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A Canadian task force made up of university-based researchers, including at Western, is tackling the growing number of online threats and harassments researchers face and has called on the federal government to initiate a nationwide, coordinated approach to addressing the issue. "The problem has always been there, but the tools have changed," said Howard Ramos, chair of the department of sociology, and co-author of a Royal Society of Canada briefing, " Protecting Expert Advice for the Public: Promoting Safety and Improved Communications.

By the end of September 2021, uptake of COVID-19 vaccines among adults with a recent experience of housing insecurity were 25 per cent lower than the adult population of Ontario for a first dose, and 34 per cent lower for a second dose, according to a new study. Published in The Lancet Public Health , the study is the first in Canada to examine vaccination rates among persons experiencing homelessness.

An innovative concussion blood test developed by researchers at Western University is set to begin a pivotal clinical trial with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration in the coming weeks. Leveraging biomarkers and artificial intelligence, the test could be a game-changer for concussion diagnosis and management.

Moderate physical activity in adults is associated with significant protective effects from severe COVID-19 outcomes, a new international study shows. The study, led by the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, along with researchers at Western University, found adults with high and moderate physical activity levels had significantly better outcomes than those with low activity levels when contracting COVID-19.

Western Libraries has reached licencing deals with academic publishers so that more research is in open-access journals. Photo by Bernd Klutsch of Unsplash When professor Johanna Weststar's most recent research paper was done, reviewed, revised and accepted into her preferred academic journal, just one more question remained: open access or closed? If closed (or subscription) access, publication fees would cost her $5,000.

Winters on the Canadian prairies can be brutally cold, but researchers at Western University and Natural Resources Canada have found that even a freezing polar vortex poses little problem for the invasive emerald ash borer. A study published in the journal, Current Research in Insect Science , showed that overwintering emerald ash borer were able to survive during the polar vortex that hit Winnipeg and other parts of Canada and midwestern United States in 2019.

This image conveys the idea that when some brain regions have a structural deficit (areas in red) leading to functional difficulties, other regions (in yellow) can show structural changes to compensate for the deficits. Such a process may explain the findings in this study. A new study from Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and collaborators from West China Hospital in Chengdu, is challenging long-held notions about brain deterioration in patients with psychotic disorders, and may help improve treatment protocols.

Urban warming results from cities creating and capturing heat. Now, new international research involving Western University is shedding light on how much of that is directly related to human activity. Researchers have known about -urban heat islands- since the late mid-19 th century, as urban areas can have a difference in temperature of more than a degree compared to their surroundings.

Western team discovered schools in marginalized areas in Ontario were more negatively affected by the pandemic than other areas COVID-19 infections in Ontario are disproportionately concentrated in areas with lower-income and racialized groups. A new study shows the devastating impact that inequity poses for schools, students and families in those communities.

In an experiment, Liana Zanette and her research team tested the impact of fear on the population growth rate over multiple generations in free-living wild song sparrows. Photo by Marek C. Allen Fear of predators - not just the number of prey that predators directly kill - can significantly reduce the number of individuals in prey populations, according to a new Western University study.

If long division or finding the lowest common denominator makes your kids' palms sweat, it may be a case math anxiety. And scientists are finding it's a condition many students around the world are experiencing. Psychologists at Western University studied data from more than one million students across the globe and found not only is math anxiety a real phenomenon but as a result, performance is also greatly affected.

Drone image following EF2 tornado in Chatsworth, ON on June 26, 2021. Photo by Connell Miller Western University's Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) investigated 400 severe weather events in 2021, verifying 100 tornadoes across the country in 2021. This high impact research surged the verified count of tornadoes in Canada by an impressive 170 per cent.

Conspiracy theories have mutated into conspiracism , a transformation marked by people rejecting proof and evidence in favour of frivolous speculation. That's what political scientists Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum suggest in their book A Lot of People are Saying . In short, conspiracism is conspiracy without the theory.

Commotio cordis, a rare sudden-death cardiac event, most commonly affects young children playing baseball (Pixabay) At an Arizona baseball diamond 10 years ago, a 13-year-old baseball player turned to bunt a ball that instead struck his chest. Taking two steps towards first base, he collapsed, and died from commotio cordis, the second leading cause of sudden cardiac death in young athletes.

PhD candidate Brent Wakefield led a breakthrough study that could be crucial in addressing obesity. (Photo by Max Martin/Western Communications) It sounds too good to be true: blocking a gene linked to obesity to trigger a major reduction in body fat. While it's not a reality for humans yet, it could be one step closer thanks to new discoveries from a team of anatomy and cell biology researchers in a lab led by Silvia Penuela at Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.

By now, many are aware that the pandemic has affected lower-income groups the most within countries, including in Canada. But what most do not know is that income inequality - the economic distance between higher and lower-income groups within individual countries - is also driving national COVID-19 infection and death rates.

Early studies in mice show this potential vaccine could produce stronger and longer lasting immunity to fight against variants. A Western University team's novel approach to developing a COVID-19 vaccine shows promise in inducing a robust immune response, early data shows. Several COVID-19 vaccines have been licensed and used for nearly one year now to protect people from the virus.

Reducing mercury pollution entering lakes lowers how much harmful mercury is found in freshwater fish destined for consumers' plates. This is according to a new paper . During the study, conducted over 15 years, scientists intentionally added a traceable form of mercury to an experimental lake and its watershed.

A first-of-its-kind study by Schulich Medicine & Dentistry researchers dispels a controversial gender dysphoria theory that activists and experts have called inaccurate and harmful to transgender people. Greta Bauer, PhD, and her team at Trans Youth CAN! found no evidence in a recent study to support the idea of rapid onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) - a proposed condition often used as an argument against providing gender-affirming medical care to young people.

An international team of scientists, including a Western University researcher, has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that facilitates more personalized treatments for depression and improves patient outcomes.