Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
One of the few amphibians that can survive the harsh winter conditions of boreal and subarctic areas is the wood frog, a prime example of organisms poised to feel the effects of climate change in the region. But these frogs need up to two months to develop from tadpoles and grow before the onset of summer. As the changing climate in the region shortens the window of time between snowmelt and the beginning of summer, frogs may be smaller when they emerge.
Life found in ancient water flowing through a northern Ontario mine could eventually help scientists unlock the mystery about whether there was ever life on Mars, according to a scientist at the University of Toronto. Barbara Sherwood Lollar, a professor of geochemistry, led a team of researchers at the Kidd Creek mine north of Timmins, Ont. that extracted the oldest sample of water ever found – almost 2 billion years old – from 2.4 kilometres underground.
