Which animals will survive climate change?
Climate change is exacerbating problems like habitat loss and temperatures swings that have already pushed many animal species to the brink. But can scientists predict which animals will be able to adapt and survive? Using genome sequencing, researchers from McGill University show that some fish, like the threespine stickleback, can adapt very rapidly to extreme seasonal changes.
McGill-Concordia-uOttawa research team finds correlation between COVID-19-based discrimination and poor mental health
Visible minorities, health-care workers and young people in Quebec have been at higher risk of experiencing COVID-19-related discrimination and more likely to suffer from poor mental health in the past year, according to a collective of researchers from McGill University, Concordia University and the University of Ottawa.
Rules of the road: the navigational ‘strategies’ of bacteria in motion
Bacteria that move around live on the edge. All the time. Their success, be it in finding nutrients, fending off predators or multiplying depends on how efficiently they navigate through their confining microscopic habitats. Whether these habitats are in animal or plant tissues, in waste, or in other materials.
Study shows how our brains sync hearing with vision
To make sense of complex environments, brain waves constantly adapt, compensating for drastically different sound and vision processing speeds
Every high-school physics student learns that sound and light travel at very different speeds. If the brain did not account for this difference, it would be much harder for us to tell where sounds came from, and how they are related to what we see.
PCB contamination in Icelandic orcas: a matter of diet
Image caption: These killer whales may appear healthy, but a new study has found extremely high levels of PCB contamination in some of the whales. There was a 300-fold difference between the levels of PCBs among the most contaminated orcas compared to the least contaminated ones. The variation was mainly due to their eating habits. CREDIT: Filipa Samarra - Icelandic Orca Project
Sea level rise: rapid and unstoppable unless Paris Agreement targets met
Image Caption: The Mackenzie River Delta on the Beaufort Sea, a low-lying region in the Canadian Arctic that is vulnerable to rising seas in a warming climate. CREDIT: Nadia and Harold Gomez
A sweet solution to hard brain implants
Study uses sugar to make and deliver pudding-like brain implants that reduce foreign body response
Brain implants are used to treat neurological dysfunction, and their use for enhancing cognitive abilities is a promising field of research. Implants can be used to monitor brain activity or stimulate parts of the brain using electrical pulses. In epilepsy, for example, brain implants can determine where in the brain seizures are happening.
Dr. Joanne Liu joins McGill University
Dr. Joanne Liu, a Canadian pediatric emergency room physician and former International President of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is joining McGill University’s School of Population and Global Health (SPGH) as a professor focusing on pandemic and health emergencies.
Reduction in wetland areas will affect Afrotropical migratory waterbirds
Migratory waterbirds are particularly exposed to the effects of climate change at their breeding areas in the High Arctic and in Africa, according to a new study published in Bird Conservation International.
Genome Canada and McGill to track COVID-19 variants of concern
Genome Canada launched the Canadian VirusSeq Data Portal today to track the evolving COVID-19 pandemic across Canada. McGill University researcher Guillaume Bourque, a professor in the Department of Human Genetics, along with his research team, led the development of the portal.
Using online ads to spot human trafficking
Researchers at McGill University and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) have designed an algorithm that detects organized human trafficking activity in online escort advertisements. Advertising is one the most common use of technology for human trafficking purposes.
Feeling confinement in the gut
Crew members who took part in the Mars500 experiment showed significant changes in their gut microbiota from their 520 days in confinement, according to a new study by scientists at McGill University and the Université de Montreal (UdeM).
New algorithm reveals birdsong features that may be key for courtship
Researchers from McGill University and the University of California, San Francisco have developed a new algorithm capable of identifying features of male zebra finch songs that may underlie the distinction between a short phrase sung during courtship, and the same phrase sung in a non-courtship context.
Under 30 and sexually active? It’s a good idea to get tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea
Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care recommends routine screening
Source: CMAJ
Anyone sexually active under age 30 should be offered testing for chlamydia and gonorrhea, according to a new guideline from the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
Fast radio bursts shown to include lower frequency radio waves than previously detected
Since fast radio bursts (FRBs) were first discovered over a decade ago, scientists have puzzled over what could be generating these intense flashes of radio waves from outside of our galaxy. In a gradual process of elimination, the field of possible explanations has narrowed as new pieces of information are gathered about FRBs – how long they last, the frequencies of the radio waves detected, and so on.
