Twelve feet wide, five feet tall, and nine feet deep. The Nimrod computer cast a looming presence at the Festival of Britain in 1951. Nimrod was the first computer designed specifically for playing video games—in this case, the mathematical strategy game Nim. In Nim’s traditional set-up, two players take turns[Read More…]
Science & Technology
The latest in science and technology.
The power of potatoes
Potatoes, known for their carbohydrate content and delicious role in poutine, have a reputation for being unhealthy with dieters usually avoiding them at all costs. But a team of researchers from McGill University has shown that potatoes may in fact help those trying to slim down. The team fed a[Read More…]
This month in student research: Jacob Kantorowitz
As a third-year pharmacology major, Jacob Kantorowitz has spent the past year in the Whiteway lab studying an interesting fungus that is genetically similar to yeast-Candida albicans. Kantorowitz has been researching C. albican fungal infections, which are the cause of thousands of deaths of immunocompromised individuals in Canada every year.[Read More…]
Vegas’ consumer electronics show
Thousands of journalists, tech enthusiasts, and PR managers gathered in the Las Vegas strip for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) from Jan. 6 to 9, the world’s largest technology trade show. CES is known for showcasing the upcoming year’s biggest and brightest technology, and this year was no exception. Here[Read More…]
From the brainSTEM: Net Neutrality
For the past few years, Network neutrality has been one of the more under-the-radar issues in the American national debate.
This month in student research: Kieran Steer
Kieran Steer’s lab supervisor, Dr. Gulzhakan Sadvakassova, had left him in the lab with a row of cell cultures.
Mission accomplished: Philae touches down
At 16:03 GMT on Nov. 12, 2014, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta mission’s Philae lander touched down on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Its arrival marked the end of a decade-long journey that spanned 6.4 billion kilometres, and the first successful landing of a spacecraft on a comet. The Rosetta mission, named[Read More…]
BUGS hosts Research Awareness Day
On Saturday, Nov. 15, the gap between student and professor narrowed. A variety of biochemical experts gathered on the sixth floor of McIntyre Medical Building to explain their research. Areas of interest were widespread, and included topics such as tumour genetics, eye development, and macromolecular machinery. The students were first[Read More…]
Tracking back problems with Backtrack
In the worldwide race to find the next must-use mobile app, “there’s an app for that” is one of the most common refrains heard today. Backtrack is the scientific foray into the mobile app world for McGill graduates Alex Danco and Alex Daskalov. The app, which is in its developing[Read More…]
Research Briefs—Nov. 18, 2014
Long-term marijuana use on the brain A study published in The Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences last week has found that chronic—defined as three times per day over 10 years—marijuana users have a lower IQ score and smaller gray matter volume in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) region of[Read More…]
