THE CONVERSATION | The Taming of Polio and the Challenge of the Flu

The now nearly global eradication of polio through vaccination is a testimonial to the enlightenment of humans dedicated to the alleviation of human disease. In the early 20th century, hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to have been paralysed by polio annually.

TBR NEWSMEDIA | CSHL’s Megan Crow tackles a neuroscience ‘holy grail’

One of the challenges scientists are addressing is how pain becomes chronic, like an injury that never heals. The opioid crisis is a problem for numerous reasons, including that people are in chronic pain. Crow was interested in understanding the neurons involved in pain, and to figure out a way to treat it. “The sensory neurons in pain sparked my general interest in how neurons work and what makes them into what they are,” she said.

FORBES | Bombardier's Laurent Beaudoin On Running And Scaling A Family Business

"Not long ago, I had the pleasure, indeed honor, of sitting down with Laurent recently to reflect back on his long career. He is Canada's, indeed one of the world's great entrepreneurs and I have followed and commented on Bombardier for the some 18 years I have been at McGill in Montreal, where their global headquarters is. I have known him a bit for a long time and been a close and avid follower of Bombardier and Monsieur Beaudoin."

THE GUARDIAN | Fresh concerns over chemicals for ripening fruits, softening foods

In recent times, there have claims and counter claims on health implications of using chemicals such as calcium carbide, ethylene and ethephon for ripening fruits. A study published in Annals of Tropical Medicine and Public has demonstrated possible health hazards of fruit ripeners.The study titled “A Critical Analysis of Artificial Fruit Ripening: Scientific, Legislative and Socio-Economic Aspects” was conducted by researchers from the Department of Chemical Engineering, Bangladesh Univ

FORBES | Why Human Capital Is The Key To Startup Success

A recent study from McGill University that explored how startups in rural Switzerland managed to thrive, despite being outside of traditional tech clusters. The authors examine seven successful high-tech firms that reside in five small towns in the east of Switzerland.

MONTREAL GAZETTE | McCord Museum will double in size and stay at its current site

Months of speculation ended when the McCord Museum announced Tuesday that its new home will be built on the site of its current home on Sherbrooke and Victoria Sts. in the heart of Montreal’s Golden Square Mile.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL | Illustrious surgeon Dr. Wilbert Keon was first in Canada to install an artificial heart

Dr. Keon earned a master of science degree in experimental surgery from McGill University, and trained at Montreal General Hospital, Toronto General, the Hospital for Sick Children and Harvard Medical Center in Boston. But cardiac surgeon was only one aspect of his illustrious career. Dr.

THE NEW YORK TIMES | Is Dancing the Kale of Exercise?

Studies show that dance provides multiple cognitive and physical health benefits, suggesting it may be the kale of exercise. These results echo those of a 2008 Journal of Aging and Physical Activity study by Patricia McKinley of McGill University in which seniors participated in a tango dance program. The report showed that long-term tango dancing was associated with better balance and gait in older adults.

THE HILL TIMES | Ending TB among Canada’s Indigenous peoples: treat the fundamental causes, not just the disease

Last year, the federal government announced it would spend $27.5-million over five years on an ambitious plan to end tuberculosis (TB) across Inuit Nunangat, Inuit regions of Canada, by 2030. 

CTV MONTRÉAL | Meet 'Milo', a mind-controlled, McGill-created, automated wheelchair

Some students at McGill University are taking the idea of “mind over matter” to a whole new level: they’ve developed a wheelchair that moves using your imagination.

Thirty five McGill students came together on their own time and designed “Milo” in just 30 days.

NATIONAL POST | Consider climate impact on infrastructure suffering repeated flooding: experts

Kevin Manaugh, a geography professor and member of McGill University’s School of Urban Planning, said it’s not easy to protect transportation infrastructure in Quebec, where frigid winters, high precipitation and the freeze/thaw cycle form a “unique set of circumstances that makes it harder to plan for things that will last for decades and centuries.”

NATIONAL POST | AI researcher, Soviet historian among winners of $100K Killam Prize

This year’s group includes: Matt Dobbs of McGill University for a project called “Unveiling the Cosmos with a New Paradigm Digital Radio Telescope”; Dennis Hall of University of Alberta for “A Green Chemistry Blueprint for Direct Catalytic Functionalization of Feedstock Alcohols”; Catherine Sulem of University of Toronto for “Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations: Wave Propagation in Fluids, Optics, and Plasmas”; Marten van Kerkwijk of University of Toronto for “Probing Ex

MONTREAL GAZETTE | Future of cannabis coming to Vaudreuil-Dorion

C3 has also partnered with McGill University, making lab and office space available to McGill researchers, who are expected to begin using the space in the fall.

Anja Geitmann, dean of McGill’s Agricultural and Environmental Sciences department, said the university has similar partnerships with other industry partners, but noted that as a business incubator with a variety of cannabis companies clustered within a single site, C3 is unique.

MONTREAL GAZETTE | The Right Chemistry: Bilberries, blueberries and night vision

When it comes to evaluating dietary supplements, the challenge is to find some clarity when looking through the haze of conflicting studies, sloppy research, over-zealous advertising and loose government regulations. Extracts of blueberry and its European cousin the bilberry, are a case in point.

Column by Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill University’s Office for Science & Society 

THE INDEPENDENT | Urban beekeeping is not saving our precious pollinators – it’s killing them

Gail MacInnis, a PhD entomology candidate and research assistant at McGill University, says that while the biggest threats in both urban and rural areas is habitat loss, urban beekeeping is an increasing threat to urban bee diversity. “You have to remember that honey bees live in colonies of up to 80,000 individual bees,” she says. “All these bees are competing for the same resources.