news 2024

Visiting USask research team and Biogeoscience Institute educators deepen our understanding of water movement and flooding impacts in Sibbald Valley The beaver is a well-known symbol associated with Canada.

UdeM scientists have developed a method to create retinal transplants from stem cells, and with them, blind mini-pigs have showed signs of restored vision, a promising development for humans, as well. Scientists at Université de Montréal have successfully transplanted retinas made from stem cells into blind mini-pigs - and, it seems, made them see again, according to a new study.

A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Waterloo analyzed data from nearly 500,000 Canadian patients who lived in nursing homes across Canada between 2000 and 2022. It found that residents who were given antipsychotic medications showed a significant worsening of their behaviours. In fact, nearly 68 per cent of residents who used antipsychotics had more problems with their behaviour during follow-up checks.

A new study provides insights into the brain processes involved in nonverbal communication of pain, specifically facial expressions. Stubbing your toe on a table leg or fracturing your wrist will probably make you wince in pain (and possibly curse). It's a natural reaction; facial expressions play an important role in communicating the unpleasant sensory and emotional experience of pain.

By decoding the DNA of the beaked hazelnut ( Corylus cornuta ), a native plant that thrives in British Columbia, a team of multidisciplinary scientists is providing new insight into how ancestral Indigenous peoples stewarded plants across the province. Led by Chelsey Geralda Armstrong, an assistant professor in Simon Fraser University's (SFU) Department of Indigenous Studies, the innovative study was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), a major scientific journal.

Offering healthy snacks as part of a consumer bundle is a win-win situation for both convenience store owners and their customers, study shows Convenience stores can help customers improve their eating habits while at the same time boosting both their own sales and profits. It's as simple as offering customers the choice between healthy snacks and pastries as a low-cost add-on to their cup of coffee, according to a new study out of McGill.

Scientists discover a natural flu defense mechanism that activates in the nasal cavity during pregnancy McGill scientists have discovered that pregnancy may trigger a natural immunity to boost protection against severe flu infection. Contrary to the common belief that pregnancy increases vulnerability to infections, researchers found that it strengthened an immune defense in mice, blocking the Influenza A virus from spreading to the lungs, where it can cause severe infection.

Doctoral candidate Sabrine Marangoni from UdeM's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine has compiled 24 videos documenting signs of pain in cats. Cats are masters at masking their pain, a natural instinct to avoid attracting predators. However, this poses a challenge for the veterinarians and care teams who must assess and manage pain in cats.

Scientists have uncovered a new link between the immune system and the development of Parkinson's disease. Researchers at The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital) at McGill University have discovered that an immune response plays a key role in how toxic protein clumps, known as Lewy bodies, form in brain cells and contribute to disease.

An affordable and effective nutritional approach to help reduce inflammation and prevent Type 2 diabetes. The team led by May Faraj, Professor of Nutrition at Université de Montréal and Director of the Nutrition, Lipoproteins and Cardiometabolic Diseases Research Unit at the Montréal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM), sheds new light on the role of marine-source omega-3 supplementation in treating adipose tissue inflammation and reducing the risk for cardiometabolic diseases like Type 2 diabetes.

A new study shows that artificial ponds created to restore peatlands exploited by humans achieve a balance similar to that of natural ponds, but it takes time. Ponds created to restore bogs degraded by peat extraction take over 17 years to develop ecosystems similar to natural ponds. That is the finding of a study by master's students Émilie Jolin and Mahmud Hassan and doctoral candidate Julien Arsenault, supervised by Julie Talbot of the Department of Geography at Université de Montréal and Line Rochefort at Université Laval.

The next time you need to take a prescription drug, taking it might be as easy as putting on a contact lens, thanks to a new discovery made by University of Waterloo researchers. The team of researchers - which spans Waterloo's Department of Chemistry and its School of Optometry and Vision Science - created a new type of hydrogel that can deliver drugs to patients with various eye issues when 3D printed onto a contact lens.

People's preference for simple explanations of any situation is connected to their desire to execute tasks efficiently, finds a new study from the University of Waterloo. "These findings show that our preference for simpler explanations mirrors how we evaluate actions. Simplicity isn't just valued in explanations-it's part of how we think about achieving results efficiently," said Claudia Sehl, lead author and a PhD candidate in developmental psychology at Waterloo.

Remarkable encounter during 2022 Niagara fireball event leads to discovery of tiniest asteroid known In an international study led by Western University and Lowell Observatory , scientists describe a pioneering, integrative approach for studying near-Earth asteroids based largely on a November 2022 fireball event that dropped meteorites in the Niagara region.

Electric Vehicles will now be able to go from zero battery power to an 80 per cent charge thanks to Researchers at the University of Waterloo who made a breakthrough in lithium-ion battery design to enable this extremely fast charging. 15 minutes is much faster than the current industry standard of nearly an hour, even at fast-charging stations.

An international team of scientists led by UdeM wife-and-husband team Zdenka Pausova and Tomas Paus links the presence of white spots on MRI brain scans of older adults to a genetic risk of dementia. They show up as bright white spots when you get a brain MRI: lesions called white matter hyperintensities, or WMH.

A new study shows that photoreceptor cells in the retina exhibit planar polarity, i.e. their light-sensitive cilia orient themselves in a coordinated manner.

Young adults at risk of psychosis show reduced brain connectivity, a deficit that cannabis use appears to worsen, a new study has found. The breakthrough paves the way for psychosis treatments targeting symptoms that current medications miss. In the first-of-its-kind study, McGill researchers detected a marked decrease in synaptic density-the connections between neurons that enable brain communication-in individuals at risk of psychosis, compared to a healthy control group.

A multi-disciplinary team of University of Calgary researchers is aiming to use genetic variants to discover new cardiovascular diseases and disease mechanisms. Libin Cardiovascular Institute members Dr. Wayne Chen, PhD, and Dr. Robert Rose, PhD, are leading a novel study investigating the genetics behind rare cardiovascular conditions.

A team of researchers from McGill and Université de Montréal's Observatoire pour l'éducation et la santé des enfants (OPES, or observatory on children's health and eduation), led by Sylvana Côté, spending two hours a week of class time in a natural environment can reduce emotional distress among 10- to 12-year-olds who had the most significant mental health problems before the program began.