Laurie Rousseau-Nepton fishing with her father Pierre Nepton. Image from the series. Courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada.
A new five-part documentary series on the work of an Innu scientist is now available for free viewing on the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) website.
The series, titled North Star, features the life of Laurie Rousseau-Nepton, who spent the past six years as a resident astronomer at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii.
Rousseau-Nepton recently moved to Toronto. She’ll begin teaching an observational astronomy class at the University of Toronto (UofT) next month.
But she will continue to analyze data obtained from the SIGNALS project, which she supervised during her years in Hawaii.
“The fact I will be at the University of Toronto doesn’t change that,” Rousseau-Nepton said.
The Signals Project Laurie Rousseau-Nepton
The SIGNALS project, which included about 60 researchers from around the world, aims to discover the mysteries of star formation to get a better understanding of the significance that stars have in the universe.
Now that she is living in Toronto, Rousseau-Nepton is looking to expand the team that will be looking at data compiled during her work in Hawaii.
“I’m very excited,” she said. “I’m looking to build a team of maybe 10 new members.”
Rousseau-Nepton said this will include UofT providing funding to hire either one or two postdoctoral researchers.
As for the documentary series on her, Rousseau-Nepton is hoping it will prove to be inspirational.
“I hope it will trigger some participation from **>First Nations<** to be involved in science,” she said. “I always like to remember myself as a young girl and what I wanted to do with my life. The goal for me is to inspire young ladies, wherever they are from.”
All five episodes of North Star, which are each about 15 minutes long, had their world premiere on the NFB website on Aug. 21. They can be viewed here at www.nfb.ca
Besides scenes of Rousseau-Nepton detailing her work, episodes include animated graphics that explain scientific concepts.
Dr Laurie Rousseau Nepton
The first episode in the series is titled “Observation” and it features Rousseau-Nepton and her father reminiscing at the Ashuapmushuan Wildlife Reserve in Quebec.
The reserve is located in the region of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and it is where her interest in astronomy began.
“When I was little, I really loved watching for shooting stars and the Northern Lights,” Rousseau-Nepton said at the start of the episode. “And I remember looking up at the sky and wondering, `How on earth does all that work.’ I was totally astounded at all that.”
Episode two in the series is titled “Research” and it features Rousseau-Nepton at her work at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope.
Her job took her to the picturesque summit of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano. There Rousseau-Nepton and her team were able to utilize state-of-the-art equipment to scan the skies.
Episodes three and four are titled “Light” and `Collaboration”, respectively. They feature Rousseau-Nepton and a female intern who tour the telescope observatory, which is located at a breathtaking estimated 4,200 metres above sea level.
The pair also discuss the SIGNALS project and the role women play in astrophysics.
The final episode is called “Origins” and demonstrates how Rousseau-Nepton has a unique worldview because of her scientific knowledge and Innu culture.
In a promotional interview for the series, director Patrick Bosse said he was keen to work with Rousseau-Nepton after hearing her discuss her career on radio.
“I found her really relevant and engaging as a science popularizer and communicator,” Bosse said. “At the time, I was doing research for a documentary on space junk. I quickly realized that this wasn’t a topic that fit in well with her practice.”
Yet Bosse was very much interested in telling Rousseau-Nepton’s story.
“I realized that she defies all kinds of stubbornly entrenched stereotypes about science,” he said. “First, she’s a young woman in a field that’s still very male dominated. She’s very active but very grounded as well. She’s very involved in the community. She’s interested in the local Hawaiian culture.
“And with her Innu background, she draws inspiration from ancestral knowledge of astronomy.
We’re a long way from the classic image of a socially challenged mad scientist holed up in his basement. To my eyes, Laurie embodies a new way of doing science.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
