News
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UBC earns national award for collaborative design of science class
April 30, 2013
UBC's recently launched First Year Seminar in Science -- a small class experience focused on critical thinking and communication skills -- has been awarded the 2013 Alan Blizzard Award by Canada’s Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. The award recognizes advances made in… read more
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BC’s distinctive tuya volcanoes reveal glacial, palaeo-climate secrets
April 30, 2013
Deposits left by the eruption of a subglacial volcano, or tuya, 1.8 million years ago could hold the secret to more accurate palaeo-glacial and climate models, according to new research by UBC geoscientists. The detailed field mapping and sampling of the partially eroded Kima' Kho tuya in… read more
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Robert Shadwick to head UBC Zoology
April 22, 2013
Robert Shadwick, internationally recognized for his research in animal physiology and biomechanics, has been appointed head of the Department of Zoology at UBC. His appointment will take effect July 1, 2013. "I’m delighted to be working with Bob to continue to strengthen zoology research… read more
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UBC researchers weed out ineffective biocontrol agents
April 17, 2013
‘Keep it simple’ is a good rule of thumb when designing biocontrol programs to combat weeds and invasive plants, according to a meta-analysis of studies by UBC biodiversity experts. Biocontrol programs use an invasive plant’s natural enemies (insects and pathogens) to reduce its… read more
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Tiny octopus-like microorganisms named after science fiction monsters
April 3, 2013
UBC researchers have discovered two new symbionts living in the gut of termites, and taken the unusual step of naming them after fictional monsters created by American horror author HP Lovecraft. The single-cell protists, Cthulhu macrofasciculumque and Cthylla microfasciculumque, help termites… read more
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Mountain pine beetle genome decoded
March 27, 2013
The genome of the mountain pine beetle – the insect that has devastated B.C.’s lodgepole pine forests – has been decoded by researchers at the University of British Columbia and Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre. This is a first for the mountain pine beetle and… read more
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Planck space mission sheds light on the Universe
March 25, 2013
The Planck Space Telescope has produced the best map ever made of the most ancient light in the Universe, with help from a Canadian team led by University of British Columbia Prof. Douglas Scott and University of Toronto Prof. J. Richard Bond. Unveiled today in Paris, the first results of the 15… read more
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Three UBC scientists win international research grants
March 21, 2013
Three UBC Science researchers have received Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) grants, which support collaboration among scientists working in different countries. The UBC Science winners are: Filip van Petegem, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, will share a Young Investigator Grant with: … read more
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Three UBC Science Canada Research Chairs appointed
March 15, 2013
UBC statistician Gabriela Cohen Freue, immunologist Ken Harder and evolutionary biologist Loren Rieseberg earned support from the Canada Research Chair program, it was announced today. UBC Science's chairs are among 120 federally funded research positions awarded or renewed today. UBC boasts a… read more
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UBC researcher to go national with wildfire smoke forecasting
March 15, 2013
Extreme weather expert Roland Stull has received $325,000 from the Canadian Safety and Security Program (CSSP) to expand his work on forest fire prediction and tracking. Stull and his team of researchers at the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (EOAS) have spent the past six… read more