Western redcedar (Thuja plicata) is found from northern California to Haida Gwaii. The trees can live more than 1,000 years, but are increasingly under threat from climate change. Photo: istock/Dave Hutchison Photography.A collaboration among UBC, the B.C. Ministry of Forests and industry uses targeted genome sequencing to produce resilient western redcedar seedlingsBy Geoff GilliardThere is a...

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Drs. Fiona Beaty (left) and Alex Moore (right) are conducting their conservation research in collaboration with the people in the ecosystems they’re studying to develop findings in a more meaningful way.Less emphasis on publishing, more relationship building with Indigenous communities neededBy Geoff GilliardFrom the humid mangrove forests of American Samoa to the cold waters of Canada’s...

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By turning mine tailings into carbon sinks, a UBC spin out is on a mission to remove millions of tonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere every year

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Earth is surrounded by a giant magnetic bubble called the magnetosphere, which shields our planet from solar and cosmic particle radiation, as well as erosion of the atmosphere by the solar wind. Image: NASANASA is running out of the alloys needed to build magnetic field sensors. Using 90-year-old research and 60-year-old jeweller’s equipment, a UBC geophysicist...

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Artist’s impression of the CASTOR telescope. Image: CASTOR teamA made-in-Canada successor to the aging Hubble could be the most efficient way to bolster our space sector and attract top international talent. We just need the vision.By Dr. Tyrone Woods and Dr. Allison ManDr. Allison Man, UBC Physics and Astronomy, CASTOR working group member, and Dr. Tyrone Woods, University...

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Dr. Gertrude May Smith in 1926, the year she received her MA in biolology from UBC. Photo: Frederick Louis HackingUBC Science’s first female professor was unceremoniously let go during the Great Depression — but her contributions live on in the Beaty Biodiversity Museum collectionsBy Ildiko SzaboIf you open the Beaty Biodiversity Museum cabinet containing rough-skinned newt specimens, the jar...

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UBC chemists Drs. Jason Hein (left) and Curtis Berlinguette (right) founded Project Ada, the first self-driving lab to combine AI and robotics to accelerate clean energy materials discovery.UBC’s Project Ada, the first self-driving lab to fast-track clean energy materials discovery, has come of ageBy Geoff GilliardWith the signing of the Paris Climate Accord, most of the world’s...

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Image generated in Stable Diffusion, a deep learning text-to-image diffusion model. Based on the prompt “A cat sitting beside a paper bag.”Visual AI: The cat is out of the bagA UBC computer scientist teamed up with Adobe and Apple to reconstruct 3D images and videos from situations that never existedBy Geoff GilliardUntil very recently, debates about the growing power...

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The fall webworm is a moth found from Mexico to Canada. Photo: Alison Hunter.Pandemic lockdowns couldn’t stop two UBC zoologists from tracking how climate influences evolutionBy Katie Marshall and Emily BlackImagine a jungle. It’s probably a lush forest, filled with different bird songs and the hum of thousands of different kinds of insects. Now imagine a tundra:...

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A newly formed working group made up of students, faculty and staff at the University of British Columbia aims to improve how gender and sex are taught in biology. Left to right: an undergraduate student, Dr. Irene Ballagh, Dr. Christine Goedhart and Sam, a postdoctoral fellow.Across UBC Science, students and instructors are collaborating to navigate...

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