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 […]
Peter Calamai, 1943–2019
Peter Calamai, the founder, along with Penny Park (who died last month) of the Science Media Centre of Canada, died yesterday morning at his home in Stratford. Peter was a journalist’s journalist: curmudgeonly, dogged, determined, demanding. He was an old-fashioned, ink-stained newshound. He began as a dashing young foreign correspondent for the old Southam News in […]
Standard medication for newborns exposed to opioids during pregnancy may be least effective
JAMA Pediatrics Published January 22, 2019 11:00 ET (News release from JAMA Pediatrics) The number of newborns born addicted to opioids because of exposure in the womb tripled in Canada between 2003 and 2014. This study analyzed results from 18 clinical trials to treat newborns for opioid withdrawal, a condition called newborn abstinence syndrome. Researchers found […]
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>
Dopamine directly affects how much we enjoy music
PNAS Published January 21 Dopamine directly increases our enjoyment of listening, singing, or playing to music, which confer no known survival advantage. This double blind within-subject study directly manipulated healthy participants’ dopamine levels while they listened to music. The results indicate how an individual’s ability to absorb dopamine may play different, unforeseen roles in the […]
Antibiotics still routinely prescribed for infants with viral lung infections
Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society Published January 17, 2019 00:15 ET (News release from Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society) Despite recommendations issued more than a decade ago, antibiotics are still routinely prescribed in U.S. emergency rooms for infants with bronchiolitis, an acute viral infection of the lower respiratory tract. The American Academy of Pediatrics 2006 guidelines […]
Burgess Shale: Mysterious agnostids find a family
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Published January 16, 2019 (Brief from the Royal Society) Newly discovered 508-million-year-old fossils from the Burgess Shale preserving the soft tissues of mysterious, extinct arthropods called agnostids reveal appendages and internal organs for the first time in adult individuals. Based on this new information, researchers conclude that agnostids are […]
Burgess Shale: Trace fossils found on ancient soft-tissue shells
Royal Society Open Science Published January 16, 2019 (Brief from the Royal Society) For more than a century, British Columbia’s 508-million-year-old Burgess Shale deposits were thought to be mostly devoid of trace fossils – the tracks, trails and burrows produced by animals. However, in this study, researchers used a novel, modelling approach to show that some fossil […]
Immediate fossil fuel infrastructure phase-out may keep global warming below 1.5° C
Nature Communications Published January 15, 2019 11:00 ET (News release from Nature Research Press) Immediately starting to phase out fossil fuel infrastructure as it reaches the end of its expected lifetime may result in a 64 per cent chance that global mean temperature rise will remain below 1.5° C relative to pre-industrial levels. The research suggests […]
Blood stem-cell transplant to delay MS progression
JAMA: preliminary communication; original investigation; editorial Published January 15, 2019 11:00 ET (News release from JAMA) Researchers compared the effect of a stem cell transplant using a lower-dose, short course of more tolerable immune-specific chemotherapy and antibodies to suppress the immune system versus continuing disease-modifying therapy in 110 patients with relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis. The stem cell transplant performed better than continued drug therapy for patients […]