Decorated Dinos track star Jessica Zelinka will be returning to Austria to represent Canada in the Hypo Bank Invitational. This will be Zelinka's second invitation to the annual event held in the city of Gotzis, and only the fourth time for a Canadian woman. Though an experienced athlete, Zelinka admitted there was an intimidation factor the first time she attended in 2005.

It's difficult not to catch the contagious excitement in Dr. Leo Behie's face and gestures as he explains the revolution in cancer research and the part the University of Calgary is playing in it.

Behie is a member of a U of C research team who have discovered a way to replicate cancer stem cells, which could lead to improvements in breast cancer treatment.

In 2004 the University of Calgary was ranked dead last out of 46 participating schools in the first Maclean's graduate survey. This year won't be a repeat performance, because this time around the U of C isn't participating.

When the Maclean's university rankings are published each November, a number of things invariably follow. Universities on the lower end of the scale will criticize the process. Most of those coming out on top will be heralding the quality of education at their institutions. Meanwhile, prospective students are left scratching their heads, not sure what to believe.

The city pays people to cover it up. Most people associate it with gang tags and teenage hoodlums. The intricate curls and vibrant colors of graffiti art still have a stigma attached to them, scoffed at by the upper echelons of society. Over the next three days at the Axis Gallery, ACAD graduate Tim Okamura is giving high society a kick in the ass.

By the release of his eighth album, Ron Sexsmith should be used to interviews. But at a press junket for his new album,

Time Being, Sexsmith looks anything but relaxed as he fidgets with his coffee mug and avoids eye contact. Then again, it could be the exhaustion from being in six different cities in seven days as part of his promotional tour. Regardless of his fatigue, Sexsmith is as polite as his music is good, which puts him on the level of a 16th-century gentleman.

1963: X-Men #1 published featuring initial roster of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel and a non-furry Beast, led by Professor X pitted against Magneto

1970: With sales in the toilet, Uncanny X-Men series reverts to reprinting old X-Men stories with issue #67. Predictably, sales get worse.

1974: Wolverine debuts in Incredible Hulk #181 wearing a silly costume with whiskers, designed to make him look more like an actual wolverine.

In 1963, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby stumbled onto the ultimate nerd cashcrop: a comic book about a group of teen superheroes who were hated and persecuted because no one understood them. Real life angst-ridden teens, pissed off at those who don't understand them, have flocked to comic book stores across the world for their weekly dose of paperback power-fantasy ever since. Since the sixties, the X-Men have spawned innumerable comic lines, action figures, playing cards, over 15 videogames, two television shows and three movies.

Last week, the war in Afghanistan, thousands of kilometers away, hit closer to home.

Captain Nichola Goddard, daughter of University of Calgary associate dean of education Tim Goddard, was killed in combat Wed., May 17 about 25 kilometers west of Kandahar.

The 26-year-old soldier also left behind her mother Sally Goddard, her husband Jason Beam and two younger sisters.

The University of Calgary officially privatized another university department last week, dubbed the IMAGinE project.
The U of C signed a $40 million, seven-year contract with Xerox Canada to revamp all printing, scanning, storage and document creation services on campus. The deal is expected to save the U of C $13.8 million over the length of the partnership.