news

Environment - Campus - 20.04.2021

Can extreme melt destabilize ice sheets?
Researchers have deciphered a trove of data that shows one season of extreme melt can reduce the Greenland Ice Sheet's capacity to store future meltwater - and increase the likelihood of future melt raising sea levels. Nearly a decade ago, global news outlets reported vast ice melt in the Arctic as sapphire lakes glimmered across the previously frozen Greenland Ice Sheet, one of the most important contributors to sea-level rise.

Health - Campus - 19.04.2021

Cells migrate in a unique way on soft surfaces
Stanford engineers find that cancer cells exhibit a unique mode of migration on squishy materials, which are similar to biological tissues. In contrast, cell movement - a process central to cancer metastasis and other biological processes - is typically studied on very rigid materials. Inside your body, cell movement plays a crucial role in many significant biological processes, including wound healing, immune responses and the potential spread of cancer.

Campus - Astronomy / Space Science - 15.04.2021

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.

Campus - Health - 07.04.2021

Surgical sutures inspired by human tendons
Sutures are used to close wounds and speed up the natural healing process, but they can also complicate matters by causing damage to soft tissues with their stiff fibers. To remedy the problem, researchers from Montreal have developed innovative tough gel sheathed (TGS) sutures inspired by the human tendon.

Health - Campus - 07.04.2021

Good oral health reduces risk of fatal outcomes from COVID-19
Gum disease linked to increased rates of complications, hospitalization, and death among patients with severe cases of COVID-19 Infected and inflamed gums may result in higher rates of complications and more fatal outcomes for individuals diagnosed with the SARS-COV-2 virus, according to a new international study led by McGill researchers recently published in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology .

Physics - Campus - 07.04.2021

First results from Muon g-2 experiment strengthen evidence of new physics
The first results from the Muon g-2 experiment at the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have revealed that fundamental particles called muons behave in a way that is not predicted by scientists' best theory to date, the Standard Model of particle physics.

Campus - Psychology - 02.04.2021

Hand signals improve video meeting success
Using a simple set of hand signals can improve the experience of online meetings, make groups feel closer to each other and that they are learning and communicating better, finds a new study by UCL researchers. The research team trained students to use a set of signals in seminars, such as waving to take a turn to speak, and raising a hand to show empathy, and found evidence that they improved the experience of video meetings during lockdown.

Environment - Campus - 31.03.2021

Thicker-leaved tropical plants may flourish under climate change, which could be good news for climate
How plants will fare as carbon dioxide levels continue to rise is a tricky problem and, researchers say, especially vexing in the tropics. Some aspects of plants' survival may get easier, some parts will get harder, and there will be species winners and losers. The resulting shifts in vegetation will help determine the future direction of climate change.

Psychology - Campus - 30.03.2021

Cardiorespiratory fitness improves grades at school
By confirming the link between children's cardiorespiratory fitness and their school results, researchers at the UNIGE underline the importance of physical education classes at school. Recent studies indicate a link between children's cardiorespiratory fitness and their school performance: the more athletic they are, the better their marks in the main subjects - French and mathematics.

Campus - Social Sciences - 29.03.2021

When parole, probation officers choose empathy, returns to jail decline
The new study suggests that empathy training for parole and probation officers helps deter their clients from reoffending. (iStockphoto) Heavy caseloads, job stress and biases can strain relations between parole and probation officers and their clients, upping offenders' likelihood of landing back behind bars.

Campus - 29.03.2021

Remote-friendly student project presentations enable creativity and risk-taking
In a two-year study that could help guide educators developing the post-pandemic new normal, student groups at the University of Michigan assigned to make video presentations showed more creativity and risk-taking than groups making conventional in-person presentations. "Given the importance of project-based learning, our study provides a way to turn virtual limitations into an advantage,” said Fei Wen, U-M associate professor of chemical engineering.

Campus - Social Sciences - 24.03.2021

Bilingual babies prefer baby talk - in any language
Babies prefer baby talk in any language, but particularly when it's in a language they're hearing at home, according to a new study including close to 700 babies on four continents. The research, which was published today in the journal Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science and included researchers from McGill University, showed that all babies respond more to infant-directed speech - baby talk -than they do to adult-directed speech.

Campus - Health - 11.03.2021

Air pollution: The silent killer called PM2.5
Millions of people die prematurely every year from diseases and cancer caused by air pollution. The first line of defence against this carnage is ambient air quality standards. Yet, according to researchers from McGill University, over half of the world's population lives without the protection of adequate air quality standards.

Campus - 04.03.2021

A mass exodus from California? Not exactly, says new Berkeley study
New research released today by the UC Berkeley California Policy Lab finds that, contrary to some news media reports suggesting a mass exodus from California, most moves in 2020 happened within the state.

Environment - Campus - 04.03.2021

Will climate change outpace species adaptation?
Many species might be left vulnerable in the face of climate change, unable to adapt their physiologies to respond to rapid global warming. According to a team of international researchers, species evolve heat tolerance more slowly than cold tolerance, and the level of heat they can adapt to has limits.

Environment - Campus - 22.02.2021

There is no one-size-fits-all road to sustainability on "Patchwork Earth"
In a world as diverse as our own, the journey towards a sustainable future will look different depending on where in the world we live, according to a recent paper published in One Earth and led by McGill University, with researchers from the Stockholm Resilience Centre.

Physics - Campus - 19.02.2021

IBM's Quantum computer links two quantum revolutions
Using the IBM Q computer, physicists at EPFL have verified for the first time the tight relationship between quantum entanglement and wave-particle duality, showing that the former controls the latter in a quantum system. "It is possible to do experiments in fundamental physics on the remotely accessible IBM Q quantum computer ," says Marc-André Dupertuis, a physicist at EPFL's School of Basic Sciences.

Health - Campus - 17.02.2021

Viruses can ’hijack’ cellular process to block immune response
Research led by McGill University and Queen's University Belfast has found that viruses can 'hijack' an existing molecular process in the cell in order to block the body's antiviral immune response to a viral infection. The results of the study have been published in the journal Molecular Cell . As the current COVID-19 pandemic has proven, viral infection is a significant threat to the health of humans as well as livestock, pets, and plants.

Health - Campus - 15.02.2021

Kennedy Institute adds data scientist for COVID-19 research
Anton Zhang '16 will manage projects using data from MD Anderson's D3CODE With so many questions still surrounding COVID-19, there is one certainty: Pandemic-related research is here to stay. "The research on it will last, and it's going to create a lot of impact,” said the Ken Kennedy Institute 's Anton Zhang '16.

Astronomy / Space Science - Campus - 10.02.2021

Astronomers uncover mysterious origins of ’super-Earths’
Mini-Neptunes and super-Earths up to four times the size of our own are the most common exoplanets orbiting stars beyond our solar system. Until now, super-Earths were thought to be the rocky cores of mini-Neptunes whose gassy atmospheres were blown away. In a new study published in The Astrophysical Journal , astronomers from McGill University show that some of these exoplanets never had gaseous atmospheres to begin with, shedding new light on their mysterious origins.