Sci & Tech

It Takes Guts

When you first see him, Clark looks like your typical 23-year-old English Literature student at McGill University (which is to say ‘bespectacled and bearded’). He is quick to tell you about an exciting new book, or share his thoughts about some of the more colourful characters of the NBA. He’s tall,…

Réalités virtuelle et augmentée: les obstacles

Au Consumer Electronics Show (CES) de cette année, où manufacturiers et acteurs de l’électronique présentent leurs produits pour l’année à venir, le monde de la réalité augmentée (RA) et de la réalité virtuelle (RV) semblait en ébullition. L’offre se diversifie, tant du côté RV, avec les produits Oculus et le…

Redefining Experiences: the Implications of Augmented Reality

If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?   You’ve most likely heard this age-old riddle before. The key to understanding it is recognizing the fundamental question at its core- i.e, “is existence itself defined by the presence of…

The Virtual Creation of a Modern Monster

Frankenstein is one of my favourite books. On first read, I was struck by its dark undertones, romantic prose, and its thematic concerns with the dangers of obsession- embodied by the titular scientist’s fated attempt at playing God. I consider myself a person of science, someone who has wholeheartedly embraced…

Réalité virtuelle : l’avenir du jeu vidéo?

Du 14 au 16 juin dernier s’est tenu à Los Angeles l’Electronic Entertainement Expo (E3), le plus grand salon du jeu vidéo au monde. Rendez-vous incontournable pour la presse vidéoludique, c’est l’occasion pour les gros studios de production du 10ème art de présenter leurs nouveautés, des jeux eux-mêmes jusqu’aux annonces…

Underneath the Comb-Over: The Psychology of Donald Trump

After having flirted with the idea for over a decade, Donald Trump announced his entrance into the Republican presidential race on June 16th 2015. Already having established himself as a successful entrepreneur and businessman, Trump has leveraged his celebrity status to create a platform for controversial comments relating to race,…

Artificial Intelligence Has Already Taken Over

Feature photo: a depiction of the search tree used by AlphaGo, Google’s Go-playing AI program. The year was 1966. The nascent field of artificial intelligence had begun to attract interest from academics in cognitive and computer science. AI pioneer Marvin Minsky had just founded one of the early meccas of…

Hacking Away at Tech’s Borders

Think about the word “hackathon”; what comes to mind? Probably an image of people huddled over their laptops, illuminated only by the bluish light from their screens, typing at superhuman speeds made possible only by a constant stream of energy drinks. This is not entirely inaccurate, but it’s not close to correct, either. We have a tendency to see our hypothetical “hackers” as technology specialists– but we fail to see such traits in ourselves. Their milieu can appear to us instead only as an exclusive niche. Why is that?

It’s all a Matter of Time

We feel our bodies ebb and flow on a daily basis, the rhythm of our lives dictated by patterns and repetitions that are monotonous in their consistency. Our biology is constantly cycling: through stages of birth and rebirth, growth and regrowth; through cells, which constantly grow, divide and grow again…