The Big Story Frequency Podcast Network

Scientists are very careful about throwing around words like 'breakthrough' or 'cure'—especially when it comes to diseases like ALS that are so devastating to their victims. But the past few months have seen an incredible sense of optimism around research being done by a team at Western University, who seem to have found a way to prevent the cell death that is the core of the disease.

How did they make this discovery? How does it work so far in experiments? And why is this step turning heads around the entire medical world?

GUEST: Dr. Michael Strong, professor of neurology at Western University's Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry; Arthur J. Hudson Chair in ALS Research

On Wednesday the Bank of Canada lowered its key interest rate for the first time in four years, after months spent at a 20-plus year high. The cut was just a quarter-point, but it could be a signal that easier economic times are on the way for millions of Canadians struggling with servicing their debt.

So what does this latest cut mean right now, and what might it mean in the future? And is this the start of a trend, or could the bank decide to walk it back later this year?

GUEST: David, senior economist for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ National Office

Heat pumps could fundamentally shift the way we heat and cool our homes, but high costs and misconceptions about their performance in cold weather have served as barriers to their mass adoption in North America.

So how do they work? How effective could they be in reducing carbon emissions? And what's being done to make them more attainable for the average household?

GUEST: Matt Simon, Senior staff writer, WIRED

There are some large companies in Canada that have a history of breaking environmental laws. But the framework for fining them can be complex, and often struggles to make the larger businesses feel serious financial ramifications.

How does this system work? Or does it? How could we adapt it for a world in which the pursuit of profits that cause environmental harm will become more and more dangerous?

GUEST: Ben Collison, PhD student at Dalhousie University, writing for The Conversation

It's been decades since the Conservative party played any real role in British Columbia's legislature. But that might be changing. With a little over four months to go before the next provincial election, they BC Conservatives are neck and neck with the NDP to form the next government, at least according to polls?

Is it a mirage? A sign of a serious shift in the electorate? Or an indication of pure frustration and anger with the current government, so much so that anyone else, even a party that has spent decades in the province's political wilderness, will do?

GUEST: Andrew MacLeod, Legislative Bureau Chief, The Tyee

Over the next few weeks, we'll be revisiting some of our favourite episodes from the catalogue. If you're new to the show, we hope you enjoy hearing these for the first time, and if you've been with us a while, enjoy this trip down memory lane!

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ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES:

It's not easy to make yourself notorious among the more than 40,000 McDonald's franchises in the world—but Ottawa's Rideau Street location accomplished it. From dangerous violence, to drug use, general chaos and viral incidents that became world famous (like the raccoon fight...) the recently closed restaurant earned the moniker given to it by a former police chief.

But the story of this McDonald's isn't just one of crime and online fame. It's a story about public space and who gets to use it, how a city changes at night, what resources we offer to people who need them and how every city's downtown is changing right now. Today, the rise and fall of the most famous McDonald's in Canada.

GUEST: Amy Dempsey, senior writer, Toronto Star