Professor Gail Fraser: Offshore oil board members lack environmental expertise

A biologist and researcher is asking why none of the six men on the board regulating oil activity off Newfoundland lists environmental expertise as a prime credential , wrote The Canadian Press June 6: The head of the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board has stressed that environmental protection is a top goal. But Gail […]

Professor Gail Fraser argues relief wells should be dug now for Newfoundland & Labrador's deepwater drilling projects

Newfoundland & Labrador is proceeding with the high-risk game of oil exploration in ultra-deep water, as regulators in the province express confidence in industry’s safety practices despite the ecological catastrophe of BP PLC’s Gulf of Mexico blowout, wrote The Globe and Mail June 3: Canada’s East Coast is now the only region in North America where […]

Get buzzed about pollination and why bees are important to humans at International Pollinator Week

The birds and the bees, the bats and the butterflies all need a little help doing it these days – pollinating that is. So Sabrina Malach, a master in environmental studies student at York, has helped organize several events in Toronto for International Pollinator Week, which will run from June 21 to 27. The events give […]

Disappearing bees may leave us with a bland diet

Bee expert urges public to create bee-friendly gardens in their yards Breakfast may be toast if we don’t take action to save the bees, according to York biology Professor and bee expert Laurence Packer. “Consider breakfast. Eggs, maybe a slice of watermelon, toast with butter and jam, and a cup of coffee with a dash of […]

Professor Gail Fraser comments on conflict of interest in Canada's offshore oil and gas regulations

Newfoundland and Labrador’s natural resources minister is rejecting calls for the overhaul of the agency that regulates the province’s offshore oil industry, even as the United States moves to distance its regulator from the companies it oversees, wrote The Globe and Mail May 12: Scientists and environmentalists argue that the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum […]

York prof's book on mating lives of birds attracts international media coverage

York Professor and Canada Research Chair Bridget Stutchbury is attracting international media attention with her new book, The Bird Detective. ABC News Online, the National Post, the Daily Mail Online and Maclean's.ca published articles discussing her book on April 13. Reuters wrote: It’s not all love in the avian world, where divorce, child abandonment and […]

For York profs, it's science on-demand at Royal Canadian Institute gala dinner

Have you ever wanted to have dinner with a scientist? Ask questions about Canada’s laser radar on NASA's 2007 Phoenix mission to Mars, the role of human genomes in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, the consequences of dwindling fossil fuels or perhaps how biochemical pathways affect obesity? The Royal Canadian Institute (RCI) for the […]

Undergrads win a rare chance to do research

Last summer, a number of York undergraduates won the chance to spend their 16-week break doing research and getting paid for it. Funded by national grants, they worked with York biology and chemistry professors on projects ranging from how wood thrushes care for their young to how to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. They were […]

York's newest molecular biologist chases the mysteries of La

Although he doesn’t have many hobbies, biologist Mark Bayfield might consider taking up origami, based on the particular talents of his favourite research subject: the protein antigen known as La, one of the cell’s key regulators. The La antigen is noted for its abundance and ubiquity in human cells, where it has several roles in […]

New centre looks at biomedical interactions

Scientists at the new Centre for Research on Biomolecular Interactions (CRBI) at York University, which officially opens today, aim to make discoveries that will impact global health care and the treatment of diseases. Understanding the foundation of key interactions at the molecular level is the research focus at the new centre, which will be housed in York's Faculty of Science & Engineering. […]