News
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The mathematics behind disease: mapping the virus inside the body
June 10, 2015
By Adriana Suarez-Gonzalez A viral infection is a complex, dynamic process. UBC researcher Daniel Coombs uses theoretical and applied mathematics to understand how viruses, such as HIV, function and spread within one person’s body and across individuals. Rumor has it that he is the only… read more
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Grad students in math and zoology take UBC Governor General’s Gold Medals
June 2, 2015
Zoologist Adam Ford and mathematician Niki Mavraki have been recognized with UBC Governor General’s Gold Medals for their outstanding academic work. The Governor General’s Gold Medals honour the best in the graduating class within UBC's Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies… read more
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Physicists map electron structure of superconductivity’s ‘doppelgänger’
June 1, 2015
Physicists have painted an in-depth portrait of charge ordering—an electron self-organization regime in high-temperature superconductors that may be intrinsically intertwined with superconductivity itself. In two complementary studies—published in Nature Materials last week and… read more
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New technique for isolating sunny-day “light” scattering could help illuminate Universe’s birth
May 28, 2015
Astrophysicists have developed a new method for calculating the effect of Rayleigh scattering on photons, potentially allowing researchers to better understand the formation of the Universe. UBC theoretical cosmology graduate student Elham Alipour, UBC physicist Kris Sigurdson and Ohio State… read more
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New data on reported and unreported marine catches now available online
May 26, 2015
Researchers with UBC’s Sea Around Us project have launched a new web platform at www.seaaroundus.org that provides the first comprehensive coverage of both reported and unreported fish caught by every country in the world. It reveals that official catch reports considerably underestimate… read more
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Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation boosts ultra-fast quantum materials research at UBC
May 25, 2015
Researchers at UBC will be able to probe the mysteries of quantum materials with a new state-of-the-art ultrafast laser, thanks to a $1.4 million US grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. UBC physicists Andrea Damascelli and David Jones will use the investment for a one-of-a-kind… read more
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NSERC awards UBC Science $1.6 M to train young researchers for bioeconomy
May 21, 2015
University of British Columbia students and postdoctoral fellows in biological engineering and bioinformatics have received $3.3 million in grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). The two NSERC Collaborative Research and Training Experience … read more
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MESSENGER reveals Mercury’s magnetic field secrets
May 7, 2015
New data from MESSENGER, the spacecraft that orbited Mercury for four years before crashing into the planet a week ago, reveals Mercury’s magnetic field is almost four billion years old. The discovery helps scientists piece together the history of Mercury, the closest planet to the sun and… read more
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Gigantic whales have stretchy ‘bungee cord’ nerves
May 4, 2015
UBC researchers have discovered a unique nerve structure in the mouth and tongue of rorqual whales that can double in length and then recoil like a bungee cord. The stretchy nerves explain how the massive whales are able to balloon an immense pocket between their body wall and overlying blubber… read more
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Researchers closer to being able to change blood types
April 28, 2015
What do you do when a patient needs a blood transfusion but you don’t have their blood type in the blood bank? It’s a problem that scientists have been trying to solve for years but haven’t been able to find an economic solution – until now. University of British Columbia… read more