if we do we can likely, easily, take another route to get where we are going (okay, not over the Riverdale Bridge). It is much like the fiber optic cable that is carrying our email to Paris. One moment it might go by Rio de Janeiro …
Neuroscience and Everyday Living: Part 2
According to Israeli physicist Moshe Feldenkrais, “hurrying is bad for learning.” How many of us hurry through our day ensuring that the garbage has been put out, the car has gas, the kids arrive at school on time, that we are appropriately attired and prepared for work, that dinner arrives on the table and that …
Boost Your Workout the Tasty Way
With the season of marathons and relays upon us, your training plans may be kicking into high gear. And heading into competition – whether personal or with others – you may also be looking for an edge. Enter science. The science behind athletic performance has highlighted the benefit of nitric oxide to improve glucose uptake, …
Neuroscience and Everyday Living: Part 1
Can we change our brain just by thinking? Neuroscience would have us believe so. For example, a calm brain is more capable of learning, working and healing. It sounds simple. When the signal-to-noise ratio in the brain is low, learning and working and healing is easier. Signal to noise ratio means that the brain’s “noise” …
Laughter Yoga: Heal Yourself Laughing
It is well-known that laughter is the best medicine. However, do we laugh enough in a normal life to get any benefit? Scientists say to get benefits from laughing one has to laugh 10 minutes continuously. Usually, life rarely provides us with such an opportunity. Also, one may be depressed. What to do then? Medical …
On a Wing and a Prayer
Monarch butterflies may appear fragile, but as a whole the species is extraordinarily hardy. Every year, the Eastern North American monarch butterfly population migrates thousands of miles from southern Ontario to overwinter in Mexico. This impressive migration is multi-generational. After wintering in massive butterfly bunches, the monarchs wake and journey to areas in Texas and …
What You Might Not Know About Ducks
Back in the early 1960s, I spent a couple of years banding waterfowl in one of the newly-created marshes of the hydro project in Lake St. Lawrence, just west of Cornwall, Ontario. This is when I really got the opportunity to know the many features of waterfowl (duck, geese and swans). The flooding of the …
We Can Change
Whitehorse director and playwright Arlin McFarlane strives to captivate. She has developed a unique, one-actor play about our ability to change our lives around thanks to neuroplasticity. The play is about a young girl who is prone to self-destructive behaviour and seeks the help of a scientist. The scientist uses principles of neuroplasticity to help …
Building a Better Life Through Gratitude
Feeling dissatisfied with life? It turns out that the quickest way to make it better is to be grateful. Beyond being polite, researchers are finding that regularly saying thanks can improve optimism, life satisfaction, and overall well being. In one study, researchers Emmons and McCullough(University of California 2003) randomly assigned participants one of three tasks …
A scientistʼs letters to the future trace a journey to find optimism
What kind of world will be handed down to my daughter’s generation? That question led conservation ecologist Alejandro Frid to write A World for My Daughter: an Ecologist’s Search for Optimism, which is scheduled for publication by British Columbia’s Caitlin Press later this month. Alejandro Frid is an assistant professor in environmental studies at the …
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Let’s Get Experimental: Vanier Catholic Secondary School students compete in canada-wide Science Fair
This year’s Canada-Wide Science Fair took place in Windsor, Ontario from May 10 to 17, and representing the Yukon were three Grade 8 students with a zest for innovative science. Sophia Ross, KC Mooney, and Isabel Magsucang were selected as finalists to compete in the fair. Competition from the rest of Canada was stiff — …
What’s Up With Nature Around Whitehorse
As a new season approaches, have you ever asked yourself, “I wonder what’s up with the natural world, at this moment, where I live?” My name is Roy Jantzen and I am a professor of natural history, environmental interpretation, and stewardship. I live in Riverdale and find eternal excitement in the changes I witness each …
Bringing Girls into the Realm of Science
This month, 20 girls from around Whitehorse will be starting a new, scientific adventure — exploring health and the body in a fun and innovative way. The All-Girls Science Club at the Yukon College is offering students in Grades 5 to 7 an opportunity to experience an exciting new world. Every year brings new ideas …
The Atheist Doth Protest Too Much
I’ve come to realize that atheism sure ain’t that sexy. When you compare all the trappings and incentives that other belief systems have, we come up pretty short. You don’t hear of teens packing an arena to hear the latest atheist rock band. “Here’s our next song – How entropy will bring about heat death …
Support Your Local Scientist
I love science. From government-sponsored labs to guys in their basements trying to rig together a personal jet pack, I must send a shout out to the people who chose the scientific path in life. ‘Cause really, there’s no way I would be able to sit through years of higher learning to work at unlocking …
Lunar satellite collision
The month of May is over, and so is observing deep-sky objects such as nebulas and galaxies. The only stellar objects in the sky that are of interest to amateur astronomers are the moon, sun, Jupiter, Saturn and a handful of stars and clusters. Saturn is moving quickly toward the horizon and will soon disappear …
Intelligent Life ‘Out There’
Barring the whole atheism thing, I swear on a giant stack of Bibles that the next paragraph is completely true. Scanning the BBC News website recently, one article in particular leapt out and grabbed my attention. It seems that Father Gabriel Funes, the director of the Vatican Observatory, made a statement in the official Vatican …
Organic Beer: Beer Cache Gets Serious
Want to proudly face your beer bottle label forward at parties this summer? Purchasing an organic beer is one way to do just that. When it comes to the environmental impact of drinking beer, the three biggies are transportation of product and ingredients, water consumption and the production of ingredients. We will hit up the …
Not the New Kid on the Block
Nobody likes a beer snob. Even beer snobs don’t like beer snobs. So, when someone wrinkles their nose at a Bud Light and then reaches for a Chimay Rouge, it’s hard not to get your back up as they start talking about yeast strains and overtones of cinnamon and ripe apricot. To clarify immediately and …
E.T. Wants Two Hours of His Life Back
The world’s biggest brainiac’s latest bombshell has got me thinking. Professor Stephen Hawking certainly piqued the interest of all tin-foil hat wearers across the globe by suggesting that a visit from alien space farers would land us in a heap of space pirate trouble, rather than a peaceful hand-shaking photo-op in front of the UN. …
Eat Your (Northern) Broccoli!
This past September, I was privileged to attend the seventh annual Circumpolar Agricultural Conference in Alta, Norway. Alta lies just below the 70°N latitude, which makes it a bit farther north than Old Crow. The Circumpolar Agricultural Association (CAA) was founded in 1995 in response to the ideas created at the first Circumpolar Agricultural Conference, …
No Klatch Required
“I think we should take a break.” When slapped together, those can be the most dreaded words in the English language. And so, it was with an appropriately heavy heart that I had to say this phrase to my morning coffee. Some might say I looked a fool, with tears in my eyes, cradling the …
Showers Forecast for November
It’s going to be a busy season in those amazing Yukon night skies, with the possibility of three more meteor showers taking place in November. My attempt at observing the Orionid meteor shower in October was a wash due to the fact that is was snowing heavily, but there will be more chances to see …
The Pink Mountain Aurora Adventure
In the last few months you may have noticed an increase in Northern Lights action, with intense displays. I hope you had a chance to observe the stunning visuals. There is no equipment required, unless you bring your camera, or maybe a chair to enjoy the show. What is the Aurora? The aurora borealis (northern …
Witnessing Arctic Change
On my second day on board ship we saw a cow and calf blue whale,” says Emerald Kains. “The opportunity to share a moment with the largest animals on the planet was so surreal and moving.” Kains, a recent graduate of Vanier Secondary School, was part of the Students on Ice Arctic Youth Expedition that …
A Road Less Travelled
As you drive toward Kluane Lake an inconspicuous dirt road marked as “The Arctic Institute of North America” leads off to the right. If you choose to follow this path less taken you’ll find yourself confronted with a gravel airstrip and a hodgepodge of buildings populated by people sporting Carhartt pants, dirty jeans, and toques. …
Flavour Starts with Adam’s Ale
Why do the Irish drink stouts? Why did the pilsner style develop in the Czech region? The type of water flowing through a region was a big contributor to the type of beer that evolved in the area. Beer is generally somewhere between 90-95 percent water. In terms of sheer volume, water is going to …
