Message from Principal and Vice Chancellor Suzanne Fortier on the importance of French at McGill University
Following this week's media reports, Principal and Vice-Chancellor Suzanne Fortier would like to clarify the situation regarding the importance of French at McGill University. Although McGill is an English-speaking institution of higher education, French holds a special place and the majority of the University's roughly 50,000 students and employees speak French.
Dopamine plays key role in songbird mating
In humans, the dopamine system has been tied to rewards and pleasurable sensations. As well as to memory and learning.
McGill University celebrates graduates and honorary doctorate recipients at fall convocation
This fall, 700 graduating students, who completed their programs at the end of Summer 2021 at McGill University, will cross the stage for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in 2019. The four in-person fall convocation ceremonies will take place on November 25th and 26th, 2021 at Place des Arts, where graduates will celebrate together with family and friends.
Caucasian households in U.S. emit most carbon despite greater energy efficiency
Residential energy use represents roughly one-fifth of annual greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. A team of researchers led by McGill University has used data from 60 million individual American households to look into how carbon emissions caused by household energy use vary by race and ethnicity across the country.
The global ocean out of balance
Surprising as it sounds, all life forms in the ocean, from small krill to large tuna, seem to obey a simple mathematical law that links an organism’s abundance to its body size. For example, although small krill are individually only about one millionth of the weight of a large tuna, they also tend to be a million times more numerous throughout the oceans.
COVID-19 lockdowns deepened struggle for work-family balance
Around the world increasing mental health inequalities between women and men following the COVID-19 pandemic represent a major public health concern. According to a new study, the lockdown measures due to the pandemic profoundly and unequally disrupted the work-family balance for many graduate students, exacerbating mental health problems.
How to turn specific genes on and off
Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer are just some of the disorders associated with specific genes not “turning on” and “turning off” as they should.
Diet restricted size of hunter-gatherer societies
Short growing seasons limited the possible size of hunter-gatherer societies by forcing people to rely on meat, according to a recent study by a team of international researchers, including McGill University professor Eric Galbraith.
Revolutionary identity verification technique offers robust solution to hacking
A team of computer scientists, including Claude Crépeau of McGill University and physicist colleagues from the University of Geneva, have developed an extremely secure identity verification method based on the fundamental principle that information cannot travel faster than the speed of light. The breakthrough has the potential to greatly improve the security of financial transactions and other applications requiring proof of identity online.
Can inhaled corticosteroids alleviate early symptoms of COVID-19?
Despite high hopes, a new pan-Canadian study published today in The BMJ suggests that ciclesonide—an inhaled and nasal steroid drug commonly used for asthma and rhinitis—won’t be the treatment to change the course of the pandemic.
Advancing agriculture threatens the livelihoods of forest-dependent people
Satellite images reveal where forest-dependent people live inside the forests of the South American Gran Chaco, and how deforestation for cattle ranching leads to an erosion of their resource base. (Background photo: Google EarthTM / Inset photo: I. Gasparri).
McGill conferring honorary degrees to four exceptional individuals
McGill University is proud to confer honorary degrees to highly talented and engaged individuals who serve as an inspiration for our community of students, professors, researchers and staff.
How cultural differences shape responses to COVID-19
A study exploring cross-cultural differences in knowledge and attitudes towards COVID-19 reveals that people in Europe had the least knowledge of COVID-19 and lowest tendency to care about the coronavirus, while people in the United States had the lowest tendency to comply with public health restrictions. As the pandemic began to unfold, people in the Middle East and Asia were the most aware of COVID-19. People in the Middle East were also the most afraid of the coronavirus.
How bacteria create a piggy bank for the lean times
Bacteria can store extra resources for the lean times. It’s a bit like keeping a piggy bank or carrying a backup battery pack. One important reserve is known as cyanophycin granules, which were first noticed by an Italian scientist about 150 years ago. He saw big, dark splotches in the cells of the blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) he was studying without understanding either what they were or their purpose.
By 2500 earth could be alien to humans
To fully grasp and plan for climate impacts under any scenario, researchers and policymakers must look well beyond the 2100 benchmark. Unless CO2 emissions drop significantly, global warming by 2500 will make the Amazon barren, the American Midwest tropical, and India too hot to live in, according to a team of international scientists.
