How cloud seeding can make it rain or prevent extreme weather

Cloud seeding has been named by some media reports as a possible contributor to record-setting rain and flooding in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Here’s a closer look at what cloud seeding is, how it’s used and whether it could have made the flooding worse. What is cloud seeding? It’s the process of making tiny drops … Read more

‘We are losing the Amazon rainforest’: Record number of wildfires in parts of Brazil

Fire is sucking the life out of parts of the Amazon rainforest. In Roraima State, in northern Brazil, the number of fires in February were more than five times the average, according to data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, and blazes continued to burn through March. “We are losing the Amazon rainforest. These … Read more

At least 3 right whale calves have died so far this year, conservation group says

An international environmental organization is calling on the federal government to step up protections for endangered North Atlantic right whales beyond the 2023 measures it’s opting to repeat this year, noting birth rates are already below expectations for the season and at least three of the 19 calves born so far are believed to have died. Oceana Canada campaign director Kim … Read more

This UBC grad has discovered thousands of likely planets across our cosmos

At 30 years old, Michelle Kunimoto already has more than 3,000 planet candidates under her belt. Inspired by science fiction and curiosity, the University of British Columbia astronomy graduate is passionate about searching for exoplanets — bodies orbiting stars outside our own solar system. She’s currently leading a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) hunting for them. … Read more

Dress code: How a Winnipeg codebreaker cracked one of the ‘world’s top unsolved messages’

University of Manitoba research computer analyst Wayne Chan holds a copy of the Silk Dress cryptogram. (Trevor Brine/CBC) “Bismark Omit leafage buck bank.” That seemingly random string of words appears in something called the Silk Dress cryptogram, 23 handwritten lines on two sheets of crinkled paper that were discovered in a hidden pocket of a Victorian-era dress … Read more

Celestial surprise: Edmonton man discovers meteorite in his rain gutter

Doug Olson heard a loud thud on his roof while folding laundry in October last year. When he went out to investigate the cause of the sound, he didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.  But earlier this spring, while cleaning out his rain gutters on the roof of his Mill Woods home, Olson discovered a small … Read more