Episodes
5
May 20, 2025
10,000 ways | Jan Rainey is untangling the mysteries of spider silks
The Dalhousie University researcher is looking to create synthetic versions of spider's silk that have the potential to help heal damaged nerves and damaged hearts. Researcher Jan Rainey’s curiosity about synthetic fibres began during an undergraduate work term with DuPont. Years later, he heard stories from a fellow researcher that alluded to the amazing properties of spider’s silk. Now he's studying the unique characteristics of spider fibres in hopes of generating synthetic versions that are ...
4
March 24, 2025
10,000 ways | Pooneh Maghoul: Working at the forefront of geotechnical engineering
(Available only in French) Can our critical infrastructure withstand the effects of climate change? Pooneh Maghoul and her research team are working to make our bridges, roads and other critical infrastructures more resistant to climate change and extreme environments on Earth and in space. She founded the Sustainable Infrastructure and Geoengineering Lab at Polytechnique Montréal. In this podcast, she explains the complexities of permafrost engineering and shares the most important lesson life ...
3
Jan. 21, 2025
10,000 ways | Researchers from the University of Saskatchewan are global leaders in pandemic preparedness
In 2002, German researcher Volker Gerdts relocated to Saskatoon. Cutting-edge vaccine research was the attraction. Now he is at the helm of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) World-renowned infectious disease specialist Volker Gerdts calls himself a “builder” who is carefully assembling a passionate team working to stop disease outbreaks in their tracks. His passion is infectious as he strives to keep people in Canada safe from future pandemics. The Vaccine and Infectious Dis...
2
Nov. 18, 2024
10,000 ways | How neuroendocrinology crosses sectors to create promising new insights
(This podcast is only available in French) Nafissa Ismail focuses on the effects of hormones on the brain to pin down the interactions between our organs and our emotions Epidemiological data shows that the roots of depression form during puberty or adolescence for 75 percent of adults experiencing it. Nafissa Ismail is a professor at the University of Ottawa's School of Psychology and a leading figure in mental health research. Her work is making a significant contribution toward understanding ...
1
Oct. 21, 2024
10,000 ways | The future of flight depends on sustainability that goes beyond biofuels
The University of Waterloo’s Suzanne Kearns is a global leader in sustainable aviation, but her flight path wasn’t without turbulence. Suzanne Kearns grew up in Wiarton, Ont., where she would lie in the grass and watch airplanes from the local airport take flight overhead. Her dreams of flying led to a fixed-wing licence at 16 and helicopter licence a year later. At 24, she was a full-time university lecturer on aviation. Today, as the founder of the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Aeronautic...
4
May 8, 2024
10,000 ways | Meet Acadian researcher Céline Surette, for whom interdisciplinarity is second nature
(The audio content of this podcast is only available in French.) Céline Surette embodies both the chemistry of living things and interdisciplinarity to serve the real needs and questions of communities. And to achieve this, and ensure that critical thinking triumphs, she'll pull out all the stops. Céline Surette is Dean of the Faculty of Science and Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Université de Moncton. She has a unique perspective on natural ecosystems as well a...
3
March 15, 2024
10,000 ways | Should bodies of water have the same legal status as people?
This podcast is about curious researchers, leading-edge science and the joys of discovery and gets its name from Thomas Edison who said, “I have not failed. I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.” Researcher Kelsey Leonard, member of the Shinnecock Nation and founder of the Wampum Lab at the University of Waterloo, delves into ocean, water and climate justice. Shinnecock is a dialect derived from the Algonquian language. It means “people of the stony shores.” It’s along the ston...
2
Nov. 17, 2023
10,000 ways | Science (sea) star
(Available only in French) This is a podcast about curious researchers, leading-edge science and the joys of discovery. Our podcast gets its name from Thomas Edison who said, “I have not failed. I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.” Ocean science research is at a pivotal moment according to Guillaume St-Onge, Director of the Institut des sciences de la mer de Rimouski at Université du Québec à Rimouski. Canada abounds with ocean science expertise and technology, yet its fleet ...
1
Sept. 14, 2023
10,000 Ways | Reinforcing the reliability of our vulnerable electricity grid
Welcome to 10,000 ways. This is a podcast about curious researchers, leading-edge science, and the joys of discovery. York University’s Pirathayini Srikantha studies power grid systems with the aim of keeping Canada’s infrastructure safe from fluctuations and hackers. Find out why she’s passionate about power. Our power grid is vulnerable. For one thing, it’s aging. For another, it’s prone to hackers. In the meantime, climate change means we need to find ways to integrate renewable energy source...
5
May 15, 2023
10,000 ways | Alex Langlois fell in love with the Arctic. Find out why he's fired up!
(This podcast is available only in French) Alexandre Langlois is passionate about all aspects of his job. As a researcher in Northern Canada, he studies the fastest-warming place on the planet and presents data on the issues that await us in terms of climate change. Like a high-level athlete, Alexandre Langlois has been training since the age of nine to live in extreme cold conditions. Today, his research in physical geography provides him with a unique understanding of the evolution of the Eart...
4
March 8, 2023
10,000 ways | The healing power of food: how nutrition and Carla Prado help treat cancer
On a cold March 2, 2004, Carla Prado arrived on the doorsteps of the University of Alberta. She left behind her native Brazil to fulfill a dream of studying abroad. Today, she is an academic leader in body composition research who passionately shares the benefits of protein-rich diets in the treatment of cancer. She uses social media and classic movies like The Wizard of Oz to help explain the science behind by her research.
3
Nov. 16, 2022
10,000 ways | Why using sound to treat disease is beautiful music to Simone Dalla Bella's ears
(This podcast is available only in French) Simone Dalla Bella of Montréal’s International Laboratory for BRAin, Music and Sound Research asks “How can music help us in our daily tasks? And how can it slow down the deleterious effects of diseases such as Parkinson’s?” Why is it that some people who are perfectly capable of hearing a beat still can’t dance? Researchers at the International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound Research are trying to establish a correlation between music and cogni...
2
Sept. 8, 2022
10,000 ways | Learn how Leyla Soleymani's curious nature is making life less sticky!
Leyla Soleymani is Canada’s Research Chair in Miniaturized Biomedical Devices. Her passion for the miniature world of nanotech and her commitment to collaboration have led her and her colleagues at McMaster University to inventions ranging from rapid tests that use pig saliva to disease detection to a plastic wrap that repels pathogens like rain drops off a lotus leaf.
2
Sept. 8, 2022
10,000 ways | Learn how Leyla Soleymani's curious nature is making life less sticky!
Leyla Soleymani is Canada’s Research Chair in Miniaturized Biomedical Devices. Her passion for the miniature world of nanotech and her commitment to collaboration have led her and her colleagues at McMaster University to inventions ranging from rapid tests that use pig saliva to disease detection to a plastic wrap that repels pathogens like rain drops off a lotus leaf.
1
May 18, 2022
10,000 ways | How does Anna Blakney use TikTok to help people understand mRNA vaccines?
For many, RNA vaccines seem to have appeared out of nowhere. The curious and the hesitant have wondered how a vaccine to fight COVID-19 could have been brought to market so quickly. In fact, messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines have been in development for over three decades. Here is the story about a persistent RNA vaccine pioneer and her socially connected admirer, University of British Columbia researcher, Anna Blakney.
1
May 18, 2022
10,000 ways | How does Anna Blakney use TikTok to help people understand mRNA vaccines?
For many, RNA vaccines seem to have appeared out of nowhere. The curious and the hesitant have wondered how a vaccine to fight COVID-19 could have been brought to market so quickly. In fact, messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines have been in development for over three decades. Here is the story about a persistent RNA vaccine pioneer and her socially connected admirer, University of British Columbia researcher, Anna Blakney.
Feb. 18, 2021
Julie Carrier: Taking on sleep medicine
This podcast is only available in French. Une chercheuse à l’Université de Montréal se concentre sur le sommeil des femmes. Julie Carrier of the Université de Montréal has devoted her academic career to the fascinating world of sleep, using equipment she received from the CFI to monitor the slumber patterns and sleep disorders of her test subjects. When she began her studies more than 20 years ago, little was known about women and sleep. Now, an aging population and the effects of menopause on...
Feb. 18, 2021
Julie Carrier: Taking on sleep medicine
This podcast is only available in French. Une chercheuse à l’Université de Montréal se concentre sur le sommeil des femmes. Julie Carrier of the Université de Montréal has devoted her academic career to the fascinating world of sleep, using equipment she received from the CFI to monitor the slumber patterns and sleep disorders of her test subjects. When she began her studies more than 20 years ago, little was known about women and sleep. Now, an aging population and the effects of menopause on...
Feb. 18, 2021
Stéphane Laporte: Using genetics to eliminate the side effects of drugs
This podcast is only available in French. A researcher at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre explores ways to improve drugs Stéphane Laporte, a researcher at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, became interested in pharmacological research when he noticed just how often drugs were associated with harmful side effects. In his lab at the Centre for Translational Biology, Laporte and his team are working to understand how pharmaceutical drugs ...
Feb. 18, 2021
Stéphane Laporte: Using genetics to eliminate the side effects of drugs
This podcast is only available in French. A researcher at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre explores ways to improve drugs Stéphane Laporte, a researcher at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, became interested in pharmacological research when he noticed just how often drugs were associated with harmful side effects. In his lab at the Centre for Translational Biology, Laporte and his team are working to understand how pharmaceutical drugs ...
Feb. 18, 2021
Tigran Galstian: Creating molecular lenses
This podcast is only available in French. One of the co-founders of LensVector talks about the origins of their molecular lens. Tigran Galstian, professor in the Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Optics at Université Laval and co-founder of LensVector, explains the invention of a molecular lens that could, among other things, improve our cellphones. Tigran Galstian received the David E. Mitchell Award of Distinction at the Ernest C. Manning Innovation Awards ceremony on October 2...
Feb. 18, 2021
Tigran Galstian: Creating molecular lenses
This podcast is only available in French. One of the co-founders of LensVector talks about the origins of their molecular lens. Tigran Galstian, professor in the Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Optics at Université Laval and co-founder of LensVector, explains the invention of a molecular lens that could, among other things, improve our cellphones. Tigran Galstian received the David E. Mitchell Award of Distinction at the Ernest C. Manning Innovation Awards ceremony on October 2...
Feb. 18, 2021
Jacques Genest: Developing new interventions to cure cardiovascular disease
This podcast is only available in French. A researcher at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre studies the link between genetics and cardiovascular disease. In the 1980s, when Jacques Genest was starting out in the Faculty of Medicine, cardiovascular disease was the leading cause of death among Canadians. Dr. Genest and his team built on advances in molecular genetics to discover multiple genes that predispose people to early cardiovascular disease and tested many drug...
Feb. 18, 2021
Jacques Genest: Developing new interventions to cure cardiovascular disease
This podcast is only available in French. A researcher at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre studies the link between genetics and cardiovascular disease. In the 1980s, when Jacques Genest was starting out in the Faculty of Medicine, cardiovascular disease was the leading cause of death among Canadians. Dr. Genest and his team built on advances in molecular genetics to discover multiple genes that predispose people to early cardiovascular disease and tested many drug...