/newsroom/taxonomy/term/3558/all en /newsroom/channels/news/sustainable-data-science-training-program-awarded-165-m-nserc-create-357359 <p>Today, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)<a href="https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Media-Media/NewsDetail-DetailNouvelles_eng.asp?ID=1461"> announced </a>more than $26 million in funding for <a href="https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Professors-Professeurs/Grants-Subs/CREATEResults-ResultatsFONCER_eng.asp?Year=2024">16 new training initiatives</a> through its <a href="https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Professors-Professeurs/Grants-Subs/CREATE-FONCER_eng.asp">Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE)</a> program.</p> Thu, 16 May 2024 14:35:33 +0000 admin 310496 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/eating-way-we-do-hurts-us-and-planet-study-finds-357234 <p>In an age of abundance and variety in food options, are Canadians eating better than they were half a century ago? According to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211912423000664">a recent paper</a> by researchers at ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û and the International Food Policy Research Institute, those relying on Canada’s food supply for their dietary needs not only face deficiencies in healthier alternatives, but they also contribute to the disproportionate levels of environmental degradation caused by Canadian agricultural and food distribution policies.</p> Mon, 06 May 2024 14:48:41 +0000 frederique.mazerolle@mcgill.ca 310474 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/experts-planet-vs-plastics-earth-day-2024-356888 <p>Every year, millions of people across the globe gather on Earth Day (April 22) to celebrate the environmental movement. The 2024 theme, "Planet vs. Plastics", aims to raise awareness of the harms of plastic pollution for human and planetary health. This year's focus comes ahead of an historic UN treaty on plastics, which is expected to be agreed by the end of 2024.  (<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68610073" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">BBC News</a>) </p> <p><strong>Here are some experts from ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û who can comment on this topic: </strong></p> Fri, 19 Apr 2024 17:35:08 +0000 keila.depape@mcgill.ca 310455 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/clearing-air-wind-farms-more-land-efficient-previously-thought-356777 <p>Wind power is a source of energy that is both affordable and renewable.</p> <p>However, decision-makers have been reluctant to invest in wind energy due to a perception that wind farms require a lot of land compared to electric power plants driven by fossil fuels. Research led by ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û and based on the assessment of the land-use of close to 320 wind farms in the U.S. (the largest study of its kind) paints a very different picture.</p> Mon, 15 Apr 2024 15:39:16 +0000 katherine.gombay@mcgill.ca 310445 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/species-diversity-promotes-ecosystem-stability-356231 <p>What maintains stability within an ecosystem and prevents a single best competitor from displacing other species from a community? Does ecosystem stability depend upon the presence of a wide variety of species, as early ecologists believed, or does diversity do the exact opposite, and lead to instability, as modern theory predicts?</p> Wed, 20 Mar 2024 15:55:25 +0000 katherine.gombay@mcgill.ca 310370 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/small-dietary-changes-can-cut-your-carbon-footprint-25-355698 <p>The latest <a href="https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/">Canada’s Food Guide</a> presents a paradigm shift in nutrition advice, nixing traditional food groups, including meat and dairy, and stressing the importance of plant-based proteins. Yet, the full implications of replacing animal with plant protein foods in Canadians’ diets are unknown.</p> Mon, 26 Feb 2024 15:42:24 +0000 keila.depape@mcgill.ca 308646 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/expert-new-gold-rush-search-natural-hydrogen-canada-355665 <p>After helping to discover the world's first deposit of natural hydrogen in West Africa, which kick-started a search for the buried gas around the world, Denis Brière hopes his next breakthrough will be in Canada. Brière is a petrophysicist and vice-president of Calgary-based Chapman Hydrogen and Petroleum Engineering, which plans to begin testing and drilling in northern Ontario this summer in the hopes of finding enough hydrogen underground to produce and market the gas.</p> Fri, 23 Feb 2024 20:17:54 +0000 keila.depape@mcgill.ca 308416 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/alien-invasion-study-reveals-alarming-economic-costs-biological-invasions-european-union-349045 <p>Biological invasions are a major threat to ecosystems, biodiversity, and human well-being, resulting in ecosystem degradation and causing economic costs in the multi-trillions of euros globally. A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-023-00750-3">study</a> led by ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û sheds light on the stark economic cost resulting from biological invasions in the European Union (EU).</p> Wed, 12 Jul 2023 15:15:26 +0000 shirley.cardenas@mcgill.ca 305779 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/what-controls-pathways-labrador-current-348902 <p>Changes to the flow of the Labrador Current along the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador to Nova Scotia are leading to sudden warmings or drops in the oxygen levels of the waters in several regions including the St. Lawrence Gulf and Estuary. This change has dire consequences for marine ecosystems and fisheries. To better predict what could happen in the future, researchers from ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û set out to answer the question: what controls the pathway of the Labrador Current?</p> Wed, 28 Jun 2023 16:13:44 +0000 shirley.cardenas@mcgill.ca 304616 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/mcgill-university-partnership-universite-du-quebec-trois-rivieres-and-iefa-announce-future-charged-348713 <p>Today ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û, in partnership with Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) and the International Economic Forum of the Americas (IEFA) announced the launch of ‘<a href="https://www.batteries.mcgill.ca/#/?lang=en">Future-Charged: the Renewable Energy Revolution</a>,’ this fall in Montreal.</p> Tue, 13 Jun 2023 21:43:18 +0000 shirley.cardenas@mcgill.ca 303329 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/microplastics-are-harming-gut-health-348329 <p>Scientists have been worried about the potential harms of microplastics for years. These small plastic particles less than 5 mm in length have been found everywhere because of plastic pollution – from the Earth’s deep oceans to remote regions in Antarctica, and even the seafood we eat. But, are microplastics really harmful?</p> Mon, 15 May 2023 16:15:24 +0000 shirley.cardenas@mcgill.ca 300195 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/nature-favours-creatures-largest-and-smallest-sizes-348260 <p>Surveying the body sizes of Earth’s living organisms, researchers from ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û and University of British Columbia found that the planet’s biomass – the material that makes up all living organisms – is concentrated in organisms at either end of the size spectrum.</p> <p>The researchers spent five years compiling and analyzing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283020">data</a> about the size and biomass of every type of living organism on the planet—from tiny one-celled organisms like soil archaea and bacteria to large organisms like blue whales and sequoia trees.</p> Tue, 09 May 2023 21:36:47 +0000 shirley.cardenas@mcgill.ca 299677 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/not-so-sweet-after-all-are-candy-striped-spiders-threat-ecosystems-across-north-america-347859 <div class="bl-tpl">For years, pollinator declines have been a pressing issue for ecosystem health and food security in the face of climate change and human impacts on the environment. Even in their sleep, pollinating insects cannot catch a break – for fear they’ll be taken down by a small, but mighty predator: the candy-striped spider. Research published in <i>Ecology </i>took a closer look into this spider’s behaviour and found that the result of their stealth attacks could have substantial impacts on ecosystems.</div> Wed, 19 Apr 2023 15:48:17 +0000 frederique.mazerolle@mcgill.ca 298497 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/second-chance-protect-wetlands-330885 <p>Wetlands are among the most threatened ecosystems in the world. A new study, published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05572-6"><i>Nature</i></a><i>,</i> has found that the loss of wetland areas around the globe since 1700 has likely been overestimated. This is good news overall, however, the global picture hides significant variations, with several regions and distinct wetland types under significant levels of pressure. For instance, temperate river floodplains have been highly impacted while remote boreal-arctic peatlands remain comparatively unharmed.</p> Thu, 06 May 2021 13:53:49 +0000 katherine.gombay@mcgill.ca 263706 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/fossil-discovery-reveals-complex-ecosystems-existed-earth-much-earlier-previously-thought-345984 <p>About 250 million years ago, the Permian-Triassic mass extinction killed over 80 per cent of the planet's species. In the aftermath, scientists believe that life on earth was dominated by simple species for up to 10 million years before more complex ecosystems could evolve. Now this longstanding theory is being challenged by a team of international researchers – including scientists from ÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û and Université du Québec à Montréal.</p> Thu, 09 Feb 2023 14:41:04 +0000 shirley.cardenas@mcgill.ca 290349 at /newsroom