Podcast: Science-ish tackles vaccines

By Julia Belluz - Tuesday, October 16, 2012 at 11:05 AM - 0 Comments

We asked you, dear Science-ish readers, for your burning questions about vaccines.

You tweeted and emailed what was on your mind. Some of you asked if fears about vaccines are irrational while others wanted to know how flu shots are made and whether we should bother with getting the things. Science-ish was asked why we don’t have an HIV vaccine, and what’s causing the whooping cough outbreaks. Even age-old worries about the link between autism, mercury and vaccines emerged.

Not to worry: Science-ish got answers.

Here are responses to some of your questions and a preview of what’s to come later this week.

Science-ish is a joint project of Maclean’s, the Medical Post and the McMaster Health Forum. Julia Belluz is the associate editor at the Medical Post. Got a tip? Seen something that’s Science-ish? Message her at julia.belluz@medicalpost.rogers.com or on Twitter @juliaoftoronto

Podcast: A behind-the-scenes chat with two of our Olympic veterans

By Jessica Allen - Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 11:53 AM - 0 Comments

Jonathon Gatehouse and Charlie Gillis–two of the three Maclean’s staffers we’ve sent to London to cover the Olympics–are sports-reporting veterans. And that includes the Games: this will be Jonathon’s fifth and Gillis’s second time covering them. Before they left for London, I asked them a few questions about what it’s like reporting on the biggest sporting event in the world.

Have a listen:

Don’t forget to follow our Maclean’s writers on the Olympics beat on Twitter:

• Jonathon Gatehouse
• Charlie Gillis
• Ken MacQueen
• Scott Feschuk (reporting live, from his couch)
• Leah McLaren (covering the social scene for us in London)

Why the Higgs boson discovery changes everything

By Kate Lunau and Katie Engelhart - Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at 10:00 AM - 0 Comments

NASA

For the past 22 years, Pierre Savard has, off and on, been searching for the Higgs boson particle. On the morning of July 4—shortly before physicists at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) were scheduled to present their historic findings—Savard, associate professor of experimental particle physics at the University of Toronto, awoke just outside Geneva, where CERN’s sprawling complex is nestled amidst lush vineyards, with the imposing peaks of Mont Blanc as backdrop. Buried 100 m underground is the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest particle accelerator, built at a cost of $10 billion to help physicists unravel the mysteries of the universe.

By the time Savard arose (somewhat sluggishly, as he’d been working on “Higgs analysis” until 2 a.m.), the facility’s main auditorium was already full. The summer students at CERN had camped out all night. Aysha Abdel-Aziz, a University of Toronto undergraduate working on Higgs search data analysis, was monitoring Facebook at 12.30 a.m., which flashed news of a swelling crowd. “At 1:30, I thought, man, I’ve got to get over there,” she recalls. “I got there at 2 a.m., and I’m glad I did. Because by 4 it was too late.” Students hunkered down outside the auditorium to wait with sleeping bags and food and cameras.

Around 4:30 a.m., says Abdel-Aziz, a cluster of grey-haired physicists showed up. Discouraged by the lineup, which by then had snaked down the stairs and wound around the hall, they left. Savard, meanwhile, made his way to the lobby of his laboratory, where the morning’s events were being live streamed. The four screening rooms were full, but he managed to hustle a chair. Displaced by their youthful proteges, the world’s most seasoned particle physicists were relegated to back rooms, packed like sardines into satellite auditoriums around the complex. Some grasped bottles of champagne. Soon they would, most uncharacteristically, be shouting.

Continue…

Podcast: Kate Lunau on writing this week’s Higgs boson cover story

By Jessica Allen - Thursday, July 12, 2012 at 10:18 AM - 0 Comments

Our savvy science writer also explains in layman’s terms what the Higgs boson is, why physicist Neil Turok, director of the Canadian Perimter Institute is thanking his lucky stars, and what’s in store for the Large Hadron Collider–the world’s biggest machine–now. Also, there’s a reference to Superman III, which doesn’t happen every day.

Read reporter Katie Engelhart’s dispatches from CERN in Geneva here and here. And find Lunau and Engelhart’s eight-page special report on why the Higgs boson discovery does more than just explain why we exist on newsstands now. 

Audio slideshow: the grandeur and decay of Detroit’s Boston-Edison neighbourhood

By Jessica Allen - Thursday, July 5, 2012 at 3:41 PM - 0 Comments

Here’s Nick Kohler’s story on the ultimate Motor City reno.

Jaime Weinman on ‘The Newsroom’

By macleans.ca - Monday, June 25, 2012 at 9:42 AM - 0 Comments

Read Jaime’s blog post about Sorkin’s new show here.

Coyne v. Wells on the meaning of Michael Jackson

By macleans.ca - Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 7:13 PM - 9 Comments

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Coyne v. Wells on Mr Ignatieff's Wild Ride

By macleans.ca - Friday, June 19, 2009 at 5:00 PM - 14 Comments

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Coyne v. Wells on Canada's nuclear sinkhole

By macleans.ca - Friday, June 12, 2009 at 5:07 PM - 46 Comments

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Coyne v. Wells on Raitt-gate and the auto bailout

By macleans.ca - Friday, June 5, 2009 at 4:07 PM - 32 Comments

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Coyne v. Wells on Canada: It’s like America, only more conservative

By macleans.ca - Friday, May 22, 2009 at 7:11 PM - 17 Comments

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Coyne v. Wells on those Tory attack ads

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at 7:47 PM - 118 Comments

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Coyne v. Wells on the return of Super Mario?

By macleans.ca - Sunday, May 10, 2009 at 8:37 AM - 0 Comments

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Coyne v. Wells on the return of Super Mario?

By macleans.ca - Friday, May 8, 2009 at 7:54 PM - 19 Comments

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Coyne v. Wells on what to do about torture

By macleans.ca - Friday, April 24, 2009 at 6:49 PM - 63 Comments

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Coyne v. Wells on the Liberal surge

By macleans.ca - Friday, April 17, 2009 at 7:02 PM - 4 Comments

Coyne v. Wells on the G20

By macleans.ca - Friday, April 3, 2009 at 6:01 PM - 8 Comments

Coyne v. Wells on the G20

By macleans.ca - Friday, April 3, 2009 at 5:55 PM - 0 Comments

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Coyne v. Wells on the sad state of the media business

By macleans.ca - Friday, February 27, 2009 at 3:35 PM - 26 Comments

Coyne and Wells discuss hard times for the media

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