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Experts: Effects of Quebec’s school cellphone ban

aurelie.boucher@mcgill.ca — Fri, 29 May 2026 17:57:03 +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

aurelie.boucher@mcgill.ca — Wed, 27 May 2026 18:50:19 +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.

Pearl Eliadis on Enshrining a Right to Housing in Quebec

admin — Wed, 27 May 2026 20:51:33 +0000

May 27, 2026 | Pearl Eliadis, chair of the Quebec Homelessness Prevention Collaborative's legislative reform project, joined CBC's Daybreak Montreal to discuss the coalition's new push for legal reform on homelessness in Quebec. Eliadis argues that adding the right to housing to the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms would give it "quasi-constitutional status," underpinning every Quebec law that touches housing.

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

aurelie.boucher@mcgill.ca — Fri, 08 May 2026 17:56:51 +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: Wildfires

keila.depape@mcgill.ca — Wed, 27 May 2026 14:02:16 +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.

Blood proteins flag multiple sclerosis years before diagnosis, opening a window for prevention

admin — Tue, 26 May 2026 14:12:51 +0000

Of more than 2,500 blood proteins screened, a small group may drive MS and signal who will develop it

A new study has revealed a group of blood proteins, that are altered in people who go on to develop multiple sclerosis (MS), in some cases more than a decade before diagnosis. The findings offer hope that a simple blood test could one day identify people at high risk of MS in time to act before damage occurs.

Experts: Skin cancer prevention

keila.depape@mcgill.ca — Mon, 25 May 2026 19:14:11 +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

kay.pettigrew@mcgill.ca — Mon, 25 May 2026 15:58:11 +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.

Jennifer Welsh Co-Authors Article on the Risks of Supporting Civilian Self-Protection

admin — Mon, 25 May 2026 19:51:03 +0000

June 9, 2025 | Jennifer Welsh has co-authored a new article, "Risky Business: Organizational Challenges in International Support for Civilian Self-Protection", in Perspectives on Politics, with E. Paddon Rhoads and J. Masullo. The article argues that international support for "bottom-up" civilian self-protection, while often seen as less costly and more legitimate than direct intervention, carries its own significant risks for the communities it aims to protect.

Jennifer Welsh New Chapter on Responsible Sovereignty and the 1990s

admin — Mon, 25 May 2026 19:49:04 +0000

September 22, 2025 | Jennifer Welsh has contributed a chapter, "Responsible Sovereignty and Individual Accountability: Liberal Internationalist Aspirations from the 1990s", to the new volume Rethinking the 1990s: Liberal World Order Building in the Aftermath of the Cold War. The chapter revisits how post-Cold War liberal internationalism advanced new aspirations around state sovereignty and individual accountability, offering historical perspective on today's debates over the future of the liberal international order.

Public Lecture - Rethinking youth distress and violence in tense times

admin — Mon, 25 May 2026 19:08:33 +0000

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Experts: Google search to prioritize AI

kay.pettigrew@mcgill.ca — 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.

Experts: AI, present and future

katherine.gombay@mcgill.ca — Fri, 01 May 2026 19:11:56 +0000

Artificial Intelligence is transforming the world. These ��Թ� experts can comment on a wide range of topics related to AI.

Vincent Rigby New Article on the Prime Minister and Canadian National Security

admin — Fri, 22 May 2026 18:43:35 +0000

May 21, 2026 | Vincent Rigby has co-authored a new article, Unwritten Ultimate Responsibility: The Prime Minister and Canadian National Security, with Philippe Lagassé (Carleton) and Ian Brodie (Calgary). Rigby argues that while ministers and agencies derive their national security mandates from statute, the Prime Minister's authority remains largely unwritten, rooted in constitutional convention and Crown prerogative.

Historic plant collections offer a window into genetic change

claire.loewen@mcgill.ca — Thu, 21 May 2026 14:10:21 +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.