A promising year of science ahead
According to The Manitoban, 2017 is looking to be a promising year for science. Canada will be beginning its search for the Chief Science Advisor. Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, said, “This search for a chief science advisor is a historic moment.” The position is critical because of the necessity of science in numerous domains of Canadian science including “health and well-being of Canadians” and “the economy and the environment.”
In addition, Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, said two new Canadian astronauts will begin training in August. Also, the Canadian Science and Technology museum will be opening in November.
Science part of Canada’s 150th anniversary celebration
The Canadian News Wire (CNW) reports that inventions from Canada have been “changing the world in profound ways.” Our brightest scientists have been supported by the Government of Canada whether discovering insulin or stem cells or even the “development of revolutionary smartphone technology.”
The Honourable Minister of Science, Kirsty Duncan, along with many thinkers and scientists from Canada, helped launch the Innovation150 at Science World in Vancouver. Minister Duncan talked about the importance of science to the future of Canada.
The Government of Canada wants to “support and celebrate researchers whose contributions help create healthy communities, a strong economy, and a growing middle class.” This year-long program will assist in highlighting innovation, science, and technology throughout Canada and in its 150th year.
Science part of Canada’s 150th anniversary celebration
CBC says, “A researcher identified a new species of small palm that once grew in Canada after examining a fossil that had been part of an Alberta museum collection for decades.” It was a surprise for the researchers.
David Greenwood, Biology Professor at Brandon University in Manitoba, noted that ’We see palms and we think, ’Oh! It was tropical’ Well, maybe not.’ Palms, typically, are associated with warmer climates such as tropical ones, but these grew “much farther north” than was considered possible.
Apparently, palms lived in temperate rather than tropical “climates 20 million years earlier” than prior records indicated before. Greenwood said there were two levels of specialness to the findings, which were the science interest in climate records via palms and having palms in Canada at all.