Traffic pollution vs autism | Smoking down; vaping up | Probiotics vs stomach bugs | SMCC Heads Up – Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
Adaptation, speciation, and extinction in the Anthropocene 
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Published November 14, 2018 17:01 ET (Brief from the Royal Society) Humans have altered the course of species evolution across the planet. The direction and magnitude of selection has changed to favour organisms that best tolerate human-caused development, harvesting, species introductions, and environmental changes. Species that are large-bodied, specialist, […]
Researchers identify a new superkingdom-level lineage within eukaryotes
Nature Published November 14, 2018 13:00 ET The genetic and evolutionary analyses reported here place Hemimastigophora outside of all established eukaryote supergroups. The researchers argue that, based on the evolutionary distinctiveness of this group, the organisms instead comprise an independent supra-kingdom-level lineage. The researchers also established the first culture of a hemimastigote, which will facilitate future […]
Large babies born to diabetic moms have triple the risk of obesity
Diabetologia Published November 13, 2018 18:00 ET (News release from Diabetologia) New research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes [EASD]) shows that In a study that analysed 81,226 kids born between January 2005 and August 2013 in Alberta, rates of being overweight or obese in childhood were highest in large-at-birth children born […]
Pharmacist-led intervention reduces inappropriate prescriptions for older adults
JAMA Published November 13, 2018 11:00 ET (Summary video from JAMA Network) Pharmacist-led educational interventions help reduce the number of prescriptions for inappropriate medication among older adults. More than 40 per cent of patients receiving educational intervention provided by pharmacists ended inappropriate prescriptions within six months, compared to 12 per cent of patients who received usual care. […]
SMCC Heads Up | November 13, 2018
Large-baby consequences | New super-kingdom | Anthropocene effects | SMCC Heads Up – Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
Humans are preventing the recovery of North Atlantic right whales
Royal Society Open Science Published November 7, 2018 17:01 ET (Brief from the Royal Society) North Atlantic right whales have been declining for about seven years and, at the specie’s peak, numbered less than 500 whales. Researchers show that, even when the numbers of whales were increasing, the death of adult females jeopardized the recovery, and that […]
Shoreline-dwelling sunfish boast bigger brains than open-water kin
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Published November 7, 2018 17:01 ET (Brief from the Royal Society) Just as people find different contexts more or less cognitively challenging, different environments can be more or less challenging for animals. Individuals with greater cognitive abilities tend to have bigger brains. Sunfish individuals that live in the complex […]
Tooth fossils from ancient reptiles reveal how mammals’ teeth evolved to stay in place
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Published November 7, 2018 17:01 ET (Brief from the Royal Society) Mammals are unique in that their teeth are not fused to the jaws, but held in place by a ligament. This ligament suspends the tooth in place and cushions against the forces of chewing. When researchers examined the […]
Rare insight into ornithopod dinosaur tooth evolution
PLOS One Published November 7, 2018 14:00 ET (News release from PLOS) Changchunsaurus parvus, a small herbivorous dinosaur from Cretaceous China, had a unique way of replacing its teeth without disrupting the shearing surface of its teeth rows. The teeth also feature wavy enamel, once thought to have evolved later in the duck-billed dinosaurs. These features may […]
SMCC Heads Up | November 6, 2017
Humans vs Right whales | Shifting climate–salmon relationships | Ancient teeth reveal secrets | SMCC Heads Up – Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
Social cues can push amphibious fish to their thermal limits
Biology Letters PublishedOctober 31, 2018 17:01 EDT (Brief from the Royal Society) Researchers used a tropical, air-breathing fish that routinely leaves the water to avoid stressful situations to determine if social information affected how the fish responded to increasing water temperatures. The fish prioritized social interactions over escape from thermal stress, such that they remained in water […]
Pedestrian deaths increase on Halloween in the U.S.
JAMA Pediatrics Published October 30, 2018 11:00 EDT (News release from JAMA) Using U.S. highway traffic safety data from 1975 to 2016, researchers compared how many pedestrians died in traffic-related accidents the evening of October 31 each year to similar deaths one week earlier and one week later. Six hundred and eight pedestrians died on the 42 Halloween […]
SMCC Heads Up | October 30, 2018
Halloween fatalities | Home toxins | Fish peer pressure | SMCC Heads Up – Embargoed and recently published research with a Canadian focus, curated by SMCC for science journalists. Read more>
Higher levels of previously unsuspected pollutant found in homes, environment
Environmental Science & Technology Published October 30, 2018 01:00 EDT (News release from Indiana University) Scientists found high levels of a previously unsuspected pollutant in homes and in an electronic waste recycling facility in Ontario, and in southwestern Lake Michigan. The chemical, tri(2,4-di-t-butylphenyl) phosphate or TDTBPP, is an organophosphate known to be toxic. People are likely exposed to […]
New tool measures birds’ complex flight dynamics
Published October 24, 2018 17:01 EDT (Brief from Royal Society) A portable stereo-imaging system and algorithms allowed researchers to measure three-dimensional flight trajectories and time-resolved wingbeat frequencies of freely flying birds. When applied to jackdaws and rooks flying alone and in large flocks, the resulting data suggest that flocking, unlike V-formation flight, is energetically costly. Canadian […]
