The Conversation Archives | Carleton Newsroom

September 16, 2020

‘I choose to be a cyborg’: Why I implanted computer chips in my hands

I have computer chips in my hands. The tiny (two millimetre by 12 millimetre) glass ampules are nestled just under the skin on the back of each of my hands and were implanted by a... More

September 8, 2020

Comic-Con@Home: Virtual comics event declared a failure by industry critics, but fans loved it

With the vast majority of North America’s thousand-plus fan conventions cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual conventions (called cons) have been a bright spot for fans in an otherwise bleak year. Although organizers have... More

August 26, 2020

Devils of the Deep: How Jumbo Squids Survive Freezing Cold, Oxygen-Deprived Water

Humans are a picky species. We are happiest in a near-constant environment and experience severe and often fatal injuries if our core temperature falls below 25 C or if oxygen content of the air drops... More

August 25, 2020

Why Trudeau’s Self-Serving Prorogation of Parliament Should be Canada’s Last

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to shut down Parliament was a controversial one, since it shuttered committee inquiries into the WE Charity affair that have already embarrassed the government. The contentious move, which schedules the... More

August 12, 2020

As Schools Prepare to Reopen During COVID-19, are the Kids Alright?

As September approaches and schools prepare to reopen, there are concerns for children, including the risk they might spread COVID-19, their mental health, abuse in the home and access to technology. These concerns largely focus... More

July 30, 2020

These Lesser-Known Songs Deserve to be on your Summer Playlist

Tired of all the news about COVID-19? Why not take your ears on holiday with a summer listening playlist, assembled by music faculty from Carleton University. If you’re tired of the old playlists yet are... More

July 30, 2020

There aren’t Enough Batteries to Electrify All Cars — Focus on Trucks and Buses Instead

We need to change our transportation system, and we need to do it quickly. Road transportation is a major consumer of fossil fuels, contributing 16 per cent of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, which warm... More

July 27, 2020

What you need to know about rebranded skin-whitening creams

Corporations like Unilever, L’Oréal and Johnson & Johnson recently announced they will no longer sell products that mention “skin whitening.” These companies will now adjust how they market their products, especially on social media. However,... More

July 20, 2020

Science fiction explores the interconnectedness revealed by the coronavirus pandemic

In the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, a theory widely shared on social media suggested that a science fiction text, Dean Koontz’s 1981 science fiction novel, The Eyes of Darkness, had predicted the coronavirus... More

July 9, 2020

Smaller farmer’s fields can reduce biodiversity loss and increase wild plants, birds, beetles and bats

Around the world, biodiversity is dropping precipitously. In North America, about three billion birds have been lost over recent decades and amphibian populations are declining at a rate of about four per cent per year.... More

July 9, 2020

Afghanistan’s COVID-19 crisis has been fuelled by armed conflict

The COVID-19 pandemic is revealing the inequities in access to health care around the globe. In Afghanistan, the spread of the virus has been ignited by decades of armed conflict and reconstruction efforts that have... More

July 2, 2020

We must pay attention to Canada’s #MeToo moment in sports

Something is rotten in the state of track and field at local athletics clubs and Canadian universities. The Globe and Mail sent shock waves through the running community when it published Megan Brown’s story of... More