News
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UBC planetary scientist honoured by UK’s Royal Astronomical Society
January 11, 2019
Catherine Johnson, a UBC researcher searching for ‘Marsquakes’ as part of NASA’s InSight mission and a leading expert on planetary magnetic fields, has been awarded the Royal Astronomical Society’s Price Medal in Geophysics. Johnson, a professor with UBC’s Department… read more
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CHIME telescope detects second-ever repeating fast radio burst
January 9, 2019
A team of scientists in Canada has found the second repeating fast radio burst (FRB) ever recorded, providing new clues about the brief, puzzling pulses of radio energy from far outside our galaxy. The repeating FRB was one of 13 new bursts detected in just two weeks by the Canadian Hydrogen… read more
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Paul Gustafson appointed head of UBC Statistics
January 3, 2019
Professor Paul Gustafson has accepted a five-year term as Head of the UBC Department of Statistics, beginning January 1, 2019. A founding co-director of UBC’s recently launched Masters of Data Science, Gustafson has served as acting department head, and on numerous departmental committees… read more
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Could gulls' wings inspire smarter airplane design?
January 2, 2019
Flexing a single elbow joint enables gulls to adapt their wing shape to gusty conditions, according to new University of British Columbia (UBC) research—a relatively simple mechanism that could inspire improved aircraft design. “While we know birds frequently alter their wing shape,… read more
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Physicists propose a new path to high-temperature superconductivity
December 17, 2018
Physicists at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Kharagpur have identified a new approach to achieving high-temperature superconductivity — binding electrons to form tight, but very light pairs that flow without resistance. In electrical… read more
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Industrial fisheries are starving seabirds all around the world
December 6, 2018
Industrial fisheries are starving seabirds like penguins and terns by competing for the same prey sources, new research from the French National Center for Scientific Research in Montpellier and the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia has found. In a study… read more
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UBC robo chemist could speed up discovery of clean energy materials
November 28, 2018
Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, today announced an $8-million investment to develop a first-of-its-kind robotic platform called ADA that uses artificial intelligence to accelerate the development process for new energy efficient materials. “We… read more
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Newly discovered wasp turns social spiders into zombies
November 27, 2018
It sounds like the plot of the world’s tiniest horror movie: deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon, a newly discovered species of wasp transforms a “social” spider into a zombie-like drone that abandons its colony to do the wasp’s bidding. That’s the gruesome, real-life… read more
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New CRCs in oceans research, machine learning and quantum materials
November 14, 2018
The Federal Government’s latest round of Canada Research Chair investments include four new chair-holders at UBC Science investigating ocean sustainability and turbulence, machine learning, and quantum materials. The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Sport, announced… read more
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Eight UBC students receive inaugural women in tech scholarships
November 13, 2018
For Giulia Mattia, a computer science student at UBC, the pathway into the tech sector just got a bit easier thanks to a newly launched scholarship from the Irving K Barber British Columbia Scholarship Society. Mattia is among 11 students in BC awarded the women in tech scholarships based on… read more