Refining the Search for Life on Mars

The results of a recent experiment at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) synchrotron in Saskatoon could be a key piece in the quest to discover if there was ever life on Mars.

Lyle Whyte, an environmental microbiologist at McGill University who is originally from Saskatchewan, specializes in organisms that can survive in extreme cold.

Cooking up the Future

Maple syrup that’s good for you? A frozen dessert that you can store at room temperature? A falafel-type mix made with insects? Salwa Karboune and her students are dreaming up tomorrow’s foods today.

Researchers Turn Fish Waste Into A Coffee-Scented Biofuel

Before that beautiful salmon filet lands on your plate, a lot of less appetizing stuff gets stripped away: By one estimate, the global seafood industry produces 64 million metric tons of waste each year. A new study suggests a potentially sweeter fate for all those heads and guts: They can be turned into a coal-like substance called hydrochar, which could be used as fuel or added to soil to improve fertility and sequester carbon (Energy Fuels 2015, DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.5b01671).

Macdonald Grad behind "Whisky of the Year"

Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye has been selected as the 2016 Whisky of the Year by Jim Murray, author of Whisky Bible. Northern Harvest Rye's inventor turns out to be Joanna Zanin Scandella, a Macdonald graduate who has spent her whole career in blending and production planning at Diageo's lab (formerly Seagram's) in Lasalle, QC.

How to choose the perfect Christmas tree

Christmas is just under two weeks away, so if you haven't picked out a tree yet, the clock is ticking. [CTV News Montreal] asked David Wees from the Plant Science Department of McGill University for some tips on what to look for.

Air Canada Backs Effort to Build Homegrown ‘Green’ Jet Fuel Infrasructure

The University of Toronto, McGill University  [BioFuelNet - Don Smith] and the International Air Transport Association are also part of the project as members of the BioFuelNet Aviation Task Force. Funding is coming from the Green Aviation Research and Development Network, which gets its support from the federal government and Canada’s aerospace sector.

Le carnage des poussins mâles pourrait bientôt prendre fin

Chaque année, des millions de poussins mâles, jugés sans valeur par l'industrie des poules pondeuses, sont euthanasiés dès leur sortie de l'oeuf. Une pratique que l'Allemagne veut cesser d'ici 2017, et à laquelle une mystérieuse invention de l'Université McGill pourrait mettre fin....Au Québec, l'Université McGill planche aussi secrètement sur une technologie semblable.

What if the only way to save the planet is to dramatically slow our economies

“The ultimate objective is not to establish a degrowth economy—the goal is to establish an economic system which is in line with biological limits,” Dr. Nicolas Kosoy, a professor in Ecological Economics at McGill University, tells Quartz. “It would be achieved through small-scale practices on a community level.”

Life lessons on what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur with Peter McAuslan

It’s a tough job market out there, and students can no longer rely on getting a job right out of university. Students from McGill’s Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences longing to start business ventures of their own now have a new toolkit to help them reach their goals—the Entrepreneurship and Innovation program.

Growing Young Farmers at the Macdonald Student Gardens

It was nearing eleven and the late September sun was beating down on the rolling cornfields surrounding the quiet town of Saint-Anne-de-Bellevue as I toured the MacDonald Student Run-Ecological Gardens (MSEG). On the two-acre plot of land situated on McGill University’s MacDonald Campus Farm, a small but passionate team of student farmers is growing over sixty different crop species.

Lest We Forget - Remembrance Day Ceremonies at Macdonald

Faculty, staff and students from McGill's Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences joined with their campus partners - John Abbott College and Macdonald High School - as well as with Veterans from the Veterans' Hosital in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue and invited guests from the local community to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can enjoy the freedoms and privileges we have today.

Study finds plants need active social lives to stay healthy

STUDY FINDS PLANTS NEED ACTIVE SOCIAL LIVES TO STAY HEALTHY

Speaker challenges Conference participants to "take action"

Why do we wait for a crisis to hit before we take action? Has "prevention is better than a cure" lost all its meaning?  Two important questions, Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, put to attendees at the Public Lecture launching the 8th McGill Conference on Global Food Security: Current and Future Challenges for Sustainable Food Security.

Sperm protein links father's lifestyle with offspring's health

Finding suggests more attention needs to be paid to fathers' pre-conception health. CBC News

Honorary Degree Recipient Receives Nobel Prize in Medicine

Dr. William C. Campbell, D.Sc.'07, is among the three scientists awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, announced October 5, 2015, by the Nobel Prize Committee. William Campbell received his Honorary Doctorate at the Macdonald Campus convocation in 2007.