While COVID-19 vaccination continues to dominate public consciousness, the rate of vaccination for other diseases has decreased. In Canada, recent estimates show that up-to-date routine vaccine coverage was five per cent lower in children compared to the pre-pandemic rate. The fear of contracting COVID-19 at the doctor’s office is one[Read More…]
Science & Technology
The latest in science and technology.
Astronomers identify new a star coated in helium-burning ashes
A recent discovery among the stars has caught the global attention of many astronomers and astrophysicists, as its existence challenges the fundamental theories of stellar astronomy. The new star is coated in oxygen and carbon, elements that form when helium is burned, as discovered by German astronomer Klaus Werner and[Read More…]
Excavating Earth’s history through ancient rock formations
Scaling mountainous terrain or keeping an eye out for grizzly bears and moose while wading through the flowing rivers of the Yukon may not seem typical of academic work. But these were only some of the many challenging conditions McGill researchers endured while conducting a recent study looking at oxygen[Read More…]
Six McGill undergrads win UofT international artificial intelligence competition
A team of six undergraduate McGill students placed first in the International Artificial Intelligence Competition ProjectX, which ran from Sept. 1 to Jan. 31. Hosted by the University of Toronto, the annual competition challenges students to develop new models of machine learning with practical, real-world applications. Of the three categories[Read More…]
Socio-economic factors affect a country’s ability to cope with extreme temperatures
With the steady rise of global temperatures on Earth, many countries are experiencing more intense and frequent heatwaves—periods of extremely high temperatures that can last from several days to several weeks. A new study conducted in collaboration with researchers from McGill found that people in low-income countries are more likely[Read More…]
Canadian nail salon workers exposed to high levels of hazardous chemicals
Imagine a workplace where employees are exposed to toxic chemicals on a regular basis. And imagine that for the majority of these chemicals, there is little, if any, information regarding their effects on human health. Now imagine that quite a few have been suspected to cause health problems such as[Read More…]
A potential cure for HIV: Right under our belly buttons?
At the 2022 Conference for Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, Yvonne Bryson, an infectious disease researcher and professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, announced that a woman of mixed race had been cured of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). After undergoing an umbilical cord stem cell transplant to treat[Read More…]
Predicting coma outcomes with a high level of accuracy
Treating unconscious patients is a real challenge for physicians. For example, when treating patients with brain injuries, doctors and family are often faced with the decision of either pursuing aggressive treatment or switching to an end-of-life care approach. However, because patients are often unable to communicate, making such decisions is[Read More…]
Anger, crime, and punishment: Can we control our own emotions?
A team of scientists from McGill, the National Institute of Scientific Research (IRNS), and the University of Ottawa have identified anger as being an intuitive, near-instantaneous reaction to crime in a recent study published in Psychology, Crime & Law. Their research shows that emotion, alongside factual evidence, can play a[Read More…]
Winter Olympics 2022: Mother Earth returns empty-handed
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…]
