InformerNow

Gut bacteria play a major role in human health, influencing everything from digestion to immunity and mood. Yet, the microbiome’s complexity is staggering. The sheer number of bacterial species and their interactions with human chemistry have made it difficult for scientists to fully understand their effects. In a groundbreaking step, researchers at the University of…

In the 17th century, Christiaan Huygens and Giovanni Cassini focused their telescopes on Saturn and realized its bright bands were not solid features. Instead, they identified immense, separate rings formed from innumerable nested arcs. Centuries later, NASA’s Cassini-Huygens (Cassini) mission pushed that exploration forward. Starting in 2005, it returned striking images that reshaped scientists’ understanding…

The idea that our universe might be nothing more than an elaborate computer simulation has been a favorite theme in science fiction for decades. Yet new research from UBC Okanagan suggests that not only is this concept implausible — it is mathematically impossible. Dr. Mir Faizal, an Adjunct Professor at UBC Okanagan’s Irving K. Barber…

A research team led by Professor Eijiro Miyako at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), in collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. and the University of Tsukuba, has created an innovative cancer treatment that works without relying on the immune system. The new approach uses a unique microbial partnership known as AUN,…

Justin RowlattClimate Editor BBC There is a photograph, taken ten years ago in Paris, that today seems like something of a relic. In it, dozens of men and women line up in dark suits, in front of an enormous sign that reads COP21 Paris. Right in the middle the UK’s then-Prime Minister, David Cameron, grins…