Technology

Are Levitating Trains a Health Hazard?

Haleh Cohn BSc — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

For anyone who flies into Shanghai Pudong International Airport, it’s a rite-of-passage to take the Maglev -- short for magnetic levitation -- train into the city. The railway is as much a tourist attraction as it is a transportation system.

I was on board the train this summer, gleefully watching the speed climb to over 300 km/hour, when I overheard the woman beside me ask if the magnetic field emissions posed a health risk.

Deceitful AI Videos Mislead Seniors on Important Health Issues

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

I had never received an email in Vietnamese before. My request for an interview had been written in English, and the channel I had reached out to made English-language videos, but the reply I received was a simple question written in Vietnamese: “What can we help each other develop?”

The man in the videos was white, but of course, he was never real in the first place.

Traffic Has Increased at My Office. It's Because of the Ducks

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 19:15:56 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

Shedding Accurate Light on Light Therapies: What Photobiomodulation Does—and Doesn’t—Do

Daniel Barolet MD, FRCPC — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 19:34:29 +0000

Light is often described as the source of life—and in many ways, that’s true. It drives photosynthesis, regulates our sleep–wake rhythm, and influences mood. In recent years, though, light has also been promoted as a medical treatment. Some claims make biological sense; others, like so-called intravenous light detox, do not.

As someone who has spent more than two decades studying and applying photobiomodulation (PBM), I’ve seen both credible science and creative marketing. PBM can help, but only when the right wavelengths, doses, and treatment schedules are used.

Milk History Does a Body Good

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 21:15:23 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

The history of humans drinking cow’s milk is fascinating and not devoid of controversy.

How a Montreal-Made AI Device Is Helping Surgeons See the Invisible

Abhay Parmar BSc — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

When removing a brain tumour, the distinction between healthy tissue and cancer isn’t visible to the naked eye. Even advanced imaging can miss what hides between those boundaries. For years, this limitation meant surgeons could never be fully sure whether every cancer cell was gone. But a new Montreal-made device called SENTRY is changing that. Co-developed by the Montreal-based company Reveal Surgical, Dr.

Shedding Light on Light Therapies

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 17:35:34 +0000

Without light there is no life. Literally. It was Dutch scientist Jan Ingenhousz who through a series of experiments in 1779 showed that light is required for photosynthesis, the process that makes life on earth possible by allowing plants to capture carbon dioxide from the air while simultaneously releasing the oxygen we need to breathe. Plants either directly or indirectly produce all the food we require to live.

From ELIZA to ChatGPT, Chatbots Aren’t Know-it-Alls

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 21:32:29 +0000

It all started with Eliza Doolittle. I’m not speaking about my fondness for musicals, I’m referring to the birth of “chatbots.”

ELIZA was the name of a program considered to be the world’s first chatbot, created in the 1960s by MIT Professor Joseph Weizenbaum. Weizenbaum named it after Eliza Doolittle, the poor flower-seller with a strong Cockney accent whom Professor Henry Higgins teaches to speak like an upper-class lady in the musical My Fair Lady.

Can Nature Design Technology Better Than Us?

Eva Kellner B.A.Sc. — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Biomimicry, a scientific field dedicated to using nature as a model to guide the development of more efficient and better technology, recenters the anthropocentric narrative that often takes the reigns in science.

AI Comes for Academics. Can We Rely on It?

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

By now, the fact that artificial intelligence can hallucinate is, I hope, well known. There are countless examples of platforms like ChatGPT giving the wrong answer to a straightforward question or imagining a bit of information that does not exist. Notably, when Robert F.

Scrambler Therapy: Rewiring Pain, or Just Static?

Sophie Tseng Pellar BSc — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 15:09:46 +0000

Our bodies are wired to avoid pain—and yet, for millions, it’s a daily, unwelcome companion. One minute you’re climbing stairs, opening a jar, or just existing, and the next you're googling “is this what nerve damage feels like?” If you’ve ever lived with chronic pain, or loved someone who has, you know it’s not just about hurting. It’s about how the hurting takes over everything.

Virtually Virtuous: Are Video Games the Future of Medicine?

Eva Kellner B.A.Sc. — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 17:28:26 +0000

One day in 2014, I came home from school only to see my uncle fiddling with a small cardboard box on the couch. This wasn’t any old cardboard box, but one that looked like the world’s chunkiest pair of binoculars. He called me over and told me to hold the strange apparatus up to my eyes. Suddenly, I was transported from my living room to the great outdoors. Despite making me quite dizzy, I was able to look around and even move within this unfamiliar place.

Med Beds: Not Today, Maybe Tomorrow?

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

“Oh dear, I can just see, when I take the dogs out tonight, I’m gonna have all of these people standing around that only I can see because, you know, they’re very directional like that.”

Say Cheese!

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 17:27:26 +0000

It was the 1960’s and cheese producers were cheesed off. People were just not eating enough veal. Slaughterhouses were running short of calf stomachs and the cheese industry was feeling the pinch. There was not enough rennet to meet the demands of turophiles (that's "cheese lovers" from the Greek “turo” for cheese) around the world.

What Wild Animals Can Teach Us About Cancer

Lysanne Desharnais PhD — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In a lab in Rochester, New York, a group of scientists were trying to grow cells taken from a naked mole rat. Instead, they ended up with a petri dish full of goo. The cells had secreted a thick, viscous substance, unlike anything typically seen in standard lab cultures. The scientists discovered that the goo contained hyaluronan, a molecule that helps keep the mole rat’s skin elastic as it navigates its cramped underground tunnels. But it may also do something far more remarkable: prevent tumours from forming.