News
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Lead from Notre Dame Cathedral fire detected in Parisian honey
July 29, 2020
Elevated levels of lead have been found in samples of honey from hives downwind of the Notre Dame Cathedral fire, collected three months after the April 2019 blaze. In research outlined in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, scientists from UBC’s Pacific Centre for Isotopic and… read more
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COVID-19 pandemic causes ‘quiet period’ for seismic noise
July 23, 2020
Seismometers are used to detect vibrations travelling through the ground after an earthquake, but they also pick up the background “buzz” of human activity at the surface. According to new research published today in Science, lockdown measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 led to a… read more
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Teaching chemistry in an online world
July 22, 2020
Associate Professor of Teaching Jay Wickenden (PhD '14) has taught chemistry for over 10 years at UBC. With lab classes interrupted by COVID-19, he explains how he handled the switch to online classes and offers tips for teachers and students engaged in distance learning. What were some of the… read more
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Researchers call for support for BIPOC in ecology and evolutionary biology
July 20, 2020
Recently, a group of researchers from five different institutions collaborated on a commentary piece in Nature Ecology & Evolution, outlining strategies and support for Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC) in ecology and evolutionary biology. In this Q&A, we speak with… read more
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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