You know summer has come when  the cyclists turn up at UBC. As part of the BC Superweek UBC hosts a GrandPrix race of a 1Km lap. You won’t be surprised to hear that Jack Taunton is behind this promotion of fitness and activity, and that the event includes not only extraordinary athletes from all over the world but also has a children’s event and a corporate event for amateur teams. Profits from the event go directly to  BC Sports Medicine Research Foundation. What an excellent way to raise funds for research.

Tuesday was a terrific event with bright sunshine, happy families enjoying the party atmosphere and at the end of the day some of the most intense athletic performances. A group of over 120 cyclists coming down East Mall at over 40 MPH was extraordinary. The sharp turns and the fact they did 50 laps in just over an hour was remarkable. Thanks Jack for putting on such a great event…

Higgs Boson … maybe not first on your list of things to look for. However UBC has had a major part in the discovery and I met with some of them yesterday in relationship to our own research. They have some of the most extraordinary computational capability and they also are incredibly collaborative. The whole of the project of looking for the particle is an illustration of how collaboration is done to enable discovery. Working with groups across Canada and across the world they shared information and jointly worked on the analysis so that the discovery was made. This sort of scientific collaboration is an illustration to us on how in primary care research we can share and collaborate and groups have started to do this.  One example is the The Canadian Primary Health Care Research Network which can be found on LINKEDIN and here,   Who knows what may happenen if we start to share and work together as well as the physicists.

Enjoy the great weather.

Martin