Welcome to the December edition of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research e-News magazine. You will notice a few changes with this edition, starting with the name: We hope the name Scope captures the essence of the publication, which is to provide you with new ways to look at the world.

Scope has been redesigned, and so has our website. If you haven’t already done so, please visit the new cifar.ca to find out about upcoming events, recent discoveries, CIFAR in the news and much more.

Scope is distributed quarterly to members of the CIFAR community to provide ideas, information and issues emerging from the world of advanced research. This edition of Scope focuses on apologies, superconductors, microRNA, and a new Big Word that escaped from a fairy tale to find a home in advanced research.

CIFAR supports innovative programs that enable the brightest and most talented minds across Canada to collaborate with each other and with their international peers on questions of global significance.