News
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The risky side of statistics
June 5, 2017
Natalia Nolde is a UBC statistician with a risky specialty: predicting and assessing extreme events. Her work faces two major challenges. Extreme events, by definition, don’t happen often and so related data are scarce. They’re also incredibly complex. But if Nolde and colleagues are… read more
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Subsidies promote overfishing and hurt small-scale fishers worldwide
June 1, 2017
Large-scale fisheries receive about four times more subsidies than their small-scale counterparts, with up to 60 per cent of those subsidies promoting overfishing. A recent study by the University of British Columbia found that while small-scale fisheries employ over 22 million people globally… read more
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Researchers untangle mystery of tiny bird’s trans-Pacific flight
June 1, 2017
UBC zoologists have documented the first record of a House Swift in the Americas—and begun to unravel the mystery of how the tiny bird got from its south-east Asia breeding grounds to Ladner, BC. The bird’s well preserved but near-emaciated carcass was discovered in May 2012 near the… read more
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How the popularity of sea cucumbers is threatening coastal communities
May 30, 2017
Coastal communities are struggling with the complex social and ecological impacts of a growing global hunger for a seafood delicacy, according to a new study from the University of British Columbia. “Soaring demand has spurred sea cucumber booms across the globe,” says lead author… read more
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Researchers map complete sunflower genome
May 23, 2017
Researchers published the complete sunflower genome in Nature today, a major step toward improving the crop’s genetic diversity and ability to withstand climate change. The $20 billion, healthy oilseed crop holds great promise for climate change adaptation. It can grow and flourish across a… read more
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Physicists offer new 'accordion' theory on the expansion of the universe
May 15, 2017
UBC physicists may have solved one of nature’s great puzzles: what causes the accelerating expansion of our universe? UBC researchers Qingdi Wang and Bill Unruh tackle the question in a new study that tries to resolve a major incompatibility between quantum mechanics and Einstein’s… read more
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Protecting life’s tangled ecological webs
May 9, 2017
Ecosystems are a complex web of interactions. These ecological networks are being reorganized by extinctions and colonization events caused by human impacts, such as climate change and habitat destruction. In a paper published this week in Nature Ecology & Evolution, researchers from UBC… read more
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Red light, green light invention stops work interruptions
May 5, 2017
A UBC computer scientist has invented a unique desk light that automatically switches from green to red when you are 'in the zone' and shouldn’t be disturbed by colleagues. “The light is like displaying your Skype status - it tells your colleagues whether you’re busy or open for… read more
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UBC mathematician joins UK Royal Society
May 5, 2017
UBC researcher Gordon Slade, known for his work on the mathematical study of critical phenomena and phase transitions, was elected as a fellow of the United Kingdom’s Royal Society today. He joins 11 other UBC Science fellows elected to the Society over the past decades. Slade’s… read more
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UBC visual effects spin-off puts some skin in the game
May 3, 2017
UBC computer scientists are examining exactly how skin folds, stretches, wrinkles and bounces, with the goal of creating a realistic computer model of the human body. “Human skin and other soft tissues are thin, elastic structures that deform a lot,” said Dinesh Pai, professor of… read more