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Experts: Effects of Quebec’s school cellphone ban

admin — Fri, 29 May 2026 17:57:04 +0000

A cellphone ban has been in effect in Quebec schools since last fall. As the school year wraps up, these ��Թ� experts are available to comment on the ban’s impact:

Adam Dubé, Associate Professor, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Director, Technology, Learning and Cognition Lab (TLC), specializes in cognitive development and learning technologies. He can discuss the issues surrounding cellphones in schools as they relate to learning.

What an illusion involving a fake hand can tell us about our mind-body connection

admin — Thu, 28 May 2026 15:29:58 +0000

People who have a weaker sense of self are also more likely to have less bodily awareness, ��Թ� researchers have found. The study supports the idea that people’s perceptions of themselves and how they experience their own bodies are deeply connected.

Beyond deepening psychologists’ understanding of “embodied cognition,” the connection between our minds and our fundamental bodily awareness, the findings could have concrete applications regarding the treatment of certain psychiatric conditions, the researchers said.

Experts: Wildfires

admin — Wed, 27 May 2026 14:02:17 +0000

As wildfire season begins, Canada’s federal government has announced the country’s first-ever federally funded reserve of firefighting aircraft that will be used to support provinces and territories. Last year’s wildfire season was Canada’s second-worst on record; it prompted severe air quality alerts across much of the country.

Do lying children grow up to be criminals? Mostly not, study concludes

admin — Wed, 27 May 2026 14:07:21 +0000

Most childhood lying does not lead to serious problems in adulthood, and only certain kinds of lying behaviour is associated with later psychological or legal issues, a new study has found.

“Children do not all follow the same developmental pattern of lying,” said Victoria Talwar, a professor in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and lead author of the study. “Most children in our study showed low or declining levels of lying over time. For most, lying is not a problem behaviour.”

Experts: Skin cancer prevention

admin — Tue, 26 May 2026 14:27:42 +0000

As warmer weather draws more people outdoors, ��Թ� dermatologists are available to speak on sun safety and skin cancer prevention.

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer, and most cases are caused by UV exposure. Most Canadians don’t use sunscreen regularly, or at all, and one in three report having had sunburn in the past year.

Research findings challenge long-held assumptions about how we learn or regain speech

admin — Mon, 25 May 2026 16:06:17 +0000

Learning to speak a new language, or regaining speech, depends more on areas of the brain that process sound and physical sensation than on the parts of the brain that govern motor control, according to new research findings.

The study, by researchers at ��Թ� and the Yale School of Medicine, has implications for speech-learning theory and for the development of speech processing and recognition technologies.

Experts: Google search to prioritize AI

admin — Mon, 25 May 2026 14:51:39 +0000

Google has announced that it has overhauled its search engine to be entirely powered by its Gemini 3.5 Flash artificial intelligence model. Users will no longer be prompted to choose their search mode; instead, the search box will operate more like a conversation, with the option for users to ask follow-up questions. The changes are set to take effect on Tuesday, May 26, 2026.

��Թ� experts are available to discuss this topic.

Historic plant collections offer a window into genetic change

admin — Thu, 21 May 2026 14:10:22 +0000

Pressed plant specimens collected centuries ago and stored in herbaria around the world could play a key role in facilitating the tracking of genetic change and extinction risk in plants, a ��Թ�-led study indicates.

Novel origami pattern turns flat sheets into load-bearing 3D technology

admin — Thu, 21 May 2026 13:58:09 +0000

��Թ� researchers have discovered a new way to fold flat sheets into smooth, curved shells that can switch from floppy and flexible to stiff and load-bearing on demand. By designing a special origami pattern and threading cable-like elements through it, they can control the material’s final three-dimensional shape and how rigid it becomes. The result, a “doubly curved lens box,” could advance the technology of such objects as temporary emergency tents, morphing robots and smart fabrics, the researchers said.

Study finds early complex life lived in oxygenated seas, challenging long‑held views of evolution

admin — Wed, 20 May 2026 15:00:53 +0000

The earliest known eukaryotes, the ancestors of all complex life on Earth, lived in oxygenated, shallow marine environments nearly 1.7 billion years ago, according to a new study led by researchers at ��Թ� and the University of California, Santa Barbara. The findings cast doubt on the long-held belief that early complex life emerged in oxygen-poor environments or floated freely in the open ocean.

Teaching children to be better, more critical internet users

admin — Wed, 20 May 2026 13:40:21 +0000

A digital literacy program for elementary school students designed by researchers at ��Թ� was successful in improving students’ ability to evaluate websites and their content.

Skills targeted included how to search for information, how to identify credible websites, how to evaluate the quality of information sources and how to address conflicting information.

Students’ global performance increased across all skill categories, in most cases by significant margins.

Expert: Ebola outbreak

admin — Tue, 19 May 2026 19:18:45 +0000

Over 100 deaths and more than 500 suspected cases have been reported in the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Director-General of the World Health Organization has expressed deep concern about the “scale and speed of the epidemic.”

A ��Թ� expert is available to comment:

‘Jumping gene’ helps explain elevated pancreatic cancer risk in French-Canadians

admin — Tue, 19 May 2026 14:13:42 +0000

Researchers at ��Թ� have discovered a centuries-old genetic mutation that helps to explain why some French‑Canadians in Quebec are at an elevated risk of pancreatic cancer. Until quite recently, standard genetic tests have not been able to identify this “jumping gene” cause.

The findings, published in the Journal of Medical Genetics, suggest better-targeted genetic testing could help identify people at higher cancer risk who were previously missed.

Expert: Canada aims to double electricity capacity by 2050

admin — Fri, 15 May 2026 16:41:32 +0000

A new national strategy aims to double the capacity of the country’s electricity grid by 2050, Prime Minister Mark Carney said as he announced the plan Thursday.

François Bouffard is an Associate Professor and William Dawson Scholar in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He can discuss grid reliability, electricity demand growth, and the technical challenges of operating and stabilizing a significantly expanded national grid.

��Թ� researchers help secure Canadian access to the world’s largest telescope

admin — Thu, 14 May 2026 18:19:47 +0000

A team led by the Université de Montréal, the Observatoire du Mont‑Mégantic (OMM) and the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (IREx), in partnership with the University of British Columbia and ��Թ�, has been awarded nearly $11.3 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to support Canada’s contribution to ANDES, a flagship scientific instrument for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) under construction in Chile.