Vaping has been in the news a lot lately ever since reports started surfacing that teenagers who vape were being hospitalized with serious lung problems. Some have even died. While many thought vaping would be a safe alternative to smoking cigarettes, we now know health regulators haven’t done enough research to determine the potential dangers of this growing habit. Today in The Conversation Canada, Grace Parraga, an imaging scientist from Western University, helps us understand the harms of ingesting the oils that are used in e-cigarettes. She paints a simple but disturbing image: imagine vaporizing a pound of butter, inhaling it and then having the butter cool and reform as a solid inside your lungs. Ugh.

We start your week off with some other great reads:

• We’re into Week 2 of the federal election and Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is still playing defence about his party’s stance on social issues like abortion.
• Student protests and walkouts over the climate crisis will be starting again. We explain what’s behind this latest youth environmental movement.
• Canadians are still basking in the glory of Bianca Andreescu's victory at the U.S. Open. The high TV ratings and social media impact clearly demonstrates that women’s sports can be just as popular as men’s if given the same amount of coverage and financial support.

And finally, speaking of sports, did you know there are about the same number of professional astronomers in Canada as there are active Canadian hockey players in the NHL? Bryan Gaensler of the University of Toronto and Pauline Barmby of Western University spell out Canada’s long-term plan for discovering the cosmos.

Regards