A Frozen World Returns

By Claire Eamer

The wolf pup cleaned, preserved, and ready for display.
Yukon Government photo.

More than 50,000 years ago, when most of Canada was buried under kilometres-thick ice sheets, a wolf pup was born in one of the few places untouched by the ice -- a dry, grassy plain that extended across most of what is now the Yukon. No more than eight weeks later, the little wolf died, probably buried in a landslip and smothered while it slept in its den. The cold muck froze around it and stayed frozen, summer and winter, preserving the small body.

Just over two years ago, on July 13, 2016, gold miners on Last Chance Creek near Dawson City washed away some frozen sediment and found the little pup. It was frozen and dried but still remarkably well preserved. The miners immediately called in palaeontologist Grant Zazula and his colleagues in the Yukon government's Palaeontology Program. They were delighted with the find. To his knowledge, it's the only ice-age wolf ever found, Zazula says.

Only half of the caribou calf's body was found.
Yukon Government photo.

That was the second spectacular find of the 2016 summer. Six weeks earlier, miners on Paradise Hill -- another famous location in the historic Klondike Goldfields -- had discovered the frozen and mummified remains of a caribou calf. It wasn't as complete as the wolf pup, but nearly all of the front half of the body had survived, with skin, muscle, and hair intact.

Zazula and his colleagues knew they had something special, but they didn't realise quite how special until the results of radiocarbon dating came back. Both animals lived more than 50,000 years ago, the limit for radiocarbon dating. And the caribou calf had been found in association with a layer of volcanic ash that had settled to the ground about 80,000 years ago.

Yukon government palaeontologists Grant Zazula and Elizabeth Hall excavate
the caribou calf from the frozen muck of Paradise Hill near Dawson City, Yukon.
Yukon Government photo

Specimens that old are rare anywhere, and especially in the Yukon where the undulating landscape left few places for dead animals to lie and freeze undisturbed. There was no rush to preserve the bodies, Zazula says.

"We had them kicking around in our deep freeze for a couple of months. They were very well freeze-dried already."

The wolf pup's head before preservation, ice crystals visible.
Yukon Government photo

However, if anyone other than experts was going to see them, more work was required. Yukon Heritage applied for help from the experts at the Canadian Conservation Institute. And they got it. Today, both small bodies have been carefully thawed and preserved in a way that will make it possible to display them to the public. They are currently on display in Dawson at the Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation, in whose traditional territory they were found. Later this fall, they will be moved to Whitehorse and a permanent display at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre.

Meanwhile, scientific interest is building. Zazula is fielding calls from Pleistocene scholars around the world and brainstorming with them and his Yukon colleagues about what kind of questions the little corpses might answer. Is the wolf pup related to the wolves that live in the Yukon today, or did the Pleistocene wolf disappear to be replaced by a new population? Does the caribou calf have relatives living today? If so, which of the many caribou herds do they belong to? And that's just the beginning.

The thawing permafrost and melting ice of the world are revealing more and more clues to the past, both animal and human. That's the subject of my latest book, Out of the Ice: How Climate Change is Revealing the Past. The Yukon pup and calf are too recent to make it into the book, but it contains plenty of other fascinating evidence of lost or forgotten worlds.

Books to Inspire the Outdoor Kid

By Margriet Ruurs

Looking for books that will inspire children to learn more about science?
Here are some great titles that focus on the natural environment.

Water’s Children by Angéle Delaunois
Water's Children has as subtitle ‘Celebrating the resource that unites us all’. The poetic text takes the reader from rainy cities to thirsty deserts, from mountain tops to the ocean shore, and from rice paddies to rain forests. All around the world, children share what water means to them. A lovely way to discuss countries, cultures, and the importance of water.

Water's Children, by Angéle Delaunois, Pajama Press, ISBN 978-1-77278-015-4.


Watch Me Grow and Up We Grow, by Deborah Hodge

Any school that wants to have a garden or nurture children to take an interest in nature should have these two nonfiction picture books. The first title focuses on growing food in the city. From beets and tomatoes in back yards to balconies, and from bees on rooftops to urban chickens, the book shares photos of kids growing things.

The second title takes the reader along on a year on a small farm. Both books offer ideas for growing your own food, including recipes.

Watch Me Grow, Deborah Hodge, Kids Can Press, ISBN 978-1-55453-618-4
Up We Grow, Deborah Hodge, ISBN 978-1-55453-561-3, 


Safari by Robert Bateman
This gorgeous picture book shares the art of Robert Bateman with young readers. Each image is an impressive, realistic painting of an African animal. Part diary, part note book, the text and images take the reader along on a safari to meet such animals as lion, zebra, elephant, wildebeest, and more. It even includes rough drafts of the paintings so that this book will appeal to young artists as well as nature lovers. Text boxes give detailed information on each animal.

Safari, Robert Bateman, Little, Brown, ISBN 978-0670879700.


Wild Ideas, Let Nature Inspire Your Thinking by Elin Kelsey, illustrated by Soyeon Kim.

A nonfiction picture book needs more than interesting facts. It needs a strong voice and an angle that makes it different from other books. Wild Ideas does just that. The environmentalist author looks at animals around the world, and how they solve problems: otters and primates make tools, squirrels copy people, and an octopus can play tricks. How do animals deal with problems and how can you do the same? A fun book to discuss in science and environmental studies. The art adds a whole other level and will inspire many art lessons. For more about the book, check out: www.owlkidsbooks.com/wildideas

Wild Ideas, by Elin Kelsey, Owl Books, ISBN 978-1-77147-062-9

Announcing the Bigger, Better - and Fully Updated - Science Book List

By Claire Eamer

2014 Lane Anderson Award

About a year ago, we posted our first list of Canadian science-themed books for children. Our goal was to help teachers, librarians, science communicators, and parents find science resources home-grown in Canada.

It was a selection only, not a comprehensive list - just what we could do with too little time, too few hands, and no resources to speak of.

2012 Lane Anderson Award

Here we are a year later, and not much has changed in the time-hands-resources continuum - but the book list has changed. It's bigger, bolder, better organized - and UPDATED!

(Oops. Did I shout that? Well, it's worth shouting about.)

The list is still not comprehensive, but there are a lot of books in there. Including the prize-winners you see on this page. The books are listed by curricular topic, so you can search for books on your favourite subject or just browse happily.

2013 Lane Anderson Award

And the book list even has its own shiny new page on the Sci/Why website. Take note of the tab on the right, above, and keep an eye on that page for further news. Or you can just jump straight to the book list.

Please share the Science Book List link with everyone and anyone. And use the list. You're welcome to download and distribute it. Just acknowledge the source.

Happy Reading!

CSWA 2014 Book Awards Short List Announced!

Post by Helaine Becker

We here at Sci-Why are pleased to interrupt our regular publishing schedule (which is normally on every Friday) to post the short list for this year's:

CSWA 2014 Book Awards

And yes, I'm pleased as punch to point out that my own book, Zoobots, is on the Children's Book Short List. 

Best of luck to all the nominees! If you are a reader, you won't need luck to pick a winner from these lists - are all guaranteed to inform and delight. 

Short List for the 2014 Science in Society Children/ Middle Grades Book Award competition:

Zoobots by Helaine Becker, Kids Can Press.

Starting from Scratch by Sarah Elton, Owl Kids Books.

It’s Catching by Jennifer Gardy, Owl Kids Books.

The Fly by Elise Gravel, Penguin Random House.

If by David J. Smith, Kids Can Press.

Short List for the 2014 Science in Society General Book Award competition:

The End of Memory by Jay Ingram, Harper Collins Publishers Ltd.

Canadian Spacewalkers: Hadfield, MacLean and Williams Remember the Ultimate High Adventure by Bob McDonald, Douglas & McIntyre.

Pain and Prejudice: What Science can Learn about Work from the People Who Do It by Karen Messing, Between the Lines (BTL).

Is that a Fact? by Dr Joe Schwarcz, ECW Press.

Bee Time by Mark L. Winston, Harvard University Press.

The winners in each category will be announced on Canada Book Day, 23 April 2015. Winners will each be presented with a plaque and $1000 cash prize during an awards dinner held in conjunction with the CSWA ‘s 44^th annual conference in Saskatoon, SK, held at the University of Saskatchewan 18-21 June 2015.

Our Science Book List Hits its First Update!

By Claire Eamer

There's nothing like publishing a list of books to make more books and authors pop out of the woodwork! (Well, actually, we missed a few the first time.)

Anyway, our amazing and awesome and Really Long list of great science books for kids has already received its first update. Click the link for more science-y goodness!

This update courtesy of Sci/Why's perpetual motion machine, Helaine Becker. Thanks!

Looking for a good book? We made a list!

By Claire Eamer

Everybody likes a good book, right? And we (she said modestly) write good books. Honest! We really do!!

Rick Massie photo

(Can you tell I'm a bit excited about this?)

The Sci/Why crew and their writer-friends have compiled a list of Science-Themed Books for Children, all written by Canadian science writers. It's organized by curricular topic, so if you're looking for books about Astronomy, Biology, Evolution, Robots, or whatever your heart (or your kids' latest enthusiasm) desires, we've got you covered. Seriously.

Please feel free to download, share, forward, promote, and use. Especially, use.

This list is a work in progress. We'll try to update it regularly and add writers and books we've missed. You can help. If you're a Canadian author who hasn't sent us your list yet, please send. If you have a favourite Canadian kids' science book that's not on the list, let us know. And send us the publication details. Or post it in the Comments s
ection below.

Additions to the list can be sent to sciwhy (at) gmail (dot) com. They won't be added immediately - we're all pretty busy - but we'll get to them.

This first incarnation of our science book list was pulled together by Adrienne Mason, Helaine Becker, Joan Marie Galat, and Claire Eamer.

Winter Whites: How Snowshoe Hares and Ptarmigan Are Influenced by Climate Change & Evolution

By Jan Thornhill

Josée Bisaillon's illustration of Lily wearing her 
"winter whites" in Winter's Coming.

My most recent book, Winter’s Coming: A Story of Seasonal Change, follows Lily, a young snowshoe hare, as she learns about the ways in which other animals prepare for winter’s arrival. While the forest's leaves turn from green to yellow to brown and eventually fall to the ground, Lily is unaware that she, herself, is gradually changing colour from brown to white.

A young snowshoe hare has no idea that it will turn
completely white in the fall. (NPS/Tim Rains)

Snowshoe Hares

Snowshoe hares are one of seventeen northern animals that have adapted to their environments by undergoing a colour change twice a year. In the autumn these mammals and birds grow white fur or feathers so they’ll be hidden against the snow, and in the spring they trade their glorious whites for a variety of muted browns that provide summer camouflage.

Snowshoe hares turn white for the winter (NPS/Jacob W. Frank)

Right now it’s January and winter’s well under way in the northern hemisphere, which means that throughout their range snowshoe hares are safely camouflaged in their “winter whites.” Unfortunately there’s a new glitch in this fabulous winter adaptation: climate change is causing snow cover to arrive later and disappear earlier than usual in many of the areas where snowshoe hares live. 

Snowshoe hare researchers have been keeping track of this shortening of winter for a few years now and, not surprisingly, it’s not a great situation for the hares: for each extra day their coats are mismatched with their surroundings, there is an increase in mortality from predation.

A snowshoe hare in transition. (D. Sikes/Wikipedia)

Unlike people, snowshoe hares can’t just slip on appropriate clothing at will. Their colour changes are triggered by something neither they nor we can control: the changing length of daylight hours. Because of this, as warming trends continue, the snowshoe hare population is going to take a hard hit. The species, however, will likely bounce back as they gradually adapt to climate change. It’s all about evolution: any hares that turn white later than the majority in the fall or that moult earlier than others into their summer browns will have a greater chance of surviving long enough to breed and pass on this advantageous trait to their offspring.

This might be the only chance the species has since, like my character Lily in Winter’s Coming, snowshoe hares don’t have a clue that they spend half the year white and the other half brown. Researchers have found that in the spring, pure white hares do not seek out and crouch in areas where snow remains, but instead choose open areas where they are easily seen. 

Ptarmigan

Soyeon Kim's illustration of a moulting ptarmigan from Is This Panama?

Ptarmigans are another species that turn white in the winter to match their snowy northern surroundings. Although, like the snowshoe hare, the change in a ptarmigan's plumage is linked to changes in daylight hours, researchers have shown that these birds, unlike snowshoe hares, appear to have an awareness of their colour.  

Ptarmigans are camouflaged by white plumage in the winter, and will
also burrow into snow for warmth. (Xander/Wikipedia)

While both male and female Ptarmigans turn almost pure white in the winter, the females' springtime return to cryptic, camouflaging browns happens considerably earlier than the males'. So, while a female in her mottled summer colours is almost impossible to see once the snow melts, the white feathers the male still sports glow like beacons against the greens and browns of their habitat. Which makes them a target for predators such as gyrfalcons. But, apparently, standing out is the whole point: their flashy whites impress the girls, and impressing the girls is more important than hiding from predators. The really interesting thing, though, is that once the females begin egg-laying and are no longer receptive to the males' attentions, the males go out of their way to muddy their white feathers, masking the glaring white with smears of brown dirt for a couple of weeks until their spring moult is complete.

A female willow ptarmigan is well camouflaged in the spring after
she grows her cryptic breeding plumage. (Jan Thornhill)

Male ptarmigans keep their conspicuous white feathers longer than
the females in the spring to attract the girls. (Jan Thornhill)

To prove that this feather-soiling activity wasn't just a coincidence, during a 17-year study, Bob Montgomerie of Queen's University and his team purposely dirtied the white feathers of males early in the mating season with markers when the females were still receptive. This sullying of the birds showy "winter whites" so disturbed the amorous males, that they went to work, primping and preening, making their handsome white feathers once again immaculate within 48 hours.  

Soyeon Kim's illustration of a moulting ptarmigan from Is This Panama?

References:

Zimova M, LS Mills, PM Lukacs and MS Mitchell (2014). Snowshoe hares display limited phenotypic plasticity to mismatch in seasonal camouflage. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: 281(1782).
Mills LS, et al. (2013) Camouflage mismatch in seasonal coat color due to decreased snow duration Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 110(18):7360-7365.
Montgomerie, Robert; Lyon, Bruce; Holder, Karen, 2001: Dirty ptarmigan: Behavioral modification of conspicuous male plumage. Behavioral Ecology 12(4): 429-438


Kids' Resources:

Shameless plug for my two most recent books, Winter's Coming: A Story of Seasonal Change (illustrated by Soyeon Kim), and Is This Panama? A Migration Story (illustrated by Josée Bisaillon)

Are Canadians interested in science? You tell us!

By Claire Eamer

A couple of weeks ago, Rick Mercer delivered one of his trademark rants in support of science - pure science, whether or not it confers immediate economic benefit. He criticized the federal government for its lack of respect and support for science and said that Canadians are “as passionate and curious as anyone else” when it comes to science.

Now, as a science communicator - both to kids and to adults - that is my experience too. I've talked to kids, teachers, librarians, parents, and passing adults from Vancouver Island to Nunavut in the past few years. Almost all were enthusiastic about science, curious about how things work, fascinated by the natural world, and delighted to learn new things. (The exceptions were two kids from a religious fundamentalist family and one grown-up radio interviewer - but you can't please everyone, I guess.)

But this, it appears, is not everyone's experience.

Canadian geneticist David Kent, currently at the University of Cambridge in the UK, wrote a blog post politely and articulately disagreeing with Rick Mercer. That triggered an online storm of the best possible kind - some people agreeing with Kent and others disagreeing.

Besides the stream of comments attached to Kent's post - all polite and passionate (including, I hope, my own) - the discussion has continued on other blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter feeds.

One of the commenters, science communicator Kevin Mogk, felt strongly enough about the discussion to repost his own comments, inviting more discussion. Another referred to his own earlier post with concerns similar to Kent's. 

A number of people referenced the Council of Canadian Academies' report, issued in August 2014, on the state of science culture in Canada. Among its findings: "Canadians have positive attitudes towards science and technology and low levels of reservations about science compared with citizens of other countries."

The Canadian science blog and blog aggregator, Science Borealis, recently published a careful and detailed set of counter-arguments to Kent's post.

Theresa Liao, science communicator at the University of British Columbia and a friend of David Kent, posted her own response on her blog, Science, I Choose You!

Among the evidence cited for Canadians' interest in and enthusiasm for science are the excellent books, blogs and articles being produced by Canadian science writers for a Canadian and international audience, including:

• nominees and winners of the Canadian Science in Society Book Awards  and the Lane Anderson Awards
• the Canadian science bloggers listed and featured on the website of the Canadian Science Writers' Association and the Science Borealis blog
• the substantial audiences attracted by CBC Radio's Quirks & Quarks and CBC Television's The Nature of Things
• the crowds of kids and adults who fill science centres, science museums, and open science days at universities and research centres

So, who is right? Or are we all right, to some degree? What do we - all of us - need to do to make sure that Canadians have access to scientific information in a form that makes it useful to them? And how can we ensure that kids who are passionate about science (and that's most of them, in my experience) don't lose that passion as they get older, whether or not they become scientists themselves?

If you read this far, you care - and you have an opinion. Please share!






 

The Lane Anderson Awards for Excellence in Science Writing

Can you be just a little over the moon? No. Which is why I'm a LOT over the moon to have been named the winner of the 2012 Lane Anderson Award for Science Writing, in the Children's Books category for The Big Green Book of the Big Blue Sea.

The winner in the Adult category is Neil Turok for The Universe Within.

Here we are giddily clutching our plaques.  

Congrats to Neil and to everyone who participated in this great event! And a huge thanks to the Fitzhenry Family for endowing this award and highlighting the central role of science in our lives.

Here are the deets from the official announcement:

$10,000 Lane Anderson Award Winners

Celebrating the Best Science Writing in Canada

Toronto. 26^th September, 2013:  The Fitzhenry Family Foundation announced the winners of the 2012 Lane Anderson Award. Finalists and winners were feted at an intimate dinner in Toronto.

The annual Lane Anderson Award, now in its fourth year, honours excellence in Canadian science writing, by highlighting two jury-selected books – one addressed to adult readers, the other written for children and/or middle grade readers.  Authors of the winning books each receive $10,000. 

There were a total of 20 submissions for this year’s award.

“We established this award because we believe passionately that science writing, and science reporting is vitally important for every Canadian today.  Science writing, research, and knowledge impacts the ways in which we live now, the ways our children will live in future, and the ways in which our children’s children will live their lives. As Canadians, we do not pay enough attention to science. We take it for granted.  The Lane Anderson Award is dedicated towards removing that indifference, two books at a time. We thank all of the authors and publishers and judges who are helping us pass along this message. It needs to be heard and heeded.”

- Hollister Doll & Sharon Fitzhenry Directors, Fitzhenry Family Foundation  

The annual Lane Anderson Award honours two jury-selected books, in the categories of adult and young reader, published in the field of science, and written by a Canadian. The winner in each category receives $10,000.

The 2012 Lane Anderson Prize Winners are:

The Universe Within by Neil Turok (Anansi)

The most anticipated nonfiction book of the season, this year's Massey Lectures is a visionary look at the way the human mind can shape the future.  Neil Turok is one of the world’s top physicists and founder of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS). He is currently the Director of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

Big Green Book of the Big Blue Sea by Helaine Becker (Kids Can Press)

Based on the idea that knowledge is power, The Big Green Book of the Big Blue Sea shows how the ocean works and why this immense ecosystem needs our protection. Experiments using everyday materials help explain the scientific concepts. Helaine Becker is a bestselling writer of children’s fiction, nonfiction and verse.

The two juries meet annually to consider all the submissions to the Lane Anderson Award and comprise editors, librarians, and previous Lane Anderson winners.

The Lane Anderson designation honours the maiden names of Robert Fitzhenry’s mother, Margaret Lane, and his wife, Hilda Anderson Fitzhenry.  The Fitzhenry Family Foundation is a privately directed Canadian foundation established in 1987 by Canadian publisher Robert I. Fitzhenry (1918-2008).  The Lane Anderson Award is administered by Christopher Alam, a partner at the law firm of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP.

www.laneanderson.ca