News
-
UBC Science Best of 2022
December 15, 2022
As 2022 comes to a close, we look back at some of the significant research and teaching advances to come out of UBC Science over the past year. Our scientists pushed the envelope in new materials, chemistry, the life and computational sciences, space exploration, and more. We wish you a happy,… read more
-
How intensive agriculture turned a wild plant into a pervasive weed
December 8, 2022
New research in Science is showing how the rise of modern agriculture has turned a North American native plant, common waterhemp, into a problematic agricultural weed. An international team led by researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) compared 187 waterhemp samples from modern… read more
-
New branch on tree of life includes 'lions of the microbial world'
December 7, 2022
There’s a new branch on the tree of life and it’s made up of predators that nibble their prey to death. These microbial predators fall into two groups, one of which researchers have dubbed "nibblerids" because they, well, nibble chunks off their prey using tooth-like structures. The… read more
-
Is road salt killing salmon?
November 3, 2022
UBC researchers led by Dr. Patricia Schulte, Dr. Chris Wood and Dr. Colin Brauner are joining forces with community groups to find out if road salt in streams could be harming Pacific salmon. They are investigating the seasonal impact of road salt in more than 20 streams around the Lower Mainland… read more
-
Scientists uncover new clues about the climate and health effects of atmospheric particles
November 1, 2022
Peering inside common atmospheric particles is providing important clues to their climate and health effects, according to a new study by University of British Columbia chemists. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) particles are ubiquitous in the atmosphere and play an important role in air quality… read more
-
UBC physicists share major Canadian collaborative research award
October 25, 2022
University of British Columbia (UBC) members of the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) are among the leaders in cosmology, pulsar research and high energy astrophysics that were recognized today with the 2022 Brockhouse Canada Prize. The NSERC prize recognizes highly… read more
-
New research rewrites the evolutionary story of gills
October 19, 2022
Gills are best known for helping most fish species breathe underwater. But less well known is the fact gills regulate the salt and pH balance of fishes’ blood, a vital role played by the kidneys in other animals. Collectively known as ion regulation, this lesser-known gill function has been… read more
-
Chemists uncover cracks in the amour of cellulose nanocrystals
October 14, 2022
Chemists in Japan, Canada and Europe have uncovered flaws in the surface structure of cellulose nanocrystals—an important step toward deconstructing cellulose to produce renewable nano-materials relevant to biochemical products, energy solutions, and biofuels. The findings—published… read more
-
UBC students help NASA find landslides by training computers to read Reddit
October 6, 2022
UBC graduate students trained computers to “read” news articles about landslides on Reddit to bolster a NASA database, which could improve predictions of when and where these natural disasters will occur. For their Master of Data Science in Computational Linguistics capstone project,… read more
-
Diet high in guar gum fibre limits inflammation, MS symptoms in mice
September 27, 2022
Diets high in guar gum, a common food additive and dietary fibre, limited inflammation and delayed the onset of multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms in mice, according to new research by members of the University of British Columbia (UBC) Microbiology and Immunology department. “The rapid… read more