Have you ever wondered why you can whistle a tune but not carry one? One of my favourite Wilco songs features a Jeff Tweedy whistling sequence, and I have mastered it in ways I have never been able to sing the rest of the tune. In today’s The Conversation Canada, a team of academics led by Michel Belyk of the University of Toronto explains the complexities of the human voice and why most of us are much better whistlers than we are singers.

The legalization of cannabis in Canada is just around the corner. And Brock University’s Michael Armstrong, one of our most prolific contributors, is back to explain how the provinces are taking different approaches to selling weed to the public – with the Ontario plan an odd mix of state-of-the-art technology and Temperance-era shame.

Migrant workers will soon be arriving in Canada to work on our farms this summer. Anelyse Weiler of the University of Toronto tells the stories of two female farm workers who were sexually assaulted on the job in Canada and had no legal recourse. Her piece is a passionate call for better working conditions and basic civil rights for migrant farm workers across North America.

Finally, are you still on Facebook in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal? Most of us still are, despite the outrage we’ve felt about the unauthorized use of our personal data. Kathryn Jezer-Morton of Concordia University explains that our relationship with Facebook has always been complicated, and argues that we now need to assert control over our use of it.