Preview: McGill University News - Faculty of Science
McGill University News - Faculty of Science
Updated: 2012-02-22T18:26:37-05:00
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Mcgill Researchers Pain :
The beat goes on: the geometry that makes music pleasing
2012-02-20T09:15:00-05:00
A research team led by neuroscientists Drs. Daniel Levitin and Vinod Menon, from McGill and Stanford Universities, analyzed the scores of close to 2,000 musical compositions written by more than 40 composers over the last 400 years in a large variety of Western musical genres. They discovered a mathematical formula governing the rhythmic patterns to which every single piece of music conformed.
Neuron memory key to taming chronic pain
2012-02-13T12:00:00-05:00
A team of researchers led by McGill neuroscientist Terence Coderre, who is also affiliated with the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, has found the key to understanding how memories of pain are stored in the brain. More importantly, the researchers are also able to suggest how these memories can be erased, making it possible to ease chronic pain.
Scientific American - Scientists manipulate and erase memories
2012-01-26T12:00:00-05:00
[Following a violent robbery, Joël] Coutu’s ordeal was just beginning. For years he would be tormented by violent nightmares, panic attacks brought on by the mere hint of aggression around him, and severe depression—signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The Scientist - Antimicrobial cross-resistance risk
2012-01-24T12:00:00-05:00
Bacteria that evolve resistance to antimicrobial therapies may be able to evade natural immune peptides. However, bacteria can evolve resistance to AMPs under strong selective pressure in vitro.
Royal Society's Chemistry World - DNA motors on
2012-01-10T12:00:00-05:00
As a supramolecular chemist, Hanadi Sleiman found herself strongly drawn to manmade DNA structures. 'We think of DNA as the most programmable structure there is. I thought - if it is - let me try to incorporate it into regular supramolecular structures,' says the professor at McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
BBC - Carbon emissions 'will defer Ice Age'
2012-01-09T12:00:00-05:00
Human emissions of carbon dioxide will defer the next Ice Age, say scientists. The last Ice Age ended about 11,500 years ago, and when the next one should begin has not been entirely clear.
Back to the future: Supersoldier ants illuminate evolution
2012-01-06T14:00:00-05:00
Researchers have discovered they can induce supersoldiers in Pheidole ant species that never had them before.
These supersoldier anomalies represent dormant ancestral potential that can be invoked by changes in the environment. These findings are groundbreaking for evolutionary theory, because they show there is dormant genetic potential that can be locked in place for a very long time.
BBC, National Post, Nature, et al. - Ants turned into 'supersoldiers'
2012-01-06T12:00:00-05:00
In 2006, while collecting ants on an abandoned property in central Long Island, biologist Ehab Abouheif of McGill University noticed eight unusually oversized ants. They were anomalies to the region, but looked similar to the so-called "supersoldier" ants found in the American Southwest.
Discovery News - The big questions for 2012
2011-12-17T12:00:00-05:00
Could 2012 be the year of Chickenosaurus, the first dinosaur to live in modern times? You might recall our story from a few years ago, describing what was then referred to as "Dinochicken."
La Presse - Le boson de Higgs sous la loupe des physiciens
2011-12-17T12:00:00-05:00
La physique des particules est en vedette cet automne. Après avoir révélé en octobre une anomalie pouvant remettre en question des théories fondamentales, voilà qu'une équipe internationale travaillant en Suisse a annoncé des traces de la «particule divine».
Barbados Advocate - High cash returns with backyard gardens
2011-12-10T12:00:00-05:00
A recent study performed by exchange students from McGill University on assignment at the Bellairs Research Institute has discovered the potential for high cash returns from the use of residential backyard organic farming.
Nature, NPR, Wired, et al.
2011-12-08T12:00:00-05:00
With a few liberating swipes of their paws, a group of research rats freed trapped labmates and raised anew the possibility that empathy isn’t unique to humans and a few extra-smart animals, but is widespread in the animal world.
The Independent, Time, et al. - Glaciers in retreat around the world
2011-12-08T12:00:00-05:00
The researchers had previously thought that they would not see peak water for a set of glaciers supplying water to a population of several million for at least 10 or 20 years. However, the speed at which some glaciers are disappearing has been faster than predicted, said Michel Baraer of McGill University.
Video game players advancing genetic research
2011-12-06T15:30:00-05:00
Users of game designed by McGill researchers contributing to analysis of DNA sequences
Thousands of video game players have helped advance our understanding of the genetic basis of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, over the past year. They are the users of a web-based video game developed by Dr. Jérôme Waldispuhl of McGill's School of Computer Science and collaborator Mathieu Blanchette.
Montreal Gazette - Human magnets and their repulsive claims
2011-11-26T12:00:00-05:00
Twenty-five years have passed since the world was rocked by the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in Ukraine. Given that cancers attributable to the release of radioactive materials have a long latency period, the human toll, aside from the 30 or so immediate deaths among reactor staff and emergency workers, can only be estimated.
National Geographic - The little fish that could
2011-11-17T12:00:00-05:00
Diana Sharpe, a PhD student at McGill University in Montreal, received a Young Explorers Grant from National Geographic to investigate a tiny fish in Africa’s Lake Victoria that’s under tremendous pressure from humans. Here she describes her challenging work on the lake...
Chronicle of Higher Education - The origins of empathy — in mice?
2011-11-16T12:00:00-05:00
If there is human empathy, and no one really doubts that, there should be animal precursors. Charles Darwin predicted this in 1872, in his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, but few scientists have pursued the idea.
Globe and Mail - 'Natural' deli meats may not be as healthy as you think
2011-10-16T12:00:00-04:00
Bacon, hot dogs, deli meats and other processed meats have long been considered guilty-pleasure foods that contain unhealthy preservatives, additives and any number of chemical ingredients. Now, food companies are trying to change that image by creating “natural” lines of processed meat products from real ingredients with no added preservatives.
Vancouver Sun - Satellites provide a larger view of hunger
2011-10-15T12:00:00-04:00
A five-point plan to double our food supply faces serious obstacles, often because people don't want to give up what they have. When you take a satellite's-eye view, the world's food problem comes into clear focus: The planet's best agricultural land is not necessarily where the most people live.
Walrus Magazine - As the crow flies
2011-10-12T12:00:00-04:00
…Crows are unpopular, with good reason. They are obnoxious bird bullies with shrill voices, scattering trash and gumming up eavestroughs with their detritus. But perhaps our scorn springs from a deeper source.
Le Devoir - Vraiment plus vite que la lumiére?
2011-10-08T12:00:00-04:00
…La plupart des physiciens sont toutefois sceptiques et croient plutôt à une erreur systématique, à une imprécision dans les mesures, voire à une incompréhension d'un élément qui nous échappe encore.
