Specimens, including turtle skulls likely dating back more than 70 million years, uncover the earliest days of paleontology in Alberta
A stash of rediscovered dinosaur bones wrapped in century-old newspapers is set to reveal two pasts: one set in the 1920s and the University of Alberta’s earliest paleontology, the other some 70 million years ago. “It’s always a surprise to find these bones that have been sitting in the ground for millions of years, but…
Calls for rigorous research to determine if short-term medical use in children is safe
Pediatric researchers are calling for more rigorous research into the possible link between short-term opioid use for pain management in childhood and opioid use disorder later in life. The University of Alberta team reviewed the results of 21 previous studies but found no definitive answer to the question, according to a new study published this week in…
BIPoC Outside works to increase inclusion of under-represented groups in outdoor recreation
“What? You mean I can produce a podcast for my master’s degree?” Native studies student Kris Cromwell had a great idea for a series of podcast interviews highlighting contributions BIPOC people (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) are making to increase inclusion in outdoor sports and recreation. But she didn’t see how she could find…
Alberta invests $55.1M to taking vaccines, antiviral drugs from discovery to manufacturing
Alberta is building a better pipeline, but this one’s not for oil and gas products – it’s for vaccines and therapeutic drugs to fight viral diseases. The province announced a $55.1-million grant on Wednesday for University of Alberta research on ways to prevent and treat COVID-19, including $15 million for vaccine projects and $10 million for studies…
With an interest in public policy, Jesse Lafontaine aims to increase Indigenous representation in medicine
Beyond the shared surname, the parallels are striking between the U of A’s newest Rhodes Scholar, Jesse Lafontaine, and Alika Lafontaine, the first Indigenous president-elect of the Canadian Medical Association. No, they’re not related. But Alika founded the national Indigenous Health Alliance, a health transformation project involving 150 First Nations and several national health organizations. As a…
$27M from Alberta government goes to research in health, energy, environment, agriculture and astrophysics
An investment of $27 million from the Alberta government will significantly boost research capacity and lead to innovations across the sciences at the University of Alberta. The provincial government announced recently that a four-year investment through its Research Capacity Program will be used to upgrade or create new facilities and infrastructure for 11 research projects.…
Manufactures atom-scale circuits that are faster and use far less energy
The discovery that silicon could be used to make transistors smaller and more efficient in the late 1950s led to the invention of the integrated circuit – the basis for computers, cellphones and just about every other electrical device in use today – and signalled the dawn of the largest, most complex industry history has…
Speeds up search to observe collisions in first hours when scientists can learn most
University of Alberta physicists have created a new, simpler way to model collisions between neutron stars. The model will enable scientists to predict the brightness of early neutron star mergers more reliably than before – allowing telescopes to gain more information from these events. “Studying the light and electromagnetic waves emitted from these collisions allows…
Rhea Clyman was the first western journalist to expose the forced famine that killed millions in Ukraine
She’s considered the first western journalist to expose the Soviet famine-genocide that killed millions of Ukrainians in the early 1930s. But although Rhea Clyman sent numerous accounts of Soviet and Nazi atrocities to North American newspapers as a foreign correspondent, she was soon largely forgotten. That is, until four years ago, when Jars Balan, director…
The world’s eight most extreme wildfire weather years have occurred in the last decade, according to a new study that suggests extreme fire weather is being driven by a decrease in atmospheric humidity coupled with rising temperatures. “Extreme conditions drive the world’s fire activity,” said former University of Alberta wildfire expert Michael Flannigan, who conducted…
A stash of rediscovered dinosaur bones wrapped in century-old newspapers is set to reveal two pasts: one set in the 1920s and the University of Alberta’s earliest paleontology, the other some 70 million years ago. “It’s always a surprise to find these bones that have been sitting in the ground for millions of years, but…
