A new study indicates precisely when children begin to use logic instead of emotion to judge how trustworthy someone is. Children four years old and younger tend to believe information provided by a confident adults much more readily than adults who are hesitant. However, the study showed that beginning around age five, children increasingly trust […]
Posts by Kelly Fram (KellyFram)
Vancouverites prefer walkable neighbourhoods
A new report from the University of British Columbia shows that Vancouver residents prefers to live in in a neigbourhood where they can walk to shops, groceries and transit, a new report shows. An infographic with the findings is available below. Living in a neighbourhoods designed in such a way to encourage walking is linked […]
L’industrie pétrolière et la pollution par l’ozone en hiver
Une nouvelle étude décrit le mécanisme par lequel la pollution par l’ozone au sol atteint son maximum pendant l’hiver dans les régions de production du pétrole et de gaz naturel. La pollution hivernale par l’ozone est difficile à expliquer, car c’est normalement la lumière du soleil estival qui déclenche une série de réactions chimiques qui […]
Oil industries and winter ozone pollution
A new study explains the mechanism by which ground-level ozone pollution peaks during winter in oil and gas producing regions. Winter ozone pollution is hard to explain because the summer sunlight is normally needed to spark the chemical reactions that create ground-level ozone. The authors analyzed the chemical reactions happening in the atmosphere during winter in […]
De l’origine des papillons monarques
Les papillons monarques sont apparus et ont pris de l’expansion à partir de l’Amérique du Nord il y a 20 000 ans à la fin du dernier maximum glaciaire révèle une nouvelle étude. Les auteurs ont séquencé le génome de 101 papillons monarques d’un peu partout ans le monde afin de mieux comprendre la génétique […]
On the origins of the monarch butterfly
Monarch butterflies originated in North America 20,000 years ago at the end of the last glacial maximum before dispersing out to locations around the world, a new study shows. The authors sequenced the whole genome of 101 monarch butterflies from around the world to better understand the genetic basis of its migration patterns. The researchers […]
Comment les chimpanzés apprennent les uns des autres
Une nouvelle étude montre comment des chimpanzédoses apprennent à utiliser un nouvel outil en observant les autres chimpanzés. Des chercheurs ont observé des chimpanzés en Ouganda imiter un chimpanzé qui venait de commencer à utiliser des feuilles et de la mousse comme éponge pour boire. Ils ont aussi effectué des simulations informatiques et concluent qu’un […]
Roots of culture: How chimps learn from each other
It’s long been suspected that tool use in chimps is passed on socially, but a new study catches them in the act and puts a number on the impact. Researchers observing chimps in Uganda noticed that when one adult male discovered a new way of using leaves and moss to soak up water for drinking, […]
Énergie solaire : des nano-antennes à la rescousse
Des chercheurs ont créé des nano-antennes en or capable de concentrer de la lumière afin d’augmenter l’efficience de cellules solaires par 10 %. Ces nouvelles antennes utilisent une quantité minime d’or et le processus pour les fabriquer est simple et peu coûteux. Cette technologie pourrait permettre d’augmenter à peu de coûts l’efficience de l’énergie […]
Gold nanoparticle ‘antennae’ could boost solar cell performance
Researchers have created tiny gold antennae that gather and concentrate light in order to increase the efficiency of solar cells by up to ten per cent. Solar cells often don’t absorb very well in the red or infrared part of the solar spectrum. Previous researchers have tried to use gold nanoparticles – which do capture and […]
DNA signature in ice storm babies
A new study has detected a distinctive ‘signature’ in the DNA of children born in the aftermath of the 1998 Quebec ice storm. Five months after the 1998 Quebec ice storm, researchers recruited women who had been pregnant during the disaster and assessed their degrees of distress in a study called Project Ice Storm. Fifteen […]
Une signature ADN chez les bébés nés juste après la crise du verglas
Une nouvelle étude montre que les enfants nés dans les mois qui ont suivi la crise du verglas en 1998 ont une signature ADN distinctive. Cinq mois après la crise du verglas, des chercheurs montréalais ont recruté des femmes qui étaient enceintes pendant la tempête et ont évalué leur niveau de détresse dans le cadre […]
New “punk-rock” armoured dinosaur species described
Researchers have discovered a new species of ankylosaur in New Mexico that is related to others found in Alberta. The new species is called Ziapelta sanjuanensis and sports unusually tall spikes on the cervical half ring, a structure like a yoke of bone sitting over the neck, which looks a bit like a punk-rock collar. […]
The highs and lows of marijuana use
A new study helps explain why the same drug can have opposite effects at different doses. Using a drug that binds to cannabinoid receptors in the brain – the same ones that are activated by cannabis – researchers showed the precise pathway by which low doses stimulate the brain’s dopamine system, which can lead to […]
David vs. Goliath: How small birds compete
One might think that larger birds invariably win fights with smaller ones, but a new study explains why that is not always the case. Researchers studied vultures at carcasses, hummingbirds at nectar sources, as well as antbirds and woodcreepers at army ant swarms to discover that some small birds have evolved ways to beat their opponents. […]
SMCC in the news
The Agenda with Steve Paikin, a current affairs television program on TVO, recently featured a panel of experts to discuss the importance of science literacy in Canada. The Science Media Centre of Canada’s Executive Director, Penny Park, was included in the panel. The Agenda has additionally created an online quiz (available here) for viewers to test how scientifically […]
