Animal Research

Fish chemical cocktail reveals how a single gene may alter an aquatic ecosystem

Variations in a single gene in tiny stickleback fish alter how they interact with their environment and potentially trigger changes across an ecosystem, a new study from the University of British Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania finds.

Feb 6, 2019

UBC releases 2017 animal research statistics

The University of British Columbia’s summary of animals involved in research at the university in 2017 is now posted online here as part of UBC’s overall commitment to openness and transparency.

Dec 13, 2018

Industrial fisheries are starving seabirds all around the world

Industrial fisheries are starving seabirds like penguins and terns by competing for the same prey sources, new research from the French National Center for Scientific Research in Montpellier and the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia has found.

Dec 6, 2018

Researchers measure calves’ sociability trait by the proximity they choose between themselves and other calves in a group pen.

Dairy calves’ personalities predict their ability to cope with stress

A UBC study published earlier this year found that dairy calves have distinct personality traits from a very young age. Now researchers have followed up that study by examining those same calves at four months of age, to find out how their personality traits govern their reactions to real-world situations.

Dec 4, 2018

Adult stage of the parasitoid Zatypota species wasp (left); Larva of Zatypota wasp attached to the abdomen of an Anelosimus eximius spider.

Newly discovered wasp turns social spiders into zombies

It sounds like the plot of the world’s tiniest horror movie: deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon, a newly discovered species of wasp transforms a “social” spider into a zombie-like drone that abandons its colony to do the wasp’s bidding.

Nov 27, 2018

3D illustration of immune system T cells attacking cancer cells.

Novel discovery could lead to new cancer, autoimmune disease therapy

A new discovery by an international research team—co-led by UBC Canada 150 Research Chair Josef Penninger and Harvard Medical School Professor Clifford Woolf—could have implications for therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases.

Nov 7, 2018

Casino lights and sounds encourage risky decision-making

The blinking lights and exciting jingles in casinos may encourage risky decision-making and potentially promote problem gambling behaviour, suggests new research from the University of British Columbia.

Oct 29, 2018

Previous motherhood could affect hormone therapy’s ability to prevent memory loss

Researchers have established that the foggy feeling and forgetfulness that many new mothers report during and after pregnancy—known as “mom brain”— is real.

Oct 11, 2018

Lowering levels of mutant protein that causes Huntington disease can restore cognitive function in mice

New research from the University of British Columbia suggests that reducing mutated Huntington disease protein in the brain can restore cognitive and psychiatric impairments in mice.

Oct 3, 2018

J16 making rainbows while surfacing, near Saturna Island's East Point. Credit: Miles Ritter/Flickr

Climate change fuels accumulation of pollutants in Chinook salmon, killer whales

University of British Columbia researchers studying the marine food web of the Northeast Pacific Ocean have found that the exposure and accumulation of chemical pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organic mercury, will be exacerbated under climate change.

Sep 11, 2018

Mountain burnet butterflies in the French Pyrenees have lost of 79% of their range, according to University of British Columbia research. Credit: Mikael Mildén, Wikipedia

Global warming pushing alpine species higher and higher

For every one-degree-Celsius increase in temperature, mountaintop species shift upslope 100 metres, shrinking their inhabited area and resulting in dramatic population declines, new research by University of British Columbia zoologists has found.

Sep 10, 2018

Gentoo Penguin (Pygoscelis papua) waddling along on a white sand beach.

As penguins dive, their location data takes flight

Data sent from penguins to space and back to UBC could help researchers determine why the species’ breeding population fluctuates so dramatically.

Jun 27, 2018

The results are particularly important for patients with cystic fibrosis who often deal with dense, chronic infections in the lungs.

UBC researchers create matchmaking service to combat antibiotic resistant infections

UBC researchers have matched small proteins, called peptides, with antibiotics so they can work together to combat hard-to-treat infections that don’t respond well to drugs on their own.

Jun 21, 2018

The device uses medical-grade stainless steel and looks similar to most commercial stents.

‘Smart stent‘ detects narrowing of arteries

For every three individuals who have had a stent implanted to keep clogged arteries open and prevent a heart attack, at least one will experience restenosis—the renewed narrowing of the artery due to plaque buildup or scarring—which can lead to additional complications.

Jun 19, 2018

Climate change has fish moving faster than regulations can keep up

The world’s system for allocating fish stocks is being outpaced by the movement of fish species in response to climate change, according to a study undertaken by an international team of marine ecologists, fisheries and social scientists, and lawyers.

Jun 14, 2018

Researchers found that globally, industrial and small-scale fisheries caught 5.6 billion tonnes of fish in the past 65 years. Credit: GSY Sea Fisheries/Flickr

437 million tonnes of fish, $560 billion wasted due to destructive fishing operations

Industrial fisheries that rely on bottom trawling wasted 437 million tonnes of fish and missed out on $560 billion in revenue over the past 65 years, new UBC research has found.

May 15, 2018

New glaucoma treatment could ease symptoms while you sleep

Eye drops developed by UBC researchers could one day treat glaucoma while you sleep – helping to heal a condition that is one of the leading causes of blindness around the world.

Apr 11, 2018

A southern pied babbler perched high in a dead tree in the Kalahari Desert, South Africa. Credit: Ryan Olinger

Flight delays: UBC study finds out why some African birds stay home longer

Parents of millennials still living at home aren’t the only ones with children that refuse to leave. Many animal species have adult offspring that are slow to take flight, but when and how they leave has been poorly understood by scientists. Now, new UBC research on a desert-dwelling African bird is yielding some answers.

Mar 21, 2018

A mountain pine beetle attacking a pine tree. Credit: Christine Chiu

New pheromone insight may help predict mountain pine beetle outbreaks

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have shed new light on how mountain pine beetles produce an important pheromone called trans-verbenol, which could aid in efforts to better predict outbreaks.

Mar 19, 2018

Researchers predicted that changes in fish community could be reduced by 30 to 80 per cent with a doubling of reef area. Credit: Katina Rogers/Flickr

Reefs help protect vulnerable Caribbean fish from climate change

New research from UBC’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries suggests that larger reef areas may help protect the Caribbean’s coral reef fish communities from the impacts of ocean warming.

Mar 15, 2018