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Resonance

Wolves and wolverines: Life and death on the trail

For several days I couldn’t get in touch with my Aunt Carla in Newfoundland to wish her a happy birthday because she was never home. “I don’t know what the fuss is all about,” she said, when I finally got her a couple of days before her birthday. Carolyn Filliter and her Siberian husky Neshka before hitting the trails. PHOTO: DAVID HOLT “It’s because you will be 100 tomorrow,” I said. “Thank you,” David, she said. “God love.” And, yes, she had received the flowers and card arranged by my sister Linda in California and the cookies from my wife Donna and our friend Gladys in St. John’s. Then she was off on another Zoom call. Carla lived in England when World War II broke out. She is a student of history. She knows life can be unpredictable. Play the odds. She doesn’t have much patience for the anti-vaxers. On

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Longevity

The good things social media is giving the world

As a digital anthropologist, I’ve spent a lot of time in online communities, studying social media as well as netnographic research and humans using technology in the real world. I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly over the past decade. While much may seem bad, I’ve seen a fair bit of good and I’m starting to see some broader positive societal trends coming out of social media. Let’s take a look. Animals: From cats being mean to silly and cute dogs and wildlife caught in the act, we can see a shift across many countries and cultures in how we see animals. From pets to wildlife. Although there isn’t any hard scientific evidence yet, anecdotally, we can suggest that humans, who are also animals, are perhaps evolving more meaningful relationships with our fellow animals ad we learn about them and how we can interact. The good that may

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Longevity

Hiking? Look at the trees.

Heading out for a hike this weekend? Going deep into a forest or skirting the edges of one? As you trot along, stop. Look at the trees. Not just the tops, but the trunk and the roots. In our childhood, trees were these amazing things that we climbed. As high as we could get. Perhaps we dared our friends to climb higher? Perhaps we swung from them on a tire or a rope, splashing into a lake. In autumn they’d show us amazing colours. In winter they were bare bones. You may be surprised however, to learn that trees are amazing, living things. They talk to each other and they will even help each other heal when they are sick! Wait what? Trees connect to each other not just through their roots, but they use various kinds of fungi. Trees send messages to each other through fungi and in return,

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