For as long as humans and rats have co-existed, humans have tried to exterminate rats, and rats have repeatedly learned to thwart these attempts. Dr. Gerhard J. Gries, a professor in the department of biological sciences at SFU, wants this stand-off with rats to come to an end.

Rats provide a difficult challenge for population control: as a result of interacting with humans for thousands of years, they have developed a healthy dose of fear and apprehension when presented with new objects, called “neophobia.”

Therefore, even with the promise of food, it can be difficult to entice rats into entering traps. As a result, we depend on traps such as poison boxes that are efficient at killing but result in the poisoning of animals that consume rats, including domestic cats and dogs.

The Gries Lab studies the communication systems of animals. “[W]e want to understand how animals, including rodents in this case, communicate and once we understand their language we can talk back and manipulate them to our advantage,” explained Dr. Gries.

Therefore, in order to bypass the rats’ neophobia, the Gries Lab has developed a trap that uses a three-pronged approach to exploit rat senses and communication strategies. The first property of the trap is food bait: the team has developed bait that is laced with odorants so that no matter the rat’s craving — be it nuts, meat, or cheese — it will be emitted from the trap. The food bait is important because its manipulation is necessary to trigger the snap mechanism that results in almost instantaneous death for the rat.

The second tool used to attract rats is the promise of a mate. Male rats mark their territory using urine. This urine contains sex-attractants that lure females and deter males. The Gries Lab isolated these molecules, and by including them in the trap capture 10 times the number of females; however, males will be deterred by their presence, therefore these traps are used only to target females.

Lastly, Dr. Gries and his collaborators created a device that synthetically produces the sounds of rat pups. When mother rats leave their pups alone, they often get cold and express their discomfort by producing short ultrasonic bursts. These were recorded and an algorithm was developed that generates bursts that differ in pitch, intensity, and duration, with intermittent silence between the emissions. Therefore, it is very difficult for the rat to realize that the sounds are artificial.

The next stage in trap development is to make it a multi-killing trap so that it does not have to be serviced after every catch. The team is also looking for a sex-attractant produced by female rats, so that a similar trap can be developed to target males.

As Dr. Gries said, “We have tried to get rid of [rats] for a long, long time.” With his lab’s development of the rat trap, we may be at a new frontier in population management: “It smells like rat, it sounds like rat, it must mean someone is there and it is safe to enter.”

ABC’s The Bachelorette got a dose of SFU this season.

SFU alumnus Jon Hamilton appeared on the season 12 opener of The Bachelorette. Sporting traditional Scottish garb, complete with a kilt, he went all out in what he described as a “make or break” opportunity to impress Jojo Fletcher, this season’s bachelorette.

“[Jojo] was either going to like it or hate it [. . .] [and] I have no regrets doing it,” Hamilton said in an interview with The Peak.

At first, going on The Bachelorette wasn’t Hamilton’s idea. A past girlfriend nominated him to be on the show, and it was apparent that his Canadian charm appealed to the show’s producers, as they reportedly bombarded Hamilton with a number of calls while he was out to dinner one night.

“I was having dinner at Local [in Kitsilano] when I got a call from LA,” Hamilton recounted. “At first I thought it was a crank call, and I clicked decline at least three times. But then I finally answered and found myself talking with a girl from ABC [. . .] it kinda snowballed from there, and turned into like ‘holy shit, you have to do it!’”

An avid follower of the series, Hamilton was curious about the experience of being on a reality TV show. After going through a series of interviews and flying down to LA for further meetings with show executives, filming began. This enabled him to experience the other side of a show that he watched so regularly.

While Hamilton lived with his parents, he would watch the show every Monday night with his mom: “It was a bonding experience for my mom and I. When the show was on, I knew exactly what I was doing every Monday night.”

When asked about his choice of attire, Hamilton laughed and admitted that while it was unique, he was used to it. Hamilton, who is half-Scottish and half-Chinese, takes great pride in his heritage thanks to his dad, a proud Scotsman.

“I wore a kilt to my high school graduation and my sister’s wedding, so it’s kind of commonplace for me,” Hamilton remarked. As for the show, he had his doubts, but in the end some of the producers asked him to wear it to add extra interest.

Before his stint on The Bachelorette, Hamilton graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in history and minoring in economics. During his time at SFU, he also played with the hockey team and made a lot of friends through the program, some of whom he still keeps in touch with to this day.

When asked to describe a perfect date with money being no object, Hamilton described a grand picture of going to Italy via private jet, wine tasting in Tuscany, and having Mario Batali cook him and his date dinner.

But for Hamilton, the best way to really get to know someone is to have easy and flowing conversation. “The perfect date [for me] would be getting pizza and watching movies,” Hamilton said. “It’s easier to talk that way.”

Even though Hamilton was sent home by Jojo Fletcher, this handsome alumnus likely won’t have any trouble finding a girl willing to take him up on that offer.

In light of recent issues with mould in buildings on campus, SFU has developed a new Mould Control Program to combat the issue and its associated health risks.

An informational meeting was held on June 1 to discuss the revised regulations and procedures for handling mould, while providing an opportunity for questions and feedback from attendees. The team in charge of developing the program consulted a wide variety of “best practices” resources, including the CCA Mould Guidelines for the Canadian Construction Industry, as well as the NCCEH Mould Remediation Recommendation, a “summary of all the [mould remediation] literature up to 2014.”

According to Lesley Clements, an occupational hygienist hired by the university to assist in tackling this problem, the program seeks to “formalize a process” for effectively dealing with onsets of mould and mildew. It involves both a concentrated effort to respond to reports of pre-existing cases and administration of stronger preventative measures against future outbreaks.

People on campus are encouraged to report cases of mould or intrusive moisture in their residences, offices, and the like. From there, SFU representatives will perform inspections on the building in question, look into its history, and conduct interviews with occupants. As a result of the large number of buildings on each of SFU’s campuses, the project aims to ensure that the order in which mould cases are handled is prioritized based on how urgently intervention is required.

Meanwhile, building envelope engineers will be involved in “larger, more complex [construction] projects” on SFU’s campuses. They will verify that all building codes are being followed to the letter, identify and neutralize any potential mould-related health concerns prior to commencing construction, and approve the materials used.

The Mould Control Program will also be subject to an audit one year following its implementation, and once every two years after that. Though attendees of the meeting raised concerns that SFU’s internal auditor did not appear to be involved in the audits outlined in the program, presenters suggested that they could “bring it up with him” at a later date.

Mould has been an enduring issue at SFU over the past few years, especially in the controversial shutdown of the Louis Riel House residence last year.

Last October, a record number of 88 women were elected to the House of Commons in Canada. Despite this new record, women still only comprise a mere 26 percent of the House’s 338 members.

NDP Burnaby South MP and former SFU political scientist Kennedy Stewart condemns these numbers: he noted that this percentage ranks Canada at 61st out of 191 countries, behind nations like Iraq, Afghanistan, and El Salvador. Even more upsetting, the country ranked at 21st in 1991, meaning that while other nations are progressing, Canada is falling behind.

In response to these numbers, Stewart is sponsoring a controversial bill, the candidate gender equity act, to bring gender equity to Parliament. First put forth in February, the bill would, according to Stewart’s press release, introduce “a financial incentive for political parties to run more women candidates and move towards parity in their nominations.”

In particular, Stewart criticized the Conservative party for running female candidates in only 19 percent of ridings. He compared this to the NDP and Liberal parties, who ran female candidates at 43 percent and 31 percent, respectively.

According to Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld, “[l]egislative solutions [. . .] including financial incentives or penalties to encourage political parties to nominate more women, are considered by UN Women, UNDP, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and other major international organizations, to be commonly recognized methods to achieve greater gender parity.”

The bill was drafted with advice from “numerous prominent female scholars,” according to The Vancouver Sun, and was endorsed by Green Party leader Elizabeth May; however, the bill also faces many opponents. Included in this group is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, despite his move to appoint a gender-balanced cabinet upon election.

Also in opposition is Conservative Surrey MP Dianne Watts, who called the bill “truly offensive,” according to a transcription of the Parliamentary debates. Watts agreed that having more women in politics could have a positive effect on government, recalling her days as the first elected female mayor of Surrey in 2005. Having a female majority on council when she became mayor was “influential” in the success of dealing with issues such as child development and homelessness, she said.

However, rather than implementing quotas, she believes politicians need to do more to encourage and mentor young women. Watts pointed out that Surrey had no such quotas when they achieved a female majority.

She also expressed her belief that men who identify as feminists, such as Stewart and Trudeau, should focus on issues related to “their own gender,” such as domestic violence and sexual assault. “To have a guy stand up there and offer to give me something he thinks I need is not OK,” she stated.

Despite the controversy surrounding the bill, it will be debated again after the summer break.