Alanna Mitchell

The Big Idea: Why We Should Take UFOs Seriously Whether you call them UFOs, UAPs or flying saucers, Canada should treat the objects that fly in our skies as scientific phenomena, not pop-cultural quackery The James Webb telescope is allowing…

Science The James Webb telescope is allowing astronomers to time-travel into our deep, dark past Far off in space, in the middle of the Sword of Orion, just below the mythical hunter’s belt, is a hot and violent nebula swathed in dust, where new…

Environment Pat Bouchard wants to make sure each and every species of Coleoptera is properly identified Spending a few years rooting through rotted logs in snake-infested tropical forests on remote Australian mountaintops at night in a quest for…

Society After Judy Peterson's daughter disappeared 27 years ago, she poured herself into a campaign to create the more integrated, country-wide DNA database. Here's how it led to a Quebec mother finding her son. Because Judy Peterson lost her…

Health The legendary scientist turned to highly experimental deep brain stimulation to treat his own alcoholism. He’d devoted his whole life to science, he joked. Why not his brain, too? The research he took part in is revolutionizing how we treat…

Science One of the world’s most famous marine ecologists dials back his doomsday predictions and tries optimism A few years ago, discouraged by the mess the ocean is in, Boris Worm took a trip to the coral reefs of West Papua, Indonesia. He expected…

Environment A discovery that shows life 90 million years ago near the South Pole may also point to what lies ahead Using evidence from the core sample, this painting hypothesizes what the now-frozen South Pole might have looked like 90 million years…

Inspired by Star Trek to pursue astronomy, 26-year-old Michelle Kunimoto is one of the whip-smart young scientists who just might help us find the first evidence of extraterrestrial life You could say she’s a superstar. Michelle Kunimoto is only 26…

Science Climate change patterns show wine-growing regions will become inhospitable to many varieties of grapes Among all the catastrophes forecast for our climate-disrupted planet, a wretched new prospect has emerged: a world where beloved varietals…

Health Diaries show the disastrous extent of the 'Anne of Green Gables' author’s addiction to prescription drugs, as well as parallels to our modern-day opioid crisis Even now, the red-brick house in Norval, Ont., is a majestic manse, just a stone’s…

New cases of HIV are rising dramatically in Canada. And self-testing kits are nearly as easy to use as a home pregnancy test. Christian Jasserand, 56, was on a work trip in the U.S. three years ago when he strolled into a drugstore and bought a…

Year Ahead 2020 After decades of experimentation, billions of dollars in investment across the globe and gut-wrenching uncertainty about whether it was even physically possible, we've proven a quantum computer can work It’s been hailed as a…

The detailed field journals, lost for decades, now reveal today's salmon stocks are in dramatically worse shape than imagined It was a rare window into the past: small black field notebooks from the first decades of the last century, pages swollen…

Health Vapes were said to be a powerful tool in the global effort to get people off smoking, and maybe off nicotine, too. What went wrong? Soaring teen addiction. Kids on life-support. Weird deaths. Terrifying lung damage. A scramble for data. A…

Covering Climate Now Micro-organisms are central to the production and consumption of greenhouse gases and are in turn affected by planetary changes. And yet, they are largely ignored in most climate policies. Micro-organisms that live under sea ice…

Science The mutilated bodies suggested psychopaths as the perpetrators, but a new branch of forensics pointed elsewhere The mystery started with dead, mutilated cats left on front porches and lawns or in schoolyards in Edmonton and nearby St. Albert.…

Insulin’s legendary co-discoverer was never in it to get rich. Banting donated the patent to try to avoid today’s global tragedies. The high price of insulin has led people with diabetes on both sides of the border to ration the drug, lowering or…

THE CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUE THE CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUE A carbon-free world is possible by 2050. What would that mean for our jobs, homes and lives? More From This Issue More From This Author

Society Society Trash discovered at the ocean’s deepest point sadly illustrates the depth of the plastic pollution problem More From This Issue More From This Author

Society Society Geophysicists tracking the Earth’s magnetic field say the pole is slipping into Siberian territory More From This Issue More From This Author