Multidisciplinary collaboration yields a promising new biopsy tool for diagnosing interstitial lung disease

Kody Beler, new science communicator About 98 out of 100,000 human patients every year suffer from interstitial lung disease, a broad collection of several lung diseases that manifest as inflammation and scarring of lung tissue and a loss of lung function. Because of the invasiveness of the necessary lung biopsy, however, the diseases are often […]

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Every breath we take: Shedding light on the hidden workings of healing in our lungs

Vanessa Brown, New Science Communicator Our lungs face a never-ending battle. With every breath, we inhale millions of airborne particles, including many that are potentially harmful. Our bodies must be prepared to defend us from these invaders. Most of us are equipped with immune systems comprised of an army of specialized cells for this particular […]

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When mountains collapse: New-tech geodatabase helps geologists assess landslide hazard and risk

Jesse Mysiorek, New Science Communicator Early in the morning of August 2, 2014, part of a mountain collapsed in Jure, Nepal, about 70 kilometres northeast of Kathmandu. Some 5.5 million cubic metres of rock and debris – equal to the size of Grouse Mountain, north of Vancouver, BC – tumbled down into the Sunkoshi Valley, […]

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Going dry: How decreasing water levels put our food supply at risk

Photo by skeeze via Pixabay CC 0

Kelsey Voss, New Science Communicator Freshwater: The most important resource of our fast-growing world. We need it to drink and to grow food. We use water for drinking, washing, industrial processes, natural resources, and growing food, but our water supply is dwindling. In recent decades, we have seen increasing declines in freshwater levels across the […]

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Why the cure to HIV remains hidden – and how we might find it at the bottom of the ocean

elephant ear sponge; HIV-infected T cell

Komal Adeel, New Science Communicator HIV is pretty young disease. Unlike malaria, which was with us when humans first migrated out of Africa some two million years ago, or tuberculosis, which has been found in the bodies of ancient Egyptian mummies, HIV infections did not exist in humans until the 20th century. However, in this […]

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