February 20, 2012
UBC researchers have identified conservation “hot spots” around the world where the temptation to profit from overfishing outweighs the appetite for conservation.
Combining economic outlook and fisheries population growth rates for all countries currently reported to fish in the ocean, UBC fisheries researchers William Cheung and Rashid Sumaila developed a conservation risk index to reveal the economic-conservation trade-offs of fishing.
February 18, 2012
An international team from the Nippon Foundation-University of British Columbia Nereus program has unveiled the first global model of life in the world’s oceans, allowing scientists and policymakers to predict – and show through 3D visualizations – the state of life in the oceans of the future.
February 17, 2012
New international agreements are required to ensure nations benefit equally from medicines, foods and biofuels derived from the ocean's untapped genetic riches, according to a panel of University of British Columbia and European researchers presenting at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Vancouver on Feb. 17.
February 15, 2012
More than a dozen UBC Science researchers will help represent Canada at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, being held this weekend at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
UBC Science presentations will run the gamut, covering everything from microbial diversity to fisheries policy, STEM education to spinal cord injury, and pulsars to invasive species. In total, 42 UBC researchers are part of 42 academic symposia, lectures and seminars--nearly a quarter of this year's AAAS academic program.
February 15, 2012
UBC mathematician Young-Heon Kim and computer scientist Andrew Warfield have been awarded 2012 Sloan Research Fellowships. Adjudicated annually since 1955, the prestigious fellowships are given to North American early-career scientists whose achievements and potential identify them as the next generation of scientific leaders.
February 9, 2012
Fish farming cages are clearly visible through Google Earth’s satellite images and University of British Columbia researchers have used them to estimate the amount of fish being cultivated in the Mediterranean.
The study, published in the online journal PLoS ONE, is the first to estimate seafood production using satellite imagery.
February 5, 2012
UBC researchers have discovered the molecular pathway that enables receptors inside immune cells to find, and flag, fragments of pathogens trying to invade a host.
The discovery of the role played by the molecule CD74 could help immunologists investigate treatments that offer better immune responses against cancers, viruses and bacteria, and lead to more efficient vaccines.
The findings are published in this week’s edition of Nature Immunology.
January 19, 2012
Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but diamond miners may have a fairly simple chemical reaction to thank for much of their industry’s success.
Geologists have long known that diamonds are often embedded and transported upward to the Earth's surface by molten kimberlites.
But kimberlites are dense, large rocks, and the question of how they erupt to the surface--sometimes in a matter of days or hours from depths as great as 120 kilometres--has been a mystery.
January 16, 2012
Researchers at the University of British Columbia have found a new way to block infection from the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the liver that could lead to new therapies for those affected by this and other infectious diseases.
January 9, 2012
UBC and University of Edinburgh astronomers have mapped dark matter on the largest scale ever observed, according to results released today at the winter American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin, Texas. The findings, presented by Dr Catherine Heymans of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and Associate Professor Ludovic Van Waerbeke of UBC, reveal a Universe comprised of an intricate cosmic web of dark matter and galaxies that spans more than one billion light years.
