Dr. Tamara Kelly will take on the role of Interim Chair, Department of Biology, for a term of six months. Dr. Seyed Moghadas has been appointed Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Education. And, Dr. Andrew Skelton will step into the portfolio of Associate Dean, Faculty. The latter two appointments are in effect for a term of three years.

We welcome these distinguished colleagues to their respective roles and look forward to their continued leadership and service to the Faculty.

Dr. Tamara Kelly – Interim Chair, Department of Biology

Dr. Tamara Kelly is a Professor, Teaching Stream, in the Department of Biology and served as the inaugural Pedagogical Innovation Chair in Science Education for the Faculty of Science. In this position, she championed evidence-based inclusive teaching strategies and led initiatives to improve student learning experiences.

Since joining FSc in 2008, Dr. Kelly’s commitment to teaching excellence has been recognized with numerous awards, including the OCUFA Teaching Award, the President's University-Wide Teaching Award, and the Faculty of Science Excellence in Teaching Awards. She has played a key role in curriculum redesign and faculty development within the department. She is institutional lead for the Canadian Consortium of Science Equity Scholars (CCSES) and current president of the Open Consortium of Undergraduate Biology Educators (oCUBE). Dr. Kelly holds a PhD from McGill University and completed postdoctoral training at the University of British Columbia.

Dr. Seyed Moghadas – Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Education

Dr. Seyed Moghadas is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and a leading expert in computational epidemiology and vaccine science.

He is the founding director of the Agent-Based Modelling Laboratory at 91��ɫ, where his research focuses on advanced mathematical and computational modeling of infectious disease dynamics, public health interventions, and health economics. Dr. Moghadas has received several prestigious honors, including the 2022 President’s Research Impact Award and recognition as a 91��ɫ Research Leader. He holds a PhD in Computational and Applied Mathematics from Sharif University of Technology and has led international research efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. His work bridges theory, policy, and practice to support evidence-based decision-making in public health.

Dr. Andrew Skelton – Associate Dean, Faculty

Dr. Andrew Skelton is an Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, with a primary focus on mathematics education and pedagogy. He won the 2021 Faculty of Science Excellence in Teaching Award and has served as the Academic Coordinator in Bethune College, the Coordinator of the Mathematics for Education major and was the inaugural Director of the Data Science major.

Dr. Skelton is deeply involved in research aimed at supporting first-year students in their transition to university. He holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Guelph and has extensive experience in both secondary and postsecondary education. Dr. Skelton is committed to enhancing the student experience and supporting academic success through innovative teaching and curriculum development. 

We would also like to thank outgoing Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Education, Vivian Saridakis, and Associate Dean, Faculty, Gerald Audette, for their dedication and service to the Faculty of Science.

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91��ɫ professors Kohitij Kar has received Ontario’s Early Researcher Award, a competitive provincial honour that supports promising early-career faculty leading innovative research.

The Early Researcher Award recognizes faculty at publicly funded Ontario institutions within their first 10 years of an academic career. It supports advancing knowledge and building strong teams of graduate and undergraduate trainees to develop future research leaders in Ontario.

Kar, a professor of biology in the Faculty of Science and Canada Research Chair in Visual Neuroscience, received the Early Researcher Award for work exploring how the brain might process sensory information differently in autistic adults, focusing on how they see and understand the world.

Kohitij Kar By combining computer simulations with brain activity studies, the team models how changes in specific brain areas might lead to autism-like behaviours, specifically by adding controlled “noise.” The findings aim to enhance diagnosis and develop more effective support strategies, reinforcing Ontario’s investment in autism services and assisting community organizations.

“There is an urgent need to develop testable computational models of the neural basis of autism, particularly the sensory differences,” says Kar. “This award is a critical boost for our project, allowing us to expand our research and accelerate the development of tools that can better understand sensory processing differences in autism. It brings us closer to real-world impact for individuals and families affected by autism.”

Kar’s current project builds on his award-winning work studying visual object processing. His research appears in leading journals including Nature Neuroscience and Science. He leads a research program at 91��ɫ and has earned awards such as the Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research Award. His combined expertise in neuroscience and artificial intelligence makes him well positioned to lead this innovative effort.

The achievement reflects 91��ɫ’s growing leadership in interdisciplinary research with real-world impact, says Amir Asif, vice-president research and innovation.

Courtesy of YFile

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In the Faculty of Science, we continuously strive to deliver high-quality education and experiential learning opportunities that our students need to become future global leaders. In this issue of Innovatus, I am excited to share some of the ways in which we are prioritizing excellence in teaching and learning in the Faculty of Science. 

Our Faculty has been working hard to expand co-op opportunities for our students so they graduate with real-world experience. For instance, we have launched an innovative work-integrated learning program open to all science students that has doubled its intake each year. 

Our instructors are enhancing student learning and experience by introducing new technologies and methods of teaching, such as using virtual reality to augment students’ understanding of concepts and creating podcasts to increase the accessibility of course content. They are also creating new programming to support our students in becoming future scientists, such as a new transformative course for undergraduates to learn about the structure of a research career and how to conduct responsible research. 

We have an incredible community of instructors and staff in the Faculty of Science who are committed to providing our students with the knowledge, skills and credentials they need and desire to successfully transition into rewarding and impactful careers. Our faculty members and staff are the drivers of teaching and learning innovation in our Faculty, and I am immensely proud of and grateful for their efforts. 

Thank you,  

Rui Wang
Dean, Faculty of Science 

In this issue:

91��ɫ professor pioneers podcast-based learning in biology 
Professor Elizabeth Clare swaps traditional textbooks for dynamic podcasts, offering students a fresh, interactive and accessible way to learn complex biology concepts.

Using VR in chemistry to ‘future-proof’ students
A new fourth-year chemistry course at 91��ɫ is changing the way students learn, moving beyond traditional methods to embrace modern technology and deeper learning.

New biology course prepares 91��ɫ U students for ethical research
Learn how a new fourth-year biology course is addressing scientific misconduct and teaching students the importance of integrity in research.

91��ɫ U enhances science co-op through national grant 
91��ɫ’s Faculty of Science will expand work-integrated learning opportunities and enhance experiential learning to prepare students for diverse careers in the field.

Courtesy of YFile

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Professor Elizabeth Clare had long eschewed textbooks for her biology students before she discovered the magic of podcasting. Now, she’s made a mark as a pioneer in the science podcast space, offering students and other learners accessible, easy-to-digest lessons in biology. 

For the last two years, the associate professor in 91��ɫ’s Department of Biology in the Faculty of Science has been busy supplementing classroom learning with her podcast, “.”&�Բ�����;&�Բ�����;

Her 33 episodes – hosted on BuzzSprout and available free on Apple and Spotify – cover topics from her biology classes and feature interviews with an expert or former student. The podcasts have been downloaded more than 18,000 times in 71 countries, with 91��ɫ students making up roughly 80 per cent of the listeners. 

Her podcasting started almost by accident, Clare says. She was teaching in England and one of her classes became fascinated by transposable elements, also known as jumping genes. It’s an obscure topic, Clare says, and not her area of specialization, but she happened to have a friend who earned his PhD studying the topic. She asked him to speak to the class over Skype.  

“We spent an hour peppering him with questions,” Clare says. “The students loved it.”&�Բ�����;&�Բ�����;

Next, Clare invited another friend – a scientific author – to talk to students about their work. The students then started asking for experts on various topics, and Clare began taping these talks. When she joined 91��ɫ in 2021, some of her students requested podcasts; Clare found that appealing because it showed students were driving a shift in learning and deciding how they wanted to access information. 

“I’ve always been a bit frustrated by textbooks. I don't really like teaching from a textbook. It’s there if we need it, but students are looking for novel sources of information,” she says. “I like science the way I teach it. I like it as a story you can tell, and this just fits with the podcast format.”

In Clare’s first-year classes, students use both a textbook and the podcast; however, in upper-year classes, she’s stopped relying on textbooks and no longer assigns traditional text readings.  

“Science, particularly at an advanced level, changes fast. Textbooks can’t always keep up when you are teaching new research stories.”&�Բ�����;&�Բ�����;

Teaching by podcast is a great leveller: students don’t have to buy a $200 textbook; podcasts are free; and it turns out, podcasts are helpful for students with specific learning disabilities, Clare says.  

One student told Clare, “I simply can’t sit down and read a chapter of a text. But I can put this on a loop and ride my bike.”&�Բ�����;&�Բ�����;

“The funny thing is the students really love it. I thought they would find it fun. It's fun for me to make,” Clare says. “But I didn’t think they would come to rely on it the way they do. What I had not anticipated was the number of students, in that first year where I really got going with it, who came up and said, ‘You don't understand, this is an equity issue.’” 

Other student feedback has been extremely positive, Clare says, and they continue to request more content. Some have even offered to help make more episodes.  

Christian Nakla is one of those students. He’s a fourth-year biology student who was in Clare’s third-year biology class on evolution where, says Clare, he became known as the “Question Guy” for asking so many questions. He helped create a podcast episode on reproductive barriers and isolation for Clare’s first-year biology class. The  explains how reproductive barriers prevent interbreeding between populations.  

Nakla says making the podcast was rewarding. He is particularly pleased that BioAudio is accessible for non-students and says because it simplifies complex scientific concepts the information is easy for beginners to understand.  

“I think this is a very noble effort to bring this sort of knowledge to students but also to people who are not necessarily enrolled at 91��ɫ in science,” he says.  

Encouraging students to be enthusiastic about science is part of what drives this effort for Clare. And it’s working.  

“Apparently, last year, in my third-year class, there were groups of students getting together on Friday nights and having podcast parties.”&�Բ�����;&�Բ�����;

She’s witnessed first-hand how podcasting, as a resource, is growing. Recently, Clare received an email from a professor in another country who said she’d discovered BioAudio and asked to use the podcast as a teaching aid.  

“OK?” says Clare. “It’s great. I’d love for others to find it valuable. When I got the idea for this, I figured there was already something available. I went looking, but there was just nothing in the podcast world on this topic. So, I had to make it myself. But if I’ve now filled the gap for someone else, that’s really cool.”&�Բ�����;&�Բ�����; 

This week’s episode is “Fossils, Rocks and Radioactive Clocks.” It explores how scientists date ancient events through a discussion with mammal paleontologist Mathew Jones and can be found  or free on other podcast platforms.  

With files from Julie Carl

Courtesy of YFile

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91��ɫ researchers say warmer temperatures will create more unsafe white ice conditions, ice that’s more like a snow cone than ice cube.

Sports and recreational activities on frozen lakes across the Northern Hemisphere are a popular pastime for millions, but according to new research out of 91��ɫ, the safety of that ice is becoming more precarious and shorter in duration.

As winter and early spring temperatures continue to rise with a warming world the quality of lake ice is changing and that prompted the researchers to delve into available data to project how many fewer days of safe ice there could be in the future. That number could be upwards of 29 days depending on the condition of ice cover and whether the world reaches 1 C, 2 C or even 4 C of warming.

Although their previous work looked at ice thickness and duration, important indicators of ice safety, they are quick to point out that that is only part of the equation. Equally important and potentially as dangerous is the quality of the ice, which also helps determine whether it is safe, especially early and late in the season when the ice is either forming or melting.

“Quality and thickness need to be weighed together when deciding if the ice is safe to go out on. Our research found there will be fewer safe ice days and the formation of safe ice during the transition period in early winter will take longer, creating a higher risk for accidents and drownings,” says Professor Sapna Sharma of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Science and senior author of the paper.

Led by 91��ɫ Postdoctoral Fellow Joshua Culpepper, the study tracked historical shifts in ice thickness and quality to determine how global temperature rises will affect the number of safe days on the ice.

““We used a lake ice model to examine changes in ice thickness of the Northern Hemisphere between 1850 and 2100,” says Culpepper. “We show that although many lakes are still forecasted to freeze, as warmer temperatures become the norm, they will be unsafe to use for a longer time especially if more white ice, than black ice forms.”

The quality of ice, how strong it is and how much weight it can hold, differs depending on whether it’s predominantly white or black ice.

“White ice conditions increase the risk of falling through the ice as white ice has a lower load bearing capacity compared to black ice at the same thickness,” says Culpepper, who cautions that as the climate heats, white ice conditions are expected to increase.

Shoulder seasons is when it is most unsafe

Lake ice formation in the Northern Hemisphere could be delayed anywhere from Nov. 15 to Jan. 18, dictated by how high average temperatures climb – 1 C, 2 C or 4 C – and it is during this transition that white ice is most likely to form.

“We found lake ice will likely be unsafe longer at the beginning, than the end, of the ice season. Although the lakes will be frozen, they could be unsafe to use for three to four weeks at the beginning of winter and for an extra week at the end when ice is predicted to decay rapidly,” says Sharma.

“This rapid break up of safe ice conditions suggests that the end of the ice season will offer some of the most dangerous conditions, but the beginning of the season is also highly risky. The greatest number of drownings through ice occur at the beginning and end of the ice season and this risk is expected to be higher with climate change.”

How does white ice differ from black ice?

Even though the ice might measure the right thickness to venture out for a skate or snowmobile ride, if it is comprised mainly of white ice, it likely won’t hold. This has already resulted in dozens of drownings, say the researchers.

White ice is more likely to form when temperatures are warmer than usual or there are warm rainy days following very cold days. It is usually opaque, like snow, and filled with more air bubbles, smaller ice crystals, and holds less weight than black ice. At temperatures close to 0 C, it could be more than 50 per cent weaker. Steady cold temperatures are needed for black ice formation, which is clear and dense, has few air pockets and larger ice crystals, making it able to hold heavier loads.

Guidelines on ice thickness for people, snowmobiles, cars and transport trucks on the ice are based on black ice. If people are measuring the ice thickness without accounting for the type of ice, that could lead to life-threatening plunges through the ice.

Lake ice is unsafe when it thins to less than 10 cm of black ice, less than 15 cm of equal parts black and white ice, or less than 20 cm of white ice. The formation of white ice is expected to increase as temperatures climb increasing the unsafe transition period.

In Canada last December, six people, including a couple of teens in Ontario, died within a week plunging through thin ice. Two more died in Ontario this February. In Finland, four people died from falling through weak ice in January and February alone, where the average is said to be 18 people annually. In Sweden, 16 people drowned from falling through the ice in 2014 and at least nine in 2021, for example.

The researchers hope to get the word out on the increasing precariousness of lake ice today and into the future, and hope people will take precautions before venturing onto the ice, even if it looks solid enough.

The paper, , was published today in the journal PLOS ONE.

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Science Professor Jesse Rogerson has published a new book, Daydreaming in the Solar System (MIT Press), with co-author John Moores, a professor at Lassonde, that takes readers on adventures to distant planets, moons, asteroids, and comets. Each chapter is a tale about a unique escapade, with accurate descriptions rooted in science and watercolour illustrations by 91��ɫ Biology student Michelle Parsons.

“In this book we tried to transport people to real places in space and give them a sense of what it would be like to be there,” explained Rogerson, who is a professor in the Division of Natural Science in the Department of Science, Technology & Society. “What would you see, hear, smell, feel and taste? The stories are science fiction in a sense, but also as real and accurate as it can get based on what we know as scientists.”

For instance, one of the chapters is about cave diving through one of Saturn’s moons, which would be made of ice and very porous. Another chapter takes the reader surfing on Saturn’s rings, “which would be like floating through a fog,” Rogerson described. In another story, the reader takes a hot air balloon trip around Venus, which has very fast winds and a similar atmospheric pressure to Earth at 60-70 km above the surface; apparently, no space suit would be required.

“The goal was to make it an accessible and exciting reading experience for a lay audience, and for readers to be able to imagine themselves being there. Space is everyone’s space, and it is still nature, so I see the book as a creative way of helping people appreciate and respect the wonders that are out there.”

The book sparks imagination through not just the stories, but also the watercolour illustrations in each chapter that are “real and surreal at the same time,” said Rogerson. They depict the reality of environments that people have never been to before.

The illustrations were done by Michelle Parsons, who previously worked as an engineer and is now a science illustrator (see ) and an undergraduate student in the Biology program at 91��ɫ.

“I have always loved art, and my passion for science illustration grew from trying to recreate the natural world accurately. Studying biology is helping me to expand my toolbox as an artist.”

Parsons worked in parallel with Rogerson and Moores, taking drafts of the chapters and developing rough sketches that were then turned into detailed paintings as the stories were finalized.

Daydreaming in the Solar System is available at the , , and other .

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91��ɫ biology PhD student Gliselle Marin is leading conservation efforts in Belize by studying the way the country’s bats contribute to biodiversity, while trying to remove the larger stigmas associated with the nocturnal animals.

Marin’s commitment to bats was inked two years ago when she put aside a lifelong fear of needles and had three of the flying mammals tattooed on the nape of her neck.

Today, the international student is leveraging all that she is learning about bats to help lead local conservation efforts in Belize, the richly biodiverse country where she was born.

“I see a future where the people who live amongst the biodiversity here have agency over the resources around them,” said Marin, whose research takes her to the forests of Belize three times a year for weeks at a time.

She has just wrapped up a five-night bat survey in the Lamanai Archaeological Reserve, which is built around the ruins of a pre-classic Mayan city. This kind of field research involves capturing bats in nets and harp traps, which can catch flying bats more easily without damaging their wings.

She is logging the species she finds and also studying their diets. By extracting DNA from their dung, she hopes to understand whether bats are diversifying what they consume because they like the variety, or because they aren’t getting the nectar, fruit or insects they need from their environment.

Through her field work in Belize, she found that a species of bat believed to limit its food intake to nectar was also eating insects. This particular bat had evolved to have an elongated nose like a hummingbird and a hairy, retractable tongue to help it take in the nectar. Yet, it was eating insects.

“That’s what my research is based off,” said Marin. “I’m looking at what different guilds of bats are supposed to be eating and investigating further to see if there are more anomalies in what they are actually eating.”

What her research finds could lead to improved bat conservation and efforts to conserve the country’s forests, which are under threat from agricultural expansion, as well as climate and natural disasters like hurricanes. Healthy bats mean healthy forests.

The role birds play in the ecosystem is better understood; yet, at night, when bats are active, they take over many of the same jobs, including dispersing seeds that will grow first in degraded areas and build back forests.

“The birds perform all these ecosystem roles during the daytime. And bats are kind of their counterparts at night,” she said.

Marin is part of a small movement trying to educate communities, both locally and further afield, about that connection.

She works closely with her supervisor, Elizabeth Clare, an assistant professor of biology at 91��ɫ who runs the Clare Lab devoted to biodiversity, and goes by @Dr_bat_girl on social media.

They both share a desire to raise awareness about the contributions of bats to the ecosystem through her work, and also to destigmatize them.

“They go under the radar a lot because they’re still stigmatized. When you hear of bats, you think rabies or that they fly into your hair,” she said.

“There’s a lot that people just don’t know. The more I learn about bats, the more I realize how amazing they are.”

Courtesy of YFile

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With 91��ɫ’s new Markham Campus now open, the campus is prioritizing opportunities that demonstrate 91��ɫ’s leadership experiential education (EE), which is increasingly a focus in Canada’s halls of higher learning. It is doing so with innovative new programs, including two rooted in biotechnology.

“The vision for the Markham Campus from the onset was to provide our students with access to high-level experiential education opportunities,” said Dan Palermo, interim deputy provost, Markham. “This vision aligns with the broader vision of 91��ɫ to expand experiential education opportunities for students across the institution.

“This is also in response to what students want as part of their academic journey, even what parents want for their children as they go to post-secondary school. And it does prepare students better for the workforce,” Palermo said.

The Markham Campus offers degree programs and micro-credentials focused on EE, digital technologies and entrepreneurship. Among the courses benefiting from the campus’s focus on EE are the brand-new Communication, Social Media & Public Relations course, the Digital Technologies course and the Computer Science for Software Development course, which will all include work terms in Markham-based industries or non-profits.

The Markham Campus’s new Master of Biotechnology Management (MBM) program and Graduate Diploma in Biotechnology will also advance the University’s EE leadership, closely aligning classroom education with what the industry has said workers need.

In the case of the biotechnology programs, the course experiences were – in fact – specifically designed that way.

Jade Atallah, graduate program director of biotechnology at Markham and an assistant professor in the teaching stream in the Department of Biology; and Luz Puentes Jácome, an assistant professor in the teaching stream in the Department of Biology, developed the curricula and pedagogical approaches of the biotechnology programs after listening to the industry. 

“Pedagogically, we knew that experiential education must be at the centre of curricular delivery,” Atallah said. “Because we were working with new programs, it was a relief that no retrofitting was needed. We were able to start from the ground up, where experiential education was at the centre and everything else came around it.”

Indeed, the graduate biotechnology programs incorporate immersive and multimodal experiential learning such as industry workshops, industry fireside chats, participation in biotechnology conferences, industry challenge questions, interdisciplinary capstone projects and industry internships.

“We bring in industry partners to act as industry mentors, and our graduate program students work in groups as consultants and try to solve a problem posed by the industry mentor,” said Puentes Jácome.

“In that way, they’re working directly in an industry context. They go through the process of figuring out a solution for this program, doing some literature search and writing a white paper. Then they’ll have a final presentation in which we will bring all the industry mentors together to observe the presentations and to network with our students.”

The programs are interdisciplinary. In the case of the MBM program, students integrate management training with the biotechnology portion of the course. “This would prepare the students to, perhaps, run a biotech startup,” Puentes Jácome said. For example, she said, “they might work toward creating a water bottle with biology, not fossil fuels.”

Marisol John is a student in the Master of Biotechnology Management program and is among those who have seen the many possibilities for a biotech career available to them through the program.

 “I have learnt so much about this industry, and I’m excited to continue this process of directly engaging with real-world industry problems,” she said.

John is already envisioning ways she can apply her in-class experiences.

“I have a very deep passion for agri-bio and environmental biology,” John said. “Coming from a Caribbean island, Dominica – the greenest island in the Caribbean – I think this program will afford me a diverse skill set to effect positive and sustainable change in my country.”

Her undergrad thesis was based on the therapeutic applications of ginger, something John hopes to expand upon. Her grandparents treated flu and upset stomachs with ginger tea, and John’s research showed it’s used for many therapeutic reasons, including pneumonia, tuberculosis and asthma. But, she said, there is limited information available on these topics.

“I am using this to drive the rest of my career,” said John. “I am learning how various biotech industries can be integrated to bridge the knowledge gap and innovatively solve problems related to crops, agricultural sustainability, food processing and diversification. The possibilities are endless.”

Thanks to the experiential education opportunities provided by the new Markham Campus – like those in biotechnology – the possibilities will be endless for other students, too.

With files from Julie Carl

Courtesy of YFile

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Several studies have looked at lake ice quantity and its duration, but there is little research on the quality of the ice which directly corresponds to how safe it is to venture out on.

Ice may look safe for a game of pick-up hockey on the lake, but as a new study out of 91��ɫ found, looks can be deceiving. Warming winters are not only affecting ice thickness and timing – when a lake freezes and thaws – but also quality, making it potentially unstable and unsafe.

When lakes and rivers freeze, there are two predominant layers of ice, what’s called white ice and black ice. White ice is generally opaque, like snow, and filled with more air bubbles and smaller ice crystals, diminishing its strength and stability, while black ice is clear and dense with few air pockets and larger ice crystals making it a lot stronger.

“Ice quality is important because of its direct implications for load bearing capacity for human safety and also how much light will transmit under ice for life under frozen lakes,” says 91��ɫ Professor Sapna Sharma.

The problem, says lead author and 91��ɫ Postdoctoral Fellow Joshua Culpepper, is that the unpredictable and warmer winter weather is creating thinner layers of black ice and sometimes a corresponding thicker layer of white ice, the unstable kind. The two combined can make for treacherous conditions for skaters, hockey players, snowmobilers, ice anglers and ice truckers.

“We know that in general, lake ice is forming later in the season and breaking up earlier, which implies an overall shorter duration of ice cover, but our study looked at what the ice is doing. How is it changing? You might get periods of time when people are on the ice and they think it’s safe, but it really isn’t. It’s not sufficiently thick enough given the changes in the quality,” says Culpepper.

10 cm no longer the golden rule

Thickness alone is no longer a good predictor of safe ice. If there is too much white ice and not enough black ice, the ice it may not be strong enough to hold a person’s weight. It’s what the researchers are calling a dangerous combination.

“For a human to go out on the ice to skate or play, that requires about 10 centimeters or four inches of black ice…but what we’re seeing and what we’re predicting is that climate change is contributing to more white ice conditions,” says Sharma, who recommends people measure the ice and if there is only a thin layer of black ice to double the usual recommended thickness to at least 20 cm.

“Black ice is clear and there’s no slush. You shouldn’t be walking over slush,” says Sharma, she adds that it’s always best to go with someone or a group.

On thin ice

The lack of consideration for quality ice is already leading to a loss of life. In Canada last December, six people, including a couple of teens in Ontario, died within a week plunging through thin ice. Two more died in Ontario this February. In Finland, four people died from falling through weak ice in January and February alone, where the average is said to be 18 people annually. In Sweden, 16 people drowned from falling through the ice in 2014 and at least nine in 2021, for example.

The findings from a 2020 study led by Sharma found widespread drowning across the Northern Hemisphere, but surprisingly, northern Canada, the territories, had the highest drownings per capita even though it was the coldest.

“That is because of the dramatic changes in the Arctic which is warming four times faster than the rest of the globe so it’s not just southern regions that are experiencing these changes in ice conditions, but also far north. What you would consider to be like extremely cold icy areas,” says Sharma.

“For a transport truck, they require 100 cm or about 42 inches of black ice. So those benchmarks on transportation are no longer viable because there is more white ice, which is approximately less than half the strength of black ice. What we’re predicting is a 95 to a 99 per cent loss in winter ice road transportation infrastructure without meaningful adaptations for ice safety.”

That could mean remote communities are at risk of not being cut off and unable to access food, supplies, medicine and the like, during the winter.

Unseasonable winter weather

For this study, Culpepper and some of his co-authors had to stop taking ice measurements in mid-February on Lake Simcoe and early March on Paint Lake in the Muskoka region because the ice cover was dangerously thin.

Changes in precipitation from unseasonably warm weather is creating a lot of the unsafe ice conditions and unpredictability. Warmer temperatures, rain and even snow can alter the strength and thickness of lake ice.

Sharma and Culpepper recommend checking the weather reports for the last month.

“Lake ice has a memory,” says Sharma. “All of the weather fluctuations are stored in the ice. If the temperature was over 0 C for a period of time, if there was rain or if there were extremely sunny conditions, all of that can affect the safety of the ice for human use. When there are freeze thaw events or temperatures are above 0 C, the ice becomes weaker, and it becomes structurally less stable.”

Underneath the ice

The diminishing quality of ice is also affecting life below, the amount of nutrients available for fish and other aquatic life, such as invertebrates, as well as phytoplankton which needs light for photosynthesis, but with more white ice, it’s blocking some of that light and compromising the health of the ecosystem.

But as Culpepper says, their study is one of only a few that looks at the quality of lake ice and yet that ice is changing dramatically. “The thing that stuck out to me first is the surprising lack of data that we have on ice quality broadly,” he says. “We were diving into what data was available, but trying to find exactly what we could work with in terms of data that’s available in the Northern Hemisphere was pretty challenging.”

What’s needed, he says, is regular measurements of ice quality, including black and white ice thickness, throughout the Northern Hemisphere.

The paper, , was published today in the journal Nature Reviews Earth and Environment.

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Chemistry Professor Kim received $100,000 for the project “Methods to Create Mutations in Cells to Understand and Treat Disease.” Kim’s project will involve the creation of new technologies and special tools for protein engineering and genome editing, enabling him and his lab to alter the genetic code of cells. This type of innovation will advance Kim’s study of the genetic differences of various diseases, including cancer, diabetes and heart disease, in the hope it can also be used to help find better treatments. In addition, the researchers believe this new technology holds the potential to grow more climate-resilient plants and could be adopted by Canadian pharmaceutical companies and agriculture businesses for future applications.

Biology Professor Logan Donaldson received $155,000 for the project “An Advanced Platform for Biomolecular NMR Spectroscopy.” The funding will support an upgrade of the electronics to the high-field 700 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer in the Life Sciences Building. The Avance-Neo platform upgrade will provide a new opportunity for Donaldson and 12 other researchers affiliated with the 91��ɫ U YSciCore facility to obtain the most sensitive and detailed information of biomolecules linked to neurodegenerative disease, biosensor design, antibiotic resistance and vaccine development. The funding also provides support for an intensive computing platform that will enable AI design of new biomolecules with therapeutic and diagnostic potentials.

Courtesy of YFile.

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