Decoding Autism Stephen Scherer Is Casting Light on the Genomics of Autism

Home , Adrian Owen, Alan Bernstein, Brendan Frey, Martha Piper

CONVERSATION On the FEATURE Learning nature's ARTICLE The colourful beauty CHANGE MAKERS Innovative edge of the glass cliff –p.9 solar energy secrets – p.21 of crystalline order – p.43 ideas for social change – p.45

IDEAS TO CHANGE THE WORLD—SPRING 2015

Decoding autism Stephen Scherer is casting light on the genomics of autism – p.9

1 President’s Message Bringing together the world’s best

This is an exciting time for CIFAR, and I hope Our cover story shows the importance of that after reading this issue of Reach magazine perseverance and taking risks to solve impor- you will share that excitement. We are launching tant problems. Stephen Scherer, a senior fellow four new programs that address questions of in our program in Genetic Networks, has done vital importance to the world—the result of a vitally important work in understanding how process that scoured the globe for ideas from genes interact to cause disease in humans. His the very best researchers. At the same time, our work identifying genes that are implicated in existing programs are continuing to create know- autism will lead to early interventions for this ledge that addresses some of the major challenges condition, and some day to treatments. facing humanity. The feature on the Canadian Hydrogen For more than 30 years, CIFAR has uniquely Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) recognized the critical importance of bringing radio telescope describes an important Canadi- together the world’s best to address the grand an project to build a powerful, technologically possibilities and global problems that confront advanced and yet relatively inexpensive tele- us: issues such as economic inequality, disease, scope in British Columbia, one that will help climate change, the mystery of the birth of the us unlock the secrets of the early moments of universe and the properties of matter. CIFAR the universe. Years of collaboration between catalyzes personal connections between the experimentalists and theorists—many of them world’s top researchers and sparks interdisci- CIFAR fellows—made this advance possible. plinary, problem-based conversations that lead Our collaborations also extend to practitioners to groundbreaking insights. Then, we help to and business and community leaders. You can mobilize these new insights and ensure they are read about our contributions to social innovation, put into action. where economists, statisticians and social and be- At CIFAR, we create the conditions that havioural psychologists are joining with leaders in allow our fellows to think in completely inter- the social innovation movement to develop new disciplinary ways. Over periods of years, they ideas that can directly impact human lives. interact with peers from different backgrounds We are proud of this work, and of the other and areas of expertise, and they come up with achievements you will read about in this issue of solutions that would otherwise have been im- Reach. Whether it is Stephen Scherer’s work on possible. In this issue of Reach magazine, you the genetics of autism and other human diseas- will read stories that illustrate the power of this es, the CHIME telescope, happiness and well- disarmingly simple approach. being, income inequality, our new programs One of the features in this issue looks at our or any of the other stories, CIFAR’s goal is the startup program in Bio-inspired Solar Energy, same. We address the exciting questions and which seeks to meet humanity’s energy needs global problems that face humanity by bringing by looking at nature’s own solution: solar power together the most extraordinary minds, spark- through photosynthesis. By bringing together en- ing the conversations and collaborations neces- gineers, physicists, chemists, materials scientists, sary to transform our thinking and lead to new biologists and industry partners, CIFAR’s goal is insights that will change our world. • to transform the technology that will satisfy the world’s growing need for sustainable energy. Alan Bernstein, President & CEO

1 CONTENTS

4 Advances News highlights from our research network. 9 On the edge of the glass cliff Even when they succeed, women are often set up for failure in the workplace. CIFAR Fellows Nyla Branscombe, Nicole Fortin and Alexander Haslam talk about the continuing problem of sexism in the world of work.

13 13 Decoding autism Stephen Scherer’s work on the genomics of autism has increased our understanding of the disease and raised hope for potential treatments. Scherer says he’s not done yet.

21 Here comes the sun Nature has been perfecting photosynthesis for billions of years. A new CIFAR program led by Ted Sargent will use nature’s lessons

21 to tap into the clean and plentiful energy source that is literally falling from the sky.

31 Canada chimes in A radio telescope under construction in British Columbia will use a revolutionary new design to peer into the origins of the universe.

41 CIFAR’s honorary patron His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston was named CIFAR’s first honorary patron.

31 43 The art of science The colourful beauty of crystalline order.

45 Change makers CIFAR helps catalyze innovative ideas for social change.

47 CIFAR’s donors

49 History note

43 Throwing a web over the tree of life.

Reach Magazine

Spring 2015 —Volume 14, Issue 1

Managing Editor Creative Direction Kurt Kleiner Concrete [email protected] www.concrete.ca

Reach Magazine, CIFAR BN / Registration N° 180 Dundas Street West, Suite 1400 11921 9251 RR0001 Toronto, ON M5G 1Z8

Produced by CIFAR Marketing & Communications

About CIFAR CIFAR creates knowledge that is transforming our world. The Institute brings together out- standing researchers to work in global networks that address some of the most important questions our world faces today. Our research is focused on improving human health, transforming technology, building strong societies and sustaining the Earth. Our networks help support the growth of research leaders and are catalysts for change in business, government and society. Established in 1982, CIFAR is a Canadian-based, global organization, comprised of nearly 350 fellows, scholars and advisors from more than 100 institutions in 16 countries. CIFAR is gener- ously supported by the governments of Canada, British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, Canadian and international partners, as well as individuals, foundations and corporations.

David Johnston (Honorary Patron) Governor General of Canada Ottawa, ON

Board of Directors

Barbara Stymiest — Anthony R. M. Graham — (Chair, CIFAR) President Corporate Director, Blackberry Ltd. Wittington Investments, Ltd. Toronto ON Toronto ON

Stephen J. Toope — Richard W. Ivey — (Vice-Chair, CIFAR) Chairman & CEO Munk School of Global Affairs Ivest Corporation University of Toronto Toronto ON Toronto ON Jacqueline Koerner — David A. Dodge — Ecotrust Canada (Immediate Past Chair) Vancouver BC Senior Advisor Bennett Jones LLP Stephen D. Lister — Ottawa ON Managing Partner Imperial Capital Peter J.G. Bentley — Toronto ON Director & Chair Emeritus Canfor Corporation Patricia Meredith — Vancouver BC Meredith Consulting Toronto ON Jean-Guy Desjardins — Chairman, CEO & Chief Investment Officer Bruce H. Mitchell —

Fiera Capital Corporation President and CEO CONVERSATION On the FEATURE Learning nature's ARTICLE The colourful beauty CHANGE MAKERS Innovative edge of the glass cliff –p.9 solar energy secrets – p.21 of crystalline order – p.43 ideas for social change – p.45 Montréal QC Permian Industries Limited Toronto ON

IDEAS TO CHANGE THE James F. Dinning — WORLD—SPRING 2015 Chairman Gilles G. Ouellette — Decoding Autism Stephen Scherer is Western Financial Group President & CEO casting light on the genomics of autism High River AB Private Client Group & Deputy Chairman – p.9 BMO Nesbitt Burns Pierre Ducros — Toronto ON President P. Ducros & Associates Hugo F. Sonnenschein — Montréal QC President Emeritus & Distinguished Professor University of Chicago Brenda Eaton — Chicago IL Corporate Director Victoria BC Bill Young — The cover shows Founder and Managing Partner Stephen Scherer at Morten N. Friis — Monitor Clipper Partners his lab at the Hospital Former Chief Risk Officer Boston MA for Sick Children in Royal Bank of Canada Toronto. Scherer's Toronto ON Alan Bernstein — work is revealing the President & CEO genomic underpinnings Lindsay Gordon — CIFAR of diseases including Chancellor Toronto ON autism. Photography by University of British Columbia Aaron Wynia. Vancouver BC

Advances News highlights from our research networks

more likely to interconnect (University of Toronto) and Human interactome with one another than random Stephen Scherer (the Hospi- map predicts cancer non-cancer genes, and they tal for Sick Children and the genes predicted 60 cancer genes that University of Toronto) of the fit into a cancer pathway. Genetic Networks program. Scientists have created the first Most genetic interactions in Frey is a member of both the large-scale map of direct inter- the human body are a mystery, Genetic Networks program and actions between proteins in the a situation Roth compares to the Neural Computation & human genome and predicted having a car with an incomplete Adaptive Perception program. dozens of genes that could be list of parts and little knowledge The computer model mim- involved in cancer. of how the parts fit together. ics how the cell directs splicing The reference map of the “If somebody has a disease, by detecting patterns in DNA “human interactome” describes we actually need to repair the sequences, called the “splicing about 14,000 direct interac- car,” he says. code.” It then “scores” mutations between proteins. The in- Discoveries like these are cru- tions according to the effects teractome is the set of physical cial for understanding how dis- they have on gene splicing. connections between proteins, eases develop. The new study is When mutations alter splicing, RNA and DNA segments in the largest map of genetic inter- genes may produce no protein, a genome. actions done yet for humans. the wrong protein or some oth- CIFAR Senior Fellow Fred- er problem, any of which could erick Roth (University of lead to disease. Toronto), co-director of the The study was able to iden- program in Genetic Networks, “Deep learning” finds tify 39 new genes that could be and Marc Vidal (Harvard autism, cancer implicated in autism spectrum Medical School) led the team mutations in disorder, and it could help us that wrote the paper in Cell. unexplored regions understand a wide range of The scientists showed for the of the genome other diseases in the future. first time that cancer genes are Scientists have built a powerful computer model to explore large regions of the genome Interpersonal that were previously impen- violence far more etrable, uncovering many new deadly — and costly — disease-causing mutations. than civil war CIFAR Senior Fellow Brendan Frey (University of Interpersonal violence, such as Toronto) was the lead author domestic abuse and homicide, on a paper in Science Express kills nine times more people co-authored by CIFAR Se- worldwide than civil wars, ac- A map of the human interactome nior Fellows Timothy Hughes cording to a report co-authored

4 ADVANCES

by CIFAR Senior Fellow James Fearon (Stanford University). The report estimated that the social, personal and economic cost of all forms of violence annually is $9.5 trillion, or 11 per cent of the global gross domestic product; less than two per cent of that is due to civil war. Despite these high costs, less than one per cent of Diphyllobothrium latum international aid goes toward reducing interpersonal violence, more than a year with the tape- they don’t switch, says Suresh according to the report. worms, which may be as long Naidu (Columbia University), “One thing that surprised me as four metres each by now, he a CIFAR global scholar alum- in doing the research for this re- says he feels fine. nus who has co-authored a port was how little internation- “I knew there was no risk,” working paper on the subject. al aid goes to programs aimed at he says. The question is interesting, improving the professionalism Lukeš, a senior fellow in Naidu says, because many and competence of developing CIFAR's program in Integrated academics and political colum- country police forces, and also Microbial Diversity, a profes- nists have concluded that non- to programs aimed specifically sor at the University of South democracies have an advantage, at reducing homicides, inti- Bohemia and a scientist at the believing that non-democratic mate partner violence or child Czech Academy of Sciences, governments can enact policies abuse,” says Fearon, who is part co-authored a critical review that are necessary but politi- of the Institutions, Organiza- of the evidence in Trends in cally unpopular. tions & Growth program. Parasitology that suggests most Although it’s difficult to The paper, written for the intestinal parasite infections tell why democracy is good non-profit Copenhagen Con- have no negative impact on for the economy, the authors sensus Centre, encouraged the well-nourished people with think the reason is probably United Nations to put reduc- low overall parasite loads. increased civil liberties. ing interpersonal violence on The authors argue that in Naidu co-authored the paper the agenda for its next set of in- some cases, parasite infections with Daron Acemoglu (Mas- ternational development goals. could activate the immune sachusetts Institute of Tech- system and prevent disorders nology), a senior fellow in the caused by inflammation of the Institutions, Organizations & intestines. Lukeš is beginning a Growth program; Pascual Re- Intestinal parasites collaboration with CIFAR As- stropo (Massachusetts Institute are ‘old friends,’ sociate Fellow Laura Wegener of Technology); and James A. researchers argue Parfrey to investigate the use of Robinson (Harvard University). controlled parasite infections Some intestinal parasites can as a treatment for disorders be beneficial to human health, such as Crohn’s disease. according to a paper that Compressing quantum argues we should rethink our information views of organisms that live in the human body. Democracy good Aephraim M. Steinberg (Uni- To prove the point, paper co- for the economy versity of Toronto), a senior author Julius Lukeš ingested fellow in CIFAR’s Quantum three developmental stages of a Countries that switch to demo- Information Science program, large species of tapeworm called cracy experience 20 per cent showed that quantum infor- Diphyllobothrium latum. After more economic growth than if mation stored in a collection of

5 ADVANCES

identically prepared quantum problems such as anxiety and that people with PTSD could bits, or qubits, can be perfectly mood disorders later in life. develop a stronger connectivity compressed into exponentially Doctors know that people between the hippocampus and fewer qubits without losing with stress-related illnesses the amygdala — the seat of the information. such as post-traumatic stress brain’s fight-or-flight response. Digital compression in the disorder (PTSD) have brain “You can imagine that if your world of classical informa- abnormalities, including dif- amygdala and hippocampus tion theory is fairly straight- ferences in the amount of grey are better connected, that forward, but in the quantum matter (neurons and their sup- could mean your fear respons- world it’s more complicated. porting glial cells) versus white es are much quicker — some- A qubit can be in a “super- matter (axons surrounded by a thing you see in stress survi- position” between both zero myelin sheath). vors,” she says. and one until you measure In a series of experiments, it, at which point it collapses Kaufer, from CIFAR’s program to either a zero or a one. As in Child & Brain Develop- well, you can extract different ment, discovered that chronic Breakthrough in values depending on how you stress leads to the generation of superconductivity make the measurement. more myelin-producing cells research These qubit qualities open and fewer neurons. This results up huge potential for subtle in an excess of myelin (and In a major breakthrough, and powerful computing. But thus, white matter) in some ar- researchers have made the first they also mean that you don’t eas of the brain, disrupting the direct measurement of the crit- want to collapse the quantum delicate balance and timing of ical magnetic field in copper state of the qubit until you’re communication. The findings oxides, or cuprates, the most ready. Once you’ve made a suggest a mechanism that may promising materials for super- single measurement, any other explain some changes in brain conductivity. information you might have connectivity seen in people The research was led by a wanted to extract from the qu- with PTSD, for example. team at the Université de bit disappears. Kaufer and her colleagues Sherbrooke that included In an experiment, Steinberg studied the hippocampus, the CIFAR Senior Fellow Lou- and his colleagues showed that area of the brain that regulates is Taillefer, director of the the information contained in memory and emotions and Quantum Materials program; three qubits could be com- plays a role in various emo- Senior Fellows Walter N. pressed into just two. The re- tional disorders. Kaufer says Hardy, Ruixing Liang and searchers also showed that the compression would scale exponentially, making it a potentially useful technique for manipulating quantum information.

Stress prompts changes in the brain

CIFAR Fellow Daniela Kaufer and colleagues at the Univer- sity of California, Berkeley, showed that chronic stress generates long-term changes in the brain that may explain why sufferers are prone to mental Louis Taillefer

6 ADVANCES

Doug Bonn of the Univer- sity of British Columbia; and CIFAR Senior Fellow Associate Fellow Cyril Proust co-founds Northern of the Laboratoire National des Biologics Champs Magnetiques Pulses. Superconductors are ma- A new Canadian biotech com- terials that carry electricity pany has grown out of cancer perfectly, without any energy research by CIFAR Senior loss, when they are cooled to Fellow Jason Moffat and col- very low temperatures. Pres- laborators, including Sachdev ently, cuprates become super- Sidhu at the University of conductors at the highest tem- Toronto and Benjamin Neel, perature, -150 C. Robert Rottapel and Bradley As a result of their research, Wouters at the Princess Marga- Barbara Stymiest the investigators attributed the ret Cancer Centre. drop in critical temperature to Northern Biologics received of TSX Group and a former the sudden appearance in the $10 million in backing from member of the Group Execu- material of a distinct electronic Versant Ventures to pursue the tive at the Royal Bank of Can- phase that enters into competi- development of antibodies and ada. She has been on CIFAR’s tion with the superconductiv- drugs to treat cancer and fibro- Board for eight years, and she ity and weakens it. sis. Moffat, who has been part also serves as a corporate direc- “That opens a whole new of CIFAR’s program in Genetic tor at Blackberry Ltd, George path for increasing the critical Networks since its inception in Weston Limited and Sun Life temperature at which super- 2007, co-founded the company Financial Inc. conductivity can occur: the with the four other scientists. Stymiest is joined on the competing phase has to be Moffat’s research is focused on Board by a distinguished eliminated,” Taillefer says. identifying genes that are essen- group of volunteers, includ- tial for cancer cells to grow and ing new Vice-Chair Stephen divide and uncovering the func- J. Toope, incoming director tion of unknown genes through of the University of Toronto’s One Plus One genetic interactions. Munk School of Global Af- Equals One “This is a great example of fairs, and Lindsay Gordon, how investing in basic research chancellor of the University of CIFAR Senior Fellow John can pay off in practical applica- British Columbia. Archibald (Dalhousie Univer- tions,” Moffat says, adding that sity) of the program in Inte- his collaborations with CIFAR grated Microbial Biodiversity Senior Fellows Brendan Frey has published One Plus One and Charles Boone (both Uni- CIFAR teams up with Equals One: symbiosis and versity of Toronto) were impor- Moore Foundation the evolution of complex life tant to the research that led him (Oxford University Press). to co-found the company. CIFAR and the Gordon and The book explores how single- Betty Moore Foundation celled organisms came togeth- launched a new joint venture er billions of years ago and laid to advance marine science the building blocks for the CIFAR appoints new and quantum materials. The development of complex life. Board members venture brings fellows from "I thought that the discovery CIFAR together with investi- of the evolutionary origins CIFAR appointed three new gators from two Moore Foun- of mitochondria and chloro- members to the Board of Di- dation programs to stimulate plasts was a story that needed rectors, including Barbara Sty- new collaborations. to be told to a general audi- miest as the new chair. The three-year agreement has ence," Archibald said. Stymiest is the former CEO two components. One will open

7 ADVANCES

meetings of CIFAR’s Quantum Inuit communities or the Arctic defined the six most important Materials program to investiga- lynx moves further north. factors contributing to qual- tors from the Moore Founda- “Climate change is ushering ity of life: real gross domestic tion’s Emergent Phenomena in in a new normal; it’s chang- product per capita, healthy life Quantum Systems Initiative ing transmission patterns, and expectancy, having someone to to foster collaboration among infectious pathogens will take count on, perceived freedom researchers in the United States, advantage of that,” Grigg says. to make life choices, freedom Canada and several other coun- from corruption and generosity. tries. The other is a collaboration Helliwell, co-director of between CIFAR’s researchers in CIFAR’s Social Interactions, Integrated Microbial Biodiver- World Happiness Report Identity & Well-Being program, sity, other CIFAR programs and wins quality-of-life played a major role as a propo- the Moore Foundation’s Marine studies award nent of quality-of-life measures Microbiology Initiative. for improving well-being and as The International Society for an editor of both editions of the Quality-of-Life Studies award- World Happiness Report. ed the World Happiness Report, Cat parasite found co-edited by CIFAR Senior Fel- in Arctic whales low John Helliwell (University of British Columbia), the 2014 Andrei Linde awarded Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite Award for the Betterment of the Kavli Prize present in cat feces and kitty Human Condition. litter, has been found in Arc- The award is granted for a CIFAR Associate Fellow Andrei tic beluga whales for the first major accomplishment in using Linde (Stanford University) time, prompting researchers quality-of-life measures to bene- won the prestigious Kavli Prize to consider whether food- fit society. It was shared by Helli- in astrophysics for his contri- borne pathogens common in well and his co-authors, Richard bution to developing the cos- more temperate climates are Layard and Jeffrey D. Sachs. mic theory of inflation. Linde, appearing in the north due to The World Happiness Report, an associate fellow of the pro- climate change. first issued in 2012 and then gram in Cosmology & Gravity, Michael Grigg, a fellow in again in 2013, contains the was one of three scientists be- the Integrated Microbial Bio- largest-ever presentation of hind the theory that proposed diversity program, says that happiness rankings for coun- the universe expanded expo- the cat parasite, which is com- tries around the world. In the nentially in the instants after mon in temperate climates, has second edition, the authors the big bang. • found its way into northern waterways and into the bodies of about 14 per cent of western Arctic beluga whales — an important staple in the Inuit diet. About a third of humans are chronically infected with T. gondii, often as a result of cleaning up after their pet cats, but the icy Arctic environment was thought to limit the risk of exposure in the north. Grigg says researchers are con- cerned that as ice in the Arctic continues to melt, more whales could be infected, especially

if cat density increases among Andrei Linde Photo: Linda A. Cicero/Stanford News

8 On the Edge of the Glass Cliff CIFAR fellows are trying to untangle the problems women continue to face in the workplace.

PHOTO GRAPHY BY BARBARA A. HEINTZMAN

Top (left to right): Alexander Haslam, Nicole Fortin and Nyla Branscombe

9 IN CONVERSATION

More than half a century after Betty Friedan making processes are informed by misogyny or published The Feminine Mystique, the world sexism, and others are just more latent. Actually, of work remains problematic for women. They the effects are often indistinguishable. still earn less than men, even for similar jobs; they are less likely to make it to the top ranks of Is it the way that companies are structured and management or academia; and they face more run in terms of long hours, inflexible corporate pressure to engage in child care and housework structures? Does that have a greater impact on than their male colleagues. And even when they women, do you think? do manage to break through the glass ceiling and reach the top of an organization, they face nf: What has been emphasized recently has been the danger of the glass cliff: promotion to a risky competitiveness in the workplace, and at times position where failure is likely. (Think of Marissa the ideology of masculinity where people have to Mayer, CEO of troubled Internet giant Yahoo.) show their strength and so on. Recent research Reach sat down with three members of the has actually shown that competitiveness and CIFAR program in Social Interactions, Identity long hours are connected. So it could be not only & Well-Being who have made important con- that women have been shown to be less competi- tributions on this issue: Senior Fellows Nyla tive, say, in lab experiments, but the jobs, the oc- Branscombe (University of Kansas), Nicole cupations that are more competitive also entail Fortin (University of British Columbia) and longer hours. This is where the connection with Alexander Haslam (University of Queensland). family responsibility comes into play.

How much disparity remains between men and Do women have different perceptions of work- women in the workforce — in their salaries and in place success? their career prospects? nf: Certainly, many surveys do show that in Nicole Fortin: The big era of progress for terms of the importance of money versus being women really started in the late 1970s. That was useful to others and to society, even among doc- a period that really accelerated women’s labour tors, women tend to put more emphasis on being force participation and educational attainment. useful to others and to society, and men tend to Starting from the 1990s onward, things have put more importance on the pecuniary rewards. slowed down considerably. When young women ah: Another thing I think is interesting is that exit their studies and get into the workforce, the women’s issues of equality in the workplace are disparities are not very large. If we look at 10 or framed as a problem for women and never as a 12 years later, then the discrepancies widen. problem for men. Going back to Nicole’s point, nyla Branscombe: Although … there is a pay you can say, “Yes, men work longer hours. So gap even for university graduates in their first what’s good about that, particularly?” year. So women entering the workforce, even in NB: We have a lot of people examining why similar jobs, are offered less money than men. women and minorities are not entering or grad- alexander Haslam: The other bit to add is uating at the same rates from science, technol- that there’s the formal income and then there’s ogy, engineering and mathematics fields. One other income. Men typically get bonuses that factor among many is that the context may be are twice as big as women’s. perceived as very unwelcoming, very mascu- line. So that makes it quite difficult, and it can Are these disparities the result of explicit dis- also create conditions where one’s own iden- crimination, or of the different expectations that tity as a woman, for example, is threatened in women have? such a context.

NB: Or the way the work itself is structured, So what do you think the costs are of perceiving and the assumptions of our society that child- oneself as a target of discrimination? raising is the job of women? ah: I think you can have more or less ex- NB: There are important emotional costs, and plicit bias. Clearly, some of those decision- the more you see discrimination as pervasive

10 IN CONVERSATION

across workplaces, the more negative the effects did with Michelle Ryan, and that Nyla has done will be. To make a claim of discrimination is with Susanne Bruckmüller — all the data show psychologically and socially very costly. It’s also that indeed women get inferior leadership posi- legally very costly. tions relative to their male counterparts. We use ah: I was thinking also about the idea that the term glass cliff to describe the fact that these particular women have the sense that it’s ca- positions are relatively precarious. Often wom- reer-limiting for them to show solidarity with en are put in these basket-case leadership posi- other women, and that those women who tions; there’s not much support for them, and break ranks can also be differentially rewarded they’re hung out to dry. Things go badly wrong, within the system. and then they move on. NB: And it’s one of the deep ironies that the few NB: There was a study published this year women who make it to the top can make it seem that examined the difficulties Australian to other women that the system really is fair, that Prime Minister Julia Gillard had, and wheth- somebody made it through, that the good wom- er they were generic leadership difficulties en will make it through despite the barriers. or due to her gender and discrimination. nf: In Canada we have had a few cases that are Moving on to the glass cliff, can you explain to us similar to the Australian case. We had a pre- what it is and give us an example? mier of Alberta, Alison Redford, and a premier of Newfoundland, Kathy Dunderdale, both of ah: Since the late 1970s, the debate has been whom have also fallen from grace, and part of about the quantity of positions that women that fall came because they did not have a lot get, and then the number who break through of support from their network. So I’m sure this into senior management. The next question is is a part of the Australian story, also — that whether those positions are of the same quality Gillard did not have a lot of support. as those given to men? And you don’t have to ah: There’s another point I’d make, which is a look at the data very long to realize that they’re point that some colleagues have also made. We not. What you find is that the leadership posi- often end up talking about the glass ceiling and tions women get relative to men are suboptimal. the glass cliff as if they are all about women. But in particular, the kind of feature we iden- But is the story why do women get precarious tified in this work — and this is work I originally positions, or is it why do men get cushy positions?

On the edge 1993 1999 2002

The "glass cliff" refers to the Kim Campbell appointed Carly Fiorina appointed Patricia Russo tendency of women leaders to to replace Canadian Prime CEO of Hewlett-Packard appointed CEO of be chosen for especially difficult Minister Brian Mulroney. just as the tech bubble troubled Lucent or precarious positions. Here is Low approval ratings for the bursts. She is removed Technologies. She is a selection of women who were Conservatives helped assure in 2005. replaced in 2006. placed on the edge. an election loss. IN CONVERSATION

NB: Why not interrogate why men always get through to the beliefs in implicit leadership the- the cushy ones? ories about men who are born to lead in a partic- ah: Exactly. ular kind of way, and also perhaps that women nf: So we’ve also got to be careful at times when are good at handling problems and doing that we talk about discrimination, whether it’s actu- sort of repair work. ally nepotism — that is, you favour your friends, NB: The idea that women are people-oriented, so and when you think of candidates for a promo- organizations in trouble may be seen as needing tion, you just don’t think about the women. It’s these kinds of people. just not on your radar screen. It’s as if women ah: Research that Nyla and I did with are not always part of the conversation there. Susanne Bruckmüller was showing that often, ah: Yes, absolutely. And it’s a bit like Nyla’s if an organization is doing badly, appointing work on male privilege. So as a male, I’m quite a woman can be quite a powerful signal that happy to talk about female disadvantage. But you’ve heard what people have said and you’re if you start talking about male privilege, then I going to change. I think the perceived expend- start to squirm a little bit. ability of women is another part of the story. So NB: It makes you very uncomfortable, yes. if I put a woman in a place where she might go ah: And that has got to be as much a part of wrong and she might lose her job, well, that’s the problem as the obverse, but we frame these not a problem because she’s still got her hus- problems as women’s problems. band. So sexism is playing an important role. NB: The metaphors we use are all about women, NB: Yes, and the idea that these things are in- and women’s situations. None are about men and terdependent and phenomena are overdeter- why they have an elevator to the top. mined is one of the things that explains both the pervasiveness of these phenomena and So just to close it up on the glass cliff, why do their resistance to change. Until you start to in- you think women are often promoted into these terrogate the broader societal, ideological logic leadership roles? that holds them together, you can’t just tackle one bit of it and imagine that the problem is ah: There are multiple determinants. There’s a going to go away. • list of at least seven plausible candidates, from just straightforward in-group bias or sexism,

2010 2011 2012 2013

Julia Gillard elected the first Jill Abramson appointed Marissa Mayer appointed Mary Barra hired female Prime Minister of Australia, editor of the New York CEO of the troubled Yahoo as CEO of General at a time when her Labor party is Times in the middle of a internet giant. She remains Motors during a period losing public support. Three years troubled and turbulent CEO, but has faced heavy in which the company later she resigns after losing a leader- media landscape. She is criticism for a number of announces 84 product ship challenge within the party. fired in 2014. her decisions. recalls. 13 ARTICLE Cynthia Macdonald

PHOTO GRAPHY Aaron Wynia

Decoding

autism

— Stephen Scherer᾽s groundbreaking research on genetic variation has given us important new insights into the human genome. Soon it could lead to better diagnosis and even treatment of autism.

14 Right: in Scherer's lab, a robotic machine that takes extremely small samples for DNA sequencing.

When speculation about possible Nobel One day at U of T, he wandered into a talk Prize winners started up last fall, geneticist given by Ron Worton, a Canadian geneticist who Stephen W. Scherer was at the top of the list. had enjoyed recent acclaim for his part in dis- His main research interest — decoding the covering the gene linked to Duchenne muscular genetic origins of autism spectrum disor- dystrophy. The celebrated scientist had just come der — was attracting ever more interest from back from a planning meeting for what was to be A-list donors and scientists around the world, the world’s biggest group biology project: identify- and major projects he was involved in had ing and mapping the DNA sequence of all 25,000 recently secured backing from Google. genes in the human body. Scherer was hooked. Given all this success, it’s surprising that one A key purpose of the Human Genome Proj- of Scherer’s favourite topics is, well, failure. “If ect was to identify genes known to play a role in you’re doing cutting-edge science, you should the development of disease. In the 1980s, de- be pushing the limits. And most of your experi- velopment of a new technique called positional ments should fail,” he says. cloning allowed scientists to locate the position Regardless of prizes, 51-year-old Scherer has of a gene on a chromosome. Defective genes fomented a revolution, and he can’t rest now. linked to ailments such as retinoblastoma, Hun- “I have a million ideas,” he says. “All the time.” tington’s disease and muscular dystrophy had already been mapped (that is, pinned to a particular chromosome) or found. The Double Helix The race to find others was gathering steam, and Scherer wanted in. As luck would have it, Did he always want to be a scientist? “Uh, no,” the one place he really wanted to go was mere he laughs, sitting back in a chair that takes up blocks away. The Hospital for Sick Children a good part of his tiny 13th-floor office. “I was had recently made important advances in its just a goofball kid like anyone.” The second of work on diseases like retinoblastoma and Tay- four sons born to a plumber and a homemaker Sachs disease. “Sick Kids was the place in the in Windsor, Ontario, Scherer brainily skipped world to be for human genetics,” Scherer says. a grade but tended to be more interested in Scherer also found a mentor to match in nature and sports — until high school, when Lap-Chee Tsui, a Sick Kids geneticist he began he chanced upon a copy of The Double Helix, to work with. Tsui was the kind of deeply cre- James Watson’s account of the discovery of the ative scientist Scherer wanted to emulate. (Tsui structure of DNA. had been interested in architecture and had “That got me really excited about DNA, ge- studied design; Scherer is an avid art collector.) netics and the discovery process,” he says. Still, Tsui’s small and crowded lab was rapidly clos- the idea of doing such a thing for a living ing in on CFTR, the gene that (when mutated) seemed far-fetched. “I am one of only a few stu- causes cystic fibrosis. dents in my class who got a professional degree; many kids went to work in the factories. That’s what you did there.” Canada’s chromosome In fact, Scherer worked briefly in a sheet metal factory before enrolling at the Universi- Tsui had already mapped CFTR to chromo- ty of Waterloo and then going on to graduate some 7. He sent Scherer on a kind of scaven- school at the University of Toronto (U of T). ger hunt to help find it, something the younger

15 man likened to “solving a puzzle with 158 mil- CFTR had been hard to find; locating the lion pieces.” By the summer of 1989, Tsui had cause of autism was going to be even harder. found the cystic fibrosis gene. Whereas cystic fibrosis is caused by a nucleotide In Tsui’s lab, Scherer hit on a technique that swap in a single gene, autism emanates from could clone up to a million nucleotide pieces at possible defects in well over a hundred genes. a time. He became an expert on chromosome 7, How these mutated genes interact — with them- now known as “Canada’s chromosome” in trib- selves, and with the environment — remains a ute to the disease findings Canadian scientists key question in Scherer’s work. have linked it with. These have included genes for colon cancer, leukemia and another confounding disorder that was soon to change Scherer’s life. A hunch Sometime around 1996, Wendy Roberts, co- director of the Autism Research Unit at Sick Kids, The completion of the Human Genome Project walked into Scherer’s office, which was festooned in 2003 brought him closer to the answer. The with maps of chromosome 7. “I told him, ‘There’s newly available information helped usher in the got to be something to do with autism on chromo- era of genomics, and microarray scanning made some 7. We need you in our world,’” Roberts says. it possible for scientists to study huge numbers Scherer didn’t know much about autism, a of genes at once and discover heretofore unseen neuropsychiatric condition invariably marked characteristics. Scherer had noticed some odd by diminished social skills. People with autism structural changes on chromosome 7, and he engage in repetitive behaviours and often have had a hunch. What if the biological gospel that language deficits. The condition may confer se- all humans were 99.9 per cent identical turned vere disability, savant-like genius or anything out to be wrong? in between. “I did a little digging and found To find out, he had to run a lot of expen- we were seeing lots of kids in our pediatric hos- sive microarray sequences. “I burned through pital with this.… Also, previous papers showed $50,000 every month, and most of those ex- that genetics was a major factor,” recalls Scher- periments failed,” he says. CIFAR, he says, was er. “I figured I could use my expertise in map- among the donors willing to support his ideas ping to find some of the genes.” at the time.

16 HEAT MAPS Steadily, however, more data emerged, and Scherer decided to pool his results with Charles These heat maps of the brain show the asso- Lee, a Korean-born Canadian at Harvard Uni- ciation between gene expression levels and versity. Scherer and Lee realized that they were the frequency of rare genetic mutations con- seeing large-scale variations in the genome. nected to autism in 16 brain regions. In these According to received wisdom, we all inherit examples from three different stages of life, two copies of every gene, one from each parent, the shading from yellow to blue indicates but Scherer was seeing that, in many cases, this increasing burdens of damaging mutations. wasn’t true. Sometimes, only one copy existed; sometimes there were three; other times, genetic material got swapped around. PRENATAL Scherer had long known that rare changes in copy number — copy number variations, or CNVs — led to disorders such as Down syndrome. He also knew that differences at the base-pair level accounted for other diseases, and for things like hair and eye colour. By compar- ing the genomes of people with autism and con- trols, Scherer found that certain CNVs tended to occur in people with autism. But his work went further. What no one knew until that moment was this: every single healthy person on earth may harbour a dozen or more genetic deletions or duplications, just EARLY CHILDHOOD as people with congenital diseases do. Maybe those changes foretold diseases yet to develop, provided information about how we processed drugs and food, or did nothing at all.

The importance of collaboration

Since that day, Scherer’s group has published close to 100 papers describing disease asso- ciations with CNVs. Autism research — which involves multiple gene mutations, including but not restricted to CNVs — is now his main ADULT focus. It’s one that requires teamwork. This is where Scherer excels. In the old days, says Wendy Roberts, “people weren’t very inclusive in terms of collaborating. Everybody wanted to make their own big discovery and didn’t want to share. It became clear that if anything would work, it was collaboration. And that’s one of the things Steve’s really good at.” Through its Genetic Networks program, P VALUE 10-45 CIFAR has given Scherer the opportunity to work with scientists who wouldn’t ordinarily cross his path. Says Brenda Andrews, co-director of the program: “Dr. Scherer’s remarkable work em- Image adapted from Nature Genetics. 1 bodies an overarching goal of the program — to

17 Above left: a centrifuge used to spin DNA. Right: microtitre plates, each capable of holding DNA samples from 96 individuals, prior to being loaded into a sequencing machine.

catalyze new interdisciplinary collaborations mutation; still others might have different with the goal of discovering how genes interact in mutations on the same genes. “The combina- complex human genetic diseases.” tions are exponentially large,” Frey says. "Stephen Scherer's work in Genetic Networks Realizing they couldn’t throw a lasso over all has been a unique contribution. The bulk of the possible combinations (and mindful that new work in the program uses simple models such as ones can always arise), Frey and Scherer have still yeast. His work challenges the entire program been able to both identify a core group of genes to think about the complexities of the human involved in cognition and develop an algorithm to model," says Pekka Sinervo, CIFAR's senior vice calculate the probability of whether certain genes president, research. will lead to autism. Their paper on this “autism formula” was published last May in Nature Genetics and another related study in Science in 2015. The autism formula “Steve’s able to decode more genomes, and I’m able to infer causal explanations for autism using An example of this is Scherer’s ongoing col- computational analysis,” says Frey. “That’s what laboration with Brendan Frey, a senior fellow brought us together in the first place.” in CIFAR programs in both Genetic Networks Indeed, the acquisition of more genomes will and Neural Computation & Adaptive Percep- allow Scherer and his collaborators to see ever tion. Frey is a University of Toronto computer more recurring patterns. Scherer says he can now scientist who studies gene regulation, which link specific genes to 20 per cent of autism cases, examines the processes governing how genes up from zero per cent a decade ago. He thinks 50 are expressed. per cent of cases will ultimately be directly attrib- In some people, multiple genes might utable to genetic factors, with the environment interact; other people may exhibit only a single possibly playing a significant role in the rest.

18 ID

MICROTUBULE glycosylation CYTOSKELETON

CELL PROJECTION CNS + CELL MOTILITY DEVELOPMENT

ADHESION

CELL PROLIFERATION

REGULATION OF GTPASE GTPASE/RAS SIGNALLING ASD

KinASE ACTIVITY /REGULATION

A Functional Map of A.S.D.

Scherer and colleagues showed that people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often had mutations called copy number variations in specific genes, many of which had previously been implicated in ASD. The diagram shows the genes found with CNV mutations organized into sets of networks according to the gene's function, and labeled by their association with intellectual disability (ID), or Autism

Spectrum Disorder (ASD). D Pinto et al. Nature Ultimately, though, Scherer is seeking will have maximum impact.” Roberts agrees and genomes of all types. The Database of Genom- cites a new study showing that autism can actually ic Variants, which he established in 2004 with be turned around if caught at a very early stage. funds from CIFAR, is the leading CNV data- Interacting with people like Mike Lake is a base in the world and is used by thousands of big part of what Scherer does. “On an annual ba- clinical laboratories worldwide. sis, we invite pretty much all the families who are Scherer is also behind the Personal Genome enrolled in our genetic studies to a meeting so we Project Canada. He is recruiting healthy volun- can update them and get their input,” he says. teers willing to assist medical science by donat- “One of Steve’s great strengths is his ability ing their entire genome for study. to communicate his research in ways that people can understand,” Lake says. Wendy Roberts adds that, because Scherer is so friendly and Early intervention approachable, he is contacted by parents from all over the world who worry that their child Scherer also knows that there are ethical ques- might have autism. “This goes way beyond what tions attached to all of this. If your genomic most scientists do,” she says. information is made public, will you be protect- Scherer justifiably prides himself on a great ed against discrimination by employers or insur- “bench-side” manner and wants to talk that con- ers? When prenatal testing detects CNVs linked cept up to other scientists. “CIFAR has been to autism — as it now can — will that usher in an great,” Scherer says. “We had a workshop last era of genetic engineering. year where we brought in some of the different Neither Scherer nor Roberts wants this. CIFAR groups to talk about the social aspects of “Genetic modification is not our goal,” Roberts what we do, because how we communicate our says emphatically. What they do want is a better results is so important.” understanding of where autism comes from, so that no parent believes that it results from bad parenting. They also want medicines specific to Being in the moment autism symptomatology. Most of all, they want to encourage early intervention. When in rare moments Scherer does get time alone — when he’s not with his son, daughter and wife Jo-Anne Herbrick, a biologist who manag- “This goes way es the Centre for Applied Genomics facility, or with the vast array of families, students, funders, beyond what most journalists and colleagues all clamouring for his basic scientists do.” time — well, that is when he thinks. His best ideas, he says, “always come to me in strange places. Air- planes are ideal, because nobody can bug you as Mike Lake, the father of a child with autism you contemplate.” Gardening, which he’s been and a Conservative member of Parliament from known to do at midnight is good for that, too. the Edmonton area, seconds this. His son Jaden Of the Group of Seven originals that Scher- was diagnosed with autism several years after he er owns, one in particular is worth mention- was born. Lake’s advocacy and love for his son ing. It’s a rare glimpse of Tom Thomson hard at are evident. Echoing his teenage daughter, Lake work, painted by Arthur Lismer. In the paint- says: “If Jaden could be cured of autism, we ing, Thomson appears to be in what psycholo- wouldn’t have the Jaden we have now.” gists call “flow,” and what Scherer calls “being But Lake knows that in future other fami- in the moment”: working with such exhilarated lies might well take advantage of Scherer’s find- diligence toward a goal that failure, motivating ings to benefit from intervention or treatment though it may be, is simply no longer a possibility. at the infant stage. “This is critical,” Lake says. “If we can find a It could well be a painting of Scherer himself. • way to identify kids at age one, or even earlier than — that, we can work on finding interventions that Cynthia Macdonald is a writer located in Toronto.

20 21 ARTICLE Kurt Kleiner

PHOTO Michael Nukular

Here comes the sun

— A new CIFAR program aims to unlock the secrets of photosynthesis. The result could be a revolution in solar energy technology.

22 The earth is bathed in a constant stream of “Creating sustainable energy technologies— energy from the sun. This energy is responsi- like solar cells and strategies to generate energy ble for moving gigantic masses of air and water from the sun and store it as fuel—is an incred- around in weather systems and ocean currents, ibly important goal. People have been working and it provides sustenance (directly or indi- on these problems for decades. There’s been rectly) for all life on the planet. It is so plentiful progress, but there’s still a need for a break- that the sunlight hitting Earth in a single hour through. We need to understand how to cap- contains more energy than humans use in a year. ture the sun’s energy on an incredibly massive Despite the amount of energy falling out of scale,” Sargent says. the sky, human society is still powered mostly “This group within CIFAR seeks to bring by the burning of fossil fuels, which causes im- together those two communities—the pho- mediate environmental damage and dangerous tosynthesis community and the solar energy long-term global climate change. Although we harvesting community—and have them learn have made progress in capturing solar energy, from each other and create breakthroughs it still meets less than one per cent of global from that learning.” energy consumption.

Ted Sargent thinks we can change that. A matter of scale

“Nature has already solved that problem with Today, the human population of 7.1 billion photosynthesis,” Sargent says. “Trees and people consumes 15 terawatts (trillion watts) plants and photosynthetic bacteria are incred- of energy every year. By 2050 that amount is ibly abundant. They construct themselves using projected to double to 30 terawatts as the popu- solar energy. They repair themselves using solar lation grows to 9.6 billion and the standard of energy. And they capture about 10 times more living rises. Today, fossil fuels are the source of energy through photosynthesis every day than 85 per cent of our energy production. humanity consumes.” There is a broad scientific consensus that Sargent is an electrical engineer who studies fossil fuel use is changing our climate. It's also photovoltaics at the University of Toronto. He clear that demands for energy will continue is heading up a new program called Bio-inspired to increase. One way or another, we’ll need to Solar Energy that is entering its startup phase at develop other sources of energy. Fortunately, we CIFAR. The program will bring together plant biol- are surrounded by enough solar energy to more ogists, physicists, chemists, materials scientists and than meet our needs. On average, 100,000 ter- engineers who will apply the lessons of biology to awatts of energy reach the Earth’s surface. Just solar energy technology. The goal is to create tech- a fraction of that would more than meet our nology that will allow us to produce enough clean, needs—if we could harness it. cheap, carbon-neutral energy to power economic Almost all solar energy we use today is growth without damage to the environment. captured by solar panels made of silicon

23 Excited chlorophyll molecules

* * P 680 P 700

Higher energy

Q Fd

Electron transport chain NADP+ Electron Cytochrome transport complex chain NADPH

Lower energy Pc

Reaction centre Reaction centre Antenna P P assembly 680 700

Photons

PHOTOSYSTEM II PHOTOSYSTEM I

solar energy

PHOTOSYNTHETIC LIGHT HARVESTING

Photosynthesis converts the energy from the sun’s photons into chemical energy. In the diagram, a photon is captured by the antenna assembly and transferred to the reaction centre in Photosystem II which then raises an electron in a chlorophyll molecule to a high-energy state. The electron is then passed along an “electron transport chain” of a series of molecules to Photosystem I. Photosystem I absorbs the energy from the electron, as well as directly from additional photons, and uses it to excite another chlorophyll molecule. The excita- tion is passed along another electron transport chain until it is captured by a molecule of NADPH, which transports the high-energy electron to where it will be used to make sugar.

24 Above: Conventional solar cells are becoming cheaper and more efficient. But better technologies are still needed.

semiconductors, the same material used in Evolutionary engineering computer chips. When photons hit a silicon panel, they knock loose electrons, which flow Luckily, nature has been figuring that out since in an electric current that is harnessed to gen- about 3.4 billion years ago, when single-cell erate power. Conventional solar cells are rea- organisms first began to use the energy from the sonably efficient, the best converting about sun. Today, Earth is covered by (and the oceans 25 per cent of the sunlight that reach them it are full of) plants, algae and photosynthetic bac- into energy. teria that have become very good at using sunlight. But solar cells have drawbacks. Despite tre- “Biology is a much more sophisticated ma- mendous advances in recent decades, they are chine than the devices we engineer,” says Greg- still relatively expensive to produce and install, ory Scholes, a chemist at Princeton University they degrade over time and they produce elec- and a member of the program. “It has feedback tricity only when the sun is shining. Taken to- and control loops that determine how to change gether, these drawbacks leave a lot of room for the photosynthetic machinery so that it works improving solar technology. optimally every minute of the day. What we “Silicon has made huge progress—so much can learn from this is different ways of thinking that it’s starting to approach its fundamental about how you do engineering.” limit. The next generation of solar technology Even if you’re not a biologist, you probably re- will have to become more efficient. There’s still member the basics of photosynthesis from high the need for a breakthrough. We need to under- school. Photosynthetic organisms use energy stand how to capture solar energy on a gigantic from the sun to turn carbon dioxide and water scale,” Sargent says. into glucose and oxygen. But hidden inside that

25 simple description is an amazingly complex A SILICON SOLAR CELL series of closely coordinated chemical and physical reactions designed to complete the process as In a silicon solar cell, two types of semi- efficiently as possible (see illustration page 24). conductors are sandwiched together –an n-type, which has spare electrons, and a p- type, which has missing electrons or “holes.” Harvesting the light When photons hit the solar cell they knock electrons loose, and the electrons jump over Researchers are especially interested in learning to fill the holes in the p-type silicon. The p- how photosynthesis has optimized the light- type layer becomes negatively charged and harvesting process, capturing the energy from the n-type layer becomes positively charged. the photon and converting it into energy that This creates an electric field which can be can do useful work. “Plants and algae are amaz- used to drive the electrons through a circuit, ing at light harvesting. They have things down creating an electric current. to a fine art,” Scholes says. At the heart of photosynthesis in green plants and algae is chlorophyll. Chlorophyll molecules absorb the energy of the photon and convert it into electronic energy that can then be used to synthesize sugars. solar One way the process is optimized is by orga- energy nizing some of the chlorophyll molecules into arrays of antennae. Hundreds of these antennae work together to capture photons, shuttling the energy to a reaction centre where chemical con- LOAD version takes place. The antennae enhance the effective cross- section of the reaction centre and increase its ability to harvest light by a factor of 100. They are especially important for allowing organisms to thrive in low-light conditions—for instance, under the canopy formed by larger plants or deep in the ocean. n-type silicon Junction p-type silicon Quantum biology

Nature even seems to have harnessed quantum effects to make photosynthesis more efficient. In non-quantum terms, we usually think about the energy from the photon being passed along Electron in discrete “hops” – energy from the captured flow photon bumps an electron into an excited state, Photons and that excited state is passed along a chain of - molecules until it hits the reaction centre. How - - - efficiently this process works depends partly on the wavelength of the energy being passed + + + on, and on how well-tuned each molecule is to + accept that wavelength. “Hole” Researchers now think that the molecular flow network makes use of a quantum effect called superposition. While the energy from the

26 A GRÄTZEL CELL electron is in a superposition, it can be thought of as being many different wavelengths at once. A Grätzel cell captures solar energy using a The network “chooses” which wavelength will dye molecule mixed with titanium dioxide be transferred most efficiently, and then the

(TiO2), and a solution containing iodide (I-) energy “collapses” to that specific wavelength. and tri-iodide (I-3). The dye molecule uses the This quantum effect may help account for the energy of a photon to excite an electron, in tremendous speed and efficiency with which a process analogous to that of chlorophyll. chlorophyll passes on the energy it captures. The electron is passed on to the titanium dioxide molecule and then released to flow through an external circuit. The lost electron Fuel from the sun is replaced by one produced by the iodide/ tri-iodide reaction. Finally, the electron The details of antenna arrays and quantum returns through the circuit and reverses the effects are just two of the many things that iodide/tri-iodide reaction, and the process researchers think can help them build better begins again. light-harvesting techniques. But there’s another problem they also have to tackle: how to store the energy for later use. “Storage is really fundamental,” Sargent says. “The fact that the sun shines just about eight to 12 hours a day is something that can only be solved by buffering energy, by finding a way to solar store it and use it overnight.” energy Batteries are one possibility, but even the best are still relatively bulky and expensive, says Curtis Berlinguette, a chemist at the University of British Columbia and a member of the program. “You really need solar fuels.” A solar fuel solution takes the energy from the sunlight and stores it in a chemical form that can later be converted back to electricity or some other source of power. - e One way of doing this is to use solar-generated electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxy- TiO2 e- dye gen, which are stored away separately. Later, using e- a fuel cell, the oxygen and hydrogen are recom- bined into water, releasing electrons that can be captured in an electric current. A system that used

e- about four litres of water and fit in the space of a beer fridge could power a typical family home. One of the problems right now is that split- ting the water into oxygen and hydrogen requires

- catalysts made of rare and expensive materials. I One of Berlinguette’s interests is design- ing better catalysts. With his colleague Simon e- Trudel, he has developed a process that makes efficient catalysts out of normal mixed metal I - 3 oxides—essentially, rusts—that are as good as catalysts that cost 1,000 times as much to make. - e Berlinguette and others are also interested in methods that would bypass the conversion into electricity, instead converting the energy

27 Above: Through evolution, nature has optimized the light-harvesting capability of photosynthesis. It even seems to use quantum effects to fine tune the transfer of energy along the electron transport chain.

from excited electrons directly to fuel—a pro- Although there are many different thin film cess analogous to the way leaves turn photons technologies, one of the most exciting is the into sugars. A system like that would be more dye-sensitized solar cell pioneered by Michael cost-effective than having to design and build Grätzel, a professor at the École Polytechnique separate devices for generating electricity and Fédérale de Lausanne and an advisor to the pro- creating hydrogen. gram. This thin film technology makes use of a dye molecule that captures and transfers the energy from the photon in a way that’s analogous Flexible films to how chlorophyll captures energy in a leaf. It is thin, flexible and potentially inexpensive; All of these lessons are likely to be useful in de- it could soon generate electricity as cheaply as signing new generations of “thin film” photo- fossil fuels do today. voltaics. Unlike the silicon solar cells we’re most familiar with, thin film technologies often look more like a flexible sheet of plastic and can be Better than nature applied to glass or some other hard surface. “It’s with these materials that we have a Fully developed, better solar harvesting and fuel tremendous amount to learn from nature,” storage technologies could change the world. Sargent says. “Nature has obviously mastered Thin films plastered to existing surfaces could using available organic materials for solar ab- feed vastly increased solar capture. Solar farms sorption and for shuttling energy around in the would have the capacity to store fuels during the photosynthetic apparatus.” day and feed them to the grid at night. Homes

28 and office buildings could become largely energy self-sufficient. Developing countries could bypass the phase of massive power plants CIFAR’s new programs and energy grids, developing clean and local energy solutions instead. The Bio-inspired Solar Energy program was started thanks to CIFAR’s Global Call for Ideas, launched in April 2013. The call sought proposals that asked foundational questions and were bold, ambitious and complex enough to require sustained collaboration from an out- standing network of interdisciplinary researchers. From the 260 initial proposals, CIFAR selected four to go ahead (see sidebar on the facing page for a summary of the other three). Bio-inspired Solar Energy is now in its startup phase. An advisory board has been chosen, and members will hold their first meeting later this year. Investigations are under way to understand how the team will engage with key industrial stakeholders. The CIFAR program will not only lead to advances in individual questions of science and technology, it will also create a new way of thinking and talking that will allow researchers from vastly different disciplines to have mean- ingful collaborations. With its experience creating global multidisciplinary networks, CIFAR Brain, Mind & Consciousness is uniquely well positioned to create the new program. And through industrial partnerships, Consciousness is the quality that sets us apart the program will be able to directly influence from other species, but it remains a mystery in the direction of new solar technology. many ways. This program will examine how “The ultimate deliverable of the program will the brain gives rise to consciousness, leading to be to use insights from nature to produce more a fundamental understanding of ourselves and efficient, cost-effective, robust, longer-lasting or better treatments for mental health disorders. self-repairing systems on a mass scale for energy Advances in brain imaging, psychol- capture and storage,” Sargent says. ogy, neuroscience, philosophy and other “What this program offers is the potential fields make it possible to answer these ques- to dramatically enhance what we can do in tions. Program members will use advanced human-made energy capture processes: to first technologies to watch the brain in action approach the efficiency of nature and then and relate its physical changes to changes beat it. Even nature’s not that close to what’s in consciousness. They will grapple directly possible in principle from a thermodynamic with the neural underpinnings of conscious- perspective,” he says. ness and relate the findings to both biology “We can take insights from nature and use and philosophical questions. The work will them to make human-generated solar energy cast light on mental illnesses such as schizo- better. We can make them more robust, longer- phrenia and autism, provide insights on im- lasting and self-repairing.” proving education and even help us find “This isn’t a question of emulating nature. We better ways of interacting with machines. actually think we can do better.” • — Leadership: Adrian Owen and Mel Goodale Kurt Kleiner is the managing editor of Reach magazine. (both University of Western Ontario)

29 CIFAR is launching four new programs that will address questions of importance to the world. In addition to Bio-inspired Solar Energy, they are:

Humans & the Microbiome Molecular Architecture of Life

How do the microbes that live in and around This program will untangle the details of the us affect our health, development and even be- complex molecular processes that underlie all haviour? This program will examine the human living systems, with implications for everything microbiome and the role it plays in human from our understanding of evolution to our health and disease, as well as how it affects our ability to treat disease. evolution and society. Although we have made tremendous prog- About 1,000 different species of bacteria ress in understanding the molecular basis of make their homes inside humans, and new gene structure and function, many of the most scientific techniques have created an explosion important underlying processes remain to be of knowledge about these microorganisms, col- discovered. Understanding the many intercon- lectively called the microbiome. The program nected factors from genes to cell function could will create a unified effort to understand the lead to breakthroughs such as new pharmaco- microbiome and its implications for individu- logical strategies to combat disease. al human health. It will also examine how the microbiome affects human development, how Leadership: R.J. Dwayne Miller (Max it has directed our evolution and even how it Planck Institute and University of Toronto), has affected culture and society. Oliver P. Ernst (University of Toronto)

Leadership: B. Brett Finlay (University of British Columbia), Janet Rossant (Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto)

30 31 ARTICLE Dan Falk

PHOTO GRAPHY Jordan Manley Canada chimes in

— A radio telescope under construction in British Columbia will use computer technology pioneered by the cellphone and video game industries to peer into the origins of the universe.

32 Top: Adam Hincks, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia and a researcher on the CHIME project, climbs a ladder on the CHIME prototype.

Bottom: The anechoic chamber at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory is completely shielded from outside radio waves. It’s used to test equipment for radio wave leakage before it is installed on or near a radio telescope.

Astronomer Keith Vanderlinde has studied researchers have been working on a half-scale the universe from some fairly remote regions of version of the project; in early 2015, work on the planet — the Atacama Desert in Chile, for the full-size version got under way. example, and even the South Pole — but his In total collecting area, CHIME is on par most recent work, involving a unique Canadi- with the largest of the steerable-dish telescopes, an-made telescope, has him working in a much like the one in Green Bank, West Virginia, more hospitable location: the Okanagan Val- which has a diameter of 100 metres. But the ley in southern British Columbia. Because of similarities end there: CHIME is not steerable his teaching duties at the University of Toronto, at all. It just sits there, its half-cylinders aimed Vanderlinde makes most of his visits to the site straight up at the sky. Running down the centre in summer, and this part of the province, south of each half-pipe is a “feed line,” each holding of Okanagan Lake, is “infinitely more pleasant” 512 separate radio antennas. than Antarctica, he says with a chuckle. “The “CHIME is unlike other radio telescopes — drive from Kelowna down to the telescope is really, unlike any other telescope out there absolutely beautiful.” — because it has no moving parts,” explains The telescope in question is called the Cana- CIFAR Senior Fellow Matt Dobbs, a profes- dian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, sor of physics and computer engineering at or CHIME. It isn’t as versatile or as expensive McGill University. “It lies there and looks as many other astronomy facilities around the straight up at the sky.” The telescope sees an world, and yet its reach will be unprecedented: it entire north-south stripe of the sky, from the may soon shed new light on the mysterious “dark north horizon to the south, at any one time. energy” that drives the acceleration of the universe. Using sophisticated electronics and a good deal “It’s a telescope quite unlike any other on of computing power, astronomers can recon- the planet,” says Vanderlinde, a CIFAR Global struct which radio waves have come from which Scholar alumnus. direction in the sky. “That makes it essentially a digital telescope,” says Dobbs. With a standard radio tele- Half-pipe telescope scope — indeed, with ordinary optical telescopes as well — you have to aim the device at the object CHIME is taking shape on the grounds of the you’re studying. Not so with CHIME. Instead, Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory, “you process all the information that’s coming in about 20 kilometres south of Penticton. The from the sky, and you construct an image by pro- site is already home to several world-class ra- cessing all of it simultaneously in real time. The dio-astronomy telescopes, but even so, there power of CHIME is that it lets you look in all has never been a telescope quite like CHIME. of those directions at the same time.” The key is To begin with, there is no giant, steerable ultra-sensitive timing: if you know exactly when dish — nothing, for example, like the ones that a particular radio signal reaches each of the an- Jodie Foster’s character uses to listen for alien tennas, its source in the sky can be pinned down signals in the movie Contact. Instead, CHIME with great precision. consists of four steel half-cylinders, running in The telescope itself doesn’t move, but the parallel, each resembling a skateboarder’s half- Earth does, and astronomers will use that to pipe. Each half-cylinder is 100 metres long and their advantage. As the planet rotates, the gaze about 20 metres wide. For the past two years, of the half-cylinders sweeps across the sky.

33 34 In addition to CHIME, the DRAO that are farther away are moving faster away from hosts other radio telescopes. Left: a telescope from the 1960s us than those that are closer. So the frequency of made with wires strung from poles. radio waves emitted by hydrogen clouds correlates Right: the 26-metre steerable John with their distance, with radio waves from farther A. Galt telescope. clouds being longer than those from closer clouds. “With CHIME, we’re able to see in 3D,” says Dobbs. The result is what he calls a “data cube.” CHIME “can see the entire overhead sky from “We can peel away different layers of that, like the north to south, and then each night, as the earth layers of an onion, and each layer is like a differ- revolves through one full rotation, we see the ent period in the expansion of the universe.” entire sky from east to west as well,” says Dobbs. CHIME is an all-Canadian initiative with As the earth rotates, CHIME builds a picture of heavy involvement from CIFAR fellows in the the entire sky. Dobbs compares it to the luminous Cosmology & Gravity program. It is led by re- green stripe that moves along a flatbed scanner. searchers from the University of British Colum- The telescope will produce more than just flat bia (UBC), McGill and U of T, as well as from pictures; its images will also have depth. CHIME the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory is particularly sensitive to the radiation associated (DRAO). CIFAR Senior Fellow Mark Halpern with clouds of hydrogen gas, which make up much of UBC is the principal investigator for the in- of the large-scale structure observed through- frastructure funding. Along with Vanderlinde out the universe (hence the “H” in CHIME). and Dobbs, other CIFAR scientists working CHIME’s antennas monitor some 2,000 radio fre- with CHIME are Senior Fellow Gary Hinshaw quencies (or channels) at once. Because of the on- from UBC and Senior Fellows J. Richard Bond going expansion of the universe, hydrogen clouds and Ue-Li Pen from U of T. It was Pen’s work

35 that first showed the potential of the hydrogen- the late 1990s, when astronomers discovered mapping technique. R. Howard Webster Foun- that the universe is not only expanding but that dation Fellow Victoria Kaspi from McGill is the expansion is accelerating. What’s causing that principal investigator for a proposed extension acceleration? Nobody knows. For now, physi- of CHIME to study transient radio signals. Oth- cists posit a substance that opposes gravity, ers working on that extension are Senior Fellow pushing matter apart. They call it “dark energy.” Ingrid Stairs and Associate Scott Ransom. But there’s more to it than that: dark energy, it seems, has not been a significant part of the universe’s history. We know this because our Einstein’s blunder clearest picture of the very early universe — the cosmic microwave background radiation, or To understand the problem the researchers are CMB — shows no signs of dark energy’s effects. working on, you have to start with the Big Bang. Back when the universe was very young, there That explosion of space and time, some 13.8 bil- was “no appreciable amount of dark energy,” says lion years ago, sent all matter rushing away from Dobbs. Today, on the other hand, “there’s a ton of all other matter. At first, the cosmos was nearly it, that’s causing the universe to expand faster and homogeneous, but over the eons, gravity began faster.” Extrapolating between those two points, to impose order on the chaos. Under gravity’s Dobbs explains, there must have been a moment, pull and in spite of the Big Bang’s initial out- when the universe was between a third and a half ward push, matter attracted matter; clouds of of its current age, that dark energy “must have gas and dust spawned the first stars, and those ‘turned on’ and taken over the expansion.” stars came together to form primordial galax- So far, we have no way to probe that tran- ies. That, at least, was the standard picture until sitional period, because we simply don’t have

36 SWEEPING THE SKY

100 m

80 m

When complete, the CHIME array will consist of four steel half-cylinders, each about 100 metres by 20 metres. Radio waves will be reflected onto a line of receivers running down the middle of each cylinder.

PENTICTON, B.C.

The CHIME array will not be steerable. But as the Earth turns the telescope will sweep a large section of the sky visible from its location near Penticton,

British Columbia. Images courtesy of CHIME.

37 any data from the universe’s “middle years.” In Mysterious radio bursts contrast, astronomers have studied the CMB, the “echo” of the Big Bang, in some detail. CHIME is designed specifically to address the That radiation was, as noted, nearly homoge- problem of the dark energy, but it may also shed neous, but it was not, in fact, perfectly smooth. light on another, very different, astrophysical Instead, our best maps of the CMB show a pat- problem. For about eight years now, astrono- tern of tiny blotches, about one degree across. mers have been puzzled by quick bursts of radio These go by the technical name of “baryonic waves from random directions in the sky, seem- acoustic oscillations”: essentially, spots of ingly from cosmological distances. They last only slightly higher density, or slightly lower den- a few milliseconds, fading away just as quickly sity, compared to the average. Over billions of as they appear, and as far as we know, they don’t years, the higher-density “hot spots” evolved repeat: each has been a one-time occurrence. into the clusters of galaxies that make up the Astronomers have dubbed them “fast radio largest-scale structures we see in the universe bursts,” or FRBs. The first six were detected today. But how did it happen? with the Parkes Radio Telescope in Australia, “We’re looking for a growth spurt that began beginning in 2007; later, another was detected about halfway through the age of the universe, using the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. when dark energy took over,” Dobbs says. Since everything about dark energy is mysterious, learning how its role evolved over cosmological time can only aid in efforts to pin it “Maybe it will give us a down. One possibility is that dark energy is the substance imagined by Albert Einstein a hun- hint how to rewrite the dred years ago when he introduced a fudge fac- equations of gravity.” tor into his theory of gravity (known as general relativity), thinking that this extra mathematical term was necessary to keep the universe stable. He called it the “cosmological constant.” “The origin of these FRBs is completely un- (Later, when Edwin Hubble discovered that known,” says Victoria Kaspi of McGill. Kaspi the universe was expanding, Einstein referred has worked extensively on seemingly similar to the fudge as his “greatest blunder.”) phenomena, like pulsars and gamma-ray bursts; “It could be that dark energy is just this even so, FRBs present a mystery. simple mathematical trick, this cosmological “They are certainly pointing to some new constant, that Einstein put into his equations,” and so-far unexplained phenomenon, which is Dobbs says. “That would be pretty boring.” always an exciting thing,” says CIFAR Senior A more exciting possibility, he says, is that Fellow Ingrid Stairs. there’s something wrong with our understand- Kaspi wasn’t involved with the original ing of gravity, “that the equations that describe CHIME proposal, but as soon as she heard the gravitational interaction of matter on the about the telescope’s unique design, she won- largest scales aren’t quite right, that Einstein’s dered if it could help in the investigation of general relativity isn’t the whole picture.” FRBs. It wouldn’t involve any changes to the Scientists already believe general relativity telescope itself, she realized; all that was needed can’t be the final theory of gravity, because it’s was some extra electronics. incompatible with quantum mechanics. Unfor- “It became clear to me that CHIME could be tunately, there has been little progress in recon- an incredibly useful tool for solving this brand- ciling the two frameworks; “quantum gravity” new mystery,” Kaspi says. “You could tap off the remains elusive. signal and use it for a totally different purpose, “Maybe we’ll see that dark energy is more even while they’re working on their goals, at the complex than just the cosmological constant,” same time. And it would just take a little extra says Dobbs. “Maybe it will give us some hint money.” The telescope team recently submitted as to how to rewrite the equations of gravity to a proposal for funding to expand CHIME — not perhaps include quantum mechanics.” in physical size, but in the “back end” — in how

38 the data will be processed. If her project goes this problem away. We could start detecting hun- ahead, CHIME could be “a world-class telescope dreds of these, thousands of these, every year.” for studying these fast radio bursts.” As with dark energy, almost everything about One problem in the hunt for FRBs is that the FRBs is a mystery. How are they distributed telescopes involved have very narrow fields of across the sky? Are they associated with galaxies view; they can examine only a very small piece or some other structure that could be seen via of sky at any one time. It’s no wonder, then, that optical telescopes? only a handful of FRBs have been detected so far. “It’s really fun to have a brand-new problem But a simple calculation from those few obser- to work on,” says Kaspi. “Lots of groups around vations suggests that some 10,000 FRBs ought the world are trying to do this, but CHIME to be visible each day, if only we could monitor could be the world leader.” the entire sky. “We think that they’re actually an incredibly common phenomenon. They’re just really hard to detect,” she says. “That’s where Video game technology CHIME comes in, because CHIME can see a huge area of the sky at any one time.” CHIME’s design is almost shockingly simple, The giant Arecibo dish, Kaspi points out, can and yet, although people have talked about such monitor only a tiny circular patch of the sky, a design over the years, no one has actually tried about a hundredth of the area of the full moon. to build it until now. “Just very recently it be- CHIME, by comparison, will be able to cover came possible to build a very good amplifier for about 300 square degrees of the sky at any one cheap. Suddenly there’s not a big expense associ- time. It could end up detecting about 30 FRBs ated with the receiver, and the big expense is the per day, she says. “With CHIME, we could blow moving reflector,” Halpern says. As Vanderlinde

39 puts it, “We’re beating everyone else to the punch, Left: a close-up shot of electronic amplifiers that enhance signals and at a tiny fraction of the price.” received by CHIME. Middle, an air Indeed, CHIME’s total cost is only $11.5 duct keeps the electronics cool. million. That’s very low compared to most other Right: a station offering recorded information for visitors. major projects in physics and astronomy. For instance, the European Extremely Large Telescope, planned for completion in 2024, will cost more than a billion euros. employed custom design and programming. The telescope’s electronics are cheap for a When it goes live, it will boast the largest radio reason. They employ large-scale signal process- correlator in the world, processing radio band- ing and the manipulation of large volumes of width equivalent to all of the world’s cellphone data, which are the same processes that lie at signals combined. “This sort of thing can’t be the heart of the booming cellphone and video purchased off the shelf,” Dobbs says. game industries. “CHIME takes these two in- So, the next time you’re on your mobile credibly commercially important technolo- phone, or notice your kids playing Grand Theft gies and says, ‘Hey, we can make a fantastic Auto again, think about how that same technol- telescope that way!’” Kaspi says. “It’s a case of ogy isn’t just good for chatting with the spouse or Canada doing some very interesting science, simulating mayhem and murder. It may also be but it’s science that also has these tremendous helping to solve some of the deepest mysteries in economic benefits and applications.” the universe — thanks to an innovative Canadian Some of the electronics are “off-the-shelf” telescope in the heart of the Okanagan Valley. • parts, such as video cards used in high-end com- — puter gaming systems, but the telescope has also Dan Falk is a science journalist based in Toronto.

40 CIFAR’s Honorary Patron His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston became CIFAR’s first honorary patron in recognition of his valuable support.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTINE GAPIC

Above: Mr. Johnston speaks at the Four Questions to Change the World event in November.

41 HONORARY PATRON

Excellency during his speech at the Four Ques- tions event. He said he was confident that due to the excellence it has achieved it has made itself a permanent part of Canadian culture. Mr. Johnston himself was key in helping to build that sustainability. In CIFAR’s earlier years, the Institute’s unique research model “Dear friends, I come home.” wasn’t well understood, and governments and donors had to be convinced of its importance. So said His Excellency the Right Honourable In 1993 Mr. Johnston was chair of the David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, annual Royal Bank Award, which gave a while being celebrated as CIFAR’s first honorary $100,000 prize to a distinguished Canadi- patron at the institute’s Four Questions to Change an who had made a difference in any field of the World event in November 2014. endeavour, with an additional $100,000 go- The title honours His Excellency’s illustrious ing to the recipient’s charity of choice. Mr. academic career, his importance to Canadian sci- Johnston phoned that year’s winner — the late ence and his role in shaping CIFAR and putting Fraser Mustard, a child development pioneer it on a firm institutional and financial footing. and CIFAR founder — to inform him that he “CIFAR owes a tremendous debt to Mr. would be the recipient of the 1993 prize. Johnston,” said CIFAR President & CEO Alan Mr. Johnston recounted the discussion: Bernstein. “His vision and leadership helped “When I reached Fraser, I gave him the news, us to build the strong, sustainable networks of expecting him to say, ‘This is wonderful.’” researchers we have today. We are honoured to Instead, “He paused for the longest time and have him as our patron.” said, ‘Could I call you back?’” A graduate of Harvard University with law It turned out that the CIFAR Board had degrees from both Cambridge and Queen’s uni- been meeting in emergency session to discuss versities, Mr. Johnston began his professional its difficult financial position. When Mustard life in 1966 as a law professor, first at Queen’s brought the news of the award to the CIFAR and then at the University of Toronto. He has Board members, they saw it as an external vali- served as dean of law at the University of Western dation of the important work being done at the Ontario; principal and vice-chancellor at McGill institute. Two board members each pledged $1 University; and president and vice-chancellor at million over five years to keep CIFAR going, the University of Waterloo. and the valuable research continued. Mr. Johnston was president of the Association The next year, Mustard recruited Mr. John- of Universities and Colleges of Canada and of the ston to chair the CIFAR Board. During his ten- Conférence des recteurs et des principaux des uni- ure, Mr. Johnston stabilized federal and provin- versités du Québec. He was the founding chair of cial funding, expanded the Board, and greatly the National Round Table on the Environment widened CIFAR’s support among private do- and the Economy and chaired the federal govern- nors. He also managed the transition as Mustard ment’s Information Highway Advisory Council. stepped down from his role as president. By the He holds honorary doctorates from over 20 time Mr. Johnston left to become president of universities and is a Companion of the Order the University of Waterloo in 1999, CIFAR was of Canada. on solid ground and recognized as a permanent Mr. Johnston’s connection with CIFAR and important player in Canadian research. is longstanding and personal. He chaired the During his address at the Institute’s Four CIFAR Advisory Committee for the program Questions to Change the World event, the Gov- in Law and Society from 1987 to 1990 and ernor General modestly attributed CIFAR’s skilfully chaired the CIFAR Board of Directors standing to the important work and high calibre from 1994 to 1999. He is an honorary fellow of research it enables. “Nothing attracts talent and a chair emeritus. and resources like great success.” • “For more than 30 years, CIFAR has — been doing such important work,” said His Elaine Smith is a writer based in Toronto.

Crystalline perfection CIFAR Senior Fellow Bruce Gaulin is a condensed matter physicist who is interested in studying novel magnetic and superconducting materials. His lab designs and makes crystals with special properties, and in the process often creates objects of great beauty.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY THOMAS VAN RYZEWYK

The crystals pictured here were created in the Much of Gaulin’s work is done with other Crystal Growth Laboratory at McMaster Uni- CIFAR fellows, including Associate Fellow versity, one of the most sophisticated facilities in Robert Cava (Princeton University), Associate North America. A special furnace at the labora- Fellow Leon Balents (University of California at tory can generate temperatures as high as 2,200 Santa Barbara), Senior Fellow Michel Gingras C and pressures as great as 10 atmospheres. By (University of Waterloo) and Senior Fellow manipulating the heat, temperature, starting Graeme Luke (McMaster University). They use material and surrounding gases, researchers can the crystals produced in Gaulin’s laboratory to create crystals with the exotic properties they are study phenomena such as spin liquids and high- interested in. They can then study the crystals temperature superconductivity. • using x-ray or neutron scattering.

43 44 Catalyzing ideas for social change Even in a prosperous country like Canada, the good life is not shared equally. Researchers and community leaders are increasingly exploring innovative ways to tackle social challenges.

PHOTO GRAPHY BY BARBARA A. HEINTZMAN

45 CHANGE MAKERS

CIFAR is helping through a new dialogue series how to use social groups to improve their well- that aims to contribute to the social innovation being. People in the program who made gains in movement. Change Makers: Catalyzing Inno- their social connections showed reduced levels vative Ideas for Social Change connects CIFAR of anxiety, isolation, stress and depression. researchers directly with those driving change. “We need to move away from thinking “Many of CIFAR’s research programs are about health as a problem that resides in indi- generating insights and transformative knowl- viduals,” Catherine Haslam said. “We are better edge that will lead to stronger societies,” says off thinking about solutions for managing the Rebecca Finlay, CIFAR Vice-President of health of neighbourhoods and communities.” Communications & Knowledge Outreach. CIFAR Senior Fellow Robert Oxoby “We see a real opportunity to partner with (University of Calgary) explained that, con- leaders in the social innovation community, versely, group identity can be a barrier for dis- to connect our experts with those who are in a advantaged groups. “We can provide all kinds position to use research insights directly in the of resources, but [targeted individuals] won’t work they do.” take advantage of them. They need a means to The Change Makers series launched in internalize the norms and behaviours associated Edmonton in February with a half-day sympo- with the program.” He believes, for example, sium called Social Identity: The Creative Power that it is not enough to provide financial assis- of Groups to Improve Community Well-Being. It tance programs without first considering how was held in partnership with the Alberta Cen- to influence the ways people identify with those tre for Child, Family & Community Research. programs. Three fellows from CIFAR’s Social Interactions, A panel of community leaders responded, Identity & Well-Being program shared recent connecting research insights to their work on research and heard from local leaders about what the ground. On the panel were Martin Garber- they are doing to improve their communities. Conrad (CEO of the Edmonton Community CIFAR Senior Fellow Alexander Haslam Foundation), Allan Undheim (Vice President (University of Queensland) explained how of Community Building and Investment for the group identity creates a virtuous circle: connec- United Way of the Alberta Capital Region) and tions lead to better coping, and that leads to a Franco Savoia (Co-Chair of the Alberta Inter- greater sense of control, meaning, purpose and, agency Council on Homelessness and Director ultimately, overall positive mental health. of Vibrant Communities Calgary). Haslam cited one study that showed indi- “It is not just the purview of the social service viduals with depression were almost three times sector … or various departments or ministries less likely to have a relapse if they participated in within government,” said Undheim. “It’s not three or more social groups. just that part of our society that needs to care. CIFAR Associate Fellow Catherine Haslam It’s the private sector; it’s individuals all over. We (University of Queensland) discussed her pro- do not change anything unless everyone is row- gram Groups 4 Health, in which individuals ing in the same direction.” living with isolation and depression are taught Second in the series, From Evidence to Action: Inspiring Ideas for Happier Communities, will take place in partnership with the Museum of Vancouver, the B.C. Ministry of Social Devel- opment and Social Innovation, and the B.C. Partners for Social Impact. The symposium explores evidence and ideas about how to build happier communities, and it coincides with the release of the third annual World Happiness Upper left: Robert Oxoby. Report and the exhibition Stefan Sagmeister: Right: Alexander Haslam. Bottom: Oxoby, Catherine Haslam, The Happy Show, which opens April 23, 2015, and Franco Savoia, Co-Chair, at the museum. Alberta Inter-Agency Council • on Homelessness & Director of — Vibrant Communities Calgary . www.cifar.ca/changemakers

46 CIFAR Knowledge Circle CIFAR thanks members of the Knowledge Circle, its community of major supporters. The list below recognizes gifts made to CIFAR between July 1, 2013, and March 1, 2015, and current multi-year commitments to CIFAR of $10,000 or more.

CIFAR Visionary CIFAR Leader $50,000 and above $25,000 to $49,999 $25 million John and Mary Barnett* • N. Murray and Heather Edwards* • Government of Canada* Fiera Capital Corporation • Stephen Lister and Molly Rundle* • Patricia Meredith and Stephen Karam • OMERS Worldwide • $2 million+ Kara M. Spence* • Trottier Family Foundation* • (1 Anonymous Government of British Columbia* • Government of Ontario* • Donor) Richard W. and Donna Ivey* • (1 Anonymous Donor) $1,000,000 to $1,999,999 CIFAR Insider BMO Financial Group* • Government of Alberta* • Jerry and Geraldine Heffernan*• Margaret and Wallace McCain* • $10,000 to $24,999 Power Corporation of Canada Alvin and Mona Libin Foundation • The Chawkers Foundation • Brenda Eaton • Charles Fischer and Joanne Cuthbertson • $500,000 to $999,999 Pierre Fortin* • Morten N. Friis • Nancy and Richard Hamm* The Estate of Beryl M. Ivey • Ira Gluskin and Maxine • Charles Hantho and Eileen Mercier* • John F. and Judith Granovsky Gluskin Charitable Foundation* • Michael and I. Helliwell* • Richard M. Ivey* • Syd Jackson* • The Joan Sonja Koerner for the Brain, Mind and Consciousness and Clifford Hatch Foundation• Sheryl and David Kerr* • Program* • Max Bell Foundation* • RBC Foundation* • The Metcalf Foundation* • Gilles and Julia Ouellette* • Kara R. Howard Webster Foundation* • (1 Anonymous Donor) Palleschi* • Martha Piper* • Ilse Treurnicht • Alfred G. Wirth* • Janet and Bill Young* • (1 Anonymous Donor) $200,000 to $499,999 David A. Dodge* • George A. Fierheller* • Anthony R.M. Graham* • The Henry White Kinnear Foundation* • Ivey CIFAR Partner Foundation* • The Lawson Foundation* • Manulife $5,000 to $9,999 $100,000 to $199,999 Frank and Julie Barker* • Alan Bernstein and JoAnn Breitman Crabtree Foundation • Bruno Ducharme* • George Weston • Bill Blundell* • Devon Canada • Pierre Ducros* • Derek and Limited* • Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life* Adrienne Fisher* • Douglas and Ruth Grant* • Richard F. • Chaviva M. Hošek* • Céline and Jacques Lamarre • Haskayne* • Joe Heffernan • Suzanne Ivey Cook* • Rosamond Scotiabank* • Barbara Stymiest* • Tula Foundation • The W. Ivey • J.E. Halliwell Associates Inc. • Jacqueline Koerner • Garfield Weston Foundation* Vahan and Susie Kololian*†† • Robin Korthals* • Maureen and Roger Parkinson • The R and J Stern Family Foundation* • C. $50,000 to $99,999 Douglas Reekie • Barrie D. Rose and Family* • Penny Rubinoff through the Jewish Foundation of Greater Toronto • S.M. Blair The Arthur J.E. Child Foundation • Peter Bentley* • David Family Foundation* • Allan R. and Shirley Taylor* • Velan Inc. • W. Choi • Google Inc. • Geoffrey Hinton• The Lawrence Waugh Family Foundation • (1 Anonymous Donor) and Judith Tannenbaum Family Foundation* • The McLean Foundation* • Bruce H. Mitchell*† • Gerald J. Protti* • Richard and Donna Ivey Fund at the Toronto Foundation* • The Young Fund at Hamilton Community Foundation* CIFAR Member

$2,000 to $4,999 1573568 Alberta Ltd. • Alberta Children’s Hospital in recognition of Dr. Alan Bernstein • James C. Baillie* • Dr. Jean M. Clinton and Dr. Jim Gibson in memory of Dr. Clyde Hertzman • Dominic D’Alessandro • Rob Dowsett and Anne Folger* • John T. Ferguson* • Rebecca Finlay and Gordon Koch • Leslie Gales and Keith Ray • Harold Giles • Ralph and Roz Halbert • Hugessen Consulting • Trisha Jackson* • J. Spencer Lanthier* • Michael Mackenzie* • Sabi Marwah • Paul and Martha McLean • Brenda Milner • Carol Mitchell and Richard Venn* • Pirie Foundation* • Heather Rae Johnson • The Rotman Family Foundation • Pekka and Pat Sinervo* • Sunville Printco Inc.* • Walter Stewart & Associates* • John Vivash • Jane M. Wilson* • William L. Young • (1 Anonymous Donor)

47 CIFAR’s Broader Community of Supporters CIFAR thanks all its donors for their generous support. The list below recognizes gifts made to CIFAR between July 1, 2013, and March 1, 2015.

* Indicates donors who have given CIFAR Patrons consecutively for five or more fiscal years. $1,000 to $1,999 Beverley Brennan* • Jim Dinning • J. Trevor Eyton • Peter A. † Hall* • Digvir and Manju Jayas • Jessica Kamphorst and Alex A portion of this gift was made in Whitehead • Michèle Lamont* • The Mauro Family Fund* • honour of Dr. Gerald Hatch. John and Maggie Mitchell* • Gail Regan* • William Sewell • Louis Taillefer and Louise Brisson* • Michael & Renae Tims †† • Doug Todgham* • D. Lorne Tyrrell • Hugh R. Wilson and A portion of this gift was made in Frances Wilkinson* • (3 Anonymous Donors) honour of Mr. Peter J.G. Bentley, OC, OBC.

CIFAR Supporters — If you have any questions about this listing, or if your recognition $500 to $999 wishes have changed, please Aqueduct Foundation—Brooks Family Charitable contact Alison Smiley at Fund • Éric Archambault and Johanna Kratz • Amy Cook (416) 971-4866 or • • • Marcel Côté* Elizabeth Gerrits and Gordon Evans* [email protected] Heather Gordon* • F. David A. Hartwick* • Val James • David H. Laidley* • John C. Madden* • Aimee C. Park • Dr. Ronald Pearlman* • Kasey Reese • Science-Metrix • Elizabeth and Hugo Sonnenschein* • TELUS Corporation • Joseph H. Thywissen • Hugh Wright* • (1 Anonymous Donor)

CIFAR Friends

$100 to $499 David J.R. Angell* • Dr. Patricia Baird* • Brent Barron • Harry Baumann* • Wendy M. Cecil* • Marie Day • Deloitte Foundation Canada in recognition of Barbara Stymiest* • Rafael Di Tella • Paula Driedger • Lesley Evans* • Marc Frigault • Joseph Glaister* • Dr. David Goldbloom* • Hon. Stephen Goudge, QC • Michael W. Gray* • David and Annette Grier* • Elena Hassinger • Peter A. Herrndorf • Nancy Howe* • Joan Johnston • Helen Kearns • Eva Kushner, O.C., F.R.S.C. • Ann and Jack Laidlaw* • Scott and Sara Lamb* • Catherine Letendre-Perreault • Graeme Luke • Mariko and Suneel Manhas • Gail Martin • Jennifer Mauro* • D. McQ. Shaver* • Simon Miles* • Jonathon Millard • Elizabeth Mulholland • Fiona Nelson* • Melisa Ngan • Harald Pfeiffer • George Prodanou • Donald S. Rickerd* • David Sankoff • Dr. Stephen W. Scherer • Jenna Scott and Ted Heagle • Eldar Shafir• Huntington Sheldon* • T. Ann Smiley* • Anke Snell • Michèle Thibodeau-DeGuire* • Allan A. Warrack* • Dr. Janet F. Werker • Jennifer Wlodarczyk • Kathy (Chunlin) Zhang • (7 Anonymous Donors)

• THANK YOU TO CIFAR’S DONORS

48 History note EUKARYOTES

Webbing the tree of life Animals Fungi Plants

BACTERIA ARCHAEA Algae Other bacteria Cyanobacteria Crenarchaeota Euryarchaeota

Proteobacteria

Ciliates

sts oropla at gave rise to chl acteria th B Other single-cell eukaryotes dria ochon e to mit gave ris ia that Bacter

Korarchaeota

Hyperthermophilic bacteria

COMMON ANCESTRAL community of primitive cells

Charles Darwin’s “tree of life” begins with the simple tree, they would find a dense and tangled trunk, representing a common ancestor that thicket. Most researchers have now come to accept split off into branches as new species evolved. the “web of life” model, in part due to evidence This simple representation of evolution en- mounted by CIFAR’s program in Evolutionary dured for more than a century and a half before Biology, directed by Doolittle from 1986 to 2007. CIFAR Distinguished Fellow W. Ford Doolittle CIFAR appointed Doolittle a distinguished (Dalhousie University) dared to contradict it. fellow in 2008, and he remains one of only a In 1999, Doolittle published a contentious handful of researchers with that distinction. In paper in Science summing up evidence that not recent years, he has investigated the idea that all genes are inherited; certain bacteria with no much of human DNA is “junk,” without a clear relation can swap genes when they need to adapt purpose for our survival, suggesting that natural quickly. He argued that the branches of biology’s selection is not the only process driving evolu- metaphorical tree of life were twisted together, and tion — accident plays a role, too. that life does not evolve in straight lines. Instead, In 2014, the Natural Sciences and Engi- Doolittle proposed a new model: the web of life. neering Research Council of Canada awarded The scientific community rejected his theo- Doolittle, 71, its highest honour: the Gerhard ry at first. Darwin’s tree of life was central to the Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science field of evolutionary biology, and many scientists and Engineering. • were trying to trace life back through its branch- _ es. Doolittle’s ideas suggested that rather than a Lindsay Jolivet is a writer at CIFAR.

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