“With a cash-strapped medical system where elder care, home care and pharmacare are grossly underfunded, it might be worthwhile to pursue less costly options,” wrote York University PhD candidate Alana Cattapan in the Toronto Star April 14. “By promoting the use of single-embryo transfer regardless of the source of funding, and increasing transparency about the high cost of privately provided fertility treatments in Canada, ‘affordability’, ‘access’ and ‘the health and safety of patients and their babies’ might better be achieved.” Read full story.
Schulich's entrepreneur-in-residence shares success stories and screw-ups
In January, serial entrepreneur Chris Carder became the first entrepreneur-in-residence at York University’s Schulich School of Business, reported The Globe and Mail April 15. He is currently the co-founder at Kinetic Café, a design and technology lab that he started with co-founders David Dougherty and Gary Fung. Read full story.
High frequency talker: Author of ‘Flash Boys’ has succeeded in demonizing an innovation that saves investors $9-billion a year
As emphasized by Douglas Cumming at York University’s Schulich School of Business on this page recently, Michael Lewis focuses on a single aspect of high frequency trading (HFT) that seems to have some institutional traders’ knickers in a knot, reported the Financial Post April 14. The assertion is that HFT detects the placing of a block order and trades ahead of it to earn a profit on the increase in price caused by the placing of the order. Read full story.
Total lunar eclipse to occur tonight; visible across Canada
"The reddish appearance of the Moon is caused by sunlight diffracting, or bending, around and through the Earth's atmosphere, and then striking the Moon," explained Jesse Rogerson, an astronomer at the York University Observatory, in Sun News April 14. Read full story.
Professor proposes cheap longevity insurance design
A Canadian finance professor has come up with a way of making lifetime annuities affordable by designing them so they only pay out if the market does badly. According to Moshe A. Milevsky of York University, Toronto, while lifetime and deferred lifetime annuities solve the problem of longevity risk, they are "bloody expensive". His solution is the “return contingent life annuity”, reported the Financial Standard April 15. Read full story.
Middle Eastern scholar discusses democracy, nonviolence in Iran
York University Professor Ramin Jahanbegloo, who holds the York-Noor Visiting Chair in Islamic Studies, gave a lecture on democracy and nonviolence in Iran at the University of Georgia’s Hirsch Hall on Monday afternoon, reported the Red & Black April 14. . . . In 2009, Jahanbegloo won the Peace Prize from the United Nations Association in Spain for his work in promoting dialogue between cultures and advocacy for nonviolence. Read full story.
Trying to be perfect could be ruining your health: It can trigger heart disease, IBS and insomnia – and some experts say it could even be as bad for you as smoking
It's estimated that two in five of us display perfectionist tendencies. And thanks to social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, increasing numbers are concerned about being – or appearing to be – perfect, said York University psychology Professor Gordon Flett in the Daily Mail April 15. “It's natural to want to be a perfectionist in one area of your life, such as your job,” he said. “But when it becomes an obsessive need for the perfect job, child, relationship, bank balance and body, it causes extreme stress and can affect not only relationships, but your health.” Read full story.