Food, nuclear reactors, physics
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Food prices climb
Toronto Dominion Bank is forecasting Canadian food prices will probably climb by seven per cent to eight per cent, and stay there for about eight or nine months.
SFU political scientist Andy Hira can give a good rundown on the reasons (oil prices, Middle East instability, demand for corn for fuel-ethanol, etc.).
(Note: He's available, though, only from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. today.)
Andy Hira, 778.782.3286; ahira@sfu.ca
Nuclear danger
The danger level at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan has been raised from Level 4 (local risk) to Level 5 (risk in wider area) on the international seven-point scale. SFU nuclear scientist Kris Starosta can explain it all.
(He has very limited availability today because of his teaching load, but would be worth a try.)
Kris Starosta, 778.227.0823 (cell); starosta@sfu.ca
Future physicists
High school students from Vancouver and Surrey will get to work with real data from the ATLAS particle-physics experiment at the large hadron collider at CERN today at SFU. They are joining other students around the world in the Particle Physics Masterclass, a global outreach event where students work with university researchers. At the end of the day, they will discuss their results through videoconferencing with other Masterclass students from Japan, China, and the U.S. “Our goal is to get them interested in science – actually more interested since they are already the ‘keeners’ – and give them a glimpse of what life would be like as a scientist,” says SFU physics professor Michel Vetterli. “Personally, I hope the experience will demystify science for them a bit and give them the confidence to pursue studies in science.”
Note: Schedule: Demos (10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.); lecture on data analysis (11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.); analysis of ATLAS data (1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.); videoconference with other students (3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.). Most of the activities will be in SFU Physics classrooms and labs: P8445.1 and P8445.2.
Michel Vetterli, 778.782.5488; vetm@triumf.ca
Marcello Pavan, TRIUMF, 604.222.7525; outreach@triumf.ca
SFU Physics main office, 778.782.4465