City heat | Food poisoning prospects | Breast-pump microbiome | February 12, 2019 | SMCC Heads Up – Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
Category: Heads Up
February 5, 2019 | SMCC Heads Up 
Salmon for the birds | Crop diversity | Melting ice sheets | February 5, 2019 | SMCC Heads Up – Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
Sea stars wiped out by disease and abnormally warm waters
Science Advances Published January 30, 2019 14:00 ET (News release from Science Advances) From California to British Columbia, sunflower starfish – an important predator in the Northeast Pacific – declined dramatically in both nearshore and deep waters from 2013 to 2015. Both the sea star wasting disease that ravaged the waters of the Northeast Pacific and […]
Timeline of Denisova Cave occupation revealed
Nature Published January 30, 2019 13:00 ET The Denisovans were a hominin species whose fossils are known only from a few bones and teeth found in Denisova Cave, Siberia. In one of two related papers, researchers present 50 new radiocarbon dates from the site, and describe three new Denisovan fossil fragments. Based on the oldest fossil, […]
SMCC Heads Up | January 29, 2019
Sea-star decline | New Denovisan fossils | Exercise barriers | SMCC Heads Up | January 29, 2019 Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
SMCC Heads Up | January 22, 2019
Baby addiction | New child-cancer test | Dopamine & music | SMCC Heads Up | January 22, 2019. Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
SMCC Heads Up | January 15, 2019
Phase out fossil fuels | Stem-cell fix for MS | Burgess Shale | SMCC Heads Up | January 15, 2019. Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
Heads Up | January 8, 2019
Swallow migration timing | Universe calling (by radio) | Not-quite-so-cool white dwarfs | SMCC Heads Up. Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
SMCC Heads Up | December 18, 2018
Massive-mushroom mutations | Fins-to-limb family tree | Testing “spooky action” | SMCC Heads Up. Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
SMCC Heads Up | December 11, 2018
Wind pollination | Clean-water device | Invasive tick | SMCC Heads Up – Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
Mapping inheritance of rare genetic disease in French Canadians
American Journal of Human Genetics Published December 6, 2018 This study presents an efficient method to infer transmission paths of rare genes through population-scale genealogies. Using a high-quality genealogical dataset of more than three million individuals related to the founding families of Quebec, researchers apply the method to reconstruct the transmission history of a rare recessive-gene […]
Appetite hormone conditions us to crave food when we smell food
Cell Reports Published December 4, 2018 Vulnerability to obesity includes eating in response to food cues, which increase influence through conditioning. Conditioning is largely driven by dopamine, believed to encode the difference between expected and actual rewards. In this study, researchers use fMRI to show a gut-derived hormone that triggers hunger and eating also stimulates dopamine to […]
Economics drives fentanyl’s deadly rise
Addiction Published December 4, 2018 (News release from University of California – San Francisco) Fentanyl likely spread because of heroin and prescription pill shortages, and because it was cheaper for large, illegal-drug producers to create than heroin, according to this report on illicit US drug markets. Because fentanyl is added to the supply higher up the dealer chain […]
SMCC Heads Up | December 4, 2018
$$ drive fentanyl crisis | Tool maps rare genes | Food smells and cravings | SMCC Heads Up – Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
SMCC Heads Up | November 27, 2018
Soil stumps prion disease | Ancient whale’s gummy grin | Benefits of being bacteria friendly | SMCC Heads Up – Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
Probiotics no help to young kids with stomach virus
New England Journal of Medicine: two papers Published November 21, 2018 17:00 ET (News release from Washington University, St. Louis) Children with stomach viruses increasingly are given probiotics to ease vomiting and diarrhea symptoms, but these two studies show that two commonly used probiotic formulas do not improve symptoms. Researchers evalutated the effectiveness of Culturelle (Lactobacillus […]
