Today is a special day marking the 100th installment of Simon Fraser University’s Scholarly Impact of the Week!

Launched in March 2021 to celebrate SFU researchers’ inspiring ideas and discoveries, the series has travelled to the far reaches of the universe, deep into the microscopic world—and many points in between.

Crowdfunding can be a lifesaver, says SFU health sciences professor Jeremy Snyder, but it can also raise privacy concerns and reflect existing inequities in society. His new book, Appealing to the Crowd: The Ethical, Political, and Practical Dimensions of Donation-Based Crowdfunding, explores the wider historical and ethical context of giving practices.

Imagine telling a story in an Indigenous language and having a computer interpret and produce digital images for the story. SFU School of Interactive Art and Technology professor Jon Corbett aims to make this happen by developing computer coding using nehiyawewin, the Plains Cree language.

How should new university students approach their first essay? Do professors really expect students to do all the readings? What exactly is APA Style? SFU Education lecturer Joel Heng Hartse has answers to these questions. His short survival guide to university reading and writing can help new academic writers overcome their fear of long papers. 

SFU microbiologist Mark Paetzel and his research team used the brightest light in Canada to study the atomic details of viral protein, work that sheds new light on potential treatments for COVID19.

The paper, X-ray crystallographic characterization of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease polyprotein cleavage sites essential for viral processing and maturation was recently published in Nature Communications.

Since 2017, the government of China has interned Uyghurs, Kazakhs and members of other Muslim groups indigenous to the Xinjiang region in northwest China. Researchers estimate that more than one-million people have passed through the state’s re-education camps. 

Incoming SFU postdoctoral fellow Guldana Salimjan, international studies professor Darren Byler, and scholars at the University of British Columbia created the Xinjiang Documentation Project to provide a platform for documenting state crimes and the lived experiences of these minorities in China.

A viewpoint paper by a group of Simon Fraser University researchers recently published in The Lancet Planetary Health highlights the relationship between the health of the planet and human health. To address climate change and global health inequities, they recommend an anti-colonial, anti-racist and reciprocal approach.

We spoke with co-author Clifford Atleo, Jr. (Niis Na'yaa/Kam’ayaam/Chachim’multhnii), a Tsimshian (Kitsumkalum/Kitselas) and Nuu-chah-nulth (Ahousaht) professor of resource and environmental management about the paper's recommendations.

Why do people diagnosed with schizophrenia in China hear “voices” of state leaders? How do these voices relate to the world depicted by “China Dream” discourse?  

Simon Fraser University anthropology professor Jie Yang studies mental health and indigenous and non-indigenous psychology in China. She is fascinated by the ways that different strands of ideologies emerge in language and in people’s emotional lives.

In her recent article, Hallucinations of the “China Dream:” Forbidden Voice, Articulation, and Schizophrenia in China, Yang discusses the contents of voices heard by people diagnosed with schizophrenia in China. From interviews with doctors, caregivers, patients and family members she observed experiences of pressure, subordination and self-preservation by those who felt excluded from the “China Dream.”

Social connectedness has been shown to strengthen individual and community health and well-being, however, many members of Canadian society are at risk of social isolation. 

SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue’s Michelle Hoar and urban studies professor Meg Holden are longstanding advocates of creating social connectedness in B.C.’s urban settings. They work with SFU researchers, housing providers, non-profits, governments and others through the Hey Neighbour! Collective, to address loneliness and isolation while building neighbourly social connections and community resilience.

SFU sustainable energy engineering professor Vincenzo Pecunia led a group of over 100 international scientists to develop the "Roadmap on Energy Harvesting Materials." The roadmap offers guidance on the most promising directions in energy-harvesting technologies to help meet the growing demand for clean energy.