BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX To earn a living in the hectic world of freelance writing takes a certain set of skills and an understanding of the field. Some of these abilities you can pick up in books and courses, while others only come with experience and learning from others. Here, then, are some tips and advice from folks -- myself included -- who have gone down the hectic path of freelancing, an...
Astronomy today is in the midst of an unprecedented golden age of discovery. Robotic spacecraft routinely visit distant worlds while space telescopes probe the edge of the universe. Next Wave takes its own cosmic survey and examines if these ongoing breakthroughs are translating into career opportunities for young researchers.
Sean Shaheen (pictured left) a senior scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, no longer works 70-hour weeks as he did when he was a postdoc. Sure, his working days are busy, even frenzied at times. But these days he makes an effort to carve out personal time for himself on weekends, and to balance his love of nature with his passion for research. For Shah...
Science writing encompasses a wide variety of niches that can include writing for newspapers, mass-market magazines, trade publications, university press offices, broadcast media, and newsletters, among many other venues. But regardless of where you end up publishing -- most writers end up working several of the venues listed above -- a great way to learn the terrain is to listen to others who al...
Growing up in a small town outside of Ottawa, Raymond Saumure (pictured left) could never have imagined that one day he would be flying across the continent with 300 pound sea turtles in tow, from Miami to Los Angeles, and then trucking them in an 18-wheeler for a haul through the Mojave Desert to a Las Vegas casino. Yet that's exactly what this Canadian turtle researcher found himself doing rece...
To Gino DiLabio (pictured left), nanotechnology seemed like the stuff of science fiction when he was studying chemistry at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York. "While I was doing my studies, I never heard of nanotechnology other than in the context of the science-fiction realm," says DiLabio, who now works in Edmonton's growing nanotechnology hub. "It was only a short time ago that I really ...
Next Wave looks at how a mathematics graduate branched out into a career as a professor of plant science, bringing together his passions for theoretical and experimental work.
BACK TO FEATURE ARTICLE A century after Einstein's breakthroughs, his legacy has a firm foothold in Canada, judging by the attention Canada's Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI) is gaining from the international scientific community. Since its launch more than 3 years ago, the independent research facility is fast becoming one of the world's top centers for quantum theory and is attr...
It's widely accepted that the health of the polar regions has profound global effects on the climate, environment, and even human society. In the hopes of gaining a deeper understanding of these remote areas and their far-reaching influences, the worldwide research community is preparing for International Polar Year (IPY) in 2007. With an estimated $1 billion being spent by over 100 participating...
BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX Imagine a future in which jet fighters can navigate and land on aircraft carriers autonomously and search-and-rescue teams can pinpoint a person's exact location even in the remotest spots on or below the Earth. This is fast becoming a reality thanks to research and development in the field of geomatics, the science of the production and management of spatial information...
Established in 2001, the computational neuroscience research group at the University of Waterloo is planning to hire new faculty and getting set to open up its own centre.
BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX If life can thrive in the most hostile regions here on Earth, could it exist even on Mars? Researchers are scouring the most extreme environments in our world to answer this question. Canadian paleogeologist Darlene Lim (pictured left) is at the front line. Currently a postdoc at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, Lim conducts biogeological research in some of th...
