Endangered spaces and species in Canada’s mountains

This past autumn alarm bells have been ringing loudly in Canada’s mountains. Again. New evidence indicates that iconic mountain spaces, our glaciers, and unique species, such as mountain caribou, are disappearing.

Canada’s mountain glaciers are essential water towers, a source of freshwater for most of the rivers that flow across the prairies and to the Pacific and Arctic oceans. The loss of mountain glaciers will affect a range of human activities, including winter and summer tourism, critical habitat for fish and wildlife, and the availability of water for communities and for agricultural irrigation. Current models predict that western Canada will lose most of its glacier ice volume by 2100 — that’s within a single average Canadian lifespan — with significant downstream consequences for the rivers they nourish.

Read more about endangered spaces and species in Canada's mountains here.

Canada acquires one of the world’s oldest artefacts

As the curator swirls the tiny water-filled test tube, the rusty orange sediment lifts off the bottom and begins to swirl, a mesmerizing message in a bottle that has been brought to the Earth’s surface after more than a billion years underground.

The ancient water, which was recently added to the collection of Ingenium, Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation, provides information about our Earth in its earliest days but is also an artefact that Ingenium Curator Rebecca Dolgoy hopes will make us think more deeply about our relationship with water in the present.

The water was originally collected in 2009 by University of Toronto geochemist Dr Barbara Sherwood Loller and her team, who descended some 2.4 kilometres below the earth’s surface to collect the samples from the Kid Creek Mine near Timmins, Ont.

Read more.

Our five favourite features in the new Apple Maps

If Royal Canadian Geographical Society and Westaway Explorer-in-Residence Adam Shoalts had used the former Apple Maps application to plan his 4,000-kilometre journey across Canada’s three territories he would have found large tracts of grey on the screen, signifying unmapped areas. Today, the application is far more precise, with a recent update adding layers of rich detail to Apple Maps. 

The Cupertino-based company unveiled its new and improved Maps application yesterday, in a silent software push that rolled out the changes on devices, and the results are astounding. 

“With Apple Maps, we have created the best and most private maps app on the planet and we are excited to bring this experience to our users in Canada,” says Apple’s senior vice president of internet software and services, Eddy Cue.

See our five favourite new features here.

Jane Goodall: The Hope

The Jane Goodall Institute of Canada is hosting its first-ever virtual event featuring the Canadian screening of National Geographic’s documentary Jane Goodall: The Hope followed by a live Q&A with Dr. Goodall. Available across Canada, standard tickets are just $30 with the option to upgrade to a VIP Ticket + Kit, which includes a curated collection of items. A recording of the event (including the film) will be available for 7 days to those who have registered.

This is a great opportunity to see RCGS medalist and fellow Dr. Goodall speak about her life's work.

Get tickets here!

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