Category: Essays

The tragic Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is well known. The Japanese tell us a similar story.

Malaria is a life-threatening disease, commonly found in tropical areas. The genetic sickle cell trait can provide resistance but also comes with consequences.

Medieval maps often feature areas with impassable deserts. Due to climate change, future maps may display these too.

We rely on memory to tell stories, learn skills and build relationships. Memory is integral for giving accounts, such as in eye witness testimony. Yet, memory is often not perfect, and false memories occur when a remembered event did not happen or is different from how it truly occurred.

The Romans borrowed much of the earlier and contemporary Greek mythology into their religion, especially the figure of Zeus.

Green Fluorescent Protein, or GFP as it is otherwise known, is an important tool used by many biologists today. Its development comes from early studies into a certain species of jellyfish and culminated in the awarding of a Nobel Prize.

Canada has a national stockpile of medical equipment, pharmaceuticals and antidotes. This dates to the beginning of the Cold War and is designed for such emergencies as natural disasters, bio-terrorist attacks and pandemics.

Many cultures imagined the world not as a sphere or flat disc, but as a series of discs stacked atop each other. I provide some examples and explore what this could mean.

Metamorphosis is a process some animals undergo to turn into adults. Some of the most dramatic examples come from marine invertebrates.

The Instructions of Shuruppak is the world’s oldest known piece of literature. Yet, it refers to even more ancient times in the distant past.