
Bieler School of Environment welcomes new director
The Bieler School of Environment (BSE) is thrilled to announce Professor Anthony Ricciardi as its new director, effective immediately. An expert in invasion ecology and aquatic ecosystems, Ricciardi has been a key figure at the school since 2001 and now steps up to lead.
“My vision for the School is to become the gateway of environmental research at McGill,” said Ricciardi.

Clouds have a surprising effect on surface warming, McGill climate researchers find
McGill University researchers have disco

Apex predators in prehistoric Colombian oceans would have snacked on killer whales today: McGill study
Predators at the top of a marine food chain 130 million years ago ruled with more power than any modern species, McGill research into a marine ecosystem from the Cretaceous period revealed.

Novel method to transform greenhouse gases into valuable chemicals ranked among year’s top breakthroughs
A groundbreaking discovery by McGill University researchers is among the top scientific advances of 2024, according to Québec Science magazine.
The scientists developed a novel method to transform two greenhouse gases—methane and carbon dioxide—into valuable chemicals using sunlight. This innovation could help reduce emissions and provide a more sustainable way to produce certain industrial products.

Researchers link mysterious cosmic signals to collapsed stars
An international team of scientists led by McGill University researchers has provided the clearest evidence yet that some fast radio bursts (FRBs) — enigmatic, millisecond-long flashes of radio waves from space — originate from neutron stars, the ultra-dense remnants of massive stars that have exploded in a supernova. This finding, based on an analysis of the radio signal of a single FRB, advances our understanding of one of the universe’s most perplexing phenomena.

King Charles III Coronation Medals awarded to 19 members of the McGill community
Nineteen members of the McGill community have been awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal. The medal is conferred on individuals who have made significant contributions to Canada or to a particular province, territory, region or community, or have made an outstanding achievement abroad that brings credit to Canada.

TSI Outreach Program Administrator, Carolina Cruz-Vinaccia, wins President’s Award
Congratulations to Carolina Cruz-Vinaccia, the Outreach Program Administrator at the Trottier Space Institute and Physics Department for being awarded the President's Award for Administrative and Support Staff! Winners of this award are honoured for the quality of their work, service to the community, innovation and initiative.

Bellairs Research Institute going strong at 70
To mark its 70th anniversary, McGill’s Bellairs Research Institute in Barbados hosted events Dec. 5-6 that brought together researchers, students, elected officials and community partners to celebrate its history and build momentum for the future.

Bellairs brings science programming to Barbadian students
Last week, hundreds of students in Barbados saw science come to life in a whole new way.
As part of the celebrations marking its 70th anniversary, McGill’s Bellairs Research Institute opened its doors to the community Dec. 5. Three hundred students from five local schools were treated to free science kits, lunch and a day of hands-on activities.

A STEAM day to celebrate 70 years of McGill's Bellairs Research Institute in Barbados
To celebrate the 70th anniversary of McGill’s acclaimed Bellairs Research Institute in Barbados and to promote STEAM education to local students, McGill partnered with the Center of Science and Industry (COSI), and the U.S. State Department for a full day of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) activities and presentations.

Next stop, Oxford
For Vincent Wong, life truly is a journey.
As a Loran Scholar, the Vancouverite moved across the country in 2021 to pursue his B.Sc. Honours in Neuroscience at McGill. He was drawn by The Neuro (The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital), Canada’s largest neuroscience research centre.

West Island high schoolers participate in summer research at McGill’s Gault Nature Reserve
This summer, Gault Nature Reserve hosted four high schoolers from the West Island Black Community Association for this year’s Youth Biodiversity Internships Program. Led by Professor Bruno Tremblay, this collaboration brought together a diverse range of community members from McGill and beyond to connect on their passion for science.

Mapping the Benefits and Trade-offs from Natural Climate Solutions
A new study published today in Nature Sustainability uses advanced machine learning methods and large language models to assess the benefits and trade-offs of natural climate solutions (NCS).
Led by The Nature Conservancy and co-led by Brian Robinson, Associate Professor of Geography at McGill University, the researchers analyzed over 250,000 peer-reviewed publications to produce a global evidence map of NCS co-impacts.

Unleashing Creativity at the McGill Physics Hackathon
On November 15th – 17th, the Trottier Space Institute and the Department of Physics hosted its 9th Annual McGill Physics Hackathon. This friendly coding competition brought together 163 people, from grade 10 high school students to graduate students. Participants had a total of 24 hours over the span of 3 days to create computing and physical science projects in teams.

West Island high schoolers participate in summer research at McGill’s Gault Nature Reserve
by Christine Pallon, Communications Officer, Faculty of ScienceEvery year, McGill’s Gault Nature Reserve in Mont-Saint-Hilaire welcomes a host of student researchers. This past summer, there was a new addition to the usual group of young scientists at the Reserve: four high schoolers from Montréal’s West Island.