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 […]
Quantum Computing | Webinar recording
Taking the questions out of quantum computing – July 24, 2013 When Blackberry co-founder Mike Lazaridis announced a new $100 million fund for quantum computing technologies in March, discussion re-ignited as to just what a quantum computer will look like. But computers aren’t the only application of quantum mechanics to information. Quantum technologies will change […]
Obesity, weight loss and New Year’s resolutions | Webinar recording
Obesity, weight loss and New Year’s Resolutions – December 4, 2012 As the holidays approach, many of us are running a gauntlet of high-calorie food, from family dinners with extra helpings to sweet-laden tables at company parties. Is it any wonder that weight loss is one of the most common New Year’s resolutions? Yet most […]
Shrinking Arctic sea ice | Webinar recording
Shrinking Arctic sea ice – September 12, 2012 Arctic sea ice is melting faster and more extensively than ever recorded in three decades of satellite measurement – and it’s not done yet. Data released from the National Snow and Ice Data Center says that sea ice area is now less than four million square kilometres – about […]
State of Canada’s Birds | Webinar recording
State of Canada’s Birds – June 26, 2012 There’s nothing more symbolic of Canadian summer than the call of the loon. But is the status of birds in Canada a loon call or a swan song? How are Canada’s over 450 bird species doing? Since the 1970s, birds have undergone an overall decline in numbers, […]
Spotlight Report on Science Learning | Webinar recording
Canadian students excel at science – so why are so few choosing to pursue it? And just how big a problem will that be in tomorrow’s job market? The report “Spotlight on Science Learning”, commissioned by Amgen Canada and Let’s Talk Science, tackles why Canadian students opt out of science, engineering, technology and math (STEM) […]
Royal Society Report on Marine Biodiversity | Webinar recording
Royal Society of Canada Report on Marine Biodiversity – January 31, 2012 Canada has the longest marine coastline of any country in the world, along three of the world’s oceans. Is Canada filling its role as steward and protector of our valuable ocean resources and marine biodiversity? How do we stack up to other nations? And what more […]