After the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing ended with a grandiose closing ceremony on Feb. 20, it is time for a review—not so much of the sports, but rather of the ecological impact of the quadrennial event. Some may wonder as they read this: Didn’t the International Olympic Committee (IOC)[Read More…]
Science & Technology
The latest in science and technology.
How to care for caregivers: A new online dementia education program
Many caregivers for those living with dementia are family members and friends who sacrifice their time—and even compromise their own health—to care for their loved ones. However, family and friends often lack training and support, which can put them at risk of suffering from stress and burnout. A new program[Read More…]
Giving back and moving forward in the medical sphere
Racial biases have major impacts on the medical field, from inaccurate diagnostics to nonconsensual procedures—but always to the detriment of marginalized communities. Many medical professionals at McGill and in Montreal are working to change this, however: The Social Accountability and Community Engagement Office of McGill’s Faculty of Medicine and Health[Read More…]
Student Research: Emma Dawson-Glass on pollination and plant ranges
When Emma Dawson-Glass, BSc ‘20, was completing her Honours degree in environmental science, she confronted the age-old question: What would be the subject of her undergraduate thesis? An unexpected encounter with professor Anna Hargreaves of McGill’s Department of Biology turned out to be the answer Dawson-Glass was looking for. At[Read More…]
From tusked to tuskless in one generation
During the Mozambican civil war, which spanned 15 years from 1977 to 1992, armed forces poached African elephants to sell their tusks and continue to fund their respective war machines. This caused a drastic reduction in the elephant population by the time the conflict began to subside. As much as[Read More…]
Top five podcasts to grab science on the go
For university students, podcasts can provide a much-needed respite from the monotony of studying and attending online classes. Their portable format makes them a great tool to learn science on the go while commuting, running errands, or doing chores. The McGill Tribune has compiled some of our favourite science podcasts[Read More…]
Behind the first pig-to-human heart transplant
Human heart transplants have revolutionized treatments for terminally ill cardiac patients for the last 117 years, but a lack of donors has meant that every year, thousands are left with no other option than to wait on a seemingly endless waitlist. To combat this shortage, researchers are looking into other[Read More…]
Fishing for diversity: Understanding the lake trout’s genome
Faced with the sharp shifts of climate change and continuous human expansion, animals must adapt to survive—an ability that depends largely on a species’ genetic diversity. Professor Ioannis Ragoussis, head of genome sciences at the McGill Genome Centre, is studying this diversity by sequencing the genome of species native to[Read More…]
Projecting global temperatures more accurately
Estimating global climate change with any degree of accuracy is no easy feat. Although climate models all agree that global temperatures are increasing, the rate and extent to which predictions differ leaves us with uncertainty. For example, it is unclear when the Earth will surpass key temperature thresholds, such as[Read More…]
Getting to the roots of hair loss
Hair loss and hair shedding are very common in times of stress and can affect anyone—even those who have no family history of either condition. Apart from genetics, other factors, such as medication, stress, birth control, or lack of sleep can kill the stem cells inside hair follicles. Stem cells[Read More…]
