Ten years ago, thousands of scientists and their supporters marched through Ottawa to Parliament Hill in the “death of evidence” rally. Some wore white coats, while others came in grim reaper costumes, complete with scythes. All came to mourn the demise of science in Canada’s democracy.

In this op-ed, we reflect on how far science in Canada has come since, and why scientists are marching on Parliament Hill.

We are enthusiastically recruiting girls and women into STEM fields, yet not doing enough to dismantle the barriers to their success. Madison Rilling and I wrote in the Toronto Star about how decision-makers need to go beyond empty promises, cheerleading and performative allyship.

In this study, we applied a framework to assess the transparency of evidence usage in a total of 100 policies from the Government of Canada. Head to our blog post to learn about our key findings, or the full report here.

Children’s science books are one way to keep changing the face of science. Nicole Williams and I curated a reading list for budding young scientists.

In this study, we used whole-genome sequencing to evaluate a cohort of adults with unexplained developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (n = 30), for whom prior genetic tests were negative or inconclusive. This publication was featured in a news piece by the University Health Network. This study was also discussed in a Scientific Commentary in the Brain Communications journal.

Every year, the Gairdner Awards celebrate science and research excellence in the medical health areas. In 2020 and 2021, I prepared an article, comic, and video to celebrate the science of Drs Quarraisha & Salim Abdool Karim, in a piece titled “Beyond the ABCs: How to Prevent HIV” (Article | Video), and Drs Daniel Drucker, Joel Habener, and Jens Holst, in a piece titled "The Molecular Elements of Diabetes" (Article | Video).

The Women of Science Tarot Deck is a card game that helps us tell stories about our future based on principles of science. Each major arcana card features a fundamental scientific concept like extinction, diversity, or gravity. The 56 minor arcana cards feature inspirational women who have changed the course of STEM. The lively illustrations are by neuroscientist and comic artist Matteo Farinella. For readers new to tarot or those who want to learn more about women in STEM, accompanying the deck is a guidebook with biographies of all the women featured on the cards as well as information about the major arcana cards.

Is this science? No, it’s a game! The Women of Science Tarot Deck is a game of cards for telling stories: stories about our lives, stories about our universe, and stories about our future. Here’s a longer answer, by the illustrator himself.

Details: This tarot deck and guidebook was published by MIT Press, and written by contributors at Massive Science (including me!).

In 2018, I attended Projected Futures 2: an intensive summer school that seeks to rethink how science is communicated with society. We came up with some key ways to create better science stories — and boost interest and trust in science. This was re-published by the National Post, McMaster University's Brighter World, J-Source, the BC Humanist Association, phys.org, and Econotimes.