HEALTHLINE | How One Small Change Pushed People to Buy More Vegetarian Dinners
A new study finds a simple way to get people to eat less meat is to simply offer more than one vegetarian dish. Dr. Lesley Fellows, professor of neurology and neurosurgery at McGill University, who has studied decision making, says that "When human beings are making a choice, they’re very much influenced by context, including what other alternatives are available, in ways that are not obvious to the chooser.
MACLEAN'S | Canada’s best Medical Doctoral universities: Rankings 2020
After last year’s tie, McGill University keeps top spot as the University of Toronto takes second. Universities in the Medical Doctoral category have a broad range of Ph.D. programs and research, as well as medical schools.
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MONTREAL GAZETTE | What you need to know about pneumonia and flu shots
Around 1.5 million people are hospitalized with pneumonia every year. Around 100,000 die in hospital and a third of people hospitalized with pneumonia die within the year. Older patients are at greater risk and so are those with pre-existing lung disease. Smoking is also a risk factor for pneumonia, so if you need an extra incentive to stop smoking, this is it.
THE HILLS TIMES | Cancer drugs costly for many Canadians, free for others
Prescription drug coverage is a major problem in Canada. Canadians not only pay significantly more for medication than consumers in many other developed countries but many inequities in access exist, says Mark Sorin, a student in the MD/PhD Program at McGill University and Amélie Quesnel-Vallée, the Canada research chair on policies and health inequalities and director of the observatory on health and social services reforms at McGill University.
NATIONAL POST | No, beef isn't bad for you: Scientists conclude there is no need to eat less red or processed meat
The new recommendations, however, are already getting pushback. The authors readily admit that their recommendations come with a “low certainty of evidence,” noted Dr. Joe Schwarcz, of McGill University, “because the studies themselves have low certainty of evidence.”
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THE CONVERSATION | Antibiotic resistance: why tests are key to arresting the trend
"Infections are a leading cause of death worldwide. But widespread resistance to almost all available antibacterials is a reality in low and middle-income countries. [...] Working with colleagues from McGill University, the University of British Columbia and Harvard Medical School, we looked at how antibiotics affected people’s blood results." - Cédric Yansouni, Associate Director, J.D.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL | The loss of three billion birds in North America is the canary in the coal mine
David M. Bird is an emeritus professor of wildlife biology at McGill University who has studied birds for five decades. "When I read the recent headlines that North America has lost nearly three billion birds over just the past five decades, I was not surprised. But I must admit it did depress me to a degree. That’s a lot of birds!"
MONTREAL GAZETTE | Despite problems, bus ridership in Montreal up slightly in 2018
The increase in ridership for 2018 was surprising to Nick Chaloux, a transportation planner and former researcher at TRAM - Transportation Research at McGill. "The fact there is a slight growth is positive," said Chaloux, who published a paper last year that highlighted concerns about the decline in the STM's bus service. "The STM was operating with 100 fewer buses on average, with all the side effects that come with that.
MONTREAL GAZETTE | Jane Goodall delivers powerful message at McGill
Jane Goodall is the renowned, 85-year-old primatologist whose groundbreaking research on chimpanzees in the 1960s forever redefined humanity’s relationship with nature. She was awarded an honorary doctorate Thursday from McGill University and delivered the 65th annual Beatty Lecture — the only person to have done so twice. The first time was in 1979.
GLOBAL NEWS | McGill University hopes to raise $2B with fundraising campaign
McGill University’s west field was the official launching pad for the Made by McGill campaign, where hundreds gathered under large white tents as the institution unveiled a $2-billion fundraising endeavour on Thursday.
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NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC | Oceans and ice are absorbing the brunt of climate change
“Now, there’s tons of evidence, decades of change that we’ve observed, and now we can go in and say we are confident that climate change is influencing so many of these different species,” says Jennifer Sunday, a marine biologist at McGill University.
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BUSINESS STANDARD | Body clock study may help improve vaccine strategies
According to the researchers, including those from Douglas Research Centre of McGill University in Canada, a type of immune cells called the CD8 T cells -- which are essential to fight infections and cancers -- function very differently according to the time of day.
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NEWSWEEK | Teabags can release billions of microplastics into your drink, study finds
Study co-author Nathalie Tufenkji, from the Brace Center for Water Resources Management at McGill University, Canada, told Newsweek: "I was sitting in a shop enjoying a cup of tea when I looked down at my cup and noticed that the teabag seemed to be made of plastic. I immediately asked myself whether it could be releasing plastic particles into the tea."
THE STRAITS TIMES | Experts outline ways to counter foreign interference
Taylor Owen of Canada's McGill University, said that the bigger threat to national security is not the law-breaking behaviour of people but the vulnerabilities in a country's information infrastructure, which is often outsourced to private organisations.
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CBC | Women and science suffer when medical research doesn't study females
"I've been finding sex differences for 20-25 years now in my laboratory. And sometimes we find them on purpose and other times we're working on something else entirely and there they are," said Jeff Mogil, a professor of pain studies at McGill University. "I'm convinced now that sex differences are all over pain biology — at almost every level of analysis."
