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Fighting the flu: The surprising power of a century-old vaccine for tuberculosis

As Canada’s flu season collides with record strep A cases and ongoing COVID-19 concerns, a new study is shedding light on our understanding of respiratory immune responses. Scholars from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) have discovered a surprising facet about a century-old vaccine for tuberculosis, Bacillus Calmette Guérin (BCG).

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Published: 22 Feb 2024

McGill researcher receives 2024 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship

Today, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced the selection of 126 extraordinary early-career researchers as recipients of the 2024 Sloan Research Fellowship. Amongst the recipients is Courtney Y. Paquette, (Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics).

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Published: 20 Feb 2024

Energy poverty in Canada

As many as one in five Canadian households can be considered to be in energy poverty, according to researchers from McGill University. Energy poverty occurs when households cannot afford or access the levels of energy necessary to meet their daily needs, live decent lives, and maintain healthy indoor temperatures all year round. More Canadians potentially suffer from energy poverty than from food insecurity.

Published: 20 Feb 2024

Uncertainty in measuring biodiversity change could hinder progress towards global targets for nature

More than ever before, there is a growing interest in dedicating resources to stop the loss of biodiversity, as recently exemplified by the

Published: 16 Feb 2024

Pierre Boivin named 21st Chancellor of McGill University

The Board of Governors of McGill University approved the nomination of Pierre Boivin as the University’s 21st Chancellor. Mr. Boivin has been appointed for a three-year term, beginning on July 1, 2024. He will succeed Chancellor John McCall MacBain, whose current term will end on June 30, 2024. His nomination stems from a rigorous process that was launched last summer by the Nominating, Governance and Ethics Committee.

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Published: 15 Feb 2024

New understanding of avian eggshell attachment

Athletes often suffer injuries to ligaments in their knees, particularly to the anterior cruciate ligament or ACL. While surgery to replace these torn ligaments is becoming increasingly common around the world it often needs to be repeated.

Published: 13 Feb 2024

A new era in wound care

Hydrogels are engineered materials, which absorb and retain water and are currently used in various medical treatments, including dressing wounds. The problem with current hydrogels is that they adhere indiscriminately to all surfaces, which means that wound dressing can potentially damage delicate tissue as it is healing.

Published: 12 Feb 2024

Making AI a partner in neuroscientific discovery

New paper argues that Large Language Models can reveal breakthroughs humans alone cannot

The past year has seen major advances in Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT. The ability of these models to interpret and produce human text sources (and other sequence data) has implications for people in many areas of human activity.

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Published: 9 Feb 2024

Surprising new evidence on happiness and wealth

Global polls typically show that people in industrialized countries where incomes are relatively high report greater levels of satisfaction with life than those in low-income countries.

But now the first large-scale survey to look at happiness in small, non-industrialized communities living close to nature paints quite a different picture.

Looking at happiness in non-industrialized settings

Published: 8 Feb 2024

Are environmental toxins putting future generations at risk?

In a study that signals potential reproductive and health complications in humans, now and for future generations, researchers from McGill University, the University of Pretoria, Université Laval, Aarhus University, and the University of Copenhagen, have concluded that fathers exposed to environmental toxins, notably DDT, may produce sperm with health consequences for their children.

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Published: 6 Feb 2024

‘LOVE’ is all you need: How play can help break the cycle of violence

In Canada, only 1 in 5 children who need mental health services receive them. Clinical and psychiatric programs, while effective, can involve long wait times and prohibitive costs. A new study involving McGill University researchers points to a solution to fill the gap: a low-cost, community-based program that has seen inspiring results.

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Published: 5 Feb 2024

McGill study finds that some Canadians may still be at risk of Genetic Discrimination despite new federal law

As Canadians share more and more genetic data with service providers such as insurance companies or databases like Ancestry.com, the potential for discrimination based on this data is growing. Known as Genetic Discrimination (GD), this practice is broadly defined as the differential treatment of an individual compared to the rest of the population based on actual or presumed genetic information.

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Published: 30 Jan 2024

A neurological disease paradigm shift

Researchers propose a new model for classifying Parkinson’s

 

One of the things that makes developing effective treatments for Parkinson’s disease so challenging is its complexity. While some forms are caused by genetics, others have environmental factors, and patients can show a wide range of symptoms of varying severity. Diagnosis of Parkinson’s is also currently made very late, after the disease may have been in the brain for a decade or more.

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Published: 23 Jan 2024

AI meets citizen science to unlock the nature of storytelling

A new project led by McGill University researchers seeks to understand one of humanity’s oldest practices and most powerful tools—storytelling. From ancient oral traditions to modern-day literature and digital narratives, storytelling is an essential part of the lived experience that is not yet fully understood.

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Published: 23 Jan 2024

What can today's architects learn from a lost ventilation system used in 19th century building design?

As the COVID-19 pandemic raises questions about efficient ventilation and the climate crisis threatens to exacerbate extreme temperatures, efficient building design is front of mind for today’s architects. But what can we learn from architectural techniques that were developed more than 100 years ago?

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Published: 22 Jan 2024

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