Canada is dealing with climate change in different ways, depending on where we live in the country. Climate change adds new risks that may affect ecosystem and food productivity, especially extreme events (including floods, droughts, heatwave), increased temperatures, and changes in rainfall patterns (frequency, seasonality, and amount).  It is predicted that Southern Ontario will experience increased frequencies of droughts and heavy rainfalls. They are extreme climate events that can greatly affect ecosystems and especially plants.  In Atlantic Canada, sea level rise, continuous coastal erosion and increasing frequency in storm surges threaten the fragility of the coastal ecosystem. The impacts are

Throughout human history, religious belief systems have been central to the development of different cultural and ethnic identities.  This talk will examine the relationship between religion and culture exploring similarities and differences in the ways in which these interacting aspects of human experience have shaped the construction of knowledge and, ultimately, meaning.

Science is widely acknowledged to be crucial for addressing the many technical, environmental and social challenges our society will face in the the coming decades. Canada invests billions of dollars in scientific research annually, yet most of it takes place out of the public eye. Journalist Ivan Semeniuk will recount some of the most fascinating stories and trends he has encountered while covering science over the past 25 years and reflect on how those stories may impact our understanding of the world and shape our future.

As Hamilton Health Sciences embarks on the implementation of a number of transformational strategies for how healthcare is delivered in our region, President and CEO Rob MacIsaac will highlight the role of leadership in this dynamic environment.  Drawing on his experience in municipal government, transportation, post-secondary education and healthcare, Mr. MacIsaac will reflect on the essential elements of effective leadership.

In 1969, more than 500 million people tuned in worldwide to watch Apollo 11 land on the Moon. Forty-three years later, though the population of the world had doubled and TV could be live-streamed to your pocket, only about 5 million people watched the Curiosity rover land on Mars. Do these kinds of statistics evince a worrying decline in curiosity? Are we now more interested in Pokemon GO or the Super Bowl halftime show than in interplanetary exploration? In this talk, I will discuss my experience of teaching the largest non-specialist undergraduate astronomy course in Canada. I’ll relate what I’ve

Our Universe began almost 14 billion years ago as a hot soup of energy and elementary particles. With modern telescopes we can peer back into the distant past and see the Universe as it was at early times, before the first stars and galaxies lit up the sky. We’ve learned that on the largest scales the Universe can be described by a few simple numbers, but on smaller scales incredible complexity arises.

I will discuss the major observations that have led to this picture, with a focus on the evidence that our Universe is dominated not by the

In the recent federal election, two parties promised a balanced budget while the winning party promised a temporary small deficit. Since then, in the new government’s first Budget, a large deficit has emerged, and the commitment to eliminate the deficit within four years has been dropped. In a poll following the Budget, we find that just over half of Canadians approve of the government’s revised position, so there remains widespread uncertainty concerning this issue. In this lecture, Professor Scarth aims to clarify three things: how much this controversy hinges on factual matters that can be sorted out by appeal to

There is so much to look at and admire in Alhambra Palace (Granada, Spain) – exquisite rooms decorated with stone and wood carvings, finest ornaments and calligraphy; night sky represented in ceilings built of thousands of pieces of wood; gardens, courtyards and fountains; monuments, towers, archways – the list is endless. Quite possibly, an immense wealth of ornamental patterns, friezes, mosaics, star designs, and brickwork motifs tops the list. Among those, mosaics are – mathematically – the most interesting and the most intriguing.

Scientists and artists working in the Islamic world pushed geometry to its limits, creating patterns