Ontario Chief Justice Warren Winkler's retirement is well over a year away. But already the dean of Osgoode Hall Law School, Lorne Sossin, is talking about Chief Justice Winkler's legacy. No stranger to awards, Ontario's top judge will be getting an honorary doctor of laws at Osgoode's spring convocation at York University on Thursday. The law school has also announced plans to launch a new institution in his name: the Winkler Institute for Dispute Resolution, reported The Globe & Mail June 13. Read full story.
Will Egypt Repeat the Mistakes of Iran?
The triangular confrontations among the military, the Islamists, and the revolutionaries continue in Egypt. Taking advantage of this situation, the Islamists used their massive organizational and ideological capabilities to win the majority of seats in the hastily arranged parliamentary elections in January, wrote York political science Professor Saeed Rahnema in an opinion piece published in The Mark June 13 about the potential pitfalls the country faces as it moves towards democracy. Read full story.
Purple Martins in Camrose outfitted with backpacks
In mid-June, 20 Purple Martin birds summering in Camrose, Alberta, will be outfitted with special nickel-sized backpacks containing sophisticated geolocators. Kevin Fraser, a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Biology in York’s Faculty of Science & Engineering, will be outfitting the birds with their new gear in anticipation of the birds’ migration to South America that will take place later this summer. The birds will return to Camrose next year and the data collected will give Fraser a better understanding about how these birds survive their incredible journey, reported The Camrose Booster June 7 and reprinted in the Viking Weekly Review June 12. Read full story.
'Prometheus,' Alien Invasion Genre Rejected By Scientific Experts
Kathryn Denning, an anthropologist who studies human thinking about extraterrestrials at York University in Toronto, compared what might happen to the 15th century encounter between the Old World and the New, which is at the heart of a new blockbuster movie Prometheus about an alien invasion. "When it comes to intercultural encounters, we have a very mixed record. It just depends on what's at stake," Denning told the Huffington Post June 13. "If there were a situation where people had something to fear from aliens … that doesn't usually go all that well." Read full story.