News
-
UBC Botany and Computer Science welcome new heads
June 22, 2011
Lacey Samuels--a cell biologist studying the biosynthesis of plant cell walls who played a key role in designing UBC's first-year science small class seminars--has been appointed head of the Department of Botany. Samuels, a longstanding member of the department, will begin her five-year term on… read more
-
Canada-Wide Snapshot of Earth's Crust Reveals How the North American Continent Developed: UBC, Lithoprobe Research
June 20, 2011
A sweeping synthesis of two decades worth of data from Canada's major earth sciences project has yielded an unprecedented geological map of North America that offers researchers a glimpse back in time."This is the most detailed cross-section of a continent ever put together," says Ronald Clowes, a… read more
-
UBC Science Researchers Awarded Funding from Two NSERC programs
June 17, 2011
Eight UBC Science researchers are part of a new round of funding that awarded a total of $2 million from two grant programs of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to researchers at the University. More than 140 UBC students also received NSERC scholarships,… read more
-
UBC Physicists Set to Help Unravel Elusive Neutrino 'Flavour Oscillation' Mystery
June 15, 2011
An international team of researchers that includes UBC physicists has provided the first hints that muon neutrinos are able to transform into electron neutrinos when they travel over large distances. The new results from the Japan-based Tokai-to-Kamioka (T2K) project indicate that muon neutrinos… read more
-
Shame and honour increase cooperation
June 1, 2011
Honour and shame work equally well in encouraging social cooperation, according to a new study by mathematicians at UBC and Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology. Published today in Biology Letters, the study reported on the results of a series of experiments with 180… read more
-
Endangered Gourmet Sea Snail Could be Doomed by Increasing Ocean Acidity
May 24, 2011
Increasing levels of ocean acidity could spell doom for British Columbia's already beleaguered northern abalone, according to the first study to provide direct experimental evidence that changing sea water chemistry is negatively affecting an endangered species.The northern abalone--prized as a… read more
-
Interactive Teaching Methods Double Learning, Engagement in Large Undergraduate Physics Class: UBC Research
May 12, 2011
Interactive teaching methods significantly improved attendance and doubled both engagement and learning in a large physics class, according to a University of British Columbia study published today in Science.Led by Louis Deslauriers, a post-doctoral researcher at UBC’s Carl Wieman Science… read more
-
Plate Tectonics, Earthquakes on the Agenda for All Science Challenge
May 10, 2011
Grade 6 and 7 students from across the lower mainland are poised to compete against each other in an intense one-day science knowledge competition held at UBC’s Vancouver campus on Friday, May 13.Hosted by UBC Science students, the All Science Challenge is an exciting, fun-filled day of… read more
-
UBC Astronomers Help Unveil Densest Known Planet
April 28, 2011
UBC researchers are part of an international team of astronomers that have revealed details of a “super-dense” earth-like planet whose characteristics could have been culled from an episode of Star Trek.The planet, named 55 Cancri e, is 60 per cent larger in diameter than Earth but… read more
-
UBC Science Alumnus and Former Postdoctoral Fellow Named to Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 by Globe and Mail
April 28, 2011
Former UBC Science postdoctoral fellow Brian Coombes and UBC Science alumnus David Vocadlo were among five recipients with UBC connections named to Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 list in the Globe and Mail today.Brian Coombes, associate chair in biochemistry and biomedical sciences at McMaster… read more