In the 1960s, only about three percent of the land in Quebec was suitable for cultivation. The Province’s population and need for food outstripped the yield from Quebec farms. More than half of Quebec’s most fertile lands required improved water management – either better drainage or supplemental irrigation to maximize productivity and yield. Over more than four decades, Emeritus Professor Robert Broughton’s work would revolutionize soil drainage in Quebec, leading to increased food production and capacity in Quebec’s irrigation and drainage industry.
Listen to the story on the season opener of CBC’s Quirks and Quarks.
Prof. Daiva Nielson (SHN) has received funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund (CFI JELF) to establish the Sensometric Lab to investigate what influences human eating behaviour, for example, genetic predispositions, the role of price promotions and advertising, as well as other sensory stimuli, like smell. The lab will be equipped with novel wearable devices to monitor and map the brain’s activity related to eating.
Qian Liu, PhD, an Assistant Professor at McGill University’s Institute of Parasitology, received the award for her project, Single-molecule interactions between Nipah virus and the interferon-induced transmembrane proteins.
Co-authored by Prof. Elena Bennett (#NRSMcGill/#McGillBSE) the Guidebook for the Engaged University gives the academy both a vision and a roadmap to a more impactful future, in which universities, including their scholars and staff, catalyze solutions for the world’s most pressing challenges.
Read more at Beyond the Academy
While there is a lot of trial and error, partnering with larger players may be worth it for the Canadian growers, says Mary Doidge, Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics at McGill University in Montreal. "Companies like Driscoll's that have a little bit more capital might be able to take those risks," she said.
Read the full artilce on CBC.ca
“Jenny is very proactive when it comes to safety in the workplace, always reaching out to ask questions to ensure a safe workplace and building for all,” wrote the Security Services Macdonald team. “Jenny is never afraid to reach out to Security when she sees something unsafe. During an emergency, you can always count on her collaboration and help. Her diligence and dedication to her work has been essential in helping prevent workplace accidents.” Congrats Jenny!
It’s no secret that the internet and social media fuel rampant spread of misinformation in many areas of life. A collective of researchers, including Catherine Scott, Postdoctoral Fellow in McGill University’s Lyman Lab, have explored this phenomenon as it applies to news about spiders. The verdict? Don’t blindly trust anything you read online about these eight-legged arthropods—or anything else for that matter—and always consider the source.
Stéphanie Chevalier, Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in the School of Human Nutrition, directed the team of researchers who have revealed an association between low muscle mass and accelerated cognitive decline in older adults.
Sustainable agricultural practices require considerable investments, and smallholder famers may not realize gains for years. Without secure land tenure, they lack incentive to invest in long-term benefits. Instead, many opt to use the land as intensively as possible each year since they have no guarantee for the future. This is just one example of how land tenure security intersects with sustainable development, a relationship explored in-depth in a recent book co-edited by Brian Robinson, an associate professor in the Department of Geography at McGill University.
Food security is one of the fundamental challenges to sustainability of the 20th century, with approximately 11.7 percent of the global population experiencing extreme food insecurity, according to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022 (SOFI).
McGill undergraduates have a unique opportunity to expand their climate science literacy and acquire tools for taking action to reduce the impacts of the unfolding climate crisis.
Registration is now open to students in every program for FSCI 198: Climate Crisis and Climate Actions, a new undergraduate course featuring a team of multi-disciplinary instructors who will present diverse perspectives on the scientific and social dimensions of climate change.
- Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Faculty of Arts
- Dept. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
- Dept. of Biology
- Dept. of Chemistry
- School of Computer Science
- Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS)
- Faculty of Education
- Faculty of Engineering
- Dept. of Geography
- Faculty of Law
- Dept. of Mathematics and Statistics
- Environment
- Desautels Faculty of Management
- Dept. of Physics
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- Redpath Museum
- Schulich School of Music
- Faculty of Science
Killer whale populations are invading the Arctic, creating major disruptions to an ecosystem already severely impacted by climate change.
Lost Hammer Spring, in Nunavut in Canada’s High Arctic, is one of the coldest and saltiest terrestrial springs discovered to date. The water which travels up through 600 metres of permafrost to the surface is extremely salty (~24% salinity), perennially at sub-zero temperatures (~−5 °C) and contains almost no oxygen (<1ppm dissolved oxygen). The very high salt concentrations keep the Lost Hammer spring from freezing, thus maintaining a liquid water habitat even at sub-zero temperatures.
Anikka Swaby, BSc(NutrSc)'18, MSc (Human Nutrition)'22 is the recipient of the Let's Talk Science National Volunteer Award!
This award recognizes an exceptional volunteer who has shown outstanding innovation, communication and a commitment to STEM education and outreach.
Anikka leveraged her knowledge and expertise as a registered dietician to develop the Good Gut Bacteria kit which has been added to the McGill Let’s Talk Science kit library and has been adapted for multiple symposiums and homeschool workshops.