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From 1952 to 1993, one of the world's largest aerial pesticide application programs occurred in New Brunswick. During this time, 97 percent of the province's 6.2 million hectares of forested land was treated with at least one pesticide. A team of researchers and scientists have now compiled and published historical records of pesticide use. The goal is to make the data available to help future studies on the environmental fate — which is what happens to a pesticide once it enters the environment — as well as ecosystem recovery and the legacy effects of this historical program.

Did you know that Canada is home to the oldest rock ever discovered? It’s the 4.03-billion-year-old Acasta gneiss. For most of us, four billion years is an unimaginable length of time. So how do we know this rock is in fact almost as old as Earth itself? Simply Science visits a highly specialized Geological Survey of Canada lab in Ottawa to meet a team of time-travelling rock star experts who figure this all out.

Growing up, Ranjana Sharma would read everything she could lay her hands on in her family’s small library. Little did she know that the inspiring words and images she found in those captivating books and magazines would eventually lead her to a fascinating career. Now Dr. Sharma, Chief Scientist at Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), she stands at the centre of “everything science” and still finds the energy to support women and youth in the STEM fields through culture change.

This is the first in a series of Simply Science articles exploring places where traditional Indigenous knowledge intersects with conventional core science. Incredible value can be found when community members are actively involved in scientific research conducted close to home. This approach is especially meaningful in remote corners of the land where people are experiencing the devastating effects of climate change right outside their front doors.

As experts tackle the effects of climate change on a global scale, what’s going on in your backyard? Take moths for example. Moth populations are rapidly declining in many parts of the world. Joe Bowden, an entomologist with the Canadian Forest Service, is taking notice and urges others to do the same.

December 2022