September 4, 2020 by
A&S News
From the impact of denim microfibres on Canadian waters to the protests surrounding the monuments of Sir John A. Macdonald, 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 A&S scholars had to say this week.
August 28, 2020
- Randy Boyagoda, a professor in the Department of English, writes about how the pandemic has impacted his work as a writer in the Toronto Star (paywall).
August 29, 2020
- Graeme Moffat, a senior fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy comments on Elon Musk's neuroscience startup Neuralink, which recently unveiled a brain implant that could “solve ailments such as memory loss, hearing loss, depression and insomnia” for NBC Online.
- Professor Emeritus Anthony Doob of the Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies shares his experience on a panel created to oversee the implementation of prison reforms in Maclean’s.
August 31, 2020
- Erick Laming, a PhD candidate in criminology discusses the rollout of new body cameras that Toronto police officers can turn off while on the job in CBC News. "Empirically, we just don't know how effective these devices can be. Is it going to stop violence against certain communities? Is it going to stop police from shooting people? Probably not," says Laming.
September 1, 2020
- Research fellows Cynthia Khoo and Kate Robertson of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School discuss and write about their new research on police surveillance and algorithmic policing in the Toronto Star (paywall). “We encountered far too many challenges in attempting to learn the full extent to which police agencies are using novel algorithmic technology and have come away from this project with a distinct sense that more is very likely out there than what we know,” says Robertson.
- Erick Laming of criminology talks about watchdog allegations of RCMP misconduct with CBC News. "The average Canadian or the average citizen probably won't read the full summary but it's there. It's there for the public, it's there for us to debate, to look at, to see what evidence was included in the investigation and how the decision was made. I think all of those elements are really important," says Laming.
- Melanie J. Newton, an associate professor in the Department of History talks about why monuments like that of Sir John A. Macdonald are targets of protest with the CBC.
- Professors Emeriti Robert Bothwell and Margaret MacMillan of history and the Munk School are quoted in a Globe and Mail op-ed regarding the complex legacies of historical figures.
September 2, 2020
- Research by Jonathan Hall, an assistant professor in the Department of Economics and the Munk School that finds digital warning signs cause more crashes than they stop is outlined in the Telegraph (paywall).
September 3, 2020
- Professor Miriam Diamond and PhD candidate Samantha Athey of the Department of Earth Sciences share their research on how denim microfibres could be destroying some of the world’s most precious water with CBC News.