Ehab Abouheif, James McGill Professor in the Department of Biology at McGill, has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), one of the highest distinctions in the global science community, which recognizes contributions to science and technology, scientific leadership, and extraordinary achievements across disciplines.

A movement to discredit a controversial medical diagnosis is being bolstered by a new study out of McGill University. Excited delirium describes a state of agitation, aggression, and distress and has become a common defense to counter charges of police brutality. In the case of George Floyd, the syndrome was initially used as a legal defense for the Minneapolis police officer charged in his death.

Wind power is a source of energy that is both affordable and renewable.

However, decision-makers have been reluctant to invest in wind energy due to a perception that wind farms require a lot of land compared to electric power plants driven by fossil fuels. Research led by McGill University and based on the assessment of the land-use of close to 320 wind farms in the U.S. (the largest study of its kind) paints a very different picture.

Leveraging gamers and video game technology can dramatically boost scientific research according to a new study published today in Nature Biotechnology.

For many Canadians, one of the most visible climate impacts is on the availability and cost of the food we eat as climate change, global crises and profit-driven food companies have combined to drive food insecurity. Amid this crisis, students are sowing seeds of change on university campuses across the country, including at McGill.

Student-led food initiatives such as campus gardens, food waste diversion projects, and community food security partnerships are on the rise and are a proven way of localizing climate action and transforming food systems.

As digital media becomes an increasing part of daily life for teens, the question of how heightened screen time will impact their brains in the future is becoming more pressing.

A group of researchers at McGill University has set out to determine whether the use of video games, computers and other media during adolescence was associated with psychotic experiences in adulthood.

Imagine being middle aged and starting to feel that you are off balance a lot and that you are having a hard time coordinating your movements. Those are among the symptoms of Spinocerebellar ataxia type 6, known as SCA6, a rare neurodegenerative disease which typically appears in adulthood and worsens over time. Over time, other problems such as slurred speech and difficulty seeing or seeing double, may also appear. It is estimated that fewer than 5,000 people in the US have the condition, which is the result of genetic mutations in the cerebellum.

Researchers at McGill University have come up with an innovative approach to improve the energy efficiency of carbon conversion, using waste material from pulp and paper production. The technique they’ve pioneered using the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan not only reduces the energy required to convert carbon into useful products, but also reduces overall waste in the environment.

Indigenous communities in northern Quebec face significant hurdles to healthcare access. The Nunavik region is remote, with limited transportation options and extreme weather conditions. As a result, its population faces lower life expectancy and poorer health outcomes.

New findings from McGill University provide a blueprint to address Nunavik’s urgent healthcare needs by offering concrete evidence for discussions with policymakers.

More than two million people in Quebec don’t have access to primary care, the front door to the healthcare system, according to the newly released OurCare report on Canada. This is among the worst rates in the country, the report states.

To address a medical system that’s facing an aging and growing population, the OurCare report – developed in collaboration with McGill University researchers – focuses on the public’s expectations when it comes to defining good primary care and what policy changes they recommend to shape the system.

McGill University is pleased to announce the winners and runners-up of the 2024 President’s Prize for Public Engagement through Media. The Prize was created to recognize outstanding achievement among those who share their knowledge on a vast range of subjects with the media and the public. This year, there were applicants from 11 of the 12 faculties, a sign that sharing knowledge and a love of learning continue to be embedded in McGill’s DNA.

What maintains stability within an ecosystem and prevents a single best competitor from displacing other species from a community? Does ecosystem stability depend upon the presence of a wide variety of species, as early ecologists believed, or does diversity do the exact opposite, and lead to instability, as modern theory predicts?

Thanks to the efforts of the McGill community, the University has become the oldest in Canada, in terms of infrastructure, to receive a Platinum STARS rating for sustainability. The achievement is the highest rating available from one of the most broadly recognized programs to measure sustainability performance in higher education.

Federal funding program supported 59 research projects in cleantech, astrophysics, medtech, and more. 

From health and disability law to the emerging field of regenerative medicine, seventeen McGill scholars named to new or renewed Canada Research Chairs positions across diverse fields 

The Government of Canada makes major investment in research infrastructure through the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) Innovation Fund competition.

Today at the Université de Montréal, the Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Transport, on behalf of the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health, announced the results of the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) Innovation Fund (IF) 2023 competition.

When certain species of wild birds and primates discover new ways of finding food in the wild, it can serve to measure their flexibility and intelligence.

In the largest experimental study ever conducted on this topic, a team of researchers from Rockefeller University headed by postdoctoral fellow Jean-Nicolas Audet have shown, in collaboration with McGill’s Louis Lefebvre, that foraging problems requiring overcoming obstacles, such as removing the lid off a container of food, are the only predictors of brain size and innovative behaviour in the wild.

The latest Canada’s Food Guide presents a paradigm shift in nutrition advice, nixing traditional food groups, including meat and dairy, and stressing the importance of plant-based proteins. Yet, the full implications of replacing animal with plant protein foods in Canadians’ diets are unknown.

A new study from a team of McGill University and Vanderbilt University researchers is shedding light on our understanding of the molecular origins of some forms of autism and intellectual disability.

Following a unanimous vote at a special Board meeting on February 15, McGill University today launched a legal challenge against two measures announced by the Government of Quebec on December 14, 2023: