|
|
|
|
|
|
In Case You Missed It
 Climate change to shrink economies of rich, poor, hot and cold countries alike – including Canada
National Bureau of Economic Research
Published August 2019
Despite claims that Canada will benefit economically from global temperature increase, this report provides evidence that Canada would lose over 13 per cent of its income by 2100 iff business-as-usual carbon emissions continued. Keeping within the Paris Agreement targets would limit GDP losses to under two per cent. Read more>
Lead author: Matthew Kahn, Johns Hopkins University - mkahn10@jhu.edu
Preventative artery repair provides major benefit after heart attack
New England Journal of Medicine
Published September 1, 2019
Opening all clogged arteries with stents after a serious heart attack instead of opening only the single clogged artery that caused the heart attack reduces the patient's risk of dying or having a recurrent heart attack by 26 per cent. Read more>
Lead author: Shamir Mehta, McMaster University - smehta@mcmaster.ca
Teen birth control use linked to depression risk in adulthood
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Published August 28, 2019
Researchers found teenage birth control pill users were 1.7– 3 times more likely to become clinically depressed in adulthood, compared to women who started taking birth control pills as adults and to women who had never taken birth control pills. Read more>
Lead author: Christine Anderl, University of British Columbia - anderl@psych.ubc.ca
Earth's fingerprint to help in search for habitable planets
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Published August 28, 2019
Astronomers have assembled a “fingerprint” for Earth’s atmosphere in infrared light, which could help them identify planets beyond our Solar System capable of supporting life. Read more>
Corresponding authors: Evelyn Macdonald, McGill University - evelyn.macdonald@mail.mcgill.ca; Nicolas Cowan, McGill University - nicolas.cowan@mcgill.ca
Helium trapped in diamonds yields insight into primordial Earth
Science
Published August 16, 2019
For the first time, researchers have examined helium isotopes in fluids trapped within diamonds from deep below Earth’s surface, gaining a new window into the inner planet's formation and composition. Read more>
Lead author: Suzette Timmerman, University of Alberta - suzette.timmerman@anu.edu.au
All habitat types important to salmon and other fish in the Fraser estuary
Marine Ecology Progress Series
Published August 29, 2019
Fraser River estuary eelgrass beds support three quarters of the estuary’s fish catch and 80 per cent of fish diversity from spring to fall. However, two-thirds of Fraser River salmon were caught in marsh habitat, and the Chinook that rear in the estuary especially favoured marsh. Fraser River fish-conservation efforts need to protect all habitat types in the estuary. Read more>
Lead author: Lia Chalifour, University of Victoria - lia.chalifour@gmail.com
Humans and extreme climate change push mammals to extinction
PNAS
Published September 2, 2019
Using historical records from the past 300 years, researchers found that local extinction of mammals increased with intensified human disturbance – affecting large-sized mammals most – and with both extreme temperature cooling and warming.
Canadian co-author: Fangliang He, University of Alberta - fhe@ualberta.ca
It takes a community to lower cardiovascular risk
The Lancet
Published September 2, 2019
Concerted effort by friends, family and non-physician health workers can make a dramatic difference in reducing the risk factors for heart problems in patients with hypertension. Read more>
Lead author: Jon-David Schwalm, McMaster University - schwalj@mcmaster.ca
Land-use program fosters white-tailed deer populations
Journal of Environmental Management
Published October 15, 2019
The Conservation Reserve Program has resulted in increases in populations of white-tailed deer, other mammals and birds on sensitive lands converted from agriculture in North Dakota, where the program began piloting in 1985. Water, soil and air quality improved, pollination increased, and fewer pest infestations occurred. Read more>
Lead author: Mariana Nagy-Reis, University of Alberta - nagy.reis@ualberta.com
Who tokes, pokes or snorts the most? Wastewater reveals drug use patterns in five Canadian cities
Statistics Canada
Published August 26, 2019
Wastewater samples collected in five large Canadian cities over a year reveal residents’ drug-use patterns. Montréal and Halifax showed higher loads of cannabis traces in wastewater, while Edmonton and Vancouver samples indicated higher methamphetamine use. Monthly cocaine traces suggest slightly higher summertime cocaine use.
Authors: Andrew Brennan, Stats Can, Ottawa - andrew.brennan@canada.ca; Tim Werschler, Stats Can, Ottawa - tim.werschler@canada.ca
Wherever you go, whomever you're with, there you are: Relationship patterns persist across partners
Journal of Family Psychology
Published September 2019
Once the honeymoon phase of a new relationship ends, people experience the same dynamics in the partnership as in past broken relationships, according to this eight-year study of 554 adults. Read more>
Lead author: Matthew Johnson, University of Alberta - matt.johnson@ualberta.ca
Researchers uncover why fracking triggers earthquakes
Science Advances
Published August 28, 2019
A new model reveals how fracking-induced earthquakes develop in regions that don’t normally experience tremors. Injecting fracking fluids into the ground to extract oil and gas can lead to a gradual, unfelt slow slip on a nearby fault, which eventually can transfer strain to another section of the fault, causing it to slip suddenly — producing an earthquake. Read more>
Lead author: Thomas Eyre, University of Calgary - thomas.eyre@ucalgary.ca
Ancient die-off greater than the dinosaur extinction
PNAS
Published August 27, 2019
Geochemical signatures in 2.05-billion-year-old Hudson Bay rocks reveal a previously unknown mass extinction event more extensive than the end of the dinosaurs. The older event involved the microorganisms that shaped the Earth's atmosphere that made the evolution of larger, complex animals possible. Read more>
Lead author: Malcolm Hodgskiss, Stanford University, California - mswh@stanford.edu
Newly discovered Labrador fossils give clues about ancient climate
Paleontology
Published August 2, 2019
Fossil leaves and insects found in Labrador prove Eastern Canada was warm, humid and temperate during the mid-Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Read more>
Lead author: Alexandre Demers-Potvin, McGill University - alexandre.demers-potvin@mail.mcgill.ca
Breast cancer risks form menopausal hormone therapy persist for years
The Lancet
Published August 29, 2019
This international study used data from more than 100,000 women with breast cancer from 58 epidemiological studies worldwide to confirm menopausal hormone therapy increases breast cancer risk. The data demonstrate the increased risk persists for more than a decade after hormone therapy stops. Read more>
Commentary
Canadian co-authors: Yang Mao, Canadian Cancer Registries Epidemiology Research Group - Yang_Mao@ hc-sc.gc.ca; and others; Commentary lead author: Joanne Kotsopoulos, Women's College Hospital, Toronto - joanne.kotsopoulos@wchospital.ca
Gender pay gap closes for PhD grads
Higher Education Policy
Published August 23, 2019
In a first-ever study of recent graduates and gender pay equity, researchers found the higher the level of education upon graduation, the smaller the gender pay gap. The study revealed the average wage for recent PhD grads is the same for men and women. Read more>
Lead author: Anthony Jehn, University of Guelph (now at Western University) - ajehn2@uwo.ca
|
|
News Tips
Finding Common Ground: Six steps for tackling climate change and biodiversity loss in Canada
CPAWS
Published August 23, 2019
Report provides a high-level roadmap for policy makers to harness ecosystem conservation and deliver win-win climate and biodiversity benefits by 2030. Read more>
More information: Florence Daviet, CPAWS - fdaviet@cpaws.org
|
|
Of Interest
Facts aren't enough to change beliefs about climate change mitigation
Canadian report from the Digital Democracy Project
Published August 29, 2019
Even if Canadians are provided with correct information about the facts that underpin policy issues, it likely won't influence their beliefs about the policies needed to address those facts. Read the summary>
Covering Climate Now signs over 170 news outlets
Columbia Journalism Review
August 28, 2019
More than 170 news outlets from around the world have signed up for Covering Climate Now, a project that aims to strengthen the media’s focus on the climate crisis. The outlets commit to running a week’s worth of climate coverage in the lead-up to the U.N. Climate Action summit in New York on September 23. Canadian outlets include: The Toronto Star, Maclean’s, The National Observer, TVO, The Tyee, and Corporate Knights.
Whatever our background, negative news gets our attention
PNAS
Published September 2, 2019
News coverage of current affairs is predominantly negative, and the results of this study suggest that, around the world, negative news reports trigger greater physiological response and attention in the average person than positive news stories do. However, great variation across individuals occurs, leading the researchers to caution that, in diversified media environments, news producers should not underestimate their audiences' interest in positive news.
Canadian co-author: Patrick Fournier, Université de Montréal - patrick.fournier@umontreal.ca
Job opening: Communications Officer, Dalhousie University Science
Application deadline: September 6, 2019
Information>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
