Category: public posts

When neuroscience is the topic, neurons tend to take all of the spotlight due to their association with information processing. However, glial cells have also been shown to contribute to higher functions such as the modulation of nociception, the sensation of pain, in addition to performing supporting roles (Spitzer, Agathou and Karadottir, 2013). Due to…

Democrats and Republicans seem to never get along. Although that’s only the case for government policies and controversial topics right? There should be an agreement on topics that have a strong scientific consensus and objective truth, correct? Unfortunately, that is not the case. In fact, there have been consistent trends on the growing partisan divide…

As the healthcare system advances, one of the most essential factors in prognosis for a medical condition is early detection and treatment. While this can be done for many diseases, it is still difficult to identify the early stages of glaucoma, an eye condition that is the leading cause of blindness worldwide (Tham et al,…

It may be hard to believe, but our planet started off with very little oxygen. When O2 levels began to rise, species and organisms started to diversify and become more complex. While some experts believe that complex eukaryotic life was able to emerge and evolve on Earth due to the rise of oxygen levels, its…

Often, we find that what we’re looking for is closer to home than we think. Exciting research is one of those things that you will find in abundance at McMaster University. For instance, you may or may not know that Dr. André Bédard, from McMaster’s very own Department of Biology, utilizes a unique model, that…

Climate change consequences such as increased precipitation and higher surface temperatures are imminent if these effects are not mitigated (Pachauri et al., 2014). Furthermore, since human populations are continuing to grow, resource demands per individual will also increase. Thus, larger urban communities will need to be developed (Gill et al., 2007). If these expansion trends…

Cancer is a disease that has, unfortunately, touched most of us at some point in our lives. With 14 million new cases of cancer each year, it’s the most life-threatening disease in the world (Knowlton, et al., 2015). In 2015 alone, cancer took the lives of 8.8 million people (World Health Organization, 2018). Despite continuous…

The study of sex is a sexy topic in biology. Sexual intercourse in animals has been studied meticulously, especially in humans (Arnow et al., 2002; Drago, 1994; Thornhill and Gangestad, 1994), and the origin of sex is a hotly debated topic in behavioural ecology (Hurst and Peck, 1996). In biology, sex is generally defined as…

Music is one of the most longstanding and prevalent mediums of self-expression. In society, music carries important civil, cultural, and religious connotations, where the multitude of instruments and vast array of sounds that they can produce are associated with special occasions (Di Giulio et al., 2001). While the acoustics of many instruments belonging to woodwind…

Almost one third of all women who have been in a relationship have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner worldwide (WHO et al., 2013). Intimate partner violence (IPV) is defined as a pattern of physical and/or sexual violence in the context of coercive control by an intimate or ex-intimate partner (Humphreys and…