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>
How sports-related concussions or fractures affect adolescents’ quality of life 
Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics Published January 15, 2019 00:00 ET (News release from Journal of Neurosurgery Publishing Group) In a study of health-related quality of life in young athletes who had experienced a sports-related concussion or sports-related extremity fracture, researchers found that adolescents can experience decreased quality of life after injury. However, the deficits generally do not […]
Nesting latitude resets tree swallows’ migration cycle
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Published January 9, 2019 17:01 ET (Brief from the Royal Society) Tracking 133 migratory tree swallows from Alaska to North Carolina, researchers showed how the latitude at which each bird breeds has lasting, cumulative effects on timing of the bird’s migration and arrival and departure from stopover sites. However, […]
First observed evidence shows evolving white dwarfs cool more slowly than thought
Nature Published January 9, 2019 13:00 ET White dwarfs are stellar embers depleted of nuclear energy sources that cool over billions of years. For the first time, researchers have observed evolving white dwarf stars that cool more slowly than had been previously thought. Their observations and subsequent modelling support the theory that processes within a white […]
Second repeating fast radio burst detected from far reaches of universe
Nature: 2 articles here> and here> Published January 9, 2019 13:00 ET The international research team using the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) radio telescope, in Penticton, B.C., reports a repeating fast radio burst, only the second to be recorded, and one of 13 newly detected bursts. At least seven of these bursts were recorded at 400 […]
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>
Critter confirms early branching on vertebrates’ fins-to-limbs family tree
Royal Society Open Science Published December 19, 2018 17:01 ET (Brief from the Royal Society) Aïstopods are a highly specialized group of eel-like legless early tetrapods, four-legged vertebrates, and diverged from the tetrapod family tree early on. This study reports a jaw believed to belong to an aïstopod that lived some 310 million years ago – […]
Massive fungus shows little mutation over 2,500 years
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Published December 19, 2018 17:01 ET (Brief from the Royal Society) Researchers identified a single individual of the fungus Armillaria gallica that was extremely large – covering hundreds of tree root systems over approximately 75 hectares of forest – and at least 2,500 years old. Using whole-genome sequencing, […]
Alternative to “spooky action at a distance”
Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical and Physical Sciences Published December 19, 2018 17:01 ET (Brief from the Royal Society) The author proposes two ways to test a strange but consistent alternative to standard quantum physics that could refute the “spooky action at a distance” explanation of the standard theory. Causal quantum theory assumes that measurements are […]
Opioids not much better than alternatives for treating chronic non-cancer pain
JAMA Published December 18, 2018 11:00 ET (News releases from JAMA and McMaster University) This study combined the results of 96 randomized clinical trials with about 26,000 participants to compare opioids with placebo and non-opioid alternative pain medications for the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain. Opioids were associated with small improvements in pain and physical functioning but […]
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>
Invasive tick could spread to Canada
Journal of Medical Entomology Published December 13, 2018 (News release from the Entomological Society of America) The Asian longhorned tick, first reported in New Jersey in early 2018, could easily spread into across much of eastern North America and the west coast. Researchers identified the invasive tick’s potential range by comparing North American habitat with the […]
Shimmyin’ stamens permitted rise of wind pollination in flowering plants
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Published December 12, 2018 (Brief from the Royal Society) Most flowering plants depend on animal pollinators for producing fertile seeds, but some have evolved wind pollination, a primitive pollination technique. Researchers identified the mechanism driving this transition by characterizing the required physical changes to flowers for switching to wind […]
Broiler chicken: fossil calling card of the Anthropocene
Royal Society Open Science Published December 12, 201 (Brief from the Royal Society) This study identifies broiler (meat) chickens as a symbolic species of how humans have changed the biosphere. With a worldwide population of over 21 billion, broiler chickens outnumber wild bird species populations. The size and shape of the broiler skeleton, and its bone chemistry […]
No-contact solar system produces clean water
Nature Communication Published December 11, 2018 (News release from Nature Research Press) This new device generates clean water vapour from salty or dirty water using sunlight and a light-absorbing material that does not require contact with water. Instead of heating water directly, the material heats black paint that produces infrared light. Water beneath the device absorbs the […]
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>
