Science News

William Shatner as Captain James Kirk, in grayscale, holding a rock over his head with a strained expression.

Around town: Shatner and early grammar woes

by Amanda
May 27, 2016April 28, 2023

(Or why you should hire an editor.)

Local institution the University of British Columbia (UBC) is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this school year. This weekend, as part of its centenary celebrations, UBC is running a daylong event: UBC100: What’s Next? A day of exploring the future, a series of talks on upcoming issues in science, community and technology. To round off the day in style, actor, musician, author and horse breeder William Shatner will share his perspective in a talk called The Curious Life, and will take questions from the audience.

My Around Town series, as I’ve explained previously, is a collection of posts highlighting great local science events. I usually pull together interesting news from conferences happening in Vancouver or explore the topics of the conferences in a more general way. With Captain Kirk himself in town, there are so many potential topics for an Around Town blog post here: NASA…Star Trek…space…technology…horse breeding?

Ripples, no doubt

by Amanda
February 22, 2016April 28, 2023

While I have no difficulty understanding our previous blog post on ripples, I must confess to being a little adrift over the gravity surrounding the recent news. Although I’m totally caught up in the infectious scientific excitement of the whole announcement on detecting gravitational waves, it’s not something I could explain the importance of to the person next to me on the bus, for example.*

Tidying up the edges

by Amanda
January 7, 2016April 28, 2023

Amidst the excitement of the usual first-baby announcements and the seemingly impossible stories of twins born in different years that herald the start of another new year, you may have missed this snippet: the global science family also welcomed some new additions.

A new era for thalidomide?

by Amanda
December 11, 2015April 28, 2023

I’d like to stretch the coincidence theme once more on the blog, so bear with me as I wander through some random but connected happenings from my own world of science communications.

Thalidomide.

Around town: Where’s the Patient’s Voice …?

by Amanda
November 23, 2015April 28, 2023

Most of the conferences covered in the Around Town series are annual or occasionally biennial events, hosting professionals for continuing education to update their skills, knowledge base and networking in the subject of their passion. The Patient’s Voice conference, held November 12–14, 2015 in Vancouver, was different: this was an evaluation of progress made since the first meeting ten years ago.

Around town: Human Proteome Organization World Congress 2015

by Amanda
September 29, 2015April 28, 2023

For a former protein scientist, the arrival of the HUPO World Congress in Vancouver is a Big Deal. First, one of my ongoing Talk Science to Me projects is a subcontract writing primary research reviews for a proteomics blog. Second, I am a proteins #fangirl.

Whenever I think about proteins, Tigger’s song floats around my head, for proteins are indeed wonderful things (not to mention flouncy, bouncy, trouncy, pouncy, fun fun fun fun fun…but that could just be me)^[1] to study, as I remember from way back when I sat behind a bench.

by Amanda
July 13, 2015April 28, 2023

Next week, Vancouver welcomes the 8th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention to the Vancouver Convention Centre. According to the conference website, this biennial forum is expected to receive about 6,000 delegates from a wide range of HIV/AIDS disciplines around the world.

Organized by the International AIDS Society (IAS), the conference is also a partnership with the University of British Columbia (UBC) Division of AIDS, which works out of St. Paul’s, Providence Health Care’s downtown hospital.

In addition to learning through seminars and keynote presentations (find the full program here), delegates will have the opportunity to experience first-hand part of the continuum of care that Vancouver offers people with addiction and mental illness, as well as HIV. Conference attendees can sign up for an engagement tour of Insite, North America’s first legal supervised drug injection site, to learn about the city’s outreach to marginalized members of our community.Read More »Around town: The 8th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2015)

Around town: 24th Annual John K. Friesen Conference—Harnessing Technology for Aging-in-Place

by Amanda
May 7, 2015April 28, 2023

Whiskey barrels in the Jack Daniels distillery, Lynchburg, Tennessee. On Thursday, May 14, the Segal Centre at the Simon Fraser University (SFU) Vancouver Campus will host the 24^th Annual John K. Friesen Conference. The purpose of this event is to explore how technology can help adults in British Columbia to age in place, helping seniors to adapt their homes so they can keep living in them as they get older.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines aging in place as “the ability to live in one’s own home and community safely, independently, and comfortably, regardless of age, income, or ability level.” The concept encourages people to stay in their own homes for as long as they wish, surrounded by everyday familiarities, without being forced into institutional care or other living conditions prematurely simply because of their age. However, for this to become feasible and a reality for the majority, society needs to change to support older adults and their needs without automatically consigning them to the health care system.Read More »Around town: 24th Annual John K. Friesen Conference—Harnessing Technology for Aging-in-Place

Around town: 6th Networking World Anesthesia Conference

by Amanda
April 24, 2015April 28, 2023

The Networking World Anesthesia Convention (NWAC) takes place next week in Vancouver, BC, bringing together clinicians and researchers working in this vital medical field. It is worth remembering that without adequate anesthesia, modern medicine and surgery would be stuck in the quick and dirty field of “getting it over with fast”: read Fanny Burney’s account of a conscious mastectomy to get a feel for uncensored steel (note: not for the faint of heart).

Quite simply put, anesthesia makes a lot of modern medicine possible. From regional or local to full-immersion general anesthesia, the power of the drugs and the skill of the anesthetist smooth the way for both patient and clinician.

But how does it work—how does anesthesia take the unpleasantness away?