A&S scholars sharing their expertise in the media this week

From finding comfort in the 2,000-year-old Indian story, the Mahabharata, during the COVID-19 pandemic, to dispelling misconceptions about archaeologists and anthropologists, scholars from a range of disciplines across the Faculty of Arts & Science are sharing their expertise on a variety of issues in the media.

Here’s some of what they had to say this week.

April 23, 2021

• Department for the Study of Religion associate professor Arti Dhand discusses the relevance of the 2,000-year-old Indian story, the Mahabharata, during the COVID-19 pandemic on an episode of CBC Radio’s Tapestry.

April 24, 2021

• Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology professor Asher Cutter comments in Live Science on genetic diversity among species and the ability to adapt to new environments.
• Department of Sociology associate professor Jooyoung Lee writes a CNN op-ed comparing gun control policies in Canada and the United States.
• Christopher Parsons, a senior research associate in the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, comments in the Toronto Star on security features on BlackBerry mobile devices following Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s declaration of a preference for them.

April 26, 2021

• An op-ed authored by Department of Chemistry professor Cynthia Goh first published in The Conversation and reprinted in the National Post, examines the use of tiny nanotechnologies in agriculture.
• Elena Goracinova, a postdoctoral fellow in the Innovation Policy Lab at the Munk School, comments in the Toronto Star on the growing involvement of technology start-ups in the automotive industry to improve vehicle performance and manufacturing.
• An op-ed co-authored by Department of History professor emeritus Ronald Pruessen and PhD student Matthieu Vallières, first published in The Conversation and reprinted in the National Post, examines American foreign policy during the first 100 days of U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration.
• Sharla Alegria, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology, comments in The Nation on sexism and gender in the tech industry of Silicon Valley.

April 27, 2021

• Marga Vicedo, a professor at the Institute for the History & Philosophy of Science & Technology, discusses past misconceptions about causes of autism as related to how mothers raise their children in Psychiatric Times.
• Research by Department of Economics professor Michael Smart is cited in a Globe and Mail story speculating on the likelihood that the Canadian government will raise taxes on capital gains.
• Michael Chazan, a professor in the Department of Anthropology, is cited in CTV News for his role in the discovery at Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa of evidence of the earliest human activity.
• University Professor Barbara Sherwood Lollar in the Department of Earth Sciences recounts in Maclean’s the discovery of water more than one billion years old in a northern Ontario mine.
• Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies professor emeritus Anthony Doob comments in the Toronto Star on the practice of solitary confinement in Canadian prisons.

April 28, 2021

• A research project based in the lab of Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology assistant professor Chelsea Rochman designed to track plastic pollution as it floats around Lake Ontario is highlighted in CTV News.
• Department of Political Science professor Nelson Wiseman comments in the Globe and Mail on the idea of mandatory voting in Canada.
• Steven Denney, a post-doctoral fellow at the Innovation Policy Lab at the Munk School, co-authors a Globe and Mail op-ed discussing the importance of intellectual property to economic innovation.

April 29, 2021

• Department of Philosophy professor Joseph Heath is cited in a Toronto Star op-ed examining the relationship between the civil service and government.
• Michael Chazan discusses misconceptions about archaeologists and anthropologists on Newstalk 1010.