News
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Bowhead whales come to Cumberland Sound in Nunavut to exfoliate
November 22, 2017
Aerial drone footage of bowhead whales in Canada’s Arctic has revealed that the large mammals moult and use rocks to rub off dead skin. The footage provides one answer to the mystery of why whales return to Cumberland Sound, Nunavut, every summer, and helps explain some unusual behaviour… read more
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What your tweets say about your commute
November 22, 2017
Urban planners need data on how people move around the city in order to improve transit service. But rider surveys can be costly and inefficient. With a focus on Surrey, B.C. and downtown Vancouver, UBC postdoctoral researcher Saeid Allahdadian developed a method that uses social media data… read more
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New UBC project studying ‘fugitive gas’ leaks from LNG operations
November 20, 2017
Debate has renewed around British Columbia’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) development, with groups calling for a public inquiry into the environmental impact of the province’s natural gas operations and particularly leakage of gas. But exactly how natural gas behaves when it leaks&mdash… read more
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Enigmatic marine microbes share resources to overcome energy stress in the oxygen-starved ocean
November 17, 2017
Canadian and US researchers have mapped the single-cell genomes of a diverse group of microbial dark matter known as Marinimicrobia identifying previously uncharted metabolic roles, including as a potential greenhouse gas sink. The genomes, presented in Nature Communications, provide the most… read more
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Duo of Titanic Galaxies Captured in Extreme Starbursting Merger
November 13, 2017
New observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have uncovered the never-before-seen close encounter between two astoundingly bright and spectacularly massive galaxies in the early universe. These so-called hyper-luminous starburst galaxies are exceedingly rare at… read more
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A warbler's flashy yellow throat? There are genes for that
November 8, 2017
Birds get their bright red, orange and yellow plumage from carotenoid pigments—responsible for many of the same bright colours in plants. But how songbirds turn carotenoids into the spectacular variety of feathered patches found in nature has remained a mystery. Now University of British… read more
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50-years of data from a 'living oxygen minimum' lab could help predict the oceans' future
November 2, 2017
Canadian and US Department of Energy researchers have released 50 years’ worth of data chronicling the deoxygenating cycles of a fjord off Canada’s west coast, and detailing the response of the microbial communities inhabiting the fjord. The mass of data, collected in two new Nature… read more
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We can’t eat our way out of the global jellyfish boom
October 24, 2017
A surge in jellyfish populations has many fisheries experts concerned. But could we solve the problem by serving them up for dinner? UBC zoologist Lucas Brotz (BSc’ 00, MSc’ 11, PhD’ 17) explains why it’s not as easy as making jellyfish pie. There are a lot more jellyfish… read more
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UBC fisheries expert wins Volvo Environment Prize
October 16, 2017
The 2017 Volvo Environment Prize has been awarded to Rashid Sumaila, professor in UBC’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and School of Public Policy, Director of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit (FERU) and OceanCanada Partnership, for his innovative work in fisheries economics and… read more
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New materials, astronomy research at UBC get boost from CFI
October 13, 2017
Almost $10 million in new research infrastructure funding announced today will enable UBC physicists and chemists to explore the potential of emerging quantum materials and search for remnants of the Big Bang. Four UBC Science-led projects are among 15 funded at UBC by the Canada Foundation for… read more