McGill-led team maps ‘weather’ on a nearby brown dwarf in unprecedented detail

Researchers at McGill University and collaborating institutions have mapped the atmospheric features of a planetary-mass brown dwarf, a type of space object that is neither a star nor a planet, existing in a category in-between. This particular brown dwarf’s mass, however, is just at the threshold between being a Jupiter-like planet and a brown dwarf. It has thus also been called a free-floating, or rogue, planet, not bound to a star.

Climate change could result in contaminant spread in the High Arctic, McGill study finds

Warming temperatures and increased precipitation in the Canadian High Arctic are mobilizing new pathways for subsurface contaminants to spread from more than 2,500 contaminated sites associated with industrial and military sites across the region.

McGill’s handwritten copies of In Flanders Fields honoured as documentary heritage of outstanding value

Four handwritten copies of John McCrae's immortal poem In Flanders Fields, held at McGill University’s Osler Library of the History of Medicine, were inscribed this month on the Canadian Commission for UNESCO’s (CCUNESCO) Canada Memory of the World Register. The program, launched by UNESCO in 1992, recognizes documentary heritage of outstanding universal value and promotes its preservation and accessibility.

Ancient mammoth tooth offers clues about Ice Age life in northeastern Canada

A worn-down mammoth tooth discovered nearly 150 years ago on an island in Nunavut offers new insights into where and how the Ice Age giants lived and died.

Nerve injuries can affect the entire immune system, study finds

Nerve injuries can have long-lasting effects on the immune system that appear to differ between males and females, according to preclinical research from McGill University.

McGill study reveals knowledge gap about psychedelic therapies in adolescents

There is a growing interest within the medical community in the use of psychedelic therapies to treat conditions ranging from depression and PTSD to anxiety and eating disorders.

McGill researchers identify bacteria that could provide an early warning of blue-green algae toxicity

Researchers at McGill University have identified bacteria that can indicate whether a blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) bloom is likely to be toxic, offering a potential water-safety early warning system. Blooms are becoming more frequent due to climate change, according to previous McGill research.

Study links early cannabis use and health problems

Adolescents who start using cannabis early and often are more likely to need health care for both mental and physical problems as they enter adulthood, according to a new study led by McGill University researchers.

Montreal homelessness services for 2SLGBTQ+ adults are inadequate, researchers find

Homelessness services in Montreal are not well suited to the needs of 2SLGBTQ+ adults in Montreal, a study by McGill researchers has found.

“Homelessness services are very binary, and often those who are non-binary are completely excluded,” said Jayne Malenfant, Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education.

Bilingual teenagers in Montreal exhibit writing skills on par with their French unilingual peers’, new research shows

McGill researchers who examined the writing skills of teenagers in Montreal found that the performance in French of English-French bilinguals was similar to that of near-monolingual francophones. Bilinguals were defined as teens raised in anglophone or bilingual (English-French) households and who had had significant exposure to French through attending French-language school.

McGill team pinpoints where a type of cell death begins

A team at McGill University studying ferroptosis, a form of cell death, have discovered that the process begins deep inside the cell, a finding that could lead to new treatments for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

Smoking both cannabis and tobacco may alter brain’s ‘bliss molecule,’ study finds

People who use both cannabis and tobacco show distinct brain changes compared to those who use cannabis alone, according to a new study led by McGill University researchers at the Douglas Research Centre.

McGill research flags Montreal snow dump, inactive landfills as major methane polluters

Montreal’s methane emissions are unevenly distributed across the island, with the highest concentrations in the city’s east end, McGill researchers have found. The worst polluters include the city’s largest snow dump, which emits methane at levels comparable to the city's current and former landfills, and natural gas leaks.  

Researchers at The Neuro show a brain exercise yields benefits

A McGill University-led clinical trial is the first in humans to show online brain training exercises can improve brain networks affecting learning and memory.

The study found 10 weeks’ use of the game-like app BrainHQ by older adults enhanced cholinergic function, a chemical system in the brain that typically declines with age and influences attention, memory and decision-making.

New injectable gel shows promise as voice loss treatment

McGill University researchers have engineered a new hydrogel that shows early promise as a treatment for people with vocal cord injuries.

Voice loss is often permanent when scarring forms on the vocal cords. Current injectable treatments break down quickly, which can force patients to get repeated procedures that can further damage the delicate tissue.