CSI Blog & Newsroom

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“When environmental engineer Erica Hartmann hits the gym, she sees the floor where people lie down to do crunches as the perfect place to test dust for microbes,” wrote CBC News on December 12, 2018.

CBC News continued, “You may think of dust as dead. But dust actually teems with bacteria because it acts as a final resting place for everything drifting through the air.

At a gym, people are often encouraged to wipe down the weights and machines with a sanitizer. One antimicrobial ingredient called triclosan stops the growth of bacteria, fungus and mildew as well as deodorizes.”

Read the full article here. 

Photographer: Rawpixel.com

“A new report from Charles Schwab shows that U.S. investors with self-directed brokerage accounts (SDBAs) who work with advisors see greater portfolio diversity and higher returns than their non-advised counterparts,” wrote Audrey Carleton for The Globe and Mail on December 10, 2018.

Carleton continued, “The SBDA Indicators report, published Nov. 27, sampled 137,000 retirement plan participants who currently have balances between $5,000 and $10-million in their Schwab Personal Choice Retirement Account in the third quarter of 2018.

According to the report, only 19 per cent of SDBA participants chose to use an advisor. But this small percentage saw far better results than non-advised participants. The former category showed an average balance of $449,552 – almost double the average balance of non-advised accounts, which came in at $234,643.”

Read the full article here. 

Photographer: Rawpixel.com

“Loblaws is ramping up self-checkout with new technology called “shop and scan” — a system that lets people scan their items with a phone app while shopping, saving time at checkout,” wrote Sophia Harris for CBC News on November 21, 2018.

Harris continued, “On Thursday, Loblaws will begin testing shop and scan at five grocery stores in the Greater Toronto Area, and will expand to three more locations in the region in the coming weeks.

“Customers can now scan, pay and be on their way,” spokesperson Catherine Thomas said in an email.

In the race to streamline the shopping experience and reduce labour costs, retailers are rushing to innovate. But not all new technologies prove successful: Walmart recently tested a similar scanning system, “scan and go,” which failed to catch on with customers.”

Read the full article here. 

Photographer: Alfonso Cenname

“The strain of E. coli bacteria that has prompted the Public Health Agency of Canada to warn people not to eat romaine lettuce in Ontario and Quebec is the same one that caused a similar outbreak last year, prompting questions about why the federal government has stopped short of issuing a mandatory recall,” wrote Nicole Ireland for CBC News on November 20, 2018.

Ireland continued, “”Basically it’s lightning striking twice,” said Prof. Keith Warriner, a microbiologist specializing in food safety at the University of Guelph, noting that the strain, E. coli O157, is particularly “virulent,” meaning it makes people sick more often than other forms of the bacteria. 

“It’s worrying that it’s the same strain [of E. coli as last year], which basically means it’s the same source. And that means they never solved the problem,” he said.”

Read the full article here. 

Photographer: Rawpixel.com

“Canada’s banks are considering legal action to prevent Statistics Canada from obtaining their clients’ banking records without consent as the federal agency faced criticism from several fronts Thursday during a special Senate hearing,” wrote Bill Curry for The Globe and Mail on November 8, 2018.

Curry continued, “Statscan’s chief statistician, Anil Arora, pledged during the meeting that the plan will not go ahead until the federal privacy commissioner completes an investigation.

The Senate banking committee also heard Thursday from Privacy Commissioner of Canada Daniel Therrien and privacy and consumer advocates.”

Read the full article here. 

Photographer: Rawpixel.com

“Statistics Canada is facing heat for its proposal to make Canadian banks hand over the financial information of 500,000 individuals in order to perform an analysis of spending patterns. A Conservative senator said on Thursday that the plan was “almost totalitarian.” The agency’s chief statistician, Anil Arora, has defended the proposal – but not very effectively. Here’s what we think he should say,” wrote Globe editorial for The Globe and Mail on November 8, 2019.

Globe editorial continued, “We have an ambitious plan here, and yes, there are risks. However, we believe these risks can be made smaller than those Canadians accept while banking online every day.

And we believe the benefits greatly outweigh the risks. Statscan uses data about spending habits to create an accurate picture of what’s going on in the economy – for example, the inflation rate. That in turn helps the Bank of Canada set its benchmark interest rate and determines payments from government programs like Old Age Security and the child tax benefit, which are tied to the Consumer Price Index.”

Read the full article here. 

Photographer: Tuur Tisseghem

“Al Larocque says he’s always been truthful when crossing the border,” wrote Guy Quenneville for CBC News on October 30, 2018.

Quenneville continued, “But if the Fruitvale, B.C., resident is asked by U.S. border agents if he’s ever smoked marijuana, he knows what he’s going to do. 

“I’m going to lie,” he said Tuesday.

Photographer: Freestocks.org

“Over the past two weeks, Indian police have been bursting into suspected illegal call centres, arresting everyone in sight and seizing troves of equipment used to carry out phone fraud aimed at foreigners. Hundreds of Canadians are among the victims of the so-called “CRA scam,” and their combined losses — from just two of the raided offices — are likely to be at least in the hundreds of thousands of dollars,” wrote David Common for CBC News on October 30, 2018.

Common continued, “”This is just the beginning, says Chief Ajay Pal Sharma of the Noida Station. “More illegal call centres are running in the city, which will be busted soon. We will be conducting more raids.” 

Police say they arrested 28 people in just one of their sweeps, including two seen as the kingpins of the operation. Most are in their twenties.

They are expected to face fraud-related charges, which could result in jail time.”

Read the full article here. 

Photographer: Ylanite Koppens

“Two Toronto-based designers are trying to remove barriers that typically haunt children with physical disabilities when they go trick-or-treating on Halloween,” wrote Amara McLaughlin for CBC News on October 30, 2018.

McLaughlin continued, “Rich Padulo and Pat Lore have crafted a pumpkin-coloured lawn sign that says: “Accessible trick-or-treating.”  

Homeowners can place these signs in front of their homes signalling to parents and children with a physical disability that they can take part in the Halloween tradition without having to navigate obstacles that might prevent them from ringing a doorbell.”

Read the full article here. 

Photographer: Matthew Henry

“Between Soul Cycle, Fitbit, Whole30 diets and social media health gurus, the health and wellness industry is booming — but Americans are more likely to be obese today than ever before,” wrote Stef W. Kight for Axios on October 22, 2018.

Kight continued, “The problem: Despite promises made by gyms and fitness programs, physical activity does little to help people lose weight, says Ashkan Afshin from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. And Americans’ diets are still terrible.”

Read the full article here.