"All children, except one, grow up."

Thus begins the book Peter Pan, the story of the only boy who never grows up. But for the rest of us, what does that term mean, exactly? At what point have you grown sufficiently "up" to be considered an adult? What does the process entail? Is it a good thing or a bad thing (or both)?

Thank you to Souren Vahdatfarimani and Professor Paul Yachnin for their insightful thoughts on the subject.

In many ways, our lives are entirely dependent on others, both human and non-human. We constantly interact with coworkers, friends, partners, family, and complete strangers. But how exactly do all these different relationships affect us?

Listen to what B21 community members Shuting Wang, Arkana Fuentes-Pilafidis, Nakiya Noorbhai, and Viola H. Ruzzier think about the importance of others in the first B21 podcast episode of the year.

The idea of a soul, of the intangible something that makes up a person, has existed for millennia. But souls aren't confined to people -- we talk about soulful food, soulful music, soulful art, and we can describe both people and inanimate things as soulless.

But are we referring to the same concept every time we say the word "soul"? Is one person's definition different from everyone else's? How do religion and spirituality play into this? Can souls outlive people?

Join operatic tenor and McGill professor John MacMaster, archaeology student Katrina Kosyk, and B21 program assistant Viola H. Ruzzier for a fascinating discussion on the soul.

La question du sublime se pose depuis des milliers d'années. Nous le cherchons dans les paysages, les arts, les mathématiques. Nous le trouvons entre la beauté et la peur, le connu et l'inconnu.

Mais qu'est-ce que le sublime, exactement? Quand peut-on le ressentir? Peut-on en faire l'expérience ou simplement l'entrevoir? Réside-t-il à l'intérieur ou à l'extérieur de nous?

Rejoignez une discussion sublime et animée avec Ève-Marie Marceau, Antoine Poulin, Sarah Ambroise, et Viola H. Ruzzier, pendant laquelle nous essayerons de décortiquer ce sentiment vertigineux.

Welcome to Part 1 of our new miniseries, Matterless Matters! In this series we'll be discussing matters that maybe don't matter too much, but are fun and surprisingly deep anyway.

This first episode will ask the following crucial questions: Are mermaids fish or mammals? Why do zombies need to eat, given that they're already dead?

You can find the written version at https://building21.ca/matterless-matters.

Narrated by Dr. Maria Morrison, German professor at McGill University.

How do we define language? What is the difference between language and other types of communication? Is music a language? How does language shape our way of thinking? Join us for this follow-up to one of our latest I'm Not Sure discussions.

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word "alien"? Is it something threatening? Something unknown? Something different? Join us along with Prof. Samuele Collu and Vincent Laliberté to dive into this surprisingly ancient question.

What if there were no cars in cities? What if we used hypothetical questions to solve real problems? What if asking these questions made us happier, more empathetic people? Join us for a thoughtful celebration of two of the most freeing words in the English language: "what if?"

Join us for a in-depth discussion on what creates rich and beautiful learning environments. 

David Peña-Guzman is Associate Professor at San Francisco State University. In his latest book, When Animals Dream, Dr. Peña-Guzman wonders whether humans are the only dreamers on Earth. What goes on in the minds of animals when they sleep? When Animals Dream brings together behavioral and neuroscientific research on animal sleep with philosophical theories of dreaming. It shows that dreams provide an invaluable window into the cognitive and emotional lives of nonhuman animals, giving us access to a seemingly inaccessible realm of animal experience.