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The PDA fix: public displays of affection could improve your health

Researcher Karen Blair was in Toronto’s gay village recently counting the number of couples walking by holding hands. Over one 15-minute period, researchers saw nine mixed sex couples walk by holding hands and just one same sex couple. “Even just realizing that 10 years after same sex marriage has been legalized, same sex couples in Canada are still not equally comfortable holding hands — that’s still saying something.”

July 13, 2017 By Chris Lambie

Will a little PDA keep the doctor away? Public displays of affection like hand holding, hugging, or smooching on the street corner are coming under the microscope at St. Francis Xavier University, where Karen Blair, an assistant professor of psychology, is trying to determine how they affect human health. “My overall hypothesis is generally that...

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Filed Under: Education, Featured, Subscribers only Tagged With: holding hands, Karen Blair, PDAs, same sex couples

U.S. nuclear-powered submarine arrives in Halifax Harbour

May 28, 2017 By Chris Lambie

A U.S. Navy nuclear-powered submarine slipped into Halifax Saturday afternoon. People strolling along the waterfront at Point Pleasant Park stopped to watch as a Canadian navy tugboat and two smaller runabouts accompanied the sub into the harbour while kids in small sailing dinghies tacked nearby. “Hopefully it doesn’t blow up,” said Lucie Taussag, a French...

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Subscribers only Tagged With: Alan Bezanson, Gary Zatzman, Halifax Harbour, Isaac Saney, Ken Hansen, Lucie Taussag, nuclear-powered submarine, Shearwater, US Navy

Are we doing right by international students?

Nova Scotian universities value international students for their big tuition payments and the cultural diversity they bring to campus. How's that working?

April 27, 2017 By Chris Lambie

Elias Galindo was walking down Spring Garden Road around sunset last November with a fellow international student from Mexico when a vanload of young men started following them. It was the day after Donald Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States, largely on promises to wall off his country’s southern neighbour, clamp down...

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Filed Under: Education, Featured, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: Brian Leadbetter, cheating students, Chen Quing, Chengguo Education, Chun Hoe, Claire Linette Seremba, David Wheeler, Diane Hawco, Elias Galindo, international students, Jass Singh, Julia Christensen Hughes, Kayleen Ick, Lars Osberg, racism in Halifax, Salman Sajid, The Halifax Language Institute of Canada, Univfax, Vivian Howard, Wentao Li

Climate change puts seaweed and the fish that depend on it at risk

April 10, 2017 By Chris Lambie

If the world doesn’t do anything to curb carbon emissions, seaweed off Nova Scotia could suffer, according to new research out of Dalhousie University. Kristen Wilson, who is earning her masters in marine ecology at Dal, presented her work Friday that projects range shifts of canopy-forming seaweed species in the Northwest Atlantic with continued climate...

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Filed Under: Education, Environment, Featured, Subscribers only Tagged With: climate change, Kristen Wilson, Oyster Thief, seaweed

Linda Moxsom-Skinner wants to build Halifax’s first public labyrinth

Also, other big changes are coming to the Atlantic School of Theology.

April 5, 2017 By Chris Lambie

When Linda Moxsom-Skinner was pondering whether she should run again in the next provincial election, she turned to a labyrinth to find the answer. The New Democrat lost the Timberlea-Prospect riding to Liberal Iain Rankin in 2013 by more than 2,000 votes. She was working last year as a fundraiser at the Atlantic School of...

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Filed Under: Education, Featured, Subscribers only Tagged With: AST, Atlantic School of Theology, labyrinth, Lynda Moxom-Skinner

Engineering students show off their creations

April 1, 2017 By Chris Lambie

Imagine a cross between and old-fashioned sewing machine and a tiny guillotine. That’s the blueberry stem cutter Aidan Blanchard and his teammates produced for Higbee’s Berry Farm & Nursery. In the process of cloning blueberry bushes to sell to other farmers, the woman who owns the New Ross operation was getting carpal tunnel syndrome and...

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Filed Under: Education, Featured, Subscribers only Tagged With: Abigail LeFrank, Aidan Blanchard, Alexis Dunphy, April MacHattie, blueberry stem cutter, cardiovascular pump, cheaper snow removal, ergonomic grape picking, gluten-free beer, reducing wait times, Renae Verboom, robotic fingers, Susan Barney, Tate Linzel

Prince as the “Dionysian Christian”

March 30, 2017 By Chris Lambie

Eli Diamond was seven years old when he bought his first Prince and the Revolution album. It was Purple Rain. “And then I bought every single subsequent Prince album on the day it came out. So I’m a bit of a Prince geek,” Diamond, an associate professor of ancient philosophy in Dalhousie University’s Classics Department,...

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Filed Under: Education, Featured, Subscribers only Tagged With: African-American music, Dalhousie University Classics Department, Eli Diamond

Canada lagging on suits against tobacco companies

March 27, 2017 By Chris Lambie

Other provinces ought to consider establishing funds like the pots of public money set aside in Quebec and Ontario to help fund class-action suits, says Dalhousie University’s top lawyer. “One of the things we learned from the US tobacco litigation story is just how hard it is when you don’t (have public financial support),” Dean...

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Filed Under: Education, Featured, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: Big Tobacco, Camille Cameron, class-action litigation, Justice Brian Riordan, Rolah McCabe

Dal oceanographer: Tidal turbines won’t affect Minas Basin sediments

The bigger threat from the turbines is probably to large sea creatures that are already at risk of extinction, says Paul Hill.

March 22, 2017 By Chris Lambie

Contrary to earlier predictions, sediment texture in the Bay of Fundy is unlikely to change if we introduce large-scale tidal power development, according to the head of Dalhousie University’s Oceanography Department. Sediments in the Gulf of Maine are also unlikely to change much with the installation of tidal turbines in the Minas Passage, Paul Hill...

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Filed Under: Education, Environment, Featured, News, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: Bay of Fundy, fish species at risk, Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy, Minas Passage, Paul Hill, tidal turbines

Is fascism coming to Canada?

The rise of right-wing populist movements world-wide is the product of economic malaise that Canada has been able to ward off due to its resource economy. Now that's changing, says economist David Green.

March 10, 2017 By Chris Lambie

Canada’s oil boom might be what saved us from electing a leader like Donald Trump, according to an economist who spoke Thursday at Dalhousie University. Trump’s victory, as well as the United Kingdom’s decision to pull out of the European Union, have raised lots of questions about whether those outcomes are reflections of disaffectedness amongst...

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Filed Under: Education, Featured, Subscribers only Tagged With: Canadian wage growth, David Green, oil boom, resource boom, right-wing populist movements

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The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Mo Kenney. Photo: Matt Williams

Episode #18 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne is published.

Mo Kenney’s new record Covers is a perfect winter companion — songs from across the rock spectrum that she’s pared down to piano or guitar and turned them into sad ballads. She joins Tara to talk about choosing and arranging them, and opens up for a frank discussion of the alcohol dependency it took a pandemic for her to confront. Plus: Movies are back (again).

This episode is available today only for premium subscribers; to become a premium subscriber, click here, and join the select group of arts and entertainment supporters for just $5/month. Everyone else will have to wait until tomorrow to listen to it.

Please subscribe to The Tideline.

Uncover: Dead Wrong

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

Halifax Examiner founder and investigative journalist Tim Bousquet has followed the story of Glen Assoun's wrongful conviction for over five years. Now, Bousquet tells that story as host of Season 7 of the CBC podcast series Uncover: Dead Wrong.

Click here to go to listen to the podcast, or search for CBC Uncover on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast aggregator.

About the Halifax Examiner

Examiner folk The Halifax Examiner was founded by investigative reporter Tim Bousquet, and now includes a growing collection of writers, contributors, and staff. Left to right: Joan Baxter, Stephen Kimber, Linda Pannozzo, Erica Butler, Jennifer Henderson, Iris the Amazing, Tim Bousquet, Evelyn C. White, El Jones, Philip Moscovitch More about the Examiner.

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