News
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New insights into the origins of our universe
July 15, 2020
New data released today by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) in Chile indicate our universe is around 13.8 billion years old, matching the measurements made by the Planck satellite in 2015, and calling into question the 2019 findings of another research group that determined the age of… read more
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Extreme rainfall events cause top-heavy aquatic food webs
July 8, 2020
An expansive, multi-site ecology study led by UBC has uncovered new insights into the effects of climate change on the delicate food webs of the neotropics. In research recently outlined in Nature, scientists across seven different sites throughout Central and South America replicated the extreme… read more
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Supergenes play a larger role in evolution than previously thought
July 8, 2020
Massive blocks of genes—inherited together ‘plug and play’ style—may play a larger role in evolutionary adaption than previously thought, according to new research in Nature. Biologists identified 37 of these so-called ‘supergenes’ in wild sunflower populations… read more
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Using AI to develop drug cocktails for COVID-19
June 25, 2020
UBC microbiologists and chemists have received $2.5 million in support of research aimed at addressing the health challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. François Jean, Bob Hancock and David Perrin are among the 19 researchers at UBC receiving a combined total of $14.3 million in grants in… read more
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Scientists discover the heaviest neutron star, or lightest black hole, ever observed
June 23, 2020
An international team of astrophysicists, including researchers at UBC, have detected the ‘extremely loud’ merger of a black hole with a mystery compact object—the most asymmetric gravitational-wave source yet observed. GW190814, the merger of a heavy black hole with an… read more
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As many as six billion Earth-like planets in our galaxy, according to new estimates
June 16, 2020
There may be as many as one Earth-like planet for every five Sun-like stars in the Milky way Galaxy, according to new estimates by University of British Columbia astronomers using data from NASA’s Kepler mission. To be considered Earth-like, a planet must be rocky, roughly Earth-sized and… read more
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Hummingbirds see colours humans can only imagine
June 15, 2020
Thanks to a fourth retinal colour cone that can detect ultraviolet light, hummingbirds see an array of combination colours involving UV that humans are blind to, according to new research by Princeton and UBC zoologists. “Humans are colour-blind compared to birds and many other animals,… read more
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Recovery of sea otter populations yields more benefits than costs
June 10, 2020
Since their reintroduction to the Pacific coast in the 1970s, the sea otters’ rapid recovery and voracious appetite for tasty shellfish such as urchins, clams and crabs has brought them into conflict with coastal communities and fishers, who rely on the same valuable fisheries for food and… read more
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Statement in support of Black Lives Matter and #ShutDownSTEM
June 9, 2020
UBC Science stands in solidarity with the Black community. We support our colleagues around the world participating in #ShutDownSTEM on June 10, 2020, and like-minded actions across academia. Recent anti-Black, anti-Asian and anti-Indigenous violence and discrimination in communities across North… read more
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Amplifying BC’s COVID-19 testing capacity
June 3, 2020
Public health authorities around the world are facing a significant challenge: ensuring a large enough supply of reagents to scale-up diagnostic testing for COVID-19. Researchers at UBC, Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre at BC Cancer (GSC) and the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC)… read more