Caption: Researchers from the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in Genoa (Italy) and Brown University in Providence (USA) have discovered that people sense the hand of a humanoid robot as part of their body schema, particularly when it comes to carrying out a task together, like slicing a bar of soap. Credit: IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia
Researchers from the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in Genoa (Italy) and Brown University in Providence (USA) have discovered that people sense the hand of a humanoid robot as part of their body schema, particularly when it comes to carrying out a task together, like slicing a bar of soap. The study has been published in the journal iScience and can pave the way for a better design of robots that have to function in close contact with humans, such as those used in rehabilitation.
The project, led by Alessandra Sciutti, IIT Principal Investigator of the CONTACT unit at IIT, in collaboration with Brown University professor Joo-Hyun Song, explored whether unconscious mechanisms that shape interactions between humans also emerge in interactions between a person and a humanoid robot.
Researchers focused on a phenomenon known as the “near-hand effect”, in which the presence of a hand near an object alters visual attention of a person, because the brain is preparing to use the object. Moreover, the study considers the human brain’s ability to create its “body schema” to move more efficiently in the surrounding space, by integrating objects into it as well.
Through an unconscious process shaped by external stimuli, the brain builds a “body schema” that helps us avoid obstacles or grab objects without looking at them. Any tools can become part of this internal map as long as they are useful for a task, like a tennis racket that feels like an arm extension to the player who uses it daily. Since body schema is constantly evolving, the research team led by Sciutti explored whether a robot could also become part of it.
Giulia Scorza Azzarà, PhD student at IIT and first author of the study, designed and analyzed the results of experiments where people carried out a joint task with iCub, the IIT’s child-sized humanoid robot. They sliced a bar of soap together by using a steel wire, alternately pulled by the person and the robotic partner.
After the activity, researchers verified the integration of the robotic hand into the body schema, quantifying the near hand effect with the Posner cueing task. This test challenges participants to press a key as quickly as possible to indicate on which side of the screen an image appears, while an object placed right next to the screen influences their attention. Data from 30 volunteers showed a specific pattern: participants reacted faster when images appeared next to the robot’s hand, showing that their brains had treated it much like a near hand. Thanks to control experiments, researchers proved that this effect appeared only in those who had sliced the soap with the robot.
The strength of the near hand effect also depended on how the humanoid robot moved. When the robot’s gestures were broad, fluid, and well synchronized with the human ones, the effect was stronger, resulting in a better integration of iCub’s hand into the participant’s body schema. Physical closeness between the robotic hand and the person also played a role: the nearer the robot’s hand was to the participant during the slicing task, the greater the effect.
To assess how participants perceived the robot after working together on the task, researchers gathered information through questionnaires. The results show that the more participants saw iCub as competent and pleasant, the more intense the cognitive effect was. Attributing human-like traits or emotions to iCub further boosted the hand’s integration in the body schema; in other words, partnership and empathy enhanced the cognitive bond with the robot.
The team carried out experiments with a humanoid robot under controlled conditions, paving the way for a deeper understanding of human-machine interactions. Psychological factors will be essential to designing robots able to adapt to human stimuli and able to provide a more intuitive and effective robotic experience. These are crucial features for application of robotics in motor rehabilitation, virtual reality, and assistive technologies.
The research is part of the ERC-funded wHiSPER project, coordinated by IIT’s CONTACT (COgNiTive Architecture for Collaborative Technologies) unit.
Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,
Collaborating with a robot biases human spatial attention by Giulia Scorza Azzarà, Joshua Zonca, Francesco Rea, Joo-Hyun Song, Alessandra Sciutti. iScience Volume 28, Issue 7, 18 July 2025, 112791 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.112791 Available online 2 June 2025, Version of Record 18 June 2025 Under a Creative Commons license CC BY 4.0 Attribution 4.0 International Deed
This paper is open access.
This business of a robot becoming an extension of your body, i.e., becoming part of you, is reminiscent of some issues brought up in my October 21, 2025 posting “Copyright, artificial intelligence, and thoughts about cyborgs,” such as, N. Katherine Hayles’s assemblages and, more specifically, the issues brought up in the section titled, “Symbiosis and your implant.”
Canadian research into relationships with domestic robots
Zhao Zhao’s (assistant professor in Computer Science at the University of Guelph) September 11, 2025 essay for The Conversation highlights results from one of her recently published studies, Note: Links have been removed,
Social companion robots are no longer just science fiction. In classrooms, libraries and homes, these small machines are designed to read stories, play games or offer comfort to children. They promise to support learning and companionship, yet their role in family life often extends beyond their original purpose.
In our recent study of families in Canada and the United States, we found that even after a children’s reading robot “retired” or was no longer in active and regular use, most households chose to keep it — treating it less like a gadget and more like a member of the family.
Luka is a small, owl-shaped reading robot, designed to scan and read picture books aloud, making storytime more engaging for young children.
In 2021, my colleague Rhonda McEwen and I set out to explore how 20 families used Luka. We wanted to study not just how families used Luka initially, but how that relationship was built and maintained over time, and what Luka came to mean in the household. Our earlier work laid the foundation for this by showing how families used Luka in daily life and how the bond grew over the first months of use.
When we returned in 2025 to follow up with 19 of those families, we were surprised by what we found. Eighteen households had chosen to keep Luka, even though its reading function was no longer useful to their now-older children. The robot lingered not because it worked better than before, but because it had become meaningful.
A deep, emotional connection
Children often spoke about Luka in affectionate, human-like terms. One called it “my little brother.” Another described it as their “only pet.” These weren’t just throwaway remarks — they reflected the deep emotional place the robot had taken in their everyday lives.
Because Luka had been present during important family rituals like bedtime reading, children remembered it as a companion.
Parents shared similar feelings. Several explained that Luka felt like “part of our history.” For them, the robot had become a symbol of their children’s early years, something they could not imagine discarding. One family even held a small “retirement ceremony” before passing Luka on to a younger cousin, acknowledging its role in their household.
Other families found new, practical uses. Luka was repurposed as a music player, a night light or a display item on a bookshelf next to other keepsakes. Parents admitted they continued to charge it because it felt like “taking care of” the robot.
The device had long outlived its original purpose, yet families found ways to integrate it into daily routines.
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Luka the robot. Image by Dr Zhao Zhao, University of Guelph
Zhao also wrote an August 8, 2025 essay about her 2025 followup study on families and their Luka robots for Frontiers Media,
What happens to a social robot after it retires?
Four years ago, we placed a small owl-shaped reading robot named Luka into 20 families’ homes. At the time, the children were preschoolers, just learning to read. Luka’s job was clear: scan the pages of physical picture books and read them aloud, helping children build early literacy skills.
That was in 2021. In 2025, we went back — not expecting to find much. The children had grown. The reading level was no longer age-appropriate. Surely, Luka’s work was done.
Instead, we found something extraordinary.
18 of 19 families still had their robot. Many were still charging it. A few used it as a music player. Some simply left it on a shelf—next to baby books and keepsakes—its eyes still glowing gently. Luka had stayed.
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As more families bring AI-powered companions into their homes, we’ll need to better understand not only how they’re used — but how they’re remembered.
Because sometimes, the robot stays.
For the curious, here’s a link to and a citation for the 2025 followup study,
Trying to distinguish between robots and artificial intelligence (AI) can mean wading into murky waters. Not all robots have (AI) and not all AI is embodied in a robot and cyborgs add more complexity.
N. Katherine Hayles’ 2025 book “Bacteria to AI; Human Futures with our Nonhuman Symbionts” mentioned in my October 21, 2025 posting “Copyright, artificial intelligence, and thoughts about cyborgs” does not make a distinction, which may or may not be important. We just don’t know. It seems we are in the process of redefining our relationships to the life and the objects around us as we redefine what it means to be a person.
There was a bit of online excitement over the possibility that gene-edited pork would be entering the Canadian market soon. Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada have a public consultation focused on the risk assessment process regarding the entry of gene-edited pigs into Canada’s food system. Before giving a link to the relevant government website, I have some information.
Factual
The best outline I could find was in Hailey Bennett’s July 10, 2025 article “US meat could soon be gene-edited. Here’s what that means” for British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) Science Focus, Note 1: Bennett seems unaware that gene-edited pork may reach the Canadian market first; Note 2: Links have been removed,
From hot dogs to crispy bacon, US food staples could be made of gene-edited meat as early as 2026. Yes, really: the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the farming of a specific kind of genetically enhanced pig. And regulators around the world may not be far behind.
So, should we be worried? Will this pork truly be safe to eat? And just how ethical is it to create these pigs?
The first thing you should know: not every gene-edited animal will be directly spawned from a lab. Rather, such livestock are merely bred from animals whose DNA was edited early on – often at the single-cell or fertilised egg stage [also known as germline editing] – to give them beneficial traits.
And no, this gene editing isn’t about making pork taste better –it’s about protecting pigs from disease.
For instance, British company Genus has now farmed pigs with a genetic tweak that makes them resistant to PRRS (Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome), a virus that attacks pigs’ immune cells. PRRS is a major threat: it can kill piglets, trigger miscarriages in pregnant sows, and weaken pigs’ immune systems, leaving them vulnerable to other infections.
These genetically enhanced pigs are even less of a novelty when you consider there is no effective vaccine for PRRS.
…
How heavily are these pigs being altered – and at what cost to their welfare? They’re fair questions. But in reality, the change is surprisingly minimal.
To stop the PRRS virus in its tracks, scientists snipped out a small section of pig DNA – part of the CD163 protein, which the virus uses to enter pig cells.
Pigs with the edited gene are resistant to almost all known strains of PRRS but are otherwise, Genus claims, “the same as conventional pigs”. And despite initial concerns that the virus could evolve to recognise and avoid the edited protein, that hasn’t happened so far.
According to Dr Christine Tait-Burkard, a Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute, who worked with Genus to develop the original gene-edited pigs, the natural CD163 protein they edited is “like nine beads on a string.” The edit removes only bead number five.
…
As Tait-Burkard explains, the edit is one that could also be naturally present in some pigs. “The chances are that there’s a pig somewhere in the world that’s resistant to this virus,” she says. “But we just don’t have the time to naturally breed this in. That’s where we have to start using biotechnology to integrate it into the breeding herd.”
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In the 1990s and 2000s, genetically modified (GM) crops generated headlines and consumer concern about ‘Frankenfoods’. Ultimately, though, many GM crops were approved and the majority of scientists consider them safe to eat. These modified crops often carry foreign DNA – ‘Bt’ corn, for example, contains a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, enabling it to make a protein that kills insect pests.
The current generation of CRISPR-edited food products, by contrast, only contain changes that could naturally occur within the species. Scientists aren’t inventing entirely new kinds of pigs.
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Bennett’s July 10, 2025 article does a good job of covering the topic but I advise supplementing it with other pieces.
Canada and the gene-edited pig
Sylvain Charlebois’ July 3, 2025 article “Transparency is paramount as gene-edited pork approaches market launch” for Canadian Grocer takes what can seem like abstract questions about gene-edited pigs and applies them to real life issues, Note: I have two “[sic?]’s” as I have been unable to confirm when gene-edited pork is likely to enter the Canadian market. At a guess, Charlebois is saying that Canadian consumers are likely to get the products later in 2025,
In April [2025], the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the commercial distribution of pigs genetically edited with CRISPR technology to resist porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), a costly and widespread disease in pork production. These pigs are expected to enter the American market in 2026 [sic?]. Yet, Canadian consumers could start seeing gene-edited pork products in stores—unlabeled and unannounced—as early as next year [sic?].
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Canada imported more than US$850 million worth of U.S. pork last year, according to the National Pork Producers Council. So, regardless of Canadian regulatory decisions, gene-edited meat is coming. And yet, no label will tell you whether your pork chop or bacon came from a genetically altered animal.
That lack of transparency is precisely what Quebec-based duBreton, North America’s leading organic pork producer, is warning against. The company argues that gene editing is incompatible with organic and humane production standards—and more importantly, with informed consumer choice. Whether or not gene-edited meat poses a food safety risk isn’t the central issue. The issue is whether consumers have the right to know how their food was produced.
…
… GM [genetic modification] technology has long been accepted in grain production. Genetically modified ingredients—largely from corn, canola and soy—are now commonplace in processed foods. These technologies have contributed to yield stability and lower input costs for farmers. But even in grains, labeling remains inconsistent, and the average consumer still doesn’t know which products contain modified ingredients.
What’s different in livestock is the emotional and ethical connection people have with animals and meat. A pork chop isn’t just a commodity—it represents values tied to animal welfare, sustainability and trust in the food system. That’s why gene editing in livestock raises more scrutiny than it has in crop science.
To be clear, gene editing isn’t inherently a bad thing. …
The failure isn’t scientific—it’s strategic. Rather than building a transparent narrative around innovation, the industry has often opted for silence, leaving the public to fill in the blanks. That vacuum has been seized by special interest groups, some of which traffic in fear and misinformation. The “Frankenfood” rhetoric may have been overblown, but it did shine a light on an ethical principle we should not ignore: consumers deserve to know.
Labeling gene-edited products is not about fear—it’s about trust. Informed choice is the cornerstone of any credible food policy. Consumers don’t need to be protected from innovation, but they do need to be respected. The question is not whether gene-edited meat should exist, it’s whether its presence should be hidden.
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Public engagement/consultation
Gwendolyn Blue’s (professor, University of Calgary) July 10, 2025 essay for The Conversation suggested more and better public consultation should be part of the process, Note: Links have been removed,
The Canadian government is currently considering approving the entry of gene-edited pigs into the food system.
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These pigs are resistant to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), a horrible and sometimes fatal disease that affects pigs worldwide. PRRS has significant economic, food security and animal welfare implications.
The United States Food and Drug Administration [FDA] recently greenlit the commercial production of gene-edited pigs. Will the Canadian government follow suit?
AquAdvantage and EnviroPig
In 2016, Canada approved the first transgenic animal for human consumption — an Atlantic salmon called AquAdvantage salmon that contains DNA from other species of fish.
This approval came more than 25 years after the genetically modified fish was created by scientists at Memorial University in Newfoundland. The approval and commercialization of AquAdvantage salmon faced strong public opposition on both sides of the border, including protests, supermarket boycotts and court battles. In 2024, the company that produced AquAdvantage salmon announced that it was shutting down its operations [emphases mine].
In 2012, the Canadian government approved the manufacture of a transgenic pig known by its trade name, EnviroPig. Created by scientists at the University of Guelph, EnviroPigs released less phosphorus than conventionally bred pigs.
EnviroPig did not make it to market; the same year, the University of Guelph ended the EnviroPig project. Funding for the project had been suspended, in part because of consumer concerns.
Government regulation
Some researchers argue that government regulation of gene-edited animals should be less restrictive than for transgenic techniques. Gene editing introduces genetic changes that can occur with conventional animal breeding that is not subject to regulation. Gene-edited crops in Canada are treated the same as conventionally bred crops.
Others insist that stringent government regulation is necessary for gene editing to identify potential problems and ensure that laws keep up with industry and scientific ambition. Regulation plays a vital role in minimizing risk, encouraging public involvement and building trust.
Social science research has, for decades, demonstrated that resistance to biotechnology is not because of the public’s lack of knowledge [emphasis mine], as is often argued by biotechnology proponents. Public resistance to biotechnology is better understood as a rejection of potential harms imposed by governments and industry without public input and consent [emphasis mine].
Ethical, moral, cultural and political concerns
…
Similar to the U.S., Canada does not have specific gene technology regulation. Rather, the federal government relies on pre-existing environmental and food safety legislation. Canadian regulatory agencies use a risk, novelty and product-based approach to assess animal biotechnology. From a regulatory standpoint, distinctions between technical processes — like transgenic modification versus gene editing — are less important than the safety of the final product.
The Canadian government has recently updated its federal environmental and health regulations. This includes introducing mandatory public consultations for animals (vertebrates, specifically) created using biotechnology.
…
… regulatory and academic debates about the gene editing of animals are largely informed by scientists and industry proponents with considerably less input from the public, Indigenous communities and social sciences and humanities researchers.
Consulting the public
From a social standpoint, the process by which gene editing is assessed matters as much as the safety of the final product. Inclusive public engagement is essential to ensure that the production of gene-edited food animals aligns with societal needs and values.
Reactions to gene technologies are based on underlying values and beliefs, and sustained opportunities for public reflection and deliberation are vital for responsible innovation.
Important questions should be addressed: Who will reap the benefits of gene-editing techniques? Who will bear the costs and harms? What are the potential implications, including hard-to-anticipate social and political changes? How should decision-making proceed to ensure that Canadians have sufficient opportunities for input?
Currently, for the gene-edited pigs, members of the public can submit comments to the government until July 20, 2025.
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Measured optimism and a lot of enthusiasm (two articles)
Geralyn Wichers’s April 3, 2025 article for The Western Producer provided more details and measured optimism,
Canadian consumers are largely fine with pork from gene-edited pigs — at least once the science and benefits are explained to them.
That’s according to new research from genetic development company PIC (Pig Improvement Company), which is using gene editing technology to develop a pig resistant to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS).
A survey found that, after consumers read a description of gene editing in food and the PRRS-resistant pig, 49 per cent indicated positive or very positive sentiments, 38 per cent were neutral while 14 per cent were negative or very negative.
“Even though we’ve seen a lot of investments in things like vaccines and improved biosecurity, the problem is getting worse, not better,” said Banks Baker, PIC’s global director of product sustainability.
North America’s pork producers have been dealing with PRRS since the late 1980s. The viral disease causes respiratory issues in all ages of pigs. In breeding animals, though, it can derail reproductive performance.
…
A 2024 study by University of Guelph researcher Lynn Marchand estimated the annual cost of PRRS to a benchmark Manitoban 1,200-sow farrow-to-finish farm could be $588,709 to $631,602 [Manitoba is a province in Canada].
In January 2024, Ontario saw more severe cases of PRRS than it had in two years, veterinarian Dr. Ryan Tenbergen recently told attendees at the South Western Ontario Pork Conference. New strains of the disease, infecting more easily and severely, were also popping up in the United States.
The industry argues that genetically modified organisms have garnered a reputation for being unsafe and unhealthy, despite scientific evidence to the contrary. Further, they argue, gene editing is different.
Genetic modification typically refers to adding genetic information from an outside source, whereas gene editing generally involves making small changes to the organism’s existing genome.
“GMO has had a long shadow,” said Marisa Pooley, PIC’s director of communications.
“We have used it as a case study to make sure that we’re putting the consumer at the centre of this.”
Consumers identified reducing animal illness and antibiotic use reduction as factors that would motivate them to purchase gene-edited pork.
They seemed to like the idea that gene editing could help farmers raise healthier animals more sustainably and to grow crops better able to withstand climate change. The idea that gene editing can be used to cure human diseases such as sickle cell anemia and cancer also improved feelings.
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John Greig’s May 29, 20s5 article had details not in the other articles and presented a more impatient attitude,
The approval in the United States for food use of pigs gene edited to resist Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, or PRRS, will be a good test for Canada’s year-old approval process for gene editing.
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I’ve talked to farmers who have dealt with PRRS outbreaks, and many herds in Canada have battled it over the past 35 years. The level of abortion and respiratory stress the disease causes is hard to watch for the people who care for the pigs every day.
The Canadian industry is now skilled at managing and eliminating the disease once it’s in a production system, but it takes one biosecurity break before it is back again.
A gene-edited solution to reducing PRRS would be a tremendous win for animal welfare, the mental health of farm workers, and farm business productivity and profitability [emphasis mine].
I’m interested to see how quickly the gene-edited pigs are approved for food use in Canada [emphasis mine]. It will be an interesting test case, as genetic modification of livestock is something the public has not accepted, despite the potential improvements in animal welfare and food safety.
Canada created a process that follows much of the rest of the world in approving gene editing through conventional approval processes when the expression of the gene is not novel. Gene editing works by turning on and off already-existing genes within an organism.
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There’s momentum in Canada to catch up to the rest of the world in speed of approval of new agriculture technologies [emphasis mine], as government and industry push to improve the country’s lagging productivity.
The successful discovery of the gene edit is a win for a swine genetics sector that has undergone significant consolidation in the past decade to the point where there are only a handful of swine genetics companies.
The consolidation was driven by the rise of big data analytics and the need to invest in technologies like gene editing.
The PRRS resistance gene editing process was developed by GenusPIC, itself a merger of two large breeding companies, Genus and Pig Improvement Corporation (PIC). Unfortunately, unlike the dairy sector where Semex, a Canadian company, is one of the major players in genetics, there are no more Canadian swine genetics companies of any scale. Alliance Genetics was acquired by Danbred in 2022 and Genesus, the last independent Canadian swine genetics company has been through a receivership process and is now under new ownership.
Regarding approval for new agricultural technologies, I wish Greig had specified or given examples. The gene-edited pork that was the topic of his article raises the question: how could Canada be trailing the rest of the world where gene-edited pork is concerned since no other country (to my knowledge) has approved it for the consumer market? Assuming it’s approved.
Share your thoughts: Participate in the risk assessment process for four lines of Gene Edited Pigs [emphasis mine]
The New Substances program, is seeking comments, including scientific information and test data that could inform the risk assessment process for four lines of gene edited pigs notified by Genus PLC on April 22nd, 2025. This consultation is open from June 20, 2025, to July 20, 2025 [emphasis mine]
NSN Numbers: 22051, 22196-22198
Substance designation of the organisms:
A gene edited Sus scrofa domesticus, Landrace descended from the L02 line, lacking a binding site for Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV)
A gene edited Sus scrofa domesticus, Large White descended from the L03 line, lacking a binding site for Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV)
A gene edited Sus scrofa domesticus, mix breed of Pietrain, Large White, Hampshire and Durocs descended from the L65 line, lacking a binding site for Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV)
A gene edited Sus scrofa domesticus, Duroc descended from the L800 line, lacking a binding site for Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV)
Subject to consultation requirements under section 108.1 of CEPA: Yes, the organism is a vertebrate.
Activity: The notified organisms are four genetically edited domestic breeds of pigs (scientific name, Sus scrofa domesticus) which include:
Landrace
Large White
Mix of Pietrain, Large White, Hampshire and Duroc
Duroc
They are notified for use in breeding with commercially raised pigs used for pork production.
Genetic modifications: All four lines of pigs have had their genomes edited to remove a binding site for the virus that causes porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome PRRS. No new genetic material has been introduced to the notified organisms.
The gene editing is intended to remove the binding site for PRRS. Without this binding site, the virus is unable to bind and infect the host organism. PRRS is a highly contagious viral infection that is considered to be one of the most significant diseases in commercially raised pigs around the world. Currently, there is no effective treatment program for acute PRRS. The removal of the binding site for the PRRS virus from the notified organisms makes these pigs resistant to infection by the virus.
Exposure: According to the notifier, the pigs will be used for conventional breeding in commercial pig production systems in the same manner as non-edited pigs, to generate PRRS virus-resistant pig offspring for food and feed product use. The usage includes the import of animals derived from the edited pigs into production facilities in Canada. The notifier plans to maintain the animals under confinement and have described the biosafety and biosecurity procedures to be used at these facilities. There are no plans for any introduction into the environment outside production facilities
Waiver of information requirement: No waiver was requested.
Privacy Act Notice Statement
The personal information is collected under the authority of section 5 of the Department of the Environment Act and subsection 7(1) of the Financial Administration Act.
The New Substances Program, jointly administered by ECCC and Health Canada, is undertaking public consultation that could inform the risk assessment process for the four lines gene edited pigs. The information is collected, used and disclosed for the purpose of evaluating the potential risks posed by the gene edited organisms to the environment and human health. Information collected by ECCC will be retained by the department and shared with Health Canada for the purposes of the evaluation. Your participation and decision to provide any information is voluntary.
The personal information created, held or collected by Environment and Climate Change Canada is protected under the Privacy Act. Information from this consultation will be used, disclosed and retained in accordance with the conditions listed in the Personal Information Bank Outreach Activities PSU 938.
Any questions or comments regarding this privacy notice may be directed to ECCC’s Access to Information and Privacy Division at ECATIP-ECAIPRP@ec.gc.ca. If you are not satisfied that your privacy has been adequately respected, you have the right to file a complaint. You may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada by calling their information center at 1-800-282-1376 or by visiting their contact page.
Request for Confidentiality under CEPA
Please provide information in English or French. Your information may be summarized and published in part or in full. Pursuant to section 313 of CEPA, any person who provides information in response to New Substance Notification 22051, 22196, 22197, and 22198 may submit, with the information, a request that it be treated as confidential. A request for confidentiality must indicate which specific information or data should be treated as confidential, and it must be submitted with reasons taking into account the criteria referred to in subsection 313(2) of CEPA.
Include your name, affiliation, telephone number, e-mail and mailing address and use the following format in the title of your submission: Public Participation: [NSN number(s)] – [Substance Designation].
Join in: how to participate
All interested parties are invited to provide comments, including scientific information and test data related to potential risks to the environment or human health from the four lines of gene edited pigs. This information will be considered as part of the department’s assessment of the organism’s potential risks to the environment or human health, which is ongoing. A summary of the public comments received as well as the New Substances Program’s responses will be published once the evaluation has been completed.
By mail
Send us a letter with your comments and input to the address in the contact information below.
All people in Canada are invited to provide comments, including scientific information and test data that could inform the risk assessment process. Information that may inform the risk assessment process could include:
environmental fate information
ecological effects information
human health effects information or
exposure information (including sources and routes of exposure)
Science and Technology Branch Environment and Climate Change Canada Place Vincent Massey, 351 St. Joseph Blvd Gatineau QC K1A 0H3 Telephone: 1-800-567-1999 (Toll Free in Canada) or 1-819-938-3232 (Outside of Canada) E-mail: substances@ec.gc.ca
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Odds and sods
The Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC) ran an online panel “Navigating Geopolitical Shifts: Canada’s Innovation Strategy for Agriculture and Agrifood Sector” on May 21, 2025, which may or may not have included discussion of gene-editing. They have posted the video of the May 21, 2025 session (1.5 hours) online (or, should you be interested in some other session, you can check here)..
A September 5, 2025 announcement (received via email) from Toronto’s ArtSci Salon highlights three upcoming events. In date order, from the online version of the September 5, 2025 announcement, Note: The online version is on mailchi.mp and is time limited,
Book Launch To Place a Rabbit by Madhur Anand in conversation with Shyam Selvadurai
Tuesday, Sept. 9 2025 7:00 pm [ 7 – 8:30 pm ET] Another Story Bookstore 315 Roncesvalles avenue Toronto
I found more information about the book launch on its eventbrite RSVP page, Note: Links have been removed,
ABOUT THE BOOK
This delightfully clever, artfully layered novel begins when a scientist who has written a popular book of non-fiction attends a literary festival, where she strikes up a friendship with a charismatic novelist. The novelist reveals that her new work is an experiment: a novella she wrote in English only to have it translated and published solely in French—a language the novelist cannot read. Moreover, she has lost her original English manuscript of this work. Hearing this, the scientist, who is fluent in French, impulsively offers to retranslate the novella back into English for the novelist.As she embarks on this task, the scientist finds herself haunted by vivid memories and distracting questions—particularly about a passionate affair from her own life with a French lover. These insert themselves into her translation process, troubling it, then disrupting it entirely. She desperately tries to complete her task before losing control of both the work and her well-organized existence—but soon the novelist and the French lover reappear in the present, further complicating both life and art.Here is sparkling, irresistible debut fiction from one of our most consistently inventive voices, the award-winning and multi-talented Madhur Anand.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Madhur Anand’s debut book of creative non-fiction This Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart (2020) won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction. Her debut collection of poems A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes (2015) was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry and named one of 10 all-time “trailblazing” poetry collections by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Her second collection of poems Parasitic Oscillations (2022) was also a finalist for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry and named a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book. To Place a Rabbit is her first novel. Anand is a professor and the director of the Global Ecological Change and Sustainability Laboratory at the University of Guelph, Ontario.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Shyam Selvadurai was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Funny Boy, his first novel, won the W.H. Smith/ Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Lambda Literary Award in the US. He is the author of Cinnamon Gardens and Swimming in the Monsoon Sea, and the editor of an anthology, Story-wallah! A Celebration of South Asian Fiction. His books have been published in the US, the UK and India, and published in translation in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey and Israel. His latest novel, The Hungry Ghosts, was published April 2, 2013 in Canada, India and Sri Lanka. Shyam co- wrote the screenplay for his first novel Funny Boy, for which he won the Canadian Screen Award and the New York Cinema Independent Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Shyam’s new novel Mansions of the Moon is a historical novel about the Buddha’s wife, Yasodhara. In 2016, Shyam had the interesting honour of having a spider named after him: Brignolia shyami, a small goblin spider.
Call for Proposals: RE:SciComm February 19-20, 2026 Oakham House, Toronto Metropolitan University, 55 Gould Street, Toronto
RE:SciComm (formerly SciCommTO) — a dynamic, in-person conference exploring the art, science, and strategy of science communication in Canada. The conference will attract science communicators, researchers, journalists, graduate students, and outreach professionals from across the GTHA [Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area] and beyond.
The RE:ScieComm conference website offers a clue as to why it was mentioned in ArtSci Salon announcements,
Join us for a dynamic conference exploring the art, science, and strategy of science communication in Canada.
Whether you’re behind the mic, in front of a classroom, or crafting stories for the screen, RE:SciComm is the place to build your skills, grow your network, and join the national conversation on science engagement and communication.
In an era shaped by climate change, public health crises, and rapid advances in AI, the need for effective science communication has never been clearer. Science impacts all of us — but how we talk about it, and who gets heard, matters more than ever. RE:SciComm will dive into the challenges and opportunities of today’s engagement landscape, from tackling misinformation to reaching communities historically excluded from science conversations.
Why RE:SciComm?
Formerly known as SciCommTO, the original 2020 conference drew wide praise for its collaborative spirit and practical focus. Now we’re rebooting with fresh energy, a broader scope, and a renewed commitment to advancing inclusive and effective science communication.
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Call for Proposals Now Open ◐
We’re looking for bold, practical, and thought-provoking session proposals that explore the future of science communication. Workshops, panel discussions, interactive sessions, debates, or something unexpected — if you’ve got an idea that could inspire or empower fellow communicators, we want to hear from you.
*Speakers and Conference Program will be released in October 2025. Registration will open October 2025.
DEADLINE Monday, September 15, 2025 at 11:59 PM ET
Conference Themes
Re:framing
What does inclusive, community-first science communication look like? This theme is about democratizing science and shifting perspectives—getting research out of the lab, beyond academic journals and conferences, and into public spaces where it can be shared, shaped, and understood by all. It’s about centering equity, decolonization, and Indigenous ways of knowing in how we communicate science. Whether it’s through co-creation, storytelling, art, language, or lived experience, we’re looking for sessions that challenge the status quo and open up new possibilities. Let’s explore fresh frameworks, participatory approaches, and best practices that make STEMM [science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine] more accessible, responsive, and representative of the world we live in.
Re:building
As we navigate a rapidly changing world, how do we rebuild public trust in STEMM, and reimagine science communication for today’s reality in Canada? This theme explores emerging challenges and opportunities—from misinformation and AI to science policy and education. We invite sessions that tackle the unique contexts of science engagement in Canada, offering insight into how science communicators can meet the moment with integrity, creativity, and care. Let’s reshape the narrative and design strategies that help STEMM thrive across diverse communities.
Re:igniting
Let’s get inspired. This theme is all about renewal—of relationships, collaborations, ideas, and purpose. What fuels your passion for science communication, and how can we grow the field together? We’re looking for sessions that celebrate creativity, connection, and momentum—whether through innovative formats, bold new projects, or reflections on what keeps us going. Together, we’ll build a more vibrant, interconnected, and future-focused science communication community across Canada.
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Conference Co-Hosts
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The Royal Canadian Institute for Science (RCIScience) is Canada’s oldest scientific society, celebrating its 175th year of science engagement. Through award-winning events and programs, RCIScience sparks curiosity and builds a stronger science culture across Canada.
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SciXchange at Toronto Metropolitan University is dedicated to making science accessible, engaging, and inclusive for all. From hands-on outreach to science communication training, SciXchange brings science to life for communities across the GTHA.
I very much appreciate the visual puns used to illustrate and ‘illuminate’ the conference themes.
This next and last event is more typical of the ArtSci Salon’s offerings, although the more accessible (IMO) description for the event and the artist was on this University of Toronto Jackman Humanities Institute event page,
Description
Join us for a series of events running through September 25 to October 16 that include an opening reception, additional tour and two panel discussions. Together, these events aim to raise awareness about the challenges posed by dyscalculia with educators, fellow mathematicians, and parents while normalizing its existence, leading to early detection and augmented support. It will also explore more broadly on the role and significance of mathematics and math education in today’s shifting socio-cultural and economic contexts.
“i don’t do math” is a photographic series exploring dyscalculia, a learning difference that affects a person’s ability to understand and work with number-based information. While dyslexia (difficulty with language) has become widely recognized thanks to years of advocacy and early detection, dyscalculia remains largely unknown. Research estimates that 3–7% of children, adolescents, and adults are affected (Haberstroh & Schulte-Körne 2019), though the actual numbers may be higher, as only a small fraction of those who struggle with math are ever screened (Sparks 2023).
Despite its prevalence, dyscalculia is often misunderstood—dismissed as a lack of education or mistaken for a personality trait. Left unrecognized, it can impact many aspects of daily life. It is also frequently confused with math anxiety, a sense of apprehension that interferes with math performance and while the two are not the same, dyscalculia can contribute to the development of math anxiety.
Photographer Ann Piché approaches this project both as an artist and an advocate, documenting the experiences of people affected by dyscalculia while engaging educators, learners, and parents in conversations about its effects and possible supports. Her exhibition presents abstract images paired with mathematical formulae, visually translating unfamiliar equations into recognizable photographic forms. The pairing of images and formulas conveys the frustration many with dyscalculia feel when navigating a number-centric world, while accompanying text-based panels guide viewers through the assumptions and challenges that shape these experiences.
The series consists of 15 photographs and 5 text-based panels, including works created during fieldwork visits in courses taught by University of Toronto, Department of Math, Professors Amenda Chow and Sarah Mayes-Tang of Calculus and Symmetry and Professor Pam Sargent of Business Calculus, Professor Ada Chan of Pre-Calculus at York University, and Dr. Pamela Brittain of K–12 Curriculum Education from the Fields Institute.
Ann Piché is a photo-based artist in Ottawa, Canada. Working in technology since the early 1990’s, Ann was the first female electronic technician hired by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Experiencing the disconnect that can exist between science and the arts she constructs visual links to build those connections, creating accessible entry points for conversations about the less familiar.
A graduate of the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa (SPAO), Ann’s work has been presented in solo exhibitions in Canada and in group exhibitions internationally. Her collaborations include the Department of Mathematics at the University of Toronto and the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences. A recipient of grants from the Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto, the City of Ottawa and the Ontario Arts Council, Ann has been published in North American magazines such as SHOTS and PhotoED.
Ann’s images are not software generated. Working primarily in digital photography, she stages her images using real and constructed landscapes with custom-built sets. Her work explores photographic abstraction and experimental camera techniques, a visual acknowledgement of the anxiety we can feel when facing the unfamiliar.
This initiative is supported by JHI Program for the Arts, the ArtSci Salon & the Fields Institute, and New College. Many thanks to the Departments of Mathematics at the University of Toronto and York University for their collaboration.
ABOUT “I don’t do math” is a photographic series referencing dyscalculia, a learning difference affecting a person’s ability to understand and manipulate number-based information.
This initiative seeks to raise awareness about the challenges posed by dyscalculia with educators, fellow mathematicians, and parents, and to normalize its existence, leading to early detection and augmented support. In addition, it seeks to reflect on and question broader issues and assumptions about the role and significance of Mathematics and Math education in today’s changing socio-cultural and economic contexts.
The exhibition will contain pedagogical information and activities for visitors and students. The artist will also address the extensive research that led to the exhibition. The exhibition will feature two panel discussions following the opening and to conclude the exhibition.
Photographer Ann Piché is using her artistic practice both to document the struggles experienced by people affected by dyscalculia, and to educate math educators, students, and parents about its effects and potential support strategies.The series consists of 15 photographs and 5 text-based panels, including work produced during fieldwork visits in Prof. Amenda Chow and Prof. Sarah Mayes-Tang’s Calculus and Symmetry classes; Prof. Pam Sargent’s business calculus class (all three professors are from the dept. of Math.); Prof. Ada Chan’s pre-calculus class (dept. of Math., York University); and Dr.Pamela Brittain’s K-12 and curriculum education program (Fields Institute).
Opening: Thursday September 25, 5:00 pm [ET] Tour: Saturday September 27, [2025] 2:00 pm [ET] (meet us at the Fields Institute, Atrium 2nd floor) —- Panel Discussion: Monday, September 29, 4:00 pm [ET] Ann Piché (independent artist) Daniel Ansari (Department of Psychology and Education, Western University) Darja Barr (Department of Mathematics, University of Winnipeg) room 230, the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences 222 College Street, Toronto —- Stay tuned for the Final Panel Discussion on October 16, 10:00 am with Andrew Fiss (Professional & Technical Communication, Michigan Technological University Humanities Department) and other panelists
All panels will be recorded and posted on our Youtube channel
I have been stumbling across bug (or insect) research at a greater rate than usual and while the ‘bug-informed’ community is, no doubt, acutely aware of the loss of insect life, the severity of the situation was a revelation to me.
Bugpocalypse (h/t IFLScience for the head)
Caption: Drosophila use multiple mechanisms to adapt to hot, dry desert temperatures. Credit: Sarah Becan for the Gallio Lab/Northwestern University
Insect populations, foundational to food chains and pollination, have dramatically declined over the past 20 years due to rapid climate change
Scientists identify two ways fly species from different climates (high-altitude forest and hot desert) have adapted to temperature
Paper provides evidence that changes in brain wiring and heat sensitivity contributed to shifting preference to hot or cold conditions, respectively
Results may help predict the impact of ongoing climate change on insect distribution and behavior
EVANSTON, Ill. — Tiny, cold-blooded animals like flies depend on their environment to regulate body temperature, making them ideal “canaries in the mine” for gauging the impact of climate change on the behavior and distribution of animal species. Yet, scientists know relatively little about how insect sense and respond to temperature.
Using two species of flies from different climates — one from the cool, high-altitude forests of Northern California, the other hailing from the hot, dry deserts of the Southwest (both cousins of the common laboratory fly, drosophila melanogaster) — Northwestern scientists discovered remarkable differences in the way each processes external temperature.
Forest flies showed increased avoidance of heat, potentially explained by higher sensitivity in their antennae’s molecular heat receptors, while desert flies were instead actively attracted to heat, a response that could be tracked to differences in brain wiring in a region of the fly brain that helps compute the valence (inherent attractiveness or aversiveness) of sensory cues.
The scientists believe these two mechanisms may have accompanied the evolution of each species as it adapted to its distinctive thermal environment, starting from a common ancestor dating back 40 million years (not long after dinosaurs went extinct).
These findings, published today (March 5 [2025]) in the journal Nature, help understand how animals evolve the preferences for specific temperature environments and may help predict the impact of a rapidly changing climate on animal behavior and distribution.
‘Not enough people care about insects’
“Insects are especially threatened by climate change,” said Northwestern neurobiologist Marco Gallio. “Behavior is the first interface between an animal and its environment. Even before the struggle to survive or perish, animals can respond to climate change by migration and by changing their distribution. We are already seeing insect populations declining in many regions, and even insect vectors of disease like the Zika virus and malaria spreading into new areas.”
Gallio, a self-appointed “insect advocate,” is a professor in the neurobiology department and the Soretta and Henry Shapiro Research Professor in Molecular Biology at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. His lab examines fruit flies and their sensing systems. Gallio acknowledged there is limited data because “not enough people care about the insects,” but that available figures record a dramatic decline in insects in the past 20 to 50 years. Though bug haters may rejoice, Gallio said the population decline in the animal group with the most species on Earth is nothing to celebrate.
In addition to their position at the foundation of most terrestrial food chains, insects pollinate 70% of our crops. Gallio said losing insect communities could cause catastrophic damage to ecosystems across the globe and have a direct impact on human wellbeing.
Understanding heat circuits in the brain
Previous work from the Gallio Lab focused on how small insects like laboratory flies respond to sensory cues like harmless and painful temperature changes.
“The common fruit fly is an especially powerful animal to study how the external world is represented and processed within the brain,” Gallio said. “Many years of work on fly genetics and neuroscience have given us a map of the fly brain more detailed than that of any other animal.”
In the present study, Gallio and colleagues wondered how the brain circuits and resulting behaviors compared in fly species that were very similar aside from their choices of thermal habitat.
Using genetic tools, including CRISPR [clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats], to knock out certain genes and gene swaps between species, the team studied both the molecular and brain mechanisms that may explain species-specific differences in temperature preference.
Ph.D. student and lead author Matthew Capek explained that they first found differences in the molecules that detect heat, causing them to activate at different temperatures. And while Capek said the difference in activation could explain the forest flies’ preference for cooler environments, a shift in receptor activation was not enough to explain the behavior of the desert fly.
“The desert fly seemed actively attracted to warmer temperatures — around 90 degrees Fahrenheit compared to the forest fly’s sweet spot just below 70 degrees,” said Capek, who works in the Gallio lab. “In fact, the activation threshold of the antenna heat sensors corresponded to their favorite temperature range, which they will seek, rather than to a temperature they should avoid.”
“In other words, the fly doesn’t behave any longer as though the antennae are telling it to run away from dangerous heat; they seem to be telling it higher temperatures are good, and to approach them.”
High cost, high reward
Gallio was initially puzzled — deserts are hot, so it did not make sense that flies sought out heat — but a lab trip to the Anza Borrego desert of Southern California provided key inspiration.
“Deserts in this region are very hot during the day, but temperatures can drop extremely rapidly when the sun goes down, and night can be downright freezing,” said Alessia Para, also a key author of the study and a research associate professor of neurobiology. “Flies in this climate may need to constantly attend to the rapidly changing temperature and always seek the ideal range, finding shady spots during the day and hiding in cacti for warmth at night.”
Flies from more forgiving environments may instead ignore temperature except when it changes rapidly. Constantly detecting the right temperature is costly from an energy perspective, but for desert flies, it’s life or death.
“This comparative work is useful in a couple of different ways,” Gallio said. “When an animal is born, the brain is already programmed to know if many of the things it will encounter are bad or good for it, and we do not understand how that programming works.
These fly species represent a natural experiment because a stimulus that is good for one species is bad for the other, and we can study the differences that make it so. We also want to learn more about how animals have been able to adapt to different temperatures during evolution, so that we may be able to better understand and even predict how they react to ongoing climate change. Of course we care about the insects, and we hope that what we learn may help us appreciate and protect them better.”
There’s more but first, a citation and a link to the Gallio Lab’s paper,
Evolution of temperature preference in flies of the genus Drosophila by Matthew Capek, Oscar M. Arenas, Michael H. Alpert, Emanuela E. Zaharieva, Iván D. Méndez-González, José Miguel Simões, Hamin Gil, Aldair Acosta, Yuqing Su, Alessia Para & Marco Gallio. Nature (2025) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08682-z Published: 05 March 2025
This paper is behind a paywall.
Bugs Matter
Thanks to buglife.org.uk for the subhead and the report. Here’s more from their April 30, 2025 press release, Note: Links have been removed,
The troubling extent of insect declines across the UK has been highlighted once again by the results of the 2024 Bugs Matter citizen science survey published today. The latest data shows that the number of flying insects sampled on vehicle number plates, across the UK, has fallen by a staggering 63% since 2021.
The Bugs Matter survey, led by Kent Wildlife Trust in partnership with invertebrate charity Buglife, relies on a nationwide network of volunteer citizen scientists who record insect splats on their vehicle number plates after journeys, using the Bugs Matter app built by Natural Apptitude. Analysis of records from more than 25,000 journeys across the UK since 2021 shows an alarming decrease in bug splats but data from 2024 shows this decrease has slowed.
Insects are critical to ecosystem functioning and services. They pollinate crops, provide natural pest control, decompose waste and recycle nutrients, and underpin food chains that support birds, mammals and other wildlife. Without insects, the planet’s ecological systems would collapse.
Dr. Lawrence Ball of Kent Wildlife Trust stated:“This huge decrease in insect splats over such a short time is really alarming. Its most likely that we are seeing the compounding effects of both a background rate of decline as well as a short term cycle of decline, perhaps linked to the extreme climate in the UK in recent years. Bug splats declined 8% from 2023 to 2024, following sharper drops of 44% in 2023 and 28% in 2022. This shows the rate of decline has slowed and it may even flatten or reverse next year. Continued support from citizen scientists is key to revealing the overall trend in insect numbers.”
The new data shows a decrease in insect splat rates across all the UK nations, with the sharpest fall between 2021 and 2024 recorded in Scotland at 65%. In England, the number of insect splats fell by 62%, in Wales by 64%, and in Northern Ireland by 55%, over the same time period.
Andrew Whitehouse, from Buglife added:“The latest Bugs Matter data suggests that the abundance of flying insects in our countryside has fallen again. The consequences are potentially far-reaching, not only impacting the health of the natural world, but affecting so many of the essential services that nature provides for us. Human activities continue to have a huge impact on nature, habitat loss and damage, pesticide use, pollution, and climate change all contribute to the decline in insects. Society must heed the warning signs of ecological collapse, and take urgent action to restore nature.”
Participation in Bugs Matter is growing and the number of journeys recorded in 2024 far exceeded previous years. This is in part thanks to a new partnership with Openreach, owner of the nation’s second largest commercial van fleet.
Peter Stewart, Openreach’s UK Operations Director for Service Delivery said:“We’re excited to participate in the ‘Bugs Matter’ survey for the second year. Our engineers travel millions of miles annually across the UK to build and maintain our network, making it easy for them to measure insect splats on vehicle number plates. We recognise the crucial role pollinators play for all of us to thrive, and as part of our strategy to protect nature, we’re proud to support this campaign again. Last year, we contributed around 10% of the registered journeys, and with our 25,000-strong fleet, we aim to do even better this year.”
Andrew Whitehouse concluded: “Thank you to everyone who participated in the Bugs Matter survey in 2024. Your contribution has provided invaluable insights into the health of our insect populations and wider environment. We are relaunching the survey on May 1 this year [2025], and with our expansion into the Republic of Ireland, we hope to engage even more people in this crucial citizen science effort.”
The 2025 Bugs Matter survey will run from Saturday 1 May to Tuesday 30 September. It is quick, free and easy to get involved – simply download the free mobile phone app and start recording insect splats on vehicle journeys.
Expansion into Republic of Ireland
In response to growing interest and the need for more comprehensive data, the Bugs Matter survey is expanding into the Republic of Ireland for the 2025 season, thanks to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Imagine Grant ‘Go Further, Faster’ Award received by Bugs Matter at the end of 2024. This grant provides vital resources to non-profit organisations looking to deploy cloud technology as a central tool to achieve their mission goals, and is providing Bugs Matter with a combination of funding, cloud computing credits, and engagement with AWS technical specialists. This marks an important step in building a more complete picture of insect populations across the British Isles, and future expansion of the Bugs Matter survey.
Dr. Lawrence Ball of Kent Wildlife Trust stated, “We’re extremely grateful for the financial and technical support from Amazon Web Services, which means we can launch in Ireland this year and in more countries in 2026. If you drive or know someone who drives in Ireland, please download the app, sign up, and take part! The UK results highlight the importance of understanding insect numbers elsewhere.”
The charities caution that continued long-term monitoring is essential to track the precise magnitude of these alarming trends, but stress that the current pace of decline is clearly ecologically unviable. By taking part in the Bugs Matter survey each year, citizen scientists can provide crucial data to better understand insect population patterns and support evidence-based conservation actions.
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Zac Sherratt’s April 30, 2025 article for the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) online news website offers little more information,
A survey tracking the “staggering” decline in insect numbers across the UK and Ireland has begun.
The Bugs Matter survey, led by Kent Wildlife Trust and invertebrate charity Buglife, runs from 1 May to 30 September each year and sees “citizen scientists” record the number of bug splats on their vehicle number plates after a journey.
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Dr Ball [Dr. Lawrence Ball of Kent Wildlife Trust] said: “Without insects, the planet’s ecological systems would collapse so this huge decrease in insect splats over such a short time is really alarming.”
Bug splats declined 8% in 2024, following sharper drops of 44% in 2023 and 28% in 2022.
Dr Ball said the slowing rate of decline shows the curve may flatten or even reverse next year.
More than 25,000 journeys have been analysed as part of the survey since 2021.
There’s an interesting back story for IFLScience (which started life as as Facebook page titled, “I Fucking Love Science”). If you want to find out more about IFLScience’s origins and founder, there’s Elise Andrew’s Wikipedia entry.
Returning to the bugs, Dr. Russell Moul’s April 30 (?), 2025 article for IFLScience further highlights the plight of insects around the world, Note: Links have been removed,
Insect populations have been declining across the world at an alarming rate, but no one has been sure why. According to a new study, intense agricultural practices are at the top of the list of causes, but there are multiple interrelated factors that are all contributing to quickly killing off these vital creatures.
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“Insects are fundamental to life on earth. They are really important pollinators, decomposers, and prey for birds, bats, reptiles, and other species”, Eliza Grames, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, told IFLScience.
“Insects pollinate around 80 percent of wild flowering plants, and 75 percent of agricultural crop species rely on insects for pollination. Without insects as decomposers, the earth would essentially be covered in manure. Cow manure takes 60 percent longer to deteriorate when insects are excluded from an area.”
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But despite their importance, insect numbers are declining. In 2017, a devastating study demonstrated that there has been more than a 75 percent decline in insect populations over the last three decades. As a result, scientists have been seeking to identify the likely causes for this decline.
In order to understand which causes the scientific community has found so far, Grames and colleagues from Binghamton University examined some 175 scientific reviews, which contained over 500 hypothesized drivers behind the decline. This information allowed the team to create an interconnected network of 3,000 possible links, known as a meta-synthetic approach, which spanned everything from beekeeping and deforestation to urban sprawl and parasites.
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Within this network of information, the team found that intensified agriculture was the most cited driver behind the mass die-off. This was linked to issues such as land-use change and insecticides. However, focusing solely on the most cited drivers is not the way to interpret this information. As the team note in their work, the results show how interconnected the drivers are, highlighting complex issues.
For example, the climate may be an important driver behind the decline, but there are aspects within that, such as extreme precipitation, fire, and temperature rises, which can then contribute to other drivers. It’s an extremely connected and synergistic network.
“The drivers of insect decline are really complex and there are many overlooked stressors that we should be thinking about and researching,” Grames told IFLScience.
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If you have a little more time, you can find some interesting tidbits in Moul’s April 30 (?), 2025 article.
Here’s a link to and a citation for the recent meta-analysis/meta-synthesis mentioned in the article,
A February 6, 2025 news item on ScienceDaily announces an application that uses machine learning for insect identification,
A farmer notices an unfamiliar insect on a leaf.
Is this a pollinator? Or a pest? Good news at harvest time? Or bad? Need to be controlled? Or not?
That farmer can snap a picture, use a smartphone or computer to feed the photo into a web-based application called InsectNet and, with the help of machine learning technology, get back real-time information.
“The app identifies the insect and returns a prediction of its taxonomic classification and role in the ecosystem as a pest, predator, pollinator, parasitoid, decomposer, herbivore, indicator and invasive species,” said a scientific paper describing InsectNet recently published by the journal PNAS Nexus [PNAS stands for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the US]. Iowa State University’s Baskar Ganapathysubramanian and Arti Singh are the corresponding authors.
InsectNet – which is backed by a dataset of 12 million insect images, including many collected by citizen-scientists – provides identification and predictions for more than 2,500 insect species at more than 96% accuracy. When the application isn’t sure about an insect, it says it is uncertain, giving users more confidence when it does provide answers.
And, because the application was built as a global-to-local model, it can be geographically fine-tuned using expert-verified local and regional datasets. That makes it useful to farmers everywhere.
So, beware, armyworms, cutworms, grasshoppers, stink bugs and all the other harmful insects. And, hello, butterflies, bees and all the other pollinators. Good to see you, lady beetles, mantises and all the other pest predators.
“We envision InsectNet to complement existing approaches, and be part of a growing suite of AI technologies for addressing agricultural challenges,” the authors wrote.
A village of researchers
InsectNet’s ability to be fine-tuned for specific regions or countries make it particularly useful, said Singh, an associate professor of agronomy.
In Iowa, for example, Singh said there are about 50 insect species particularly important to the state’s agricultural production. To identify and provide predictions about those insects, Singh said the project used about 500,000 insect images.
That could happen for farmers all over the globe. And wherever there isn’t sufficient data – these sophisticated models often require millions of images – for local fine-tuning, the global dataset is still available for farmers.
InsectNet isn’t just for farmers, though. Singh said it could also help agents at ports or border crossings identify invasive species. Or it could help researchers working on ecological studies.
So, the app is usable and flexible. But is it accessible?
You can’t go to an app store and download a version just yet, said Ganapathysubramanian, the Joseph and Elizabeth Anderlik Professor in Engineering and director of the AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture based at Iowa State. But the app is running on a server at Iowa State. With a QR code (see sidebar) or this URL (insectapp.las.iastate.edu/), users can upload insect pictures and get an identification and prediction.
This works throughout the stages of an insect’s life: from egg to larva to pupa to adult. It works with look-alike species. And it works with diverse image qualities and orientations.
The bottom line for any user is basic information about an insect: “Is this a pest?” Singh said. “Or is it a friend?”
Developers demonstrated the app during last August’s Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa. And now the research paper is introducing it to a broader, scientific audience.
But aren’t there already apps that help identify insects?
Yes, said Ganapathysubramanian, but they’re not to the scale of InsectNet and aren’t capable of global-to-local applications. And they’re also not open-source applications with technology that can be shared.
“Making InsectNet open source can encourage broader scientific efforts,” he said. “The scientific community can build on these efforts, rather than starting from scratch.”
The project also answered a lot of technical questions that could be applied to other projects, he said.
How much data is enough? Where can we get that much data? What can we do with noisy data?
How much computer power is necessary? How do we deal with so much data?
“Lastly, it takes a village of expertise to get to this point, right?” said Ganapathysubramanian.
It took agronomists and computer engineers and statisticians and data scientists and artificial intelligence specialists about two years to put InsectNet together and make it work.
“What we learned working with insects can be expanded to include weeds and plant diseases or any other related identification and classification problem in agriculture,” Singh said. “We’re very close to a one-stop shop for identifying all of these.”
The InsectNet project was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (through the AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture), the National Science Foundation (through COALESCE: COntext Aware LEarning for Sustainable CybEr-Agricultural Systems), the NSF’s Smart and Connected Communities Program, the USDA’s Current Research Information System Project, and Iowa State’s Plant Sciences Institute.
Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,
InsectNet: Real-time identification of insects using an end-to-end machine learning pipeline by Shivani Chiranjeevi, Mojdeh Saadati, Zi K Deng, Jayanth Koushik, Talukder Z Jubery, Daren S Mueller, Matthew O’Neal , Nirav Merchant , Aarti Singh , Asheesh K Singh , Soumik Sarkar , Arti Singh , Baskar Ganapathysubramanian. PNAS Nexus, Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2025, pgae575, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae575 Published: 27 December 2024
Pro-environmental behaviour increases among school students who participate in insect-related citizen science projects, according to new research from the University of Adelaide.
Students who participated in citizen science project Insect Investigators, which engages students in the discovery of new insects, not only expressed an intention to change their personal behaviour but also to encourage others to protect nature.
“As a result of their involvement in this program, students expressed intentions to further engage in insect–science–nature activities,” says the University of Adelaide’s Dr Erinn Fagan-Jeffries, who contributed to the study.
“In addition, teachers reported increased intentions to include insect-related topics in their teaching, which was positively associated with students’ own intentions for pro-environmental behaviour change.
“This suggests students’ response to the project influenced their teacher’s decision to include citizen science in their lessons.”
School-based citizen science projects facilitate authentic scientific interactions between research and educational institutions while exposing students to scientific processes.
“Teachers’ motivations for providing citizen science experiences to students was to create hands-on learning opportunities and to connect students with real science and scientists,” says Professor Patrick O’Connor AM, Director of the University’s School of Economics and Public Policy.
“Teachers reported interactions with researchers as invaluable. These interactions could take the form of in-person visits by team members, or even instructional videos and curriculum-linked teacher lesson plans.”
Incorporating insects into school-based citizen science projects can challenge widespread human misconceptions about insects and their roles in ecosystems, and foster human–insect connections.
“Given global concerns of rapid insect declines and the overarching biodiversity crisis, insect-focused, school-based citizen science projects can ultimately contribute towards equipping students with knowledge of, and actions to promote, insect conservation,” says lead author Dr Andy Howe, from the University of the Sunshine Coast.
“In Australia, approximately 33 per cent of insects are formally described, the remainder exist as ‘dark taxa’, to the detriment of environmental and biodiversity management initiatives.
“Encouraging more young people to engage in science not only engenders positive feelings in them towards the environment, it will also help to build the next generation of scientists who will fill in the vast knowledge gap that exists in the world of insects.”
Before getting to the link and citation, here’s an update on the Australian higher education ecosystem, from the March 24, 2025 version of the press release on EurekAlert ,
The University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia are joining forces to become Australia’s new major university – Adelaide University. Building on the strengths, legacies and resources of two leading universities, Adelaide University will deliver globally relevant research at scale, innovative, industry-informed teaching and an outstanding student experience. Adelaide University will open its doors in January 2026. Find out more on the Adelaide University website.
The University of British Columbia (UBC) issued an April 22, 2025 news release (also received via email) by Sachi Wickramasinghe announcing research on ‘parks for bugs’,
As the days get longer and gardeners plan their spring planting, research from the University of British Columbia offers some good news this Earth Day: small, simple changes to urban green spaces can make a big difference for pollinators. The study, published in Ecology Letters, found that reducing lawn mowing and creating pollinator meadows – think of them as ‘parks for bugs’– significantly boosts pollinator diversity, creating healthier and more resilient ecosystems.
A buzzing success
The three-year study, conducted in collaboration with the City of Vancouver’s pollinator meadows program, surveyed pollinators in 18 urban parks across Vancouver, comparing parks where meadows were planted and mowing was restricted with parks that remained as standard turfgrass lawns.
…
And while the tall grass caused a small stir among some neighbours, the results were striking: parks with meadows saw an immediate increase in pollinator species, with 21 to 47 more wild bee and hoverfly species compared to parks without meadows. The increase persisted over the three-year study period, suggesting that the meadow parks also support pollinators in the long run.
More than 100 species of wild bees and hoverflies were identified, with 35 of them only found in parks with meadows – including the Vancouver and Nevada bumble bee, some miner bees such as the Milwaukee miner bee, the red-faced miner bee and several species of hoverflies.
“Many people think of urban landscapes as poor environments for biodiversity, but our research shows that small actions can have a lasting impact,” said lead author Jens Ulrich, a PhD candidate in the faculty of land and food systems. “You don’t need a lot of space or resources to make a difference.”
Urban landscapes as pollinator havens
Unlike farmland, where large fields with monocrops can limit pollinator movement, urban areas are full of green spaces—gardens, parks, and even roadside boulevards—that can serve as pollinator refuges. The patchwork of small habitats allows species to move freely and settle into restored areas quickly.
The research highlights the importance of maintaining and expanding such efforts. Ongoing management, such as adding more native plants and controlling invasive species, can further strengthen pollinator communities.
The findings also offer practical guidance for city planners and community groups looking to enhance urban green spaces, and have already informed the City of Vancouver’s long-term planning—helping to establish pollinator meadows as a permanent option for parks and shaping future efforts to balance ecological function with aesthetic and cultural values.
“With so much land dedicated to lawns, there’s a major opportunity to rethink how we use these spaces,” said co-author Dr. Risa Sargent, an associate professor in the faculty of land and food systems. “Even small patches of insect-friendly meadows can provide critical resources for pollinators.”
Whether you have a backyard, balcony, or community garden plot, you can support pollinators with these simple steps:
Reduce mowing: Pollinators thrive in areas where flowers are allowed to bloom. Consider letting a section of your lawn grow longer or mowing less frequently.
Plant native flowering shrubs and trees: Perennial species like native chokecherry, Pacific ninebark, oceanspray, native hawthorn, red flowering currant, salal, red-osier dogwood, snowberry and vine maple are great choices for British Columbia’s Lower Mainland.
Create a diverse habitat: Incorporate a variety of plants that bloom at different times of the year to provide food from spring to fall.
Avoid pesticides: Many urban areas, including Vancouver, have already restricted pesticide use, but avoiding chemical treatments in your own garden can further protect pollinators.
Leave natural nesting sites: Many native bees nest in the ground or in plant stems. Keeping some bare soil or leaving flower stalks through winter can provide valuable shelter.
The Canadian federal budget was unveiled on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 and the Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC) is holding another five hour extravaganza (symposium) on it. Presumably this will be online as no location has been announced. (BTW, I have a few comments about the 2023 budget, which should be posted in the near future.)
Here are more details about the 2023 CSPC budget symposium, from a March 30, 2023 CSPC announcement (received via email),
The federal government released the 2023-24 budget on Tuesday, March 28th. CSPC is once again hosting a Symposium for a comprehensive analysis of the Federal Budget, and the reactions of various sectors.
The CSPC Budget Symposium will be held on Tuesday, April 11th [2023] and will feature numerous speakers from different sectors across the country. A detailed budget analysis will be presented by Dave Watters and Omer Kaya from Global Advantage Consulting Group, followed by panel discussions of various speakers.
Confirmed Speakers include:
Aminah Robinson Fayek – Vice-President of Research and Innovation, University of Alberta
David Watters – President, Global Advantage Consulting Group
Jeanette Jackson – CEO, Foresight Canada
Karimah Es Sabar – CEO, Quark Venture
Malcolm Campbell – Vice-President of Research, University of Guelph
Matthew Foss – Vice-President of Research and Public Policy, Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB)
Namir Anani – President/ CEO, Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC)
Omer Kaya – CEO, Global Advantage Consulting Group
Padmapriya Muralidharan – Chair, Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars [CAPS-ACSP]
Steven Liss – Vice-President of Research, Toronto Metropolitan University [TMU]
For the curious, the CSPC held an April 21, 2022 symposium: Decoding Budget 2022 for Science and Innovation (for details see my April 19, 2022 posting; scroll down to the 2022 budget symposium subhead).
David Watters who was supposed to be their ‘keynote’ speaker last year is listed as a 2023 co-keynote presenter and Omer Kaya who filled in as the ‘keynote’ for the 2022 symposium is back as a featured 2023 co-keynote presenter. There are two other returnees to the symposium, Karimah Es Sabar and Malcolm Campbell.
Uncredited image promoting Poetry Night [downloaded from: https://mailchi.mp/e40a5373a9cd/dont-miss-artscisalon-poetry-night?e=ee5b8cc3f5]
Is there some sort of misunderstanding between Toronto’s ArtSci Salon and the Onsite Gallery at OCAD (Ontario College of Art and Design) University)?
Previously, I featured a series organized around the ‘more-than’human’ exhibition at the Onsite Gallery which included events being held by the ArtSci Salon in my February 1, 2023 posting. This morning (April 3, 2023), I received, via email, an April 2, 2023 ArtSci Salon announcement about some upcoming events for the ‘Re-situating: more-than-human’ event series (sigh), Note 1: They’ve added a poet to the Poetry Night, added more detail to the May 2023 excursion, and added a call for projects; Note 2: The Onsite Gallery continues call to it the ‘more-than-human’ exhibition,
Poetry Night Wednesday, April 5 [2023] – 7:30-9:30
An immersive poetry performance that involves three poets reading poems and a site-specific live projection mapping response created by artist Ilze Briede (Kavi). Come to this in-depth and unique event of deep listening and embodied experience!
Dr. Madhur Anand, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph Dr. Karen Houle, College of arts, University of Guelph
Liz Howard, Department of English, Concordia University
Projection mapping by Ilze Briede (Kavi) PhD student, York University
Don’t forget next event of the Re-Situating series:
The rare Charitable Research Reserve is an urban land trust and environmental institute in Waterloo Region/Wellington, protecting over 1,200 acres of highly sensitive lands.
This event follows and concludes several interdisciplinary dialogues on ethics of care, ecology, symbiosis, and human-plant relations. We weave together embodied discovery and sensory experience ; listening and thinking about the ethical and material implications of recognizing non-human individuals as valuable ; as well as different disciplines, epistemologies, positionalities. Our goal is to acquire better awareness of the ecological community to which we belong, with the intention of rethinking and resituating the human within a diverse, complex, and multifaceted ecosystem of other-than-human lifeforms.
The day will begin with a panel between artists and scientists investigating the social, economic, and natural complexities affecting both human and plant-life. The afternoon events will include a 30-minute walk through the wetlands at rare (wetland as carbon sinks), a Master Class led by Dr. Alice Jarry (the design of plant-based air filtration), and a rare led walk following the ecological lichen monitoring.
IMPORTANT! Bus will leave for rare at 9 am and will return to Toronto at 5:30 pm.
Please, note: Tickets are limited. Should you not be able to attend, please let us know so we can free up the space for someone else.
We require a nominal registration fee of $5 which will be refunded on the day of the event.
PROGRAM
Sunday, May 7 [2023] – 9:00 am – 5:30 pm
Meeting place: Onsite gallery, 199 Richmond Street West.
11:00 am-12:30 pm: Panel
Sumia Ali, McMaster University
Grace Grothaus, PhD candidate, York University
Dr. Alice Jarry, Speculative Life BioLab, Concordia University
Dr. Marissa Davis, University of Waterloo
12:30-1:30pm: lunch – catered
1:30-2:15 Wetlands walk
2:30-4:15 Workshop
Dr. Alice Jarry, Speculative Life BioLab, Concordia University – Plant based filtration systems
4:30-5:15 The lichen monitoring walk. This program at rare is one of several long-term ecological monitoring programs yielding valuable baseline data and can help to identify critical changes in ecosystem dynamics.
5:30 – return to Toronto
For more information and for media inquiries please contact Roberta Buiani – ArtSci Salon, The Fields Institute roberta.buiani@utoronto.ca Jane Tingley – Slolab, York University jtingley@yorku.ca
The call
From the April 2, 2023 ArtSci Salon announcement (received via email),
call for GLAM Incubator projects for 2023 – 2024
For more information about the Call for Projects please visit the GLAM Incubator’s website For specific questions about the Incubator or this year’s call, please email me directly at p.keilty@utoronto.ca. I am happy to answer any questions you or any potential partner organizations might have.
Great idea to have this acronym for a set of institutions that don’t usually inspire fun, slang adjectives. Here’s more about GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) incubator from its homepage on the University of Toronto website,
The GLAM Incubator is a research and support hub that connects galleries, libraries, archives, and museums with industry partners, researchers, and students to advance the development of seedling projects that benefit cultural institutions, industry, and the research and teaching goals of universities worldwide. The overarching goal of the Incubator is to provide support to experimental projects that benefit the GLAM industries and engages students. It provides the broader context and overarching structure for an ongoing series of responsive, finite, cross-sector action research collaborations. A collaboration between the Faculty of Information and the Knowledge Media Design Institute at the University of Toronto, the GLAM Incubator provides space, administrative assistance, research expertise, equipment, event facilitation, limited funding, and knowledge mobilization.
Each year, the GLAM Incubator puts out a Call for Projects from GLAM institutions for small-scale projects that experiment or incubate new programming, service models, interactive experiences, technical services, knowledge media, and user interfaces that will have an impact on GLAM institutions or professions more broadly. Please consult our Call for Projects page for more information.
The GLAM Incubator is a theory and innovation lab dedicated to launching and supporting small-scale projects focused on the development of cutting-edge programming, service models, interactive experiences, knowledge media, and user interfaces that address a specific issue or opportunity associated with emerging technologies within the GLAM sector. The themes and contents of the projects supported by the Incubator evolve in keeping with shifting technological developments and in response to the fluctuating needs and concerns of the various stakeholders involved in the cultural industry sectors (professionals, patrons, funders).
The Incubator will use its resources and infrastructure to run multiple projects concurrently. In addition to meeting the above criteria, projects will demonstrate a capacity to engage a diversity of stakeholders, as well as new and existing community partners. Projects will be “small-scale,” with a well-bounded research design (e.g. a study addressing a specific issue or timed opportunity faced by a community or industry partner) and short-term (1-3 years) duration. Active projects will be set up in a “doored lab,” either dedicated or shared. The Incubator will purchase or assist with the purchase of technological equipment and software required for the research. It will assist with administrative tasks and knowledge mobilization activities, as described in more detail below. It will provide in-kind support to help project leads secure external grants to fund other costs associated with the research (including research assistant salaries, conference travel, etc.). In exchange, project leads and their teams will ensure that a significant proportion of the research activities occur within that space.
Project teams must participate in an annual Symposium and engage their research and results in Incubator-supported knowledge mobilization activities, public or community outreach activities, and student engagement opportunities, where applicable.
Incubator projects will be selected through an application process.
Two-page description of the project that includes an explanation of the project’s purpose and impact on a GLAM industry or profession;
Resume(s) of the lead applicant(s);
A list of collaborators including brief biographies or descriptive information
Sustainability for continuing the project after incubation
A list of potential equipment, space, administrative, and funding needs.
We also welcome inquiries from potential applicants.
Enjoy the events and good luck with your submission to GLAM.
Should you be interested in an ArtSci Salon event (and part of whatever this series and exhibition is being called), titled ‘On Ethics of Care’, held in late March 2023, there’s an embedded two hour video on their ‘Re-situating: more-than-human’ webpage,
You can find out more about Toronto’s Art/Sci Salon’s Who Cares? speaker series in my February 9, 2022 posting. For this posting, I’m focusing on the upcoming March 2022 events, which are being offered online. From a March 7, 2022 Art/Sci Salon announcement (received via email),
We’re pleased to announce our next two events from our “Who Cares?” Speaker Series
Nous sommes heureux d’annoncer notre deuxième événement de notre “Who Cares?” Série de conferences
March 10 [2022], 2:00-3:00 pm [ET]
Data Meditation: Salvatore Iaconesi and Oriana Persico
HER – She Loves Data
Nuovo Abitare
Join us for a discussion about questions like:
Why does data have to be an extractive process?
What can we learn about ourselves through the data we generate everyday?
How can we use them as an expressive form to represent ourselves?
Data Meditations is the first ritual designed with the new approach of HER: She Loves Data, which addresses data as existential and cultural phenomena, and the need of creating experience (contemporary rituals) that allow societies and individuals to come together around data generating meaning, new forms of solidarity, empathy, interconnection and knowledge.
Rejoignez-nous pour une discussion basée sur des questions telles que :
Pourquoi les données doivent-elles être un processus d’extraction ?
Que pouvons-nous apprendre par rapport à nous, grâce aux données que nous générons chaque jour ?
Comment pouvons-nous les utiliser comme une forme expressive pour nous représenter ?
Data Méditations est le premier rituel conçu avec la nouvelle approche de HER [elle] : She loves Data , qui parle des données en tant que phénomènes existentiels et culturels , mais également , la nécessité de créer des expériences [ rituels contemporains ] qui permettent aux sociétés et aux individus de se réunir autour de données générant du sens , de nouvelles formes de solidarité , empathie , d’interconnexion et de connaissance.
Maria Antonia Gonzalez-Valerio, Professor of Philosophy and Literature, UNAM, Mexico City. Sharmistha Mishra, Infectious Disease Physician and Mathematical Modeller, St Michael’s Hospital Madhur Anand, Ecologist, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph Salvatore Iaconesi and Oriana Persico, Independent Artists, HER, She Loves Data
One lesson we have learnt in the past two years is that the pandemic has not single-handedly created a global health crisis, but has exacerbated and made visible one that was already in progress. The roots of this crisis are as cultural as they are economic and environmental. Among the factors contributing to the crisis is a dominant orientation towards healthcare that privileges a narrow focus on data-centered technological fixes and praises the potentials of technological delegation. An unsustainable system has culminated in the passive acceptance and even the cold justification of triage as an inevitable evil in a time of crisis and scarcity.
What transdisciplinary practices can help ameliorate the atomizing pitfalls of turning the patient into data? How can discriminatory practices such as triage, exclusion based on race, gender, and class, vaccine hoarding etc.. be addressed and reversed? What strategies can we devise to foster genuine transdisciplinary approaches and move beyond the silo effects of specialization, address current uncritical trends towards technological delegation, and restore the centrality of human relations in healthcare delivery?
L’une des leçons que nous avons apprises au cours des deux dernières années est que la pandémie n’a pas créé à elle seule une crise sanitaire mondiale, mais qu’elle en a exacerbé et rendu visible une qui était déjà en cours. Les racines de cette crise sont aussi bien culturelles qu’économiques et environnementales. Parmi les facteurs qui contribuent à la crise figure une orientation dominante en matière de soins de santé, qui privilégie une vision étroite des solutions technologiques centrées sur les données et fait l’éloge du potentiel de la délégation technologique. Un système non durable a abouti à l’acceptation passive et même à la justification froide du triage comme un mal inévitable en temps de crise et de pénurie.
Quelles pratiques transdisciplinaires peuvent contribuer à améliorer les pièges de l’atomisation qui consiste à transformer le patient en données ? Comment les pratiques discriminatoires telles que le triage, l’exclusion fondée sur la race, le sexe et la classe sociale, la thésaurisation des vaccins, etc. peuvent-elles être abordées et inversées ? Quelles stratégies pouvons-nous concevoir pour favoriser de véritables approches transdisciplinaires et dépasser les effets de silo de la spécialisation, pour faire face aux tendances actuelles non critiques à la délégation technologique, et pour restaurer la centralité des relations humaines dans la prestation des soins de santé ?
We wish to thank/ nous [sic] the generous support of the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, New College at the University of Toronto and The Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies at York University; the Centre for Feminist Research, Sensorium Centre for Digital Arts and Technology, The Canadian Language Museum, the Departments of English and the School of Gender and Women’s Studies at York University; the D.G. Ivey Library and the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Toronto; We also wish to thank the support of The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences
2. Friday, March 18 – 6:00 to 8:00 pm [ET] Critical care and sustainable care Suvendrini Lena, MD, Playwright and Neurologist at CAMH and Centre for Headache, Women’s College Hospital, Toronto Adriana Ieraci, Roboticist and PhD candidate in Computer Science, Ryerson University Lucia Gagliese – Pain Aging Lab, York University
COVID-19 has put health care workers in a more than usually interesting position and the Art/Sci Salon in Toronto, Canada is ‘creatively’ addressing the old, new, and emerging stresses. From the Who Cares? events webpage (also in a February 8, 2022 notice received via email),
“Who Cares?” is a Speaker Series dedicated to fostering transdisciplinary conversations between doctors, writers, artists, and researchers on contemporary biopolitics of care and the urgent need to move towards more respectful, creative, and inclusive social practices of care in the wake of the systemic cracks made obvious by the pandemic.
About the Series
Critiques of the health care sector are certainly not new and have been put forward by workers and researchers in the medical sector and in the humanities alike. However, critique alone fails to consider the systemic issues that prevent well-meaning practitioners to make a difference. The goal of this series is to activate practical conversations between people who are already engaged in transforming the infrastructures and cultures of care but have few opportunities to speak to each other. These interdisciplinary dialogues will enable the sharing of emerging epistemologies, new material approaches and pedagogies that could take us beyond the current crisis. By engaging with the arts as research, our guests use the generative insights of poetic and artistic practices to zoom in on the crucial issues undermining holistic, dynamic and socially responsible forms of care. Furthermore, they champion transdisciplinary dialogues and multipronged approaches directed at changing the material and discursive practices of care.
Who cares? asks the following important questions:
How do we lay the groundwork for sustainable practices of care, that is, care beyond ‘just-in-time’ interventions?
What strategies can we devise to foster genuine transdisciplinary approaches that move beyond the silo effects of specialization, address current uncritical trends towards technological delegation, and restore the centrality responsive/responsible human relations in healthcare delivery?
What practices can help ameliorate the atomizing pitfalls of turning the patient into data?
What pathways can we design to re-direct attention to long lasting care focused on a deeper understanding of the manifold relationalities between doctors, patients, communities, and the socio-environmental context?
How can the critically creative explorations of artists and writers contribute to building resilient communities of care that cultivate reciprocity, respect for the unpredictable temporalities of healing, and active listening?
How to build a capacious infrastructure of care able to address and mend the damages caused by ideologies of ultimate cure that pervade corporate approaches to healthcare funding and delivery?
This event will be online, please register HEREto participate. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
A Conversation with Bahar Orang, author of Where Things Touch, on staying attuned to the fragile intimacies of care beyond the stifling demands of institutional environments.
This short presentation will ask questions about care that move it beyond the carceral logics of hospital settings, particularly in psychiatry. Drawing from questions raised in my first book Where Things Touch, and my work with Doctors for Defunding Police (DFDP), I hope to pose the question of how to do the work of health care differently. As the pandemic has laid bare so much violence, it becomes imperative to engage in forms of political imaginativeness that proactively ask what are the forms that care can take, and does already take, in places other than the clinic or the hospital?
Bahar Orang is a writer and clinician scholar in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Her creative and clinical work seeks to engage with ways of imagining care beyond the carcerality that medical institutions routinely reproduce
Roundtables 1. Friday, March 11 – 5:00 to 7:00 pm [ET] Beyond triage and data culture Maria Antonia Gonzalez-Valerio, Professor of Philosophy and Literature, UNAM, Mexico City. Sharmistha Mishra, Infectious Disease Physician and Mathematical Modeller, St Michael’s Hospital Madhur Anand, Ecologist, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph Salvatore Iaconesi and Oriana Persico, independent artists, HER, She Loves Data
(Online)
2. Friday, March 18 – 6:00 to 8:00 pm [ET] Critical care and sustainable care Suvendrini Lena, MD, Playwright and Neurologist at CAMH and Centre for Headache, Women’s College Hospital, Toronto Adriana Ieraci, Roboticist and PhD candidate in Computer Science, Ryerson University Lucia Gagliese – Pain Aging Lab, York University
Keynote Conversation Friday, April 1, 5:00-7:00 pm [ET] Seema Yasmin, Director of Research and Education, Stanford Health Communication Initiative [Stanford University] Bayo Akomolafe, Chief Curator of The Emergence Network
(hybrid) William Doo Auditorium, 45 Willcox Street, Toronto
* The format of this program and access might change with the medical situation
We wish to thank the generous support of the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, New College, the D.G. Ivey Library, and the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Toronto; the Centre for Feminist Research, Sensorium Centre for Digital Arts and Technology, The Canadian Language Museum, the Departments of English and the School of Gender and Women’s Studies at York University. We also wish to thank the support of The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences
This series is co-produced in collaboration with the ArtSci Salon
Scientists used synchrotron technology to show a key ingredient can create the ideal chocolate structure and could revolutionize the chocolate industry.
Structure is key when it comes creating the best quality of chocolate. An ideal internal structure will be smooth and continuous, not crumbly, and result in glossy, delicious, melt-in-your-mouth decadence. However, this sweet bliss is not easy to achieve.
Researchers from the University of Guelph had their first look at the detailed structure of dark chocolate using the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan. Their results were published today in Nature Communications.
“One of the major problems in chocolate making is tempering,” said Alejandro Marangoni, a professor at the University of Guelph and Canada Research Chair in Food, Health and Aging. “Very much like when you temper steel, you have to achieve a certain crystalline structure in the cocoa butter.”
Skilled chocolate makers [emphasis mine] use specialized tools and training to manipulate cocoa butter for gourmet chocolate. However, Marangoni wondered if adding a special ingredient to chocolate could drive the formation of the correct crystal structure without the complex cooling and mixing procedures typically used by chocolatiers during tempering.
“Imagine if you could add a component that directs the entire crystallization process to a high-quality finished product. You wouldn’t need fancy tempering protocols or industrial machines — you could easily achieve the desired crystalline form just by the addition of this component,” Marangoni said.
His team went to the CLS to see if their secret ingredient, a specific phospholipid, could drive the formation of an ideal chocolate structure. The facility’s bright light, which is millions of times brighter than the sun, allowed the team to get images of the interior structure of their dark chocolate in exquisite detail.
“We have some of the most beautiful micrographs of the finished chocolate that were only possible because we did this work at the CLS,” said Marangoni.
In a world first, the researchers were able to get detailed imaging of the internal structure of dark chocolate, thanks to the synchrotron’s state of the art BMIT beamline.
“Working with the CLS, I would call it a next level interaction,” Marangoni added. “It was extremely easy to set up a project and we had enormous support from beamline scientists.”
In collaboration with CLS Plant Imaging Lead Jarvis Stobbs, Marangoni and colleagues were able to confirm the positive effect their ingredient had on obtaining the ideal structure for chocolate.
“We screened many minor lipid components that would naturally be present in chocolate and identified one preferred group. We then added a very specific molecule, a saturated phospholipid, to the chocolate mass and obtained the desired effect. This phospholipid formed a specific liquid crystal structure that would ‘seed’ the formation of cocoa butter crystals,” said Marangoni.
Their discovery that this phospholipid ingredient will drive the formation of ideal cocoa butter crystals could have a big impact on the way that chocolate is made.
“It could potentially revolutionize the chocolate industry, because we would not need very complex tempering machines,” Marangoni said. “This could open up the possibility for smaller manufacturers to produce chocolate without having the big capital investment for tempering machinery.”
Synchrotron research allows scientists to identify important details that are not possible to find with other techniques. Marangoni said that any small improvement on current manufacturing methods can have a very large impact on the food industry and can potentially save money for companies.
He added that while chocolate research pales in comparison to global problems, he emphasizes the impact food can have on our everyday lives.
“We have more serious problems like climate change and alternative energies and maybe even vegan foods, which we’re working on as well, but chocolate gives us that psychological pleasure. It’s one of these foods that makes us feel happy.”
According to a Sept. 2, 2021 article by Marc Fawcett-Atkinson for Canada’s National Observer, this work could lead to making chocolate production more sustainable
What happens to the skilled chocolate makers?
That’s one of my big questions. The other is what happens to us? In all these ‘improvements’ of which there are many being touted these days, what I notice is a lack of sensuality. In this particular case, no touch and no smell.
Also known as an anti-aging agent for your fruit and vegetables, hexanal is an environmentally friendly chemical, which is found naturally. Research has led to a synthesized nanotechnology-enabled product now being commercialized. I’ve been following the story off and on since 2012 (see my ‘India, Sri Lanka, and Canada team up for nanotechnology-enabled food packaging‘ posting). I last wrote about the project in a December 29, 2015 posting.
For some reason, hexanal hit the news hard in 2019 having been preceded by some interest in 2018. What follows is an update and a timeline of sorts.
January 2019: More funding
A January 24,2019 essay (also published on the University of Guelph website on January 29, 2019) by Jayasankar Subramanian and Elizabeth Finnis, both are lead researchers on the the project and professors at the University of Guelph (Canada), provides an overview and an update of the hexanal project (Note: Links have been removed) ,
…
Fruits like mangoes, bananas, papayas and limes are shipped long distances before they get to your table. Many fruits are delicate, and there may be a long period of time that elapses between when the fruit is picked and its arrival in grocery stores and other markets. They’re often picked before they’re truly ripe in order to increase their shelf life.
Even so, globally, up to 40 per cent of all picked fruit can be lost and this represents billions of dollars. But what if we had the technology to delay fruit’s natural degradation process? This is where hexanal can make a difference.
…
Fruits like mangoes, bananas, papayas and limes are shipped long distances before they get to your table. Many fruits are delicate, and there may be a long period of time that elapses between when the fruit is picked and its arrival in grocery stores and other markets. They’re often picked before they’re truly ripe in order to increase their shelf life.
Even so, globally, up to 40 per cent of all picked fruit can be lost and this represents billions of dollars. But what if we had the technology to delay fruit’s natural degradation process? This is where hexanal can make a difference.
Hexanal is naturally produced by plants to ward off pests; our research at the University of Guelph has found that when it’s applied externally, hexanal can also slow down the aging process.
Like everything else, fruit ages with time. The shrivelling and rot is triggered by the enzyme phospholipase D (PLD), which causes the eventual collapse of the fruit’s membrane. Essentially, fruit membranes are snug, and function like a brick wall of phospholipid bilayers. Phospholipase D breaks the alignment of the bricks, causing the membrane to crumble. Hexanal acts by reducing and slowing the formation of PLD, which in turn slows the collapse of the fruit’s membrane.
In partnership with agricultural and social science researchers in Canada and five other countries, we have tested nine hexanal technologies. These include a spray formulation that gets applied to fruit when they’re still on trees, post-harvest dips, fruit wraps, stickers and sachets embedded with hexanal.
Our findings have implications for consumers, retailers and, more importantly, farmers. For example, when applied as a pre-harvest spray, hexanal can keep fruit on trees longer and keep it fresher after harvest — up to three weeks longer for mangoes.
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Hexanal is naturally produced by all plants and is already found as an additive in some food products. Hexanal is also approved by Health Canada as a flavour formula. Our tests of synthesized hexanal sprays, dips and other technologies showed that there were no negative effects on plants, insects or other animals. In addition, hexanal evaporates within 24 hours, which means there’s no residue left on fruit.
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Farmers who participated in hexanal testing in Canada and elsewhere were happy with the product both in terms of its effectiveness and bio-safety.
Currently, hexanal for agricultural use is in the two-year regulatory clearance process in Canada and the U.S. Once the process is complete, hexanal formulations are expected to be available for farmer use and can be accessed through companies with a license for production.
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Hexanal slows down the ripening and aging process in fresh produce. Author provided
That’s a stunning difference, eh?
Funding
At about the same time as the Conversation essay by Subramanian and Finnis, the University of Guelph published (on the Council of Ontario Universities website) a January 27, 2019 news release announcing new funds for the project,
A University of Guelph research project that has already improved the livelihoods of small-scale Asian farmers will further expand worldwide, thanks to more than $4.2 million in federal support announced Friday afternoon.
The project involves innovative packaging developed in part by Guelph researchers using nanotechnology to improve the shelf life of mangoes, a major fruit crop in much of the world.
Already, the technology has helped to significantly reduce post-harvest losses in Sri Lanka and India. Poor storage meant that farmers routinely lost up to 40 per cent of their crops, worth upwards of $800 million a year. The new technology has also boosted per-acre revenue.
New funding support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada will allow researchers to broaden this successful initiative to Kenya, Tanzania, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Researchers will also look at other fruit — bananas, grapes, papaya, nectarines and berries — and investigate ways to commercialize the technologies.
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… it will also be a main pillar of the Guelph-East Africa Initiative, which U of G established to bring together stakeholders to support research and teaching in food, health, water, education, environment and community.
“This confirms our commitment to improve agriculture in East Africa and around the world.” [said John Livernois, interim vice-president {research} ]
The project involves the use of hexanal, a natural plant product that delays fruit ripening and aging. Guelph plant agriculture professor Gopi Paliyath holds an American patent on the discovery of hexanal as a post-harvest agent. It’s also an FDA-approved food additive.
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The project also involves Guelph plant agriculture professors Paliyath and Al Sullivan; Loong-tak Lim from Food Science; and Elizabeth Finnis, Sociology and Anthropology. Foreign research partners are based at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India; Industrial Technical Institute, Sri Lanka; University of Nairobi, Kenya; Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania; and the University of [the] West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago.
Prior to more funding: a memorandum of understanding
I’m having to guess as the document about the memorandum of understanding (MOU) to commercialize hexanal is not dated but it seems to have been produced in March 2018. (Canada’s International Development Research Centre ([IDRC] has a webpage about the memorandum but no memorandum that I could find.) I stumbled across this account of the event where the MOU was signed,
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Ms. Jennifer Daubeny, Consulate General of Canada, delivered the special address narrating the significance of Canadian fundingin developing nanotechnologies to reduce post-harvest losses that enables food security in Asian Countries. Dr. K. Ramasamy, Vice Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University [TNAU], Coimbatore presided over the function and highlighted the role of TNAU in knitting nanotechnology research framework and serving as a torch bearer in the country. He emphasized that the GAC-IDRC Project helped more than 60 students and researchers, developed two technologies, filed patents for two inventions, extensive infrastructure development besides helping more than 12,000 fruit growers in the State of Tamil Nadu. Dr. Jayasankar Subramanian, Professor, University of Guelph, Canada, explained the evolution of the project till reached the stage of technology delivery to benefit farmers. Dr. K.S. Subramanian, NABARD Chair Professor, TNAU, Coimbatore, lead Principal Investigator of the Project for India presented nanotechnologies developed to assist in the entire value chain from the farm to fork. Mr. Arun Nagarajan, President, Tamil Nadu Fruit Growers’ Association, explained that the fruit growers are eager to use the technology to improve their farm income. Mr. Terence Park, Managing Director, Smart Harvest Agri, Canada, [emphasis mine] bestowed interest to take forward the technologies to the farm gate and signed MOU with TNAU for the Commercialization of the Hexanal Formulation. Dr. G.J. Janavi,Professor & Head, Department of Nano Science & Technology, TNAU, Coimbatore welcomed the gathering and Dr. C. Sekar, Dean, Imayam Agricultural College,Turaiyur, and Co-PI of the Project proposed a formal vote of thanks.
The Canadian Consul General Ms. Jennifer Daubeny visited all the exhibits and interacted with students, scholars and researchers besides the NGO partner Myrada. She was very impressed with the technologies developed by TNAU in collaboration with University of Guelph, Canada, and looking forward to support research programs in the near future. More than 200 Scientists and Diplomats from Canada, students, scholars, university officials participated in the event.
Products launch by ITI, Colombo
Two of the project’s technology outputs -hexanal incorporated ITI Bio-wax and the Tree Fresh Formulation spray [emphasis mine] were transferred to Hayleys Agriculture Pvt. Ltd., a reputed Agro Service provider in Sri Lanka. The products were launched on 22ndMarch 2018 at the Taj Samudra Hotel, Colombo. The chief guest at the event was the Hon. Susil Premajayantha, Minister of Science Technology and Research (Min. ST&R). The guest of honour was H.E. David McKinnon, High Commissioner for Canada in Sri Lanka. Others present included the Secretary to the Min. ST&R, The Chairman and Director General, ITI, Mr Rizvi Zaheed, Hayleys Agriculture and his team, the Chairman, National Science Foundation, Sri Lanka, representative of the Chairman Sri Lanka Export Development Board, representatives from the Dialog mobile service provider, the Registrar of Pesticides, representing the Dir. Gen., of Agriculture, President of the Lanka Fruit and Vegetable Producers, Processors and Exporters Association, leading large scale mango, papaya and pineapple growers, several export and fruit processing company representatives, senior officials from the ITI, the multi-disciplinary ITI research team and our partner from CEPA. The press was also well represented and a total of 100 persons were present on this occasion. The Managing Director Hayles, the two PIs’ of the project, the High Commissioner for Canada, The Minister and for ST&R and the Secretary to the Ministry addressed the gathering and the new video clip on the project was viewed. The new products were jointly uncovered for display by the Hon. Minister and H.E., the High Commissioner. Samples of the products were distributed to the President of the Lanka Fruit and Vegetable Producers Processors and Exporters Association and to two leading mango growers. The Project team also took this opportunity to run a presentation on the various stages of the project and related activities, display posters on their research findings and to print and distribute the pamphlets on the same as well as on hexanal, the latter as prepared by our partners from the University of Guelph. The launch ended with a time of fellowship providing a useful opportunity for networking.
A YouTube video about the product launch of hexanal-based Bio-wax and the Tree Fresh Formulation spray (I don’t know if those were the permanent names or if they are specific to Sri Lanka and other countries will adopt other names) helped to establish the date for the MOU. You can find the video here.
Judging from the media stories, the team in India has provided most of the leadership for commercializing hexanal.
Commercialization 2019 and beyond
To sum up, after a memorandum of understanding is signed and some prototype products have been unveiled in India in 2018 then, in early 2019, there’s more funding announced by IDRC to expand the number of countries involved and to continue research into efforts to save other types of produce.
Two nano formulations would be commercialized by the Directorate of Agri business development of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) soon.
Fruity fresh is a liquid nano formulation containing hexanal that keeps fruits and vegetables fresh for more days. The pre-harvest spray of Fruity Fresh extends the shelf life of mango for two weeks on trees and another two weeks under storage conditions by employing post-harvest dip methodology, Dr. A. Lakshmanan, Professor and Head, Department of Nano Science and Technology told a meet on “Linking Nano Stakeholders” held at the University.
Hexanal has also been successfully encapsulated in polymer matrix either as an electro spun fibre matrix (Nano sticker) or nano-pellets that extends shelf life of fruits by 1-2 weeks during storage and transportation, he said.
This sticker and pellets technology is highly user friendly and can be placed inside the cartons containing fruits during transport for enhancing the freshness.
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According to a November 5, 2019 article by Pearly Neo for foodnavigator-asia.com, there is pricing for four products. Nano Sticker and Nano Pellet each will cost $US 0.028 and the spray, Fruity Fresh, will cost $US 4.23 to $US 5.65 for a one liter bottle diluted in 50 liters of water (for use on approximately five trees) and the Fruity Fresh dipping solution at $US 0.0071per kg.
As far as I’m aware none of these products are available in Canada but there is a website for Smart Harvest Agri, Canada although the name used is a little different. First, there’s the Federal Corporation Information listing for Smart Harvest Agritech Limited. You’ll notice there are two directors,
Amanjit Singh Bains 7685 150B Street Surrey BC V3S 5P1 Canada
Terence Park Yongsan CJ Nine Park Seoul Korea, Republic of
The company’s Smart Harvest website doesn’t list any products but it does discuss something they call “FRESHXtend technology” for fruits and vegetables.
Final comment
I sometimes hear complaints about government funding and what seems to be a lack of follow through with exciting research work being done in Canada. I hope that in the months to come that this story of an international collaboration, which started with three countries and has now expanded to at least six countries and has led to increased food security with an environmentally friendly material and commercialization of research, gets some attention.
From the few sources I’ve been able to find, it seems India and Sri Lanka are leading the commercialization charge while Canada has contributed to an Asian-led project which has now expanded to include Kenya, Tanzania, and Trinidad and Tobago. Bravo t them all!
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