Cell Host & Microbe Published February 13, 2019 (News release from Cell Press) A large-scale analysis in humans reveals that indirect breastfeeding using pumped milk is linked to depletion of oral bacteria and a higher abundance of potential pathogens, compared with direct breastfeeding at the breast. The findings suggest that milk microbiota is affected by bacteria […]
City heat: Contemporary climate comparisons for North American cities in 2080 
Nature Communications Published February 12, 2019 11:00 ET (News release from Nature Research Press) If emissions continue to rise throughout the 21st century, the climate in 540 North American cities – including 10 Canadian cities – will become, on average, most like the climate found today in locations 850 kilometres away and generally to the south by […]
February 12, 2019 | SMCC Heads Up
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>
Gender diversity improvements at top US, UK, and Canadian universities fail to match promises
The Lancet special issue Published February 7, 2019 18:30 ET (News release from The Lancet) This analysis of the 15 highest-ranked social sciences and public health universities in the U.S., U.K. and Canada show gender and ethnic disparities remain at senior academic levels, despite diversity policies and action plans. Lead author: Helena Legido-Quigley, London School of […]
Gender gaps in research funding are due to less favorable assessment of women, not their science
The Lancet special issue Published February 7, 2019 18:30 ET (News release from The Lancet) Analysis of nearly 24,000 grant applications at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research finds that women are less successful in receiving funding when reviewers are explicitly asked to review the principal investigator, rather than when they are asked to assess the […]
Effects of teen motherhood last generations
PLOS One Published February 6, 2018 14:00 ET (News release from PLOS) In a study that linked population data, province-wide kindergarten assessment scores, and Canadian Census data, researchers found that 36 per cent of kids whose grandmothers had been adolescent mothers were not developmentally ready for school Lead author: Elizabeth Wall-Wieler, Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, […]
Crop diversity increased over the last 60 years
PLOS One Published February 6, 2019 14:00 ET Data from the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization provides evidence that the 1970s–80s marked a widespread period of major increases in diversity of crops grown in nearly all regions of the world. However, while regional differences in crop species pools persist, a trend towards greater homogeneity in the […]
Fins into feathers: Salmon nutrients support forest birds
PLOS One Published February 6, 2019 14:00 ET Marine-derived nutrients from Pacific salmon are transferred to streams and riparian forests through diverse food web pathways. Researchers quantified the influence of salmon on the abundance and composition of songbird communities across a wide range of salmon-spawning biomass on 14 streams along a remote coastal region of British […]
Climate impacts of melting ice sheets refined
Nature Published February 6, 2019 13:00 ET (News release from Nature Research Press) Researchers used satellite measurements of recent ice-mass changes to refine simulations of the melting Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets and the potential impacts on climate. They find that, within a few decades, increasing meltwater will slow the major ocean currents, climate variability may […]
Human hunger for meat pushing biggest animals to extinction
Conservation Letters Published February 6, 2019 10:00 ET (News release from Oregan State University) At least 200 species of large animals are decreasing in number and more than 150 are facing threat of extinction. Minimizing the direct killing of large vertebrate animals is an important conservation tactic that might save many of these iconic species as […]
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, […]
Fatigue, weakness and short of breath – Barriers that prevent dialysis patients from exercising
Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology Published January 29, 2019 17:00 ET (News release from American Society of Nephrology) Researchers surveyed 423 patients with end-stage kidney disease who were undergoing dialysis and identified the barriers that make it difficult for these patients to exercise. Major barriers for the remaining patients included fatigue, feeling weak, […]
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>
New tumour test could guide personalized treatment for children with cancer
JNCI Cancer Spectrum Published January 23, 2019 12:00 ET (News release from the University of British Columbia) A new test for pediatric tumour analysis may one day guide personalized treatments for children with cancer. Researchers analyzed 28 childhood tumour samples from nine cancer types. The test found more mutations per sample compared with tests used […]
