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

From the benefits of daily meditation during the COVID-19 pandemic to the resignation of Canada’s Governor General, 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.

January 16, 2021

• John Vervaeke, an associate professor, teaching stream in the Department of Psychology and director of the Cognitive Science program at University College, discusses in Toronto Life the meditation sessions he hosts on YouTube that are helping him and his subscribers get through the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies PhD student Erick Laming comments in CBC News on using video captured by body cameras worn by police officers as evidence in criminal investigations.
• Laming also comments in the Globe and Mail (paywall) on the actions of police officers responding to emergency calls involving mental-health crises.

January 17, 2021

• Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology PhD candidate Ashley Reynolds explains in CBC News how fossils of sabre-toothed tiger cubs show that the ancient big cats lived together as families for several years before setting out on their own.
• John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy who helped identify some individuals involved in the violence at the United States Capitol building earlier this month, comments in the Los Angeles Times on the importance of being certain before naming someone publicly in the internet.

January 18, 2021

• The Toronto Star (paywall) features analysis by Department of Economics professor Michael Smart of the Canadian government’s wage subsidy program introduced to assist employers in paying employees affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Matti Siemiatycki, a professor in the Department of Geography & Planning and interim director of the School of Cities, comments in CBC News on government support for public transit in Canada during the pandemic.
• Department of Earth Sciences University Professor Barbara Sherwood Lollar comments in a CTV News story about suggestions that the billion-year-old water she discovered in Northern Ontario might help in understanding the possibility of life on Mars.
• Ron Pruessen, a professor emeritus in the Department of History comments in a CTV News story looking at how, as president of the United States, Donald Trump exploited existing divides in America.
• John Scott-Railton comments in a CNN story exploring the influence of allies of Donald Trump on supporters who mounted the attack on the U.S. Capitol building.

January 19, 2021

• Michael Smart writes an op-ed in Maclean’s magazine recommending a tax on capital gains as the ideal way for the Canadian government to recover more revenue from the country’s wealthiest citizens.
• Department of Political Science professor Nelson Wiseman comments in Toronto’s CityNews on a call to expel Conservative Party of Canada MP Derek Sloan from the party.
• Ron Pruessen comments in a CTV News story examining what Donald Trump’s legacy might be after leaving office, and in the Toronto Star on the prevalence of conspiracy theories in America throughout history.
• John Kirton, a professor in the Department of Political Science and the director of the G7 and G20 Research Groups at the Munk School, comments in a CTV News story exploring the question of whether or not the president of the United States is considered the leader of the free world.

January 20, 2021

• An op-ed by Department of Political Science and Munk School professor Wendy Wong discussing privacy concerns around facial recognition software and first published in The Conversation, is reprinted in the National Post.
• Department of Computer Science University Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton comments in a Nature feature celebrating ten significant computer science achievements throughout history, on the inclusion of a 2012 advance in artificial intelligence programming made by graduate students on his research team.

January 21, 2021

• Munk School associate professor Rajshri Jayaraman comments in the Toronto Star on how changes to farm laws in India might benefit Canada.
• An extensive collection of icicle data created by Department of Physics professor Stephen Morris is cited in a Chicago Tribune story exploring the art of ice and frozen water in winter.
• Department of Earth Sciences lecturer David Rudkin comments in CBC News on fossils recently  discovered in Taiwan of burrows made by ancient giant predatory worms.
• Nelson Wiseman comments in the Washington Post (paywall) on the resignation of Canadian governor general Julie Payette.