I have to admit I never equated turtles with guns or drugs. But that was before I read the incredible article by Jacqueline Litzgus, a professor with Department of Biology at Laurentian University. Prof. Litzgus studies turtles. Where does she study them? She can’t tell you. Or if she did: “I’d have to kill you.” That’s because turtle researchers are constantly worried about poachers who profit from an illegal turtle trade. Read the full article to get a unique perspective on an aspect of science that’s not well known.

Also today, three researchers from the University of British Columbia — Patricia Jansen, Mo Korchinski and Ruth Elwood Martin – write about their work in determining why 40 per cent of female inmates return to prison within a year of their release. They’ve concluded that providing better health care – including dental care – would help reduce the rate of recidivism.

Michael J. Armstrong of Brock University returns with another article that looks at a historical battle and then runs various scenarios through a mathematical model to determine if the results would have been different. This time, Prof. Armstrong looks at the famous Charge of the Light Brigade, which happened 163 years ago this week.

And finally, Darin Flynn, an associate professor of linguistics at the University of Calgary, examines a recent controversy that broke out on social media: should white rappers every use the n-word? Definitely not – and while that may seem obvious, Prof. Flynn’s article provides an excellent backgrounder on the controversial word’s use in rap.