The federal election is just weeks away, the first to be held in Canada since “fake news” became a global phenomenon that impacted elections in other western democracies. Small armies of journalists and even social media platforms are hoping they will be able to help the public identify made-up stories intended to deceive and sow dissention. But will that be enough? Today in The Conversation Canada, Fatemeh Torabi Asr tells us about a project at Simon Fraser University that uses algorithms to identify the linguistic characteristics of fake news. She writes that fake news articles use more expressions that are common in hate speech, as well as words related to sex, death and anxiety.

We also examine why men accused of sexual harassment often receive good-character testimonies from other women – and why those testimonies are usually irrelevant to the accusations – and how “gaping holes” still remain in the law that allows Canadian companies to violate human rights in other countries.

And finally…the calendar suggests summer is quickly fading away. But there’s still time to hit the beach before the snow flies. Early childhood education experts Lotje Hives and Tara-Lynn Scheffel of Nipissing University write about how a day at the beach offers kids a wonderful learning experience. “Children’s inquisitive minds crave opportunities that allow them to become designers, builders, mathematicians and innovators of their world,” they write.

Regards,