The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is located in South-eastern Europe on the Balkan Peninsula. The anti-vaccine movement is not only present in Canada and in the United States, but also in many other countries. Now, a measles epidemic is ongoing in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the anti-vaccine movement has contributed in part […]
Ontario’s life sciences organizations generates $40 billion in annual revenue
Ontario life science industries play a big role in the provincial economy. Companies in the agricultural, pharmaceutical, medical equipment and medical research sectors employ around 83,000 people in Ontario and generates near $40 billion in annual revenues, a new report from Life Sciences Ontario (LSO) shows. However, challenges still needs to be addressed such as the […]
Human activity linked to blue-green algaes bloom in lakes since 1945
Human activity is the primary cause of blue-green algae bloom in lakes in Canada and across the world since 1945, a new study shows. Researchers have found that blooms of one type of harmful algae, called cyanobacteria or blue-green algae, have increased disproportionately over the past two centuries relative to other species, with the greatest […]
How often do you catch the flu?
Adults only catch the flu about twice every 10 years, according to a new study. The researchers looked at antibody levels in 150 people from Southern China against nine influenza strains from 1968 to 2009. They found that while children get flu on average every other year, infections become less frequent as people get older. […]
Prestigious science award for women goes to UofT professor
Molly S. Shoichet, a professor of chemical engineering from the University of Toronto, has won the 2015 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards for North Americ. Dr.Shoichet received the award “for her pioneering work on the regeneration of nerve tissue and for the development of a new method to deliver drugs to the spinal cord […]
Rent supplements help homeless people, but only part of solution
Offering supportive housing using rent supplements and case management services helped homeless adults with mental illness stay housed, a new study shows. However, these additional services did not improve their quality of life determined by a health questionnaire assessing mobility, pain, anxiety/depression and self-care. Researchers followed 1,198 homeless adults with mental illnesses in Vancouver, Winnipeg, […]
Pollinator-recognition in plants
Researchers have shown that a plant can discriminate among its pollinators. The plant, Heliconia tortuosa, produced 5.7 times as much pollen when it was visited by particular species of hummingbirds than other species or insects. The researchers suggest this ability enables the plant to maximize its reproductive strategy as the favoured hummingbirds travel greater distances, […]
Changing when stars were formed
A galaxy from the early universe is providing new insight on the formation of stars. Researchers have found one of the youngest and most remote galaxies, estimated to have formed when the Universe was approximately 700 million years old. The astronomers believe the galaxy has either been consistently forming stars at a moderate rate since […]
Bumblebees may have false memories
People are known to have false memories where they remember experiences that never occurred. Can these errors also occur in animals? Researchers have found that bumblebees may be capable of creating false memories. The researchers made this observation by training bumblebees to expect a reward from either a solid coloured flower or a patterned one. […]
Machine intelligence beats classic video games
A new artificial intelligence program learned how to play 49 classic arcade video games (such as Pong, Breakout, Space Invaders and Asteroids) when given only minimal information, a new study shows. The program was able to surpass the performance of all previous algorithms and outperformed a professional human games tester in a majority of the […]
Boreal hard water lakes could become carbon sink
Hard water lakes such as the Buffalo Pound Lake in Saskatchewan, are common in the Prairie provinces. Boreal lakes normally emit greenhouse gases with the breakdown of organic matter. New research shows that atmospheric warming could transform these lakes into carbon sinks. This study contradicts the general assumption that global warming will invariably increase CO2 emissions from […]
Can just a phone call a week help minimize postpartum depression?
A study of mothers in New Brunswick found that phone conversations with helpful peers can diminish postpartum depression (PPD). Researchers in New Brunswick provided peer support through weekly phone calls to 64 mothers suffering from moderate PPD for several months. At the beginning of the experiment all 64 of the mothers were moderately depressed, yet by […]
A mothers heartbeat, even a digital version, may help premature infants development
Babies born prematurely show an increase in growth in the brain’s auditory cortex when recordings of their mother’s voice and heartbeat are played. The auditory cortex in utero is thought to be important for the development of vocal communication as well as providing the ability to interpret and remember speech. Researchers played recordings of a […]
Volcanic metals hitch a ride on bubbles from Earth’s crust
During a volcanic eruption, massive amounts of sulphur are released into the earth’s atmosphere. Now a new study has looked at the source of the sulphur and its movement. The research focused on molten rock known as magma which exists deep within the Earth’s crust. This magma contains what is known as ‘sulphide melts’ – […]
A sauna in every house
Men who routinely take saunas are at less risk of dying from sudden cardiac death and other fatal cardiovascular diseases a new study shows. Researchers followed a group of 2,315 middle-aged men (42 to 60 years old) in Finland and found that men who used the sauna two to three times per week had a 24 per […]
Happy? Your dog knows it
Dogs can tell the difference between happy and angry human faces, a new study shows. Researchers taught 11 dogs to discriminate between happy and angry human faces, and then tested them showing only half of the faces, mixing new faces and masking the teeth. The authors conclude that dogs can discriminate between human’s emotional expressions, […]