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.
…
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.
…
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.
…
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.
…
… 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.
…
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.
…
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!
What will Artificial Intelligence (AI) mean for society? That’s the question scholars from a variety of disciplines will explore during the inaugural Summer Institute on AI Societal Impacts, Governance, and Ethics. Summer Institute, co-hosted by the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) and CIFAR, with support from UCLA School of Law, takes place July 22-24, 2019 in Edmonton, Canada.
“Recent advances in AI have brought a surge of attention to the field – both excitement and concern,” says co-organizer and UCLA professor, Edward Parson. “From algorithmic bias to autonomous vehicles, personal privacy to automation replacing jobs. Summer Institute will bring together exceptional people to talk about how humanity can receive the benefits and not get the worst harms from these rapid changes.”
Summer Institute brings together experts, grad students and researchers from multiple backgrounds to explore the societal, governmental, and ethical implications of AI. A combination of lectures, panels, and participatory problem-solving, this comprehensive interdisciplinary event aims to build understanding and action around these high-stakes issues.
“Machine intelligence is opening transformative opportunities across the world,” says John Shillington, CEO of Amii, “and Amii is excited to bring together our own world-leading researchers with experts from areas such as law, philosophy and ethics for this important discussion. Interdisciplinary perspectives will be essential to the ongoing development of machine intelligence and for ensuring these opportunities have the broadest reach possible.”
Over the three-day program, 30 graduate-level students and early-career researchers will engage with leading experts and researchers including event co-organizers: Western University’s Daniel Lizotte, Amii’s Alona Fyshe and UCLA’s Edward Parson. Participants will also have a chance to shape the curriculum throughout this uniquely interactive event.
Summer Institute takes place prior to Deep Learning and Reinforcement Learning Summer School, and includes a combined event on July 24th [2019] for both Summer Institute and Summer School participants.
View our Summer Institute Biographies & Boilerplates for more information on confirmed faculty members and co-hosting organizations. Follow the conversation through social media channels using the hashtag #SI2019.
Media Contact: Spencer Murray, Director of Communications & Public Relations, Amii t: 587.415.6100 | c: 780.991.7136 | e: spencer.murray@amii.ca
There’s a bit more information on The Summer Institute on AI and Society webpage (on the Deep Learning and Reinforcement Learning Summer School 2019 website) such as this more complete list of speakers,
Two questions, why are all the summer school faculty either Canada- or US-based? What about South American, Asian, Middle Eastern, etc. thinkers?
One last thought, I wonder if this ‘AI & ethics summer institute’ has anything to do with the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy, which CIFAR administers and where both the University of Alberta and Vector Institute are members.
Thanks to Dirk Steinke’s February 9, 2018 posting at the DNA Barcode blog for information about this science engagement/outreach project from Canada’s NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Council),
NSERC has a great video competition for students which runs annually – Science, action! Students are invited to submit 1:00 min videos describing their research projects. The 15 videos that tell the best stories will receive a cash prize and be featured as part of museum exhibits, science fairs and during larger STEM outreach events at schools.
…
… All of the 75 selected contestants are now up on the web and ready for public voting to select 25 for the judge’s panel to decide on. …
NSERC has long had science promotion initiative but it’s been anemic for years so it’s good to see the renewed vitality (from the NSERC Science Promoters webpage),
PromoScience
NSERC’s PromoScience program offers financial support for organizations working with young Canadians to promote an understanding of science and engineering (including mathematics and technology). PromoScience supports hands-on learning experiences for young students and their science teachers.
NSERC leads Science Odyssey, a ten-day celebration of science and technology taking place in May every year. The focus is to engage and inspire young Canadians and the general public across the country by showcasing Canada’s STEM accomplishments. This unique science festival is a connection point that brings together a wide variety of partners that deliver fun, engaging, innovative and captivating science promotion experiences from Canada’s prolific scientific community.
Science Literacy Week is a nationwide back-to-school celebration of books, organizations and activities that explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) topics. It is an opportunity to expose Canadians to the wide range of science literature available at libraries, stores, museums and science centres.
SciPOP is an event to inspire students in STEM. Teachers and schools across Canada hold hands-on science activities with their students and share a picture that can win them a spectacular prize. This year, on May 16, 2018, elementary and secondary school teachers are invited to devote a period of the day to science activities. It is organized within the framework of Science Odyssey – a national 10-day celebration of science.
Little Inventors takes children’s invention ideas and makes them real. NSERC brings Little Inventors to Canada in partnership with the project originators in the UK. The central mission which defines NSERC’s strategy is to ‘Build a Culture of Scientific Discovery and Innovation’, and we strongly believe this applies to young people too. The purpose of Little Inventors is to stimulate, at an early stage of life, the intrigue and involvement in this mission through activities that nurture creativity and an inquisitive mind.
Promoting careers for women in the natural sciences and engineering is a priority for NSERC. We are committed to increasing the number of women in these fields, facilitating the accommodation of career and family, and nurturing mentorship. Explore this page to learn more about the policies, programs and activities NSERC has developed to help achieve these goals.
A picture is truly worth a thousand words. The Science Exposed image contest challenges research groups or individuals to tell science stories through vibrant and exciting images. This is your chance to showcase your work and your creativity to provide Canadians with a whole new perspective on science.
NSERC’s Science, Action! video contest challenges postsecondary students to film the people, research and innovations that are transforming the way Canadians live and work. The contest is your chance to help Canadians discover how science and engineering contributes to our understanding of the world and universe around us.
The NSERC Awards for Science Promotion honour individuals and groups who make an outstanding contribution to the promotion of science in Canada through activities encouraging popular interest in science or developing science abilities.
Public Voting is now open for Science, Action!
Below [on the NSERC website], you will find the Top 75 entries to this year’s contest.
From February 6 to March 2 [2018], watch and share your favourite videos. Show your family and friends how science and engineering is improving their lives!
The 25 videos with the most views on March 2 will proceed to our judges’ panel, where they will compete for one of 15 cash prizes!
The top prize is $3500. Here are some examples of what’s on view,
Much to my surprise I found this hexanal and fruit video from a student at the University of Guelph (here are four postings about this work which is a joint project for Canada, India, and Sri Lanka): June 21, 2012; November 1, 2012; February 9, 2015; and December 29, 2015),
The Art/Sci Salon in Toronto, Canada is offering a workshop and a panel discussion (I think) on the topic of CRISPR( (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)/Cas9.
This workshop will address issues pertaining to the uses, ethics, and representations of CRISPR-cas9 genome editing system; and the evolution of bioart as a cultural phenomenon . The workshop will focus on:
1. Scientific strategies and ethical issues related to the modification of organisms through the most advanced technology;
2. Techniques and biological materials to develop and express complex concepts into art objects.
This workshop will introduce knowledge, methods and living material from the life sciences to the participants. The class will apply that novel information to the creation of art. Finally, the key concepts, processes and knowledge from the arts will be discussed and related to scientific research. The studio-‐lab portion of the course will focus on the mastering and understanding of the CRISPR – Cas9 technology and its revolutionary applications. The unparalleled potential of CRISPR ‐ Cas9 for genome editing will be directly assessed as the participants will use the method to make artworks and generate meaning through such a technique. The participants will be expected to complete one small project by the end of the course. In developing and completing these projects, participants will be asked to present their ideas/work to the instructors and fellow participants. As part of the course, participants are expected to document their work/methodology/process by keeping a record of processes, outcomes, and explorations.
The term CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) refers to a range of novel gene editing systems which can be programmed to edit DNA at precise locations. It allows the permanent modification of the genes in cells of living organisms. CRISPR enables novel basic research and promises a wide range of possible applications from biomedicine and agriculture to environmental challenges.
The surprising simplicity of CRISPR and its potentials have led to a wide range of reactions. While some welcome it as a gene editing revolution able to cure diseases that are currently fatal, others urge for a worldwide moratorium, especially when it comes to human germline modifications. The possibility that CRISPR may allow us to intervene in the evolution of organisms has generated particularly divisive thoughts: is gene editing going to cure us all? Or is it opening up a new era of designer babies and new types of privileges measured at the level of genes? Could the relative easiness of the technique allow individuals to modify bodies, identities, sexuality, to create new species and races? will it create new monsters? [emphasis mine] These are all topics that need to be discussed. With this panel/discussion, we wish to address technical, ethical, and creative issues arising from the futuristic scenarios promised by CRISPR.
Our Guests:
Marta De Menezes, Director, Cultivamos Cultura
Dalila Honorato, Assistant Professor, Ionian University
Mark Lipton, Professor, University of Guelph
Date: January 26, 2018
Time: 6:00-8:00 pm
Location: The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences
222 College Street, Toronto, ON
Events Facilitators: Roberta Buiani and Stephen Morris (ArtSci Salon) and Nina Czegledy (Leonardo Network)
Bios:
Marta de Menezes is a Portuguese artist (b. Lisbon, 1975) with a degree in Fine Arts by the University in Lisbon, a MSt in History of Art and Visual Culture by the University of Oxford, and a PhD candidate at the University of Leiden. She has been exploring the intersection between Art and Biology, working in research laboratories demonstrating that new biological technologies can be used as new art medium. Her work has been presented internationally in exhibitions, articles and lectures. She is currently the artistic director of Ectopia, an experimental art laboratory in Lisbon, and Director of Cultivamos Cultura in the South of Portugal. http://martademenezes.com
Dalila Honorato, Ph.D., is currently Assistant Professor in Media Aesthetics and Semiotics at the Ionian University in Greece where she is one of the founding members of the Interactive Arts Lab. She is the head of the organizing committee of the conference “Taboo-Transgression-Transcendence in Art & Science” and developer of the studies program concept of the Summer School in Hybrid Arts. She is a guest faculty at the PhD studies program of the Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis in Alma Mater Europaea, Slovenia, and a guest member of the Science Art Philosophy Lab integrated in the Center of Philosophy of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, Portugal. Her research focus is on embodiment in the intersection of performing arts and new media.
Mark Lipton works in the College of Arts; in the School of English and Theatre Studies, and Guelph’s Program in Media Studies. Currently, his work focuses on queering media ecological perspectives of technology’s role in education, with emerging questions about haptics and the body in performance contexts, and political outcomes of neo-liberal economics within Higher Education.
ArtSci Salon thanks the Fields Institute and the Bonham Center for Sexual Diversity Studies (U of T), and the McLuhan Centre for Culture and Technology for their support. We are grateful to the members of DIYBio Toronto and Hacklab for hosting Marta’s workshop.
This series of event is promoted and facilitated as part of FACTT Toronto
LASER – Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous is a project of Leonardo® /ISAST (International Society for the Arts Sciences and Technology)
For anyone who didn’t recognize (or, like me, barely remembers what it means) the title’s reference is to a famous science fiction story by Philip K. Dick. Here’s more from the Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Wikipedia entry (Note: Links have been removed),
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (retitled Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? in some later printings) is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in 1968. The novel is set in a post-apocalyptic San Francisco, where Earth’s life has been greatly damaged by nuclear global war. Most animal species are endangered or extinct from extreme radiation poisoning, so that owning an animal is now a sign of status and empathy, an attitude encouraged towards animals. The book served as the primary basis for the 1982 film Blade Runner, and many elements and themes from it were used in its 2017 sequel Blade Runner 2049.
The main plot follows Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter who is tasked with “retiring” (i.e. killing) six escaped Nexus-6 model androids, while a secondary plot follows John Isidore, a man of sub-par IQ who aids the fugitive androids. In connection with Deckard’s mission, the novel explores the issue of what it is to be human. Unlike humans, the androids are said to possess no sense of empathy.
I wonder why they didn’t try to reference Orphan Black (its Wikipedia entry)? That television series was all about biotechnology. If not Orphan Black, what about a Frankenstein reference? It’s the 200th anniversary this year (2018) of the publication of the book which is the forerunner to all the cautionary tales that have come after.
The University of Guelph can rejoice in a new Canada Research Chair (CRC) according to its Dec. 2, 2016 news release,
The University of Guelph will receive $1.5 million through a new Canada Research Chair (CRC) and the renewal of two others. Kirsty Duncan, federal minister of science, made the announcement today in Toronto.
In all, there are 203 new and renewed chairs at 48 institutions across Canada, an investment of $173 million.
Guelph received a new Tier 2 chair in Food Nanotechnology to be held by Prof. Michael Rogers, Department of Food Science. Tier 2 chairs held by Prof. Nina Jones, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Carla Rice, Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, were renewed.
Tier 2 chairs are for potential world leaders in their fields and are worth $100,000 a year for five years.
“All three chairholders awarded today are outstanding scholars and leaders in their respective disciplines,” said Malcolm Campbell, vice-president (research).
“Covering expertise in food nanotechnology to disease treatment to inclusiveness, well-being and equity, these three chairs represent the exceptional and diverse creative capacity that distinguishes our campus. They also epitomise a focal point of our research here at University of Guelph: improve life.”
Rogers said U of G, known as Canada’s Food University, is “the perfect home” for his new CRC in Food Nanotechnology, as it supports fundamental research that drives innovation within Canada’s food industry.
He studies technologies that may improve safety and nutritional and functional qualities of processed foods that are now a mainstay in western diets.
“There is no greater societal importance then the effect diet is having on the global population,” said Rogers, a Guelph graduate. He said that, for the first time in human history, non-communicable diseases often related to diet cause a larger percentage of deaths than communicable diseases worldwide.
“This has led global health leaders to shift attention from ‘germs’ to what United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls ‘a public health emergency in slow motion.”
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When people have expressed concern about nanotechnology, it’s often about food. Given that there have been virtually no public engagement or public awareness campaigns in Canada regarding nanotechnology, I watch developments in the area of Canadian food nanotechnology with some interest.
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