news 2024

The skeletal remains of a senior officer of Sir John Franklin's 1845 Northwest Passage expedition have been identified by researchers from the University of Waterloo and Lakehead University using DNA and genealogical analyses. In April of 1848 James Fitzjames of HMS Erebus helped lead 105 survivors from their ice-trapped ships in an attempt to escape the Arctic.

Quantum information is fragile and often difficult to protect during experiments. Protecting qubits from accidental measurements is essential for controlled quantum operations, especially during state-destroying measurements or resets on adjacent qubits in protocols like quantum error correction. Current methods to preserve atomic qubits against disturbances can waste coherence time, extra qubits, and introduce errors.

A novel drug molecule could potentially lead to new treatments to prevent Parkinson's disease in younger patients, according to new research. "We are excited about this drug compound because we might have the possibility to develop the first cure for Parkinson's disease, at least for a subset of patients," said lead author  Kalle Gehring , a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at McGill University and Canada Research Chair in Structural Studies of Neurodegenerative Diseases.

UdeM astronomers find a way to measure temperature changes in a star with greater-than-ever precision, a breakthrough that promises to be particularly useful for detecting and studying exoplanets. Étienne Artigau, the UdeM astrophysicist who led the development of an innovative technique that provides precise information on a star's temperature variations.

Nestled in the Uinta Mountains of northern Utah, a series of pristine lakes are facing a new threat - humans. Geography professor and chair Katrina Moser led a team of researchers in the region this summer to better understand how human activity, like agriculture and warming temperatures because of climate change, is leading to dramatic changes in a water system far from populous areas.

A new Canadian study highlights the neurochemical consequences of head impacts that don't lead to a concussion but can still damage the brain. In a football game, an athlete takes a bad hit to the head. He doesn't feel dazed or confused: he seems to have escaped a concussion. However, despite the lack of concussive symptoms, the impact has disrupted the chemical balance in his brain, and this imbalance has consequences.

UdeM literature professor Marcello Vitali-Rosati looks at how, for better or worse, computerized large language models are changing how we write - and what we think about it. Computerized large language models (LLMs) are making inroads into the realm of literature. Their ability to generate coherent texts and mimic all manner of writing styles has sparked lively debate among writers, literary theorists and researchers.

McGill researchers have harnessed the power of sunlight to transform two of the most harmful greenhouse gases into valuable chemicals. The discovery could help combat climate change and provide a more sustainable way to produce certain industrial products. "Imagine a world where the exhaust from your car or emissions from a factory could be transformed, with the help of sunlight, into clean fuel for vehicles, the building blocks for everyday plastics, and energy stored in batteries," said co-first author Hui Su, a Postdoctoral Fellow in McGill's Department of Chemistry.

A Western study could help farmers get out of a potential jam by using artificial intelligence (AI) and passive camera monitoring to enhance strawberry cultivation. In a paper published in the international journal Foods , Western engineers describe a new machine-learning approach that yields the highest-ever precision and accuracy rates for ripeness and disease detection in strawberries of any previous attempts.

Landmark new research shows Ice Age teens from 25,000 years ago went through similar puberty stages as modern-day adolescents. In a study published today in the Journal of Human Evolution of the timing of puberty in Pleistocene teens, researchers are addressing a knowledge gap about how early humans grew up.

Discovery highlights importance of including both male and female subjects in neuroscience research and considering sex in determining treatment approaches A new study has uncovered significant differences in how male and female mice process threats, even as they exhibit similar behavioural responses.

The University of Waterloo has long been renowned for entrepreneurship and innovation and for providing co-operative education (co-op) and work-integrated learning at scale with impact. Dr. Margaret Dalziel and Nada Basir, both professors at the Conrad School of Business and Entrepreneurship, conducted a study into the mechanisms behind this success, revealing that co-op plays a pivotal role in shaping the ventures of student entrepreneurs.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have designed an energy-efficient device that produces drinking water from seawater using an evaporation process driven largely by the sun. Desalination is critical for many coastal and island nations to provide access to fresh water, given water scarcity concerns due to rapid population growth and increasing global water consumption.

Teens who have disposable income, live in a lower-income home or are gender diverse are more likely to use e-cigarettes, according to a new study at the University of Waterloo. Researchers examined survey responses from more than 46,000 adolescents in 167 schools across Canada as part of the COMPASS research system at Waterloo's School of Public Health Sciences.

New model combines artificial intelligence with statistical techniques to help decision-makers prepare for and react to seismic events Researchers from McGill University have developed a more efficient way to assess how likely a bridge is to be damaged in an earthquake. The information could help authorities prioritize infrastructure for upgrading and improve emergency response plans.

McGill University study suggests investing in herbaria and uploading records is an effective way to generate the biodiversity data needed to inform policy and action Digitally cataloguing the more than 300 million plant specimens preserved in museums worldwide could yield crucial insights into how to preserve biodiversity amid climate change, a study by McGill researchers has found.

Participating in a series of cognitive training sessions has helped Quebec seniors cope with memory loss - even five years later, an UdeM study finds. Can training your brain to remember things help you ward off the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease? A new Canadian study suggests that yes, it can - even five years after you got the training.

The global outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 and resulting job losses led to a surge in suicidal ideation among Canadians, especially young people, a new UdeM-led study finds. Nearly three times as many Canadians - close to 8 per cent - thought of killing themselves in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic than did in previous years, a new study led by Université de Montréal researchers suggests.

In a global first, University of Waterloo researchers have used 3D imaging technology to understand the fine details of microplastics, paving the way for more effective methods of plastic waste recycling. Micro and nanoplastics, tiny particles of plastic that come from the breakdown of larger plastic items, have become an exponentially worsening environmental crisis.

While there is no denying 'survival of the fittest' still reigns supreme in the animal kingdom, a new study shows being smartest - or at least smarter - is pretty important, too. Western animal behaviour and cognition researcher Carrie Branch and her collaborators at University of Oklahoma and University of Nevada, Reno tracked the spatial cognition and lifespan of 227 mountain chickadees for more than a decade.