news

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.

A study by UdeM professor Claude Perreault's team at IRIC proposes three potential functions for so-called parasite DNA sequences in T cell development. "Parasite" DNA sequences have three potential functions in the development of T (for thymus) lymphocytes, researchers led by Université de Montréal medical professor Claude Perreault show in a recent study.

Western researchers have discovered a protein with the never-before-seen ability to stop DNA damage in its tracks. The finding could provide the foundation for developing everything from vaccines against cancer to crops that can withstand the increasingly harsh growing conditions brought on by climate change.

Massive volcanic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions contributing to an extreme global ocean deoxygenation event over 120 million years ago has modern day implications for understanding a climate warming "tipping point," according to new research published in Nature this week, led by a scientist at Ocean Networks Canada, a University of Victoria initiative.

Northern elephant seals were repeatedly captured on camera in the deep Pacific Ocean using sonar from an Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) observatory as a dinner bell to forage for their next fish feast, according to a new study led by University of Victoria researchers. The research study published in the peer-reviewed PLOS ONE journal provides a unique, first-ever visual glimpse into the elusive mammal's deep-sea behaviours, with a focus on their sophisticated feeding strategies, prey preferences as well as resting habits.

University of Waterloo researchers have developed a new material that can absorb more than eight times its weight in oil, offering a new solution in preventing groundwater contamination from spills or accidents. "The current technology for oil capture is lagging," said Tizazu Mekonnen, a professor at Waterloo's Department of Chemical Engineering.

Scientists have uncovered how space travel profoundly alters the gut microbiome, yielding insights that could shape future space missions. The groundbreaking study, led by a McGill University researcher in collaboration with University College Dublin (UCD), NASA's GeneLab and an international consortium, offers the most detailed profile to date of how space travel affects gut microbes.

A finding by a McGill-led team of neuroscientists could open doors to new treatments for a range of psychiatric and neurological disorders attributed to dysfunctions in specific dopamine pathways. For those struggling with a psychiatric disorder such as schizophrenia, addiction or ADHD, or with neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's, there might be good news ahead.

This condition in children predicts anxiety about the transition from primary to secondary school, loss of motivation and difficulty adapting in the first year of secondary school, according to research from the Faculty of Education. A longitudinal study by Université Laval shows that evaluation anxiety during primary school exams is linked to a lack of academic motivation and worries about the transition to secondary school.

Mathieu Ferron's work sheds light on the cellular mechanisms of insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes, which affects more than 1.2 million Quebecers.

Waterloo researchers advance nanoscale imaging capabilities. Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) has revolutionized the field of nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), making it possible to study a wider range of materials, biomolecules and complex dynamic processes such as how proteins fold and change shape inside a cell.

A new study analyzing over 230 fisheries has found that their sustainability is likely overstated world-wide. Previous estimates of the number of fish in the ocean globally may have been too optimistic; two-thirds of fisheries in the study had over-estimated the number of fish available when making earlier management decisions.

A new study on songbirds sheds light on the power of social interaction to facilitate learning, insights that potentially apply to human development. McGill researchers discovered that zebra finches deprived of early social experiences could still form strong bonds with a partner later in life. Once placed into cohabitation with a male, females that had never heard a mating song before could quickly develop a preference for his melody.

The effects of the fruit's polyphenols are promising for people with fatty liver disease, according to a study A Laval University research team has demonstrated the beneficial effects of camu-camu on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which affects over seven million people in Canada. This exotic fruit helps reduce liver fat levels.

Some patients who receive heart valve implants develop dangerous blood clots, and researchers from the University of Waterloo contributed to an international collaboration that reduces the risk. Working with a team from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, the researchers from Waterloo's Faculty of Engineering proved that a heart valve implant with a textured surface is less likely to lead to the formation of blood clots - or thrombosis.

Multinational study introduces groundbreaking framework to assess livestock health and estimate emissions related to disease, says UCalgary co-author Karin Orsel In the midst of a global climate crisis, a groundbreaking initiative led by a team of multinational researchers, including an expert from the University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (UCVM), is set to revolutionize the way we tackle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock production.

An international research team has identified the specific origins of most of the Martian meteorites that are now on Earth. They've traced the meteorites to five craters where they were launched off Mars after impact. The craters are located within two volcanic regions on the red planet called Tharsis (the region containing Olympus Mons, the largest shield volcano in the solar system) and Elysium.

  A discovery by McGill-affiliated researchers could lead to more effective treatment of malaria and other parasitic diseases. When mice are infected in the middle of the night with the parasites causing cerebral malaria, the symptoms of the disease are less severe than for those inflected during the day, and the spread of the parasites within the hosts is more limited, research teams from McGill University, the Douglas Research Centre and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre have discovered.