Early Sunday morning, millions of Ontario residents were wrenched from sleep by a screeching noise coming from their cell phones along with the message, “An incident was reported at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. There has been NO abnormal release of radioactivity from the station and emergency staff are responding to the situation.” Of course, the message sent many to Twitter and their favourite news sites to figure out what exactly was going on and whether they should, in fact, be worried. It turned out to be a false alarm.

Today in The Conversation Jack L. Rozdilsky, from York University, takes a look at the fallout from erroneous messages like this, and how fear can shape the public’s perception of risk about technology such as nuclear reactors.

We continue our coverage of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752, which was shot down by Iran on Jan. 8., killing 176 people including 57 Canadians. Angela Failler from the University of Winnipeg looks back at another Canadian aviation disaster — the bombing of Air India Flight 182, which was en route to London, England, from Toronto. All 329 people aboard, including 280 Canadians, were killed, yet there was no collective outpouring of grief then. And Arne Kislenko takes a look at the long history of tension between Iran and the United States, and how that has led to serious international consequences.

Finally, we have a story on a new chemical process that can break down used vehicle tires into their basic components so that they might be reused rather than end up in a landfill.

Cheers,