The province is now the North American hotspot for a rare, potentially fatal disease
A rare parasitic infection imported from Europe continues to take root in Alberta. The province is now the North American hotspot for human alveolar echinococcosis (AE), which takes the form of a growth in the liver, causing serious and potentially deadly health complications. A recently published review of known AE cases in Alberta found 17 instances…
Despite the gloomy reports emanating from its oil and gas industry
By Bruce Lantz Reporter Resource World Magazine Alberta’s economy has taken a beating in recent years, but it isn’t likely to receive the federal equalization payments enjoyed by other disadvantaged provinces. Equalization transfer payments are made by wealthier provinces to offset financial shortcomings in other parts of the country. The process is entrenched in the…
Having access to the Alberta Diabetes Institute makes living with diabetes a little easier
By Gillian Rutherford Contributor Troy Media People like me who live with diabetes have a lot to celebrate. It was 100 years ago that insulin was discovered and purified by a group of Canadian scientists, including the University of Alberta’s James Collip. That discovery commuted the death sentence of a diabetes diagnosis into a life…
Altering traumatic memories in a way that eases their burden could be the key to treating survivors of post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders, according to one of the University of Alberta’s newest Canada Research Chairs (CRC). Peggy St. Jacques, a psychology researcher in the Faculty of Science and CRC in Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory,…
Everyone should have the chance to connect with nature and understand its importance to our lives, Kate Corrigan believes
Kate Corrigan still has blister scars from backpacking up to the base of Mount Robson during a high school field trip, but it was that first trek that sparked a passion for the great outdoors. “For me, the outdoors is a place to disconnect, to reconnect. You’re away from the stress of work, school, social…
Apologists for Chinese aggression are advocating the annexation of one of the most successful examples of democratization in modern times
Time and again in academic works, newspaper articles and public comments, the dispute in the Taiwan Strait, which stems from Beijing’s longstanding claims of sovereignty over Taiwan, has been referred to as the “Taiwan question” or, alternatively, the “Taiwan issue.” Whether by design or intellectual sloppiness, this designation of Taiwan – of Taiwan’s fate, in…
Nova Scotia’s authoritarian response to the pandemic
Born and raised in Halifax, I currently live in Munich, Germany. I have been monitoring the Nova Scotian response to the pandemic from abroad by reading the news and keeping in touch with family and friends. I write this article to lend some perspective on the pandemic through the lens of a Bluenoser living much…
For Evelyn Asiedu, graduate school was not just about finding her path as a scientist; it was also about finding her path as an activist against anti-Black racism. Asiedu, who will soon graduate with a PhD from the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, didn’t talk about her experience with racism during her first few years at…
Braved cold and wind during the first phase of a research effort to document changes atop Mt. Logan
A pair of University of Alberta researchers led a research expedition that braved nearly three weeks of unrelenting cold and wind during the first phase of a monumental multi-pronged research effort to document changes atop the world’s largest mountain. Alison Criscitiello, director of the U of A’s Canadian Ice Core Lab and researcher in the Faculty of Science,…
The February 2021 tragedy was caused by the collapse of more than 25 million cubic metres of rock and ice
The catastrophic landslide that occurred in Chamoli, India, in February 2021 was the result of a worst-possible combination of rock and ice, according to a new study by an international coalition of scientists. On Feb. 7, 2021, Chamoli district in India’s Uttarakhand region was crushed by a massive slide of rock and ice – more than 25…
The killings demand empathy for the victims, but also renewed commitment to freedom of faith
The news from London, Ont. regarding a murdered Muslim family is horrifying. It is chilling even to write about a driver deliberately ramming his pick-up truck into a father, mother, grandmother, daughter, and son – leaving only the young boy alive but bereft of his family. The police-reported motivation behind the crime should make it…
Procedure developed at U of A guides islet cell transplants for people with Type 1 diabetes around the world
Nina Greene’s diabetes was so hard to control, she had “Type 1 Diabetic” tattooed on her left wrist – a guarantee that emergency medical personnel could identify her illness quickly if she was found unconscious. Despite all her efforts to manage her diabetes, she wound up in hospital so often with high or low blood…
The support of volunteer mentors helps students built their confidence
Abigail Brodhead considers herself a quiet person, shy about striking up conversations and asking questions. So when the COVID-19 pandemic shelved the University of Alberta student’s in-person practicum in the spring of 2020, she was concerned about making a go of it online. “I worried about how I would take control of my own learning,” said Brodhead,…
University of Alberta students will get cross-disciplinary, work-integrated learning in one of Canada’s fastest-growing industries, thanks to a major grant announced on Thursday. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) has awarded $1.6 million to the U of A for the Sensory-Motor Adaptive Rehabilitation Technology (SMART) CREATE training program to train up to 120 graduate and…
For some people, no good deed deserves to be rewarded – at least not by making a profit, which they treat as if it were a dirty word. Even saving millions of lives, as pharmaceutical companies have undoubtedly done by delivering safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines to market in record time, is no excuse for…
A rare parasitic infection imported from Europe continues to take root in Alberta. The province is now the North American hotspot for human alveolar echinococcosis (AE), which takes the form of a growth in the liver, causing serious and potentially deadly health complications. A recently published review of known AE cases in Alberta found 17 instances…
