THE GLOBE AND MAIL | How do our brains fall for disinformation?

Part of the reason people fall for false content lies in the way our brains take in information, says neurologist Lesley Fellows, a professor at McGill University who has studied how the brain makes political decisions. Our brains are constantly and heavily filtering the world around us through a framework of biases and stereotypes created through our experiences. It’s a general feature of the brain.

NATIONAL POST | Climate change threatens crops, water for billions around globe: study

Canadian research is part of an extensive global climate change study that has found billions of the world’s poorest people are at risk. “There’s a great potential for the problems to occur where people have the least ability to cope with it,” said Elena Bennett, who studies ecological systems at McGill University and is one of the paper’s 21 co-authors.

MONTREAL GAZETTE | Hundreds of Quebec parents flock to Fortnite lawsuit

Jeff Derevensky sees first-hand how kids get addicted to video games like Fortnite. He is head of McGill University’s International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviours. The psychologist treated many young people whose lives have been turned upside-down by their dependence on video games.“They do it excessively and they can have physical problems, like they don’t have enough sleep because they’re playing all night long.”

NATIONAL POST | Election has been mostly free of mis- and disinformation, research shows

Canada’s election has so far been “largely clean” but misinformation and disinformation may start emerging during the final week of the campaign, a researcher warns.

The Digital Democracy Project, an initiative from the Public Policy Forum and McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy, collaborated with New York University’s Center for Cybersecurity to look at ads on Facebook during the first several weeks of the election.

MONTREAL GAZETTE | McGill University's $200,000 Improv Workshop Project takes on life of its own, says Jean-Michel Pilc

When jazz pianist Jean-Michel Pilc joined McGill University’s Schulich School of Music in 2015, he found out that being a professor also meant applying for peer-reviewed grants.

GLOBAL NEWS | Electronic tool effective in reducing overmedication in seniors: study

Lead author Emily McDonald, a researcher and internal medicine physician at the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, said taking multiple medications can be dangerous to people 65 and up, who are vulnerable to side effects.

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.