What's New
20/20 perspectives on Science & Biodiversity
October 15, 19h-21h:30
Science shows that solutions can be found in healthy ecosystems. It unveils innovative technologies such as biosynthetics and biotechnology, informs important concepts such as Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS), and provides new perspectives on unresolved issues, such as the ecosystem approach to eradicate Invasive Alien Species (IAS). Newly discovered genetic resources hold the answers to humankind’s ailments and needs.
PHOTO: Three polar bears and submarine near the North Pole. Sighted by a lookout from the bridge of the submarine, the bears investigated the boat for almost 2 hours before leaving. This boat collected biodiversity and scientific data and water samples for U.S. and Canadian Universities. From Wikimedia Commons.
AGENDA:
19:00 Opening Remarks by Andrew Gonzalez (Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Research [QCBR]/McGill University)
19:10 Stanley T. Asah (College of the Environment, University of Washington)
19:30 Paul Leadley (Laboratoire d’Ecologie, Systematique et Evolution, University of Paris at Orsay)
19:50 Jake Rice (Department of Fisheries & Oceans Canada)
20:10 Piro Genovesi (IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group)
20:30 Nick Davidson (Ramsar Convention on Wetlands)
20:50 Ben ten Brink (Netherlands Department of Nature, Landscape and Biodiversity)
21:10 Roberto Cavalcanti (Secretary of Biodiversity and Forests, Ministry of Environment, Brazil)
21:30 Panel Discussion, Q&A
21:50 End of Session
Presented by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in collaboration with McGill University, Concordia University & Concordia University & HEC Montréal. INFO: Consultant on Business and Biodiversity at the david [dot] steuerman [at] cbd [dot] int (CBD Secretariat) . Or check check full schedule of CBD talks in Montreal.
Cutting Edge Lecture
Mobile phones and health — how should we respond to public concerns?
Oct 17, 6:00 pm
By Kenneth R. Foster (Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania) and Lorne Trottier (Co-founder, Matrox Group).
Redpath Museum Auditorium, FREE, everyone welcome. Seating is limited. No reservations necessary. Read more here.
Women in Science
Oct 17, 8h30 - 16h
Vanier College Cegep celebrates Women in Science with presentations by seven McGill scientists:
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8:30-10:00
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10:00-11:30
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13:00-14:30
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14:30-16:00
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Yogita Chudasama (Neurobiology, McGill): Brain and Behaviour |
Mariana Newkirk (Dean Research, Medicine, McGill) : Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases
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Emily Bamforth (Redpath Museum, McGill): Paleoecology and Paleobiodiversity
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Audrey Moores (Chemistry, McGill): Nanoparticles and Catalysis for Green Chemistry
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Alana Watt (Biology, McGill)): development and plasticity of neuronal circuits
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Brigitte Vachon (Physics, McGill): Canada Research Chair in Particle Physics
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Roberta Palmour (Genetics, McGill): Human Genetics |
Monica Nevins (Math and Statistics,U of Ottawa) |
Where: Vanier College /Cégep, 821 Sainte-Croix, Montréal, In the main auditorium. Metro: Cote Vertu. Everyone Welcome. No reservation necessary. Co-organized with McGill Science Outreach. INFO: 514-398-4094.
IMAGE: Professor C. Bodin, a new Lego figurine who specializes in "finding new and interesting ways to combine things together," according to Lego's biography for the figure. Additionally, she's won the "Nobrick Prize" and her research has helped other minifigures that have lost their legs attach other pieces that let them "swim like fish, slither like snakes, and stomp around like robots," Lego adds.
Freaky Friday
Oct. 18, 5 pm: MERDE — Can't live with it, can't live without it!
Presented by David Harpp (Macdonald Professor and Tomlinson Chair in Science Education). Everything you ever wanted to know about the production, use and disposal of human sewage. What is it made of? Where does it all go? The presentation will be followed by the bold documentary film Crapshoot which questions our fundamental attitudes to waste. 5 PM in the Redpath Museum Auditorium. Seating is limited. No reservations necessary. FREE. Read more here.
IMAGE: from the film Crapshoot.
Secret Science Spots Campus Tour
Oct. 19 11h-12h30
The study of science at McGill University goes back 150 years, but there are hidden pockets of history that will surprise even the most avid McGill chronicler. From the underground stream near Burnside Hall and the role it played in the life of geologist George Mercer Dawson, to the Duke of Edinburgh’s unpublicized visit to the toilets at the old Biology (now James) Building in 1952, this tour will enlighten and entertain. (In English)
Meet front steps Redpath Museum. ACTIVITÉ GRATUITE/ FREE. Bienvenue à tous. Il est nécessaire de réserver. 514-398-3128 OU darhelp [dot] science [at] mcgill [dot] ca.
If Trees Could Talk: Trees and the Mountain
Oct. 20, 11h-13h
Join Catherine Polcz, a botanist in the Mcgill Plant Science department, for a botanical talk to about the natural history of Mont Royal Park. Some of the themes addressed include: How has the mountain changed since the settlement of Montreal? What are some of the challenges associated with living on a mountain in an urbanized environment? Meet: Auditorium Redpath Museum before the walk up the mountain. FREE, everyone welcome, no reservation necessary. Organized by: Annie-Lou Chester-Bronwyn's sister- and McGill Science Outreach. FREE. Everyone welcome. No reservations necessary.
These monthly tree talks are inspired by Bronwyn Chester's Island of Trees. A limited edition print of an article Bronwyn Chester wrote about the Jack Pine will be available for a minimum $15 contribution. At the door.
Bring the Redpath Museum into your school!
Check out what a live stream video conference tour with you might look like: watch this short video
Your class of any grade or age level can now visit the Museum without having to take a field trip! Our video conference program features three interactive, one hour long live streaming sessions with a museum educator in the Redpath Museum galleries. You need a video conference connection (VLAN) in order to connect with us.
Your class of any grade or age level can now visit the Museum without having to take a field trip! Our video conference program features three interactive, one hour long live streaming sessions with a museum educator in the Redpath Museum galleries. You need a video conference connection (VLAN) in order to connect with us.
What: Choose one of three one hour sessions: Meet the Triceratops, Egyptian Life or Quebec Biodiversity. Your class will ask questions, interact with the museum educator, and work on activity sheets during and after the videoconference.
Who and how: Trained educators from the Museum animate and interpret natural history specimens using a variety of educational props. Each presentation includes activity sheets and interactive elements that are relevant to MELS curriculum and can be used before, during and after the videoconference.
Audience: Any elementary- or secondary-school school with a video conference connection in Quebec; also other groups such as Girl Guides or Scouts, home schools, or after-school that have a video conference connection (offered at many Community Learning Centres in Quebec); not suitable for pre-school age groups.
Language: Offered in English only, at this time. French program in development.
Length of presentation: One hour, including testing the video conference connection, the presentation, and a period for questions.
Themes: dinosaurs, fossils, volcanoes, rocks and minerals, shells and marine life, endangered and invasive species and conservation.
Book your video conference with Redpath museum by emailing science [dot] outreach [at] mcgill [dot] ca or calling 514-398-4094.
Redpath research
Ever wondered how and why digits are lost from the limbs of some archosaurs during evolution? Read graduate student Donald Fowler's co-authored paper entitled "Digit loss in archosaur evolution and the interplay between selection and constraints" published in Nature.
Invasive species in the news
McGill University biology professor Anthony Ricciardi and new arrivals in Montreal waters.
MONTREAL - Since he was a kid growing up in the southwest part of the island of Montreal, McGill University biology professor Anthony Ricciardi has enjoyed exploring the shorelines and shallower waters of the Lachine Canal, the St. Lawrence River and Lake St. Louis in search of aquatic wildlife.He frequently finds specimens of exotic native species like sharp-toothed Bowfins, large leeches, big salamanders called mud puppies, and giant insect- and frog-eating fisher spiders.“I’ve seen fisher spiders in Baie d’Urfé as big as the palm of my hand,” Ricciardi said.
These days, however, he said he is more likely to find non-native species that arrived only a few years ago, but which live and flourish in the waters around the island of Montreal.
Read The Montreal Gazette article. PHOTO: Dr. Ricciardi holding an Asian clam. Considered one of the world’s most invasive aquatic species, the clams were discovered in 2009 living in heated waters downstream from the Gentilly nuclear power plant near Bécancour. Photograph by: Peter McCabe , The Gazette
Redpath Museum Mummies' Faces, Hairdos, Revealed in 3D
Thanks to skeletal data from recent CT scans and radiocarbon analyses, a forensic artist from John Abbott College and physical anthropologists from Western University were able to reconstruct the faces of three Redpath Museum mummies. The results of this facial reconstruction project show a young man and a young woman, as well as a white-haired matron, as they all might have appeared before their deaths. These facial reconstructions are a new display in the World Cultures gallery located on the third floor of the museum. PHOTO: Victoria Lywood
Check out these links for news reports, articles, interviews, and photos: Discovery News with a picture gallery, CBC news and All in a Weekend, Live Science, Digital Journal, Salon, and our own McGill Events channel. French language: MaxiScience and Le Devoir
Redpath Museum in the News
Architect Julia Gersovitz's admiration for the Museum's authentic construction and design as a 'temple of learning' in Urban Expressions, The Gazette, March 2013, p. 37:
"What a treasure that building is," she says. "It's so full of architectural delight that every time you go there, you get another appreciation of what the architects were doing." Built in the 1880s and considered a fine example of Greek Rivival architecture, the building goes beyond the label. " A Greek temple doesn't have this sense of being drenched with light," she says. "When you walk in and go up the stairs you feel that you are entering a temple of learning. You feel more significant, more important, you know that you're about to participate in an experience that is not mundane. It is a wonderful, really powerful building".
Water is Life! New audio walking tour
self-guided walking tour focusing on water at McGill. You can also see the new Water is Life/L'eau — au coeur de la vie exhibit about water resources and conservation - second floor, Redpath Museum. In Fall 2013 this exhibit will be installed in the lobby of the Education Building, 3640 McTavish Street. Water is Life! audio walking tour, available on CKUT's Ecolibrium Radio Residency blog. Learn more about water and how you can conserve it at home, at work, and here on campus on the Water is Life website. Listen to our Water is Life interview on CKUT.
Listen to the Water is Life! streaming audio.
Visiting the Museum?
Use our Museum Scavenger Hunt to help guide your children during their visit.
For ages 9+: Scavenger Hunt
For ages 2-8: Scavenger Hunt (Younger)
Complement your museum visits with observations in nature!
Check out the field trips organized by the Montreal Field Naturalists' Club this summer.
For information please call: 514-769-1542 or go to www.montrealfieldnnaturalists.wordpress.com
Free Montreal Museums app
Have you seen the new Montreal Museums app for iphone and iPod touch users? It gives you 35 Montreal museums at the tip of your fingers, all for free.
The Fossils' Tale
The Redpath Museum is proud to announce its latest publication, The Fossils’ Tale. This lavishly illustrated book is a self-guided tour through the history-of-life collections at the museum and can also be enjoyed at home. The Fossils’ Tale explains why fossils are important, how they’re formed, and what they tell us about who walked this planet before us. The 96-page book contains detailed descriptions and beautiful photographs of museum exhibits and fossil specimens that tell the amazing tale of life on Earth over its four and a half billion year history.
$15 CAD with a cash or cheque contribution made to: Redpath Museum/McGill University. Shipping included. For book orders, contact sarah [dot] pimpaneau [at] mcgill [dot] ca (Sarah Pimpaneau) or call 514-398-4086 ext. 00549.