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Oscar nominee joins UBC
The University of British Columbia can now count an Oscar nominee amongst their faculty. Academy Award nominee and Gemini Award winner, David Paperny, joined the University of British Columbia school of journalism this fall. David is teaching advanced television journalism for the graduate program as the visiting CanWest professor for 2010-2011.
David gained international recognition and an Academy Award nomination for his 1994 documentary Dr. Peter, which followed the last years of a Vancouver doctor dying of AIDS. Peter Jespon-Young’s video diaries raised global concern about the disease and led David to found the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation.
In 2008, David also won a Gemini for another documentary, Confessions of an Innocent Man, about a British-Canadian engineer kidnapped and tortured by criminals in Saudi Arabia.
Overall, David has 30 documentaries and 20 long-running series to his name including Crash Test Mommy and The Week the Women Went. He’s also founded his own film production company with his wife, Audrey Mehler, called Paperny Films located in Vancouver.

Canada places nine institutions amongst world’s top 200 universities
Canada squeezed nine of its post-secondary institutions onto the 2010 list of the world’s top 200 universities released by the Times Higher Education, a London magazine concentrating on higher education.
The University of Toronto ranked the highest among Canadian institutions, coming in at number 17. The second highest ranking was McMaster University in Hamilton at number 93.
The other Canadian universities broke the 100 mark, the University of Alberta coming in at 127, followed closely by the University of Victoria at 130 and the University of Montreal at 138. Dalhousie University in Halifax took the 193rd spot, while Simon Fraser University in B.C. slipped in at 199, tying with the Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences for the last spot. 
Harvard University, to no surprise, was the top ranked university worldwide, heading the list that included 72 U.S. institutions.
The universities were ranked based on their teaching, research, research influence, innovation and their involvement in the international community. This is the seventh year of rankings compiled by the Times Higher Education.

McMaster medicine students move to art gallery  
It’s definitely a switch to move classes from the clinic to the art gallery, but at McMaster University in Hamilton, family medicine students are making the transition.
The new visual literacy course offered through the McMaster Museum of Art and the department of family medicine is working to improve students’ patient diagnoses by teaching them to observe and analyze art.
“As a family physician, it can be easy to make assumptions about a patient but we’re trying to train our residents to look deeper,” says Dr. Joyce Zazulak, associate professor in the family medicine department and co-leader of the program.
According to a 2008 Harvard Medical School paper, people who examine art improve their observational skills and are 38 per cent more successful in making accurate medical diagnoses.
Eight second-year family medicine students will participate in McMaster’s bi-weekly visual literacy program until the end of December. The program will immerse students in exercises to analyze works of art throughout history.

Analyzing birds
The old saying goes, “birds of a feather flock together,” but according to research at the University of Alberta, this isn’t really the case.
Researchers at the university in Edmonton have divided chickadees into two personality types, based on how they explore new territories and also how they react to new bird calls.
Lauren Guillette, lead researcher in the study, classified chickadees on a scale as either fast explorers or slow explorers. Thirty chickadees were given a new environment to explore in a lab. The fast explorers went from tree to tree quickly, while the slow explorers lingered in each place.
Then the birds were presented with two recorded chickadee calls, one being associated with a food reward. Both types easily understood the game, but when the calls changed, the slow explorers caught on more quickly.
Lauren has characterized these two groups as being a bolder, more aggressive chickadee and a shier but more observant chickadee.
“Birds that are slow at exploring are gathering more information about their environment,” Lauren says. “We know that these personalities exist, so how did these personalities develop evolutionary over time?” Lauren will next test the experiment on chickadees in the wild and see if she gets the same results.

Learning about oceans
It’s an art show with a scientific twist, literally. Iakov Afanassiev, a professor in the department of physics and physical oceanography at Memorial University in St. John’s, N.L., has developed a way of measuring water properties that is not only visually stunning, but also groundbreaking.
In a circular tank about one metre in diameter, Iakov uses heat, salt and water to imitate the ocean, spinning the tank to stimulate the earth’s rotation. The multicolour lights reflected on the water show properties like water jets, vortices and eddies. The tank creates a realistic model of the ocean, visually showing water movement.
Until now, computer simulations have been the easiest way to measure these features but they had errors, Iakov points out. The results of lab experiments proved difficult to measure.  Not so with this new simulation, says Iakov.
The experiment, he says, works with a microcosm of our oceans. It measures what is happening on a small scale and applies this information at a larger level. “We cannot model all the effects,” Iakov says, “but we can model the essential things.”




Meat diets  detrimental  to planet: Dalhousie University study
Sure that double bacon cheeseburger might look irresistible, but its effects on the environment can be quite detrimental.
A recent paper from Dalhousie University in Halifax examines the impact of the livestock industry on our planet over the next 40 years. The news, according to Nathan Pelletier and Peter Tyedmers, is not good.
The duo estimated that by 2050 livestock production will have doubled, taking up 72 per cent of what’s considered “safe operating space”: the number of livestock the planet can sustain before suffering irreversible damage.
Their calculations also indicate that by 2050, 88 per cent of farm harvests will go towards supporting livestock, using a staggering 300 per cent of the nitrogen our planet can tolerate. Too much nitrogen in the environment can lead to a loss of biodiversity and contribute to global warming.
The solution, the researchers suggest, is to follow better practices and to turn to more environmentally friendly livestock, such as poultry. There’s no need to cut those hamburgers out of your diet completely, just watch what you eat, the authors say. Even a slight decrease in livestock production will benefit the earth.

Brain damage from hep-C
A new study at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, has linked the hepatitis C virus to brain damage. Scientists had previously suspected this linkage existed; the U of Alberta study found that the virus can inflame brain cells, causing memory loss and decline in motor skills.
The study conducted by Chris Power, Canadian research chair in neurological infection, and his team found the virus in the brain of a deceased patient. “Now we have some understanding about the cause of these neurological symptoms that can lead to the development of future treatments for people with hepatitis C,” says Power.
The team also found the virus stopped the natural process by which brain cells get rid of unwanted proteins. Toxic amounts of virus proteins build up, contributing to further brain damage. The brain's natural defence system prevents most viruses from affecting the brain in this way.
Approximately 300,000 Canadians live with hepatitis C. Thirteen per cent of them are affected neurologically by the disease.

Big Bang Theory honoured
Sheldon Cooper may have a wall lined with science honours in his fictional TV office, but now the executive producers of the hit show The Big Bang Theory have a real Canadian science honour to adorn their walls.
The Royal Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Science awarded an honorary membership to Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, executive producers and co-creators of the show, for their role in promoting public understanding and appreciation of science.
The popular TV show, which follows the lives of four certified geniuses and their attractive female next-door neighbour, has discussed everything from string theory to molecular structure.
The show’s stars, Jim Parsons (Sheldon), Simon Helberg (Howard), and Kunal Nayyar (Raj), accepted the award on the creators’ behalf at an Etalk taping in Toronto in October. Over a million viewers tuned in to watch The Big Bang Theory cast receive the prestigious honour.
In a statement Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady said while they “are baffled as to why such an august group would seek to honour them, [they] are truly thrilled you have done so.”