A growing body of evidence suggests that the sunshine vitamin can do more than increase bone strength, leading many researchers to pop mega doses of vitamin D in an attempt to ward off a host of conditions, including various cancers, diabetes, heart and autoimmune disease. The more of the nutrient that is in the bloodstream, the better the health outcomes, surveys have found, although not everyone is convinced of the health benefits of higher-dose vitamin D supplements.

(Desautels' Karl Moore): “It seems every Business School professor starts by saying how much the world has changed” – that was Henry Mintzberg’s opening to a session on change, not unsurprisingly Henry takes a different tack.  He points out that  continuity is as important as change.  We are co-teaching strategy to a group of Chinese executives today, and I had to sheepishly admit I had done just that earlier in the day!

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The addition of speaker channels above the familiar 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound array can recreate an exceptionally lifelike ambient soundfield, and enables much more accurate localization of aerial objects, such as helicopters. Although surround sound has taken an evolutionary step over the past decade by adding a “height” component to the traditional horizontal configuration of loudspeakers, more recent advances in 3D video have led to the emergence of a variety of 3D sound schemes.

The term “medical tourism” may conjure images of clinics in far-flung countries that offer a tempting proposition: world travel and cut-rate surgery. Yet a Quebec clinic hopes that Canadians will instead think of a warm bed, perhaps an invigorating facial scrub at a renowned Quebec City spa and the chance to skip the clogged lines that are the reality in much of the Canadian public medical system. […] That Quebec is at the forefront of private medical care is the result of history and judicial precedent.

(Review) The poor book. The poor book publisher. Is there any other industry that labours under such a poignant threat of obsolescence? Or produces such large quantities of unsaleable items? Now avant-garde artists, in their cold-hearted rites, are violently dramatizing the death of the book. According to Andrew Piper, professor of German and European literature at McGill University, artists have been cutting, drowning, soaking, piercing and shooting books to enact the medium’s imminent departure from our workaday world.

(Joe Schwarcz): In 218 BC, the Carthaginian general Hannibal crossed the Alps with his elephants to settle a score with Rome. The perilous journey almost came to an end at what looked like an impenetrable rockfall. But Hannibal, an ingenious leader, had a trick up his sleeve. Or at least some vinegar in his pot. As the Roman historian Livy recounts, Hannibal had his men heat up the vinegar and pour it over the rocks, causing them to crumble. And here the story crumbles.

Dr. Alice Yang Zhang of McGill’s ophthalmology clinic is organizing a free clinic for full eye exams. The clinic takes place on Nov. 24, 2012 at 4120 Ste. Catherine St. W.

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