New freshwater database tells water quality story for 12K lakes globally

Although less than one per cent of all water in the world is freshwater, it is what we drink and use for agriculture. In other words, it’s vital to human survival. York University researchers have just created a publicly available water quality database for close to 12,000 freshwater lakes globally – almost half of the world’s freshwater supply – that will help scientists monitor and manage the health of these lakes.

York professors available to discuss this week’s Perseid Meteor shower

The Perseid Meteor shower this week will offer stargazers a brilliant show of 40 to 50 meteors per hour at its peak, say York University astronomers.

Millions die from obesity worldwide, says York study

Obesity is a significant factor in increasing rates of disease globally with the number of deaths related to a high body mass index (BMI) more than doubled from 1990 to 2017, say York University researchers. In 2017 alone, 2.4 million women and 2.3 million men died worldwide from having a high BMI.

About 94 per cent of wild bee and native plant species networks lost, York study finds

Climate change and an increase in disturbed bee habitats from expanding agriculture and development in northeastern North America over the last 30 years are likely responsible for a 94 per cent loss of plant-pollinator networks, York University researchers found.

York University creates new hive of interdisciplinary bee research

Researchers from disciplines across York University, including biologists, social scientists and mathematicians, will develop a hive of research when York’s new Centre for Bee Ecology, Evolution and Conservation (BEEc) becomes an Organized Research Unit (ORU) starting July 1.

Putting COVID-19 diagnostic tests to the “test” – how do they hold up?

As SARS-CoV-2 has the potential to mutate, it is important to check the efficacy of current diagnostic tests, say York University researchers, who found seven out of 27 methods had potential sequence mismatch issues that may lead to underperforming or false-negative COVID-19 test results.

Ancient stellar collisional ring galaxy forms stars 50 times faster than Milky Way

Researchers have found a rare and massive collisional ring galaxy from some 10.8 billion years ago that is forming stars 50 times faster than the Milky Way, says York University Postdoctoral Fellow Leo Alcorn of the Faculty of Science. These kinds of ring galaxies are formed when one galaxy collides with another galaxy that passes through its centre.

Testing rate and contact tracing key to successful re-opening of Ontario

Enhanced testing and contact tracing for the coronavirus in Ontario could allow physical distancing measures to be relaxed, while keeping the reproduction ratio under one and preventing a second wave of infections, says corresponding author of a new modelling study Distinguished Research Professor Jianhong Wu of York University’s Faculty of Science.

Ozone-depleting chemical alternatives getting into our food and water

TORONTO, May 14, 2020 – An international environmental agreement to regulate the use of chemicals depleting the ozone layer may have inadvertently allowed higher levels of other harmful chemicals to flourish, new research co-led by York University and Environment and Climate Change Canada has found. The 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone […]

Hungry galaxies grow fat on flesh of their neighbours

Galaxies grow large by eating their smaller neighbours, finds an international research team, including York University. Exactly how massive galaxies attain their size is poorly understood, not least because they swell over billions of years. But now through a combination of observation and modelling, researchers, including the Faculty of Science’s Leo Alcorn, a York Science Fellow, have found a clue.