Q&As

Don’t be fooled by the corporation’s ‘makeover,’ documentary warns

The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel premieres on Sunday at the Toronto International Film Festival. It’s based on Professor Joel Bakan’s new book, The New Corporation: How “Good” Corporations are Bad for Democracy.

Sep 10, 2020

Nigel Howard, an adjunct professor in the linguistics department and Language Sciences member, has attracted media attention (and a fan following) for his expressive interpretation of provincial health officer Bonnie Henry's COVID-19 updates.

Are you a fan of COVID-19 briefings interpreter Nigel Howard? You can take his ASL courses this fall at UBC

You’ve likely seen Nigel Howard interpreting at the provincial COVID-19 briefings. You might even have joined his Facebook fan club. And this week, students will be taking American Sign Language (ASL) as an official credit course with him at UBC.

Sep 8, 2020

Sockeye salmon in Salmon Arm, B.C Credit: Marco Tjokro /Unsplash

Q&A: Rebuilding depleted Canadian fish stocks is good business

Fish populations in Canada need to be urgently rebuilt, but short-term socio-economic concerns – such as the impacts of fisheries closures on local fishers – often slow down or even prevent the process of rebuilding stocks.

Aug 24, 2020

Staying fire-smart in the era of COVID-19

Nearly 100 wildfires are burning across B.C. following the recent wave of hot and dry weather. With the COVID-19 pandemic still upon us and primarily affecting people’s respiratory tracts, minimizing accidental wildfires is critical. We asked UBC faculty of forestry wildfire expert Lori Daniels what can be done.

Aug 11, 2020

Pop-up plaza at 200-block Carrall St. in Vancouver. Source: City of Vancouver

What will our cities look like after COVID-19?

The past few months have been a highly unusual time for cities as people sheltered in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. UBC planning experts Jordi Honey-Rosés and Erick Villagomez analyzed the implications of these changes on city planning and space design.

Aug 6, 2020

D'Arcy Island lies 18 kilometres from Victoria off the Saanich Peninsula.

How a tiny island off Victoria became part of B.C.’s racist history

British Columbians who spent the spring locked down due to COVID-19 are now making up for lost time by getting outdoors and enjoying B.C.’s parks.

Jul 27, 2020

COVID-19 pandemic causes ‘quiet period’ for seismic noise

Seismometers are used to detect vibrations travelling through the ground after an earthquake, but they also pick up the background “buzz” of human activity at the surface.

Jul 23, 2020

One billion tweet dataset investigates impact of COVID-19 on human communication

Researchers from a number of disciplines can now use a billion-scale dataset of tweets from around the world to answer their research questions about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jul 23, 2020

Michelle Tseng, assistant professor in the botany and zoology departments at UBC.

Researchers call for support for BIPOC in ecology and evolutionary biology

Recently, a group of researchers from five different institutions collaborated on a commentary piece in Nature Ecology & Evolution, outlining strategies and support for Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC) in ecology and evolutionary biology.

Jul 20, 2020

Social circles of visible-minority youth become less diverse as they get older

Even if they were born in Canada, visible-minority children of immigrants tend to stick more closely with their own ethnic groups as they get older.

Jun 26, 2020

DNA genotyping and sequencing. Courtesy National Cancer Institute via Unsplash.

DNA testing could help in COVID-19 patient care

UBC’s Dr. William Gibson discusses how human DNA testing could improve outcomes for patients with COVID-19.

Apr 23, 2020

Saving the planet in the midst of a pandemic

Greta Thunberg galvanized masses of people across the world into advocating for climate change. But just as climate action seemed to be hitting a new peak globally, the COVID-19 outbreak abruptly brought the physical manifestations of the movement to a halt.

Apr 21, 2020

We spoke with Bryan Gick, a speech scientist with UBC Language Sciences, about what’s been on his mind since the Prime Minister went viral. Credit: Unsplash

Why ‘speaking moistly’ needs to be taken seriously

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave us all a much-needed laugh when he awkwardly used the phrase “speaking moistly” in response to a recent question about wearing masks.

Apr 17, 2020

Social Distancing in Madison Square by Eden, Janine and Jim from New York City is licensed under CC BY 2.0

The social psychologist’s guide to making people stay home

Relying on people to do the right thing has never been an airtight strategy. Nonetheless, the choices made by individuals will likely have a greater impact than anything else on the success of our response to COVID-19.

Apr 15, 2020

Ergonomics is about fitting the task or the work to the person doing the work. Credit: Samule Sun/Unsplash

How to stay comfortable and prevent injury when working from home

Abigail Oveduin leads the ergonomics program for UBC Human Resources, where she is tasked with keeping 16,000 faculty and staff comfortable, productive and injury-free. We asked her what people can do to bring ergonomics into their homes.

Apr 7, 2020

Feedback-based policy can help manage COVID-19 more effectively

A team of applied science researchers at the University of British Columbia have developed a systematic feedback strategy they say can help public health authorities in their efforts to contain COVID-19 over the next several months.E

Mar 31, 2020

Webinar: UBC experts on how to reduce COVID-19 anxiety

The rapid spread of COVID-19 has impacted the global psyche in a way not seen in generations.

Mar 31, 2020

How globalization stoked fear of disease during the Romantic era

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the word “communication” had several meanings. People used it to talk about both media and the spread of disease, as we do today, but also to describe transport—via carriages, canals and shipping.

Mar 25, 2020

The post-pandemic city: UBC expert on how the coronavirus will impact future cities

The current COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly changing the way we live and the way we work. Do these changes signal long-lasting impacts on the design and architecture of our cities? We spoke to UBC professor Patrick Condon.

Mar 23, 2020

Myth busting: Setting the record straight on ibuprofen and COVID-19

In the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, there has been a wave of fear and misinformation related to the use of anti-inflammatory drugs, like ibuprofen (Advil and Motrin)