Alors que les articles scientifiques sont archivés dans des bases de données en ligne, les données brutes à l’origine de ces articles ne le sont pas. Des données brutes manquantes peuvent devenir un problème majeur lorsqu’un autre chercheur tente de reproduire les travaux d’un collègue. Une nouvelle étude montre qu’à chaque année, les chances de […]
Posts by SMCCadmin (SMCCadmin)
Les femmes enceintes prenant des antidépresseurs n’ont pas plus de risque d’avoir des enfants autistes
Une nouvelle étude n’a pas trouvé de lien entre la prise d’antidépresseurs par des femmes enceintes et des troubles du spectre autistique chez les enfants. Des chercheurs ont suivi plus de 626 000 femmes enceintes au Danemark entre 1996 et 2005. Ils ont étudié les liens entre l’autisme chez les enfants et la prise par […]
Sea lice have unexpected effect on chum salmon
Fisheries data from British Columbia show that when sea lice infest populations of pink and coho salmon, their productivity suffers. Surprisingly, this correlation is not present for chum salmon, which are less popular among predators. A new study uses mathematical models to explore one possible explanation: by slowing down all species, sea lice provide predators […]
Migratory birds don’t track weather
Why do birds fly south in the winter? It’s not to escape the cold: a new study shows that migratory birds actually experience a wide range of climates over the course of the year despite their long journeys. The authors suggest that the relative lack of species diversity in places like Canada is not because […]
Why do we take our medical advice from celebrities?
When it comes to medicine, the power of persuasion exerted by celebrities can be used for good (e.g. raising money for disease research) or ill (e.g. promoting dubious treatments.) A new review study explores the many reasons why we follow celebrity advice, including classical conditioning, herd mentality, a desire to raise one’s own social status […]
Les oiseaux ne migrent pas à cause de la température
Pourquoi certains oiseaux migrent-ils vers le sud pendant l’hiver? Ce ne serait pas pour échapper au froid selon une nouvelle étude. Celle-ci montre que les oiseaux migrateurs passent à travers une diversité de climat au cours d’une même année. Les auteurs estiment plutôt que le nombre restreint d’espèces au Canada est causé par le fait […]
L’effet imprévu du pou de mer sur le saumon kéta
Les données de pêches de Colombie-Britannique montrent que le pou de mer fait diminuer la productivité des des populations de saumons roses et de saumons coho. Toutefois, la corrélation ne tient pas pour le saumon kéta qui est moins populaire chez les prédateurs. Une nouvelle étude utilisant des modèles mathématiques offre une explication : le […]
Pourquoi écoutons-nous les conseils médicaux des célébrités?
Quand certaines célébrités prodiguent des conseils médicaux, cela peut avoir un effet positif (comme quand elles incitent la population à donner pour de la recherche médicale) ou un effet négatif (en faisant la promotion de produits douteux). Une nouvelle revue de la littérature identifie pourquoi nous sommes enclins à faire confiance aux conseils médicaux de […]
Parasitic wasps fight cabbage pests
The larvae of the invasive Diamondback Moth are a major pest of garden plants like cabbage and broccoli and have become resistant to many pesticides. One alternative is biological control: parasitic wasps lay eggs in the caterpillars which hatch into larvae that devour the caterpillars from the inside. A new paper by a Canadian high […]
Women underrepresented in scientific publications
A new analysis of thousands of papers published between 2008 and 2012 shows that women are still underrepresented in authorship of scientific papers. Women account for less 30% of authorships, and articles with women as a dominant author receive fewer citations. The researchers also found that Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Quebec were the Canadian provinces […]
Mating has costs for male ladybugs
The toll of raising young on females is well-documented, but a new study looks at the less well-understood costs mating poses to males. Males of the two-spot ladybird beetle (Adalia bipunctata) who had mated had 53% shorter life spans than those who hadn’t. As well, males who produced a spermatophore – a capsule containing sperm […]
Science: Popular on Twitter
Scientists normally use the number of citations to rank the impact of a scientific paper, but can popularity on Twitter form another metric? Researchers looked at over 1.4 million peer-reviewed articles published between 2010 and 2012 and determined how many times they were tweeted. They found that articles on health topics were tweeted the most, […]
Cancer treatment costs on the rise
A new study of tens of thousands of Ontario cancer patients has shown that the average health care costs in the first year after diagnosis have risen by 50 per cent for lung and prostate cancers, doubled for breast and colorectal cancer and tripled for melanoma over the last ten years. Part of the explanation […]
A new greenhouse gas?
Perfluorotributylamine is a non-reactive, long-lived substance that is used as a solvent and a heat transfer fluid in some specialized industries. A new study shows that it’s also a powerful greenhouse gas, producing as much warming as 7100 molecules of CO2 over a 100-year timeframe. Even though its concentration in the atmosphere is tiny (0.18 […]
Ocean Sciences in Canada | Webinar recording
Ocean Sciences in Canada – November 6, 2013 Canada is bordered by three oceans and boasts more coastline than any other country. Oceans have shaped our history and our economy, but do we have the tools we need to address current and future issues in ocean science research in an era of unprecedented change? Can […]
IPCC 5th Assessment, Working Group I – The Physical Science of Climate Change | Webinar recording
IPCC 5th Assessment, Working Group I – The Physical Science of Climate Change – September 27, 2013 The summary for policy makers from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was released on Friday September 27 morning at a meeting in Stockholm. In it, scientists present the latest assessment on the science of global climate […]