Wetland restoration is often promoted as a definitive way to support wildlife, improve water quality and help store carbon. However, new research from McGill University suggests the overall climate picture is more complicated.

Supporters of losing parties express more distrust of their fellow citizens after elections than do supporters of winning parties, a new study has found, with voters who more strongly disliked rival parties showing even greater distrust.

A new study by a team of McGill researchers could help explain why people who have quit smoking remain at elevated risk of lung disease long after their last cigarette.

Their paper, published in Translational Research, provides one of the most detailed pictures to date of how quitting smoking affects the human lung at the cellular level.

Low-intensity green lighting in refrigerated storage can slow spoilage in leafy greens, helping maintain their appearance and nutritional value, according to a new study from McGill University.

“We found that something as simple as changing the light in refrigerated storage may help fresh produce stay fresher for longer,” said Shafieh Salehinia, lead researcher and affiliate member in the Biomass Production Lab, headed by Prof. Mark Lefsrud.

Estimates of ordinary matter in the universe exceed the amount observed in stars and galaxies, leaving much of it unaccounted for. Researchers from the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME)/Fast Radio Bursts Collaboration, including McGill University and MIT, have developed a new method to seek out this “missing” matter by combining galaxy locations with fast radio burst detections. A fast radio burst, or FRB, is an ultrabright, millisecond flash of radio waves emitted by extremely energetic phenomena in the distant universe.

McGill researchers have found that dangerous crowd conditions leading to surges and stampedes may not emerge suddenly, but instead develop gradually, as repeated physical contact and pushing may accumulate and become synchronized among nearby individuals. 

Recognizing how these conditions arise could help organizers strengthen security, site management and evacuation planning, reducing the likelihood of injuries during large-scale public events. 

When a child has been sexually abused by a family member, post-disclosure interventions prioritize the child who was victimized. Siblings who were not directly abused can also be deeply affected by the abuse. New research from McGill University finds siblings are nevertheless routinely unable to access available supports.

A single monitoring network developed by McGill, Natural Resources Canada, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and Dalhousie University researchers can simultaneously track earthquakes, water behaviour, human activity and whales, providing a comprehensive picture of what’s happening in, under, and at far distances from the water.

The researchers’ experimental network, installed in the Lower St. Lawrence, detected twice as many earthquakes as the National Earthquake Monitoring System, while also capturing whale calls, ship noise, tidal activity and mining blasts.

While caregiving can be meaningful and rewarding at manageable levels, those who spend more than 20 hours a week delivering unpaid care to others have poorer mental health outcomes, a McGill study has found.

However, the researchers also found that the provision of social support to high-intensity caregivers mitigates negative impacts.

A shift to cleaner transportation could prevent more than 3,600 premature deaths in Montreal and Toronto by reducing ultrafine particle pollution, finds a new study led by McGill researchers.

Ultrafine particles (UFPs) are microscopic pollutants produced in large quantities by vehicle exhaust. Because of their small size, they can penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream and may contribute to serious health problems such as heart and lung disease.

Researchers at McGill University have confirmed that aspen play a key role in forest fire prevention and mitigation across Canada. Planting these trees near communities can reduce both the likelihood and severity of fires and limit how far they spread, the researchers said. 

“Aspen is not a 100 per cent effective fire deterrent, but compared with other species, it is a better choice to plant around communities or critical infrastructure,” said Flavie Pelletier, lead author and recent PhD graduate in Natural Resource Sciences. 

A new study finds public specialized gambling addiction treatment services are underused in Quebec, pointing to a need to better reach people with gambling disorder.

Researchers at McGill University and the Douglas Research Centre followed more than 2,300 people with a gambling disorder over 13 years. Despite free access, patients averaged fewer than two treatments during that period.

Children and older adults are consistently less likely to live near bike lanes, finds a new study that mapped cycling infrastructure in three Canadian cities over a decade.

The McGill-led research analyzed census data for Montreal, Vancouver and Victoria. Across all three cities, neighbourhoods with a higher proportion of children (under 15) and older adults (65+) were located farther from cycling infrastructure.

McGill University researchers have developed a light-detecting nanoscale structure that mimics how a neuron processes information. The neuron-like behaviour emerges from the materials themselves, reducing the energy demand associated with similar devices that rely on circuits or software.

Instead of capturing data first and processing it elsewhere, the device senses and interprets light in the same place, similarly to how the eye processes visual information.

A McGill University study suggests that diversifying crops and replacing annual wheat with a perennial grain could help protect soil health as climate change brings more variable rainfall.

A biocontainment facility designed to protect Earth from potentially hazardous biotic contaminants from space should be part of a planned NASA base on the moon, a policy paper maintains.

“Humanity is entering a new era of space exploration, but our planetary protection strategies have not kept pace with the risks associated with returning extraterrestrial samples to Earth,” said paper co-author Frederick I. Moxley, Director of Strategic Threat Analysis and Research Laboratories, an Idaho-based consultancy.

What makes a speaker engaging? Both what is said and how it is said matter, but in different, complementary ways, a new study conducted at the McGill School of Communication Sciences and Disorders has found.

When people try to sound “engaging,” they tend to speak more loudly and in a higher pitch, and this can lead listeners to evaluate them more positively, the researchers said. However, the study also reveals that the listener’s desire to extend a conversation depends mainly on interest in what the speaker has to say.

McGill University’s Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences is well known for its impact in Quebec, where its award-winning Service to the Community Program provides dental care to underserved groups throughout the Greater Montreal Area.

Though lesser known, the Faculty’s global impact is no less impressive, with a long history of training oral and maxillofacial surgical residents from the Middle East. Now, the Faculty is expanding its global footprint through a new research and clinical collaboration with Kuwaiti partners.

Researchers have uncovered and digitized nearly two million 18th and 19th century weather observations from across Canada that offer new insights into how the country’s climate has changed over time.

The international project draws on handwritten records dating from 1768 to 1884. The data include temperature, precipitation, wind and detailed descriptions of such events as storms and floods.

New research is shedding light on how comparing ourselves to others affects happiness and life satisfaction.

Led by McGill University researchers, the study shows that people who feel worse off financially than their peers are more likely to report signs of languishing, even when their actual income is similar.