May 15, 2008

Eating & drinking

Stefanie Copple, dietitian, University of Calgary TrymGym
Thursday contact: 262-6479
Friday contact: 532-1473
Long weekend eats: Roasted unsalted nuts, popcorn with a little curry powder, for every beer consumed drink a glass of water—but still don’t binge drink. Don't over grill meat—charbroiling meat creates heterocyclic amines (HAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which have been shown to be carcinogenic. Also, when roasting marshmallows—put some apple wedges on the stick too.

Driving

Richard Tay, Department of Civil Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering. AMA chair for Road Safety.
Work: (403) 220-4725
Home: (403) 532-1473
Road safety is always a hot topic on long weekends, according to Tay. Most fatal traffic accidents occur at night or in the early morning hours—when people are tired, or when they choose to drive after drinking. The most common causes of traffic accidents on long weekends: speeding (people trying to get to their long-weekend getaways in a hurry); people driving long distances; getting tired behind the wheel; and drinking and driving. Tay’s advice for motorists to stay safe is to drive during the day, take frequent rest stops, take your time and, of course, don’t drink and drive.

Celebrating Victoria

Tamara Seiler, professor, Faculty of Communication and Culture
Office: (403) 220-5320
Cell: (403) 870-9697
Seiler can talk about the fact that Alberta is named after the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. She can also talk more generally about Britain’s past influence in Alberta.  

May 12, 2008

Earthquake in China

Dr. Alexander Braun, associate professor, Schulich School of Engineering
Braun is a trained as a geophysicist and earthquakes are one of his areas of expertise. He says earthquakes, like the recent one in China, which he estimates took several hundred years to form, are randomly distributed in time and are not more common during any one season.

The quake is not linked to the cyclone that hit Burma because earthquakes, says Braun, are not linked to weather phenomena. The number of earthquakes per year has not increased in the last century—it is only a public perception that earthquakes become more frequent because of better monitoring technology, faster information exchange and open information policies around the world.

Phone: 416-929-8728 (Braun is currently in Toronto and only available by phone)
Email: braun@ucalgary.ca