Bettina Forget, Sylvie Ouellette and Erica Pimentel are members of the Public Scholars program at Concordia University in Montreal. They talk to us about the link between art and space science, how bacteria scavenge iron from their surroundings, and how accountants work with blockchain. We also talk about a problematic article in a chemistry journal.

Siobhan Angus, Athina Peidou, and Stephanie Raposo are York University grad students and the 2020 recipients of the Governor General’s Gold Medal for academic excellence. Angus, an art historian, studies the visual culture of resource extraction in Canada. Peidou, an earth and space scientist, studies gravitational maps produced from satellite-based measurements. Raposo, a psychologist, studies sexual satisfaction and intimate relationships.