The European Space Agency's (ESA) Hera mission blasted off on Monday, beginning a two-year voyage to a double asteroid system beyond the orbit of Mars. The mission is a follow-up to NASA's successful Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which impacted the asteroid Dimorphos in September 2022. The goal of that mission was to demonstrate the ability to change the orbit of an asteroid. Both DART and Hera are part of the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA). Professor Mike Daly, a co-investigator on DART, says . "We really are the first generation that have the knowledge and the technologies that could prevent what could be a pretty disastrous outcome on Earth," Daly tells CBC.

Professor William Colgan speaks to CBC about a photography exhibition highlighting the effects of climate change in Antarctica on display at Berenson Fine Art gallery in Toronto. "We really need to reduce carbon emissions. That is the number one goal in keeping Antarctica the way it should be, which is in ," says Colgan.

Professor Claire Mallette talks to Medscape Medical News about the ramifications of Canada's nursing shortage. Nursing had more job vacancies in the first quarter of 2023 than any other occupation. The for the increase in vacancies were stress or burnout, concerns about mental health and well-being, and lack of job satisfaction.

Professor Andrea O鈥橰eilly weighs in on Canada鈥檚 fertility rate, which has reached an all-time low. 鈥淚鈥檓 only concerned that we鈥檙e not maybe having the necessary conversations about what that stat means,鈥� says O'Reilly. ",鈥� she continues, 鈥渁nd I think women are having fewer children because of the state of the world, that it is just so challenging, expensive, exhausting to raise children in a North American context.鈥� O鈥橰eilly tells NOW Toronto that a fertility rate of 1.26 is not something we need to worry about so much as it is a sign of the times. 鈥淎 hundred years ago, we had families of 14, and then families of eight, then families of four, and families of two, and then families of one or none. That is a huge cultural change, and that鈥檚 happened in less than a century,鈥� she says, adding, as with any cultural shift, we need to examine the cause.

Professor Palma Paciocco comments on the role of plea deals and how victims aren't necessarily consulted. This is in light of a case where a 13-year-old girl awoke in the middle of the night to discover her 27-year-old neighbour near her bed. "We have a very under-resourced criminal justice system relative to the number of charges that come through the door, and the reality is that . In other words, we simply cannot afford to have everybody who is charged with a crime go to trial," Paciocco tells CBC, adding that crown attorneys have "tremendous discretionary authority and power" when it comes to plea bargains.

We have a very under-resourced criminal justice system relative to the number of charges that come through the door, and the reality is that the system would collapse under its own weight if we didn't have a large percentage of criminal charges resolved by guilty plea.

Paciocco speaking to CBC

Professor Ian Stedman weighs in on British Columbia's attorney general's plan to amend provincial laws to unmask special interest groups behind anonymous lobbying campaigns. Niki Sharma hopes to introduce legislation requiring groups behind "grassroots" campaigns to declare who they are and who they are working for. Ontario and the federal government have adopted rules that require disclosure around "grassroots" campaigns, and Stedman says without unduly limiting the ability of ordinary citizens and advocacy groups to communicate concerns to government officials. "Lobbyist registration laws are not about prohibiting people from lobbying," Stedman tells CBC. "They're about making sure the lobbying that happens is publicly disclosed so members of the public and interested parties can go online and find out who is trying to influence policy and policymakers."

In an op-ed for The Conversation, Professor Thomas Klassen writes about the upcoming announcement from the federal government about its immigration plan and immigration levels for the next three years. " with immigration levels increased when the unemployment rate falls and reduced when unemployment rises. Immigration has always been thinly veiled labour market policy; that is, a way to fill jobs," writes Klassen.

Professor Sapna Sharma and postdoc researcher Joshua Culpepper write about how an increase in human activity, warming temperatures, and stormy conditions are causing more frequent blooms of potentially harmful algae in Lake Superior, the largest, coldest and arguably healthiest of the Great Lakes. "," writes Sharma and Culpepper.

The Washington Post reports on new research by Professor Sapna Sharma that suggests warming air temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns are , threatening people who rely on ice for transportation or recreation.

Professor Emeritus Nicholas C. T. Rogers discusses the origins of Halloween and how became part of the way we celebrate the holiday, in The Telegraph.

CBC Books is calling Walking & Stealing by Professor Stephen Cain one of the "." Cain is the author of six full-length collections of poetry and a dozen chapbooks. The highly anticipated Walking & Stealing is a collection of poems about baseball, Toronto and immersing oneself in deep thoughts.

To see: Artist and PhD student Shannon Garden-Smith created an interactive installation for this year鈥檚 Nuit Blanche using a solitary material: sand. The 2,500 square-foot floor installation used vibrantly dyed sand to form marbled patterns from the humble material. During the all-night event, attendees were invited to walk through her exhibit, disrupting the sand patterns and muddying colours. "Sand is so everyday; it鈥檚 kind of this thing that is super mundane in a lot of ways and so often represented as boring," Garden-Smith tells TorontoToday. "My hope for the project is that people are reacquainted with the magic of this thing that is everywhere, but also ." "Snail-work (for the lake)" is part of the festival's extended program and will remain open to the public at 125 Queens Quay E from 12 to 7 p.m. daily until Sunday, Oct. 13.

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Former music professor Bill Westcott, who taught at 91亚色 for over three decades, died on July 20. An accomplished and versatile pianist and composer, he was a master of ragtime and stride. Westcott came to 91亚色 in 1979 and retired from full-time teaching in 2010. Rob Bowman, a Grammy Award-winning professor of ethnomusicology at 91亚色, was among Westcott's early students. "He was instrumental in my life," says Bowman. "He went the extra mile for students. He spent hours with me."

Mary Henderson, another early student of Westcott, joined a student choir he led. She says she was challenged and impressed by the range of music he chose: "We did Mozart, Gregorian chant, gospel music," she recalls. "It was incredible."

Brenna MacCrimmon, a mentee and bandmate of Westcott, says some of his former students told her, "He gave me a crappy mark, but he was my favourite prof," which she says fits with her understanding of her friend. "When he saw potential and ability in someone, he wasn't going to coddle them."

Professor Mike Cad贸, a colleague of Westcott towards the end of his full-time teaching career, says he was inspired by, among other things, Westcott's unique method of demonstrating at the piano while teaching. "It was thrilling to see him play. He really drew you into the performance," he says. "It was like seeing a world-class European classical pianist. There was the same level of intensity."

Although he was a trained musician who could read music, it was not from the page, but from his body and soul. It was a great pleasure to be in the room with that.

MacCrimmon speaking to The Globe and Mail

Professor Jack L. Rozdilsky writes about the 2024 Democratic National Convention in an op-ed for The Conversation and how the fast-changing political landscape and recent political violence has reawoken , also held in Chicago. In their op-ed, Professor Idil Boran and her co-author write about how is still lacking, despite years of calls for a co-ordinated global policy. Referencing their recent paper published in the , they argue a joint work program between the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity is the best approach.

Professor Kenzie Allen is reclaiming her Indigeneity through poetry. Speaking to The Canadian Press, she says her poems are a way for her to take her Haudenosaunee identity back from those who labelled her too much or not enough. , and transmutes the British Empire into a reminiscing dude-bro desperate to hold onto his glory days.

Pilots at Air Canada have voted in favour of walking off the job as soon as mid-September. While the travel industry is seasonal, Professor Steven Tufts tells Toronto Star, adding that many pilots don鈥檛 just carry people but also cargo.

91亚色 alumni and Canadian beach volleyball Olympic medalists Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson confirmed .

Professor Emeritus Paul Delaney talks to CBC about . The term supermoon isn't a scientific one. It comes from astrology and refers to the moon at its perigee 鈥� the closest point of its orbit to Earth. Blue moon refers to a second full moon in a month or the fourth in one season. Both happening concurrently is what made last week's full moon a super blue. "None of these, by the way, are true astronomical terms," Delaney tells .

Everybody likes the moon. You can see detail with the unaided eye and easily with binoculars. It's a fan favourite. Poetry has been written about, stories, murder, mysteries, I mean, you name it. Everybody has got a story about the moon.

Delaney speaking to CTV News

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