Express News: archive
Induction of Dr. John A. Allan into the University of Alberta Curator Hall of Fame
Speech by Dr. Martin Sharp at the University of Alberta Museums Celebration, for the induction of Dr. John A. Allan into the University of Alberta Curator Hall of Fame, March 20, 2012
Science Sunday
Breakfast Television broadcasts from the University of Alberta where Science Sunday will be held. Includes interview with U of A researcher Murray Gingras.
Growth Spurt at a Bolivian Volcano Is Fertile Ground for Study
Martyn Unsworth, a geophysicist at the University of Alberta, is using radio waves to search for magma beneath a Bolivian volcano that has been inflating for more than 20 years. More details in the New York Times, February 14, 2012.
Finding Bitumen
A University of Alberta geologist is hoping a one-of-a-kind imaging system will satisfy two needs of oilsands producers: to find more energy and to return mining sites to a natural state.
Diamond Mind
Graham Pearson, the U of A’s foremost expert in diamond research, uses unique "fingerprints" to determine the origins of the world’s favourite gemstone.
U of A responds to community
Economic development in Alberta has received a boost from the University of Alberta, with a new community planning program that will help to fill a critical need in the province, while building a better future for Albertans, says Robert J. Summers, acting director of the recently established Community Planning Program.
Scientists confirm rocks fell from Mars
They came from Mars, not in peace, but in pieces. Scientists are confirming that 15 pounds of rock collected recently in Morocco fell to Earth from Mars during a meteorite shower last July.
Keeping pace in the race to the field
“We define field research quite broadly, from the classic view of a biologist out in the High Arctic or the rainforests of Brazil, to searching library science archives, to investigating archeological sites,” says director Jeff Kavanaugh. “We’re looking to support all aspects of off-campus research.”
Winter Weather Expert: Gerhard Reuter
It sounds like science fiction, but he can change the weather. He’s actually been involved in crews that have flown through clouds in South Africa and seeded them with beads of dry ice, which can regulate the amount of precipitation that falls.
Top 100 Stories of 2011 (Discover Magazine)
#77: Amber Reveals Origins of Feathers?
"That's got to be a hair," University of Alberta paleobiologist Alex Wolfe thought when he saw a thin strand in a piece of 80-million-year-old amber.
A rock garden landscape
for student learning on campus
Earth & Atmospheric Sciences department is in the middle of installing the second phase of the new geosciences rock garden located outside Biological Sciences.
Who or what takes the blame?
For decades researchers have tried to pinpoint the cause of the massive loss of large-bodied Ice Age mammals, megafauna, about 10,000 years ago. The debate has largely focused on whether a particular mechanism was evident: was it humans and hunting? Climate and environmental change? ...
Let there be life
The research team, led by U of A geomicrobiologist Kurt Konhauser, made their find by investigating a link between atmospheric oxygen levels and rising concentrations of chromium in the rock of ancient seabeds.
Dinosaur feathers found in Alberta
Scientists have unearthed the most diverse set of fossilized dinosaur feathers beautifully preserved in Alberta amber.[ Video ]
Trapping time in amber
U of A paleontology graduate student Ryan McKellar discovered a wide range of feathers trapped in amber in collections at the Royal Tyrrell Museum and in the private collection of the Leuck family in Medicine Hat.
Antibiotic resistance found in ancient bacteria
"The ancient DNA found in the permafrost shows that these microbes have been battling for survival against natural antibiotics for at least 30,000 years and represents evidence for the evolutionary back-story of the challenges of modern antibacterial resistance," said Duane Froese.
Museum unveils new Cambrian exhibit
The University of Alberta's Paleontology Museum newest exhibit explores three themes: the Cambrian Explosion, the Burgess Shale, and Trilobites. Numerous specimens from the University of Alberta's Invertebrate Paleontology Collection are highlighted.
B.C. landfall yields treasure for U of A team
A University of Alberta researcher has discovered an unprecedented variety of organic material in meteorites that landed in northern British Columbia.
Study finds Canada's Arctic glaciers and ice caps losing water at an alarming rate
The work of PhD graduate Alex Gardner has revealed some alarming evidence that Canada's Arctic glaciers and ice caps have lost nearly as much water as there is in Lake Erie.
The Bones in the Basement
The museum exhibits just a fraction of the thousands of fossils in the paleontology collections on campus, used extensively for research and teaching. The museum is a joint venture between the Departments of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and Biological Sciences.
Killam winner tests depth of still waters in classroom
"The U of A has been a great place to work. We have all the research facilities that we need; it is hard to find anywhere else that has the same level and calibre of equipment and technical staff to help run the machines"
Science Sunday: Join us! March 6, 2011
Discover science through fun, hands-on activities with the University of Alberta Museums. Make a fossil, learn about animal tracks, explore meteorite impact craters, unearth how anteaters eat and so much more!
U of A Scientists Play Major Role in Overturning Legislation in Brazil
Thousands of hectares of tropical dry forests in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais are now safe from logging thanks to research efforts by University of Alberta Faculty of Science researchers led by Dr Arturo Sánchez-Azofeifa.
Test shows dinosaurs survived mass extinction by 700,000 years
The U of A team, led by Larry Heaman from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, put the femur bone of a sauropod through an elaborate testing procedure and found it’s only 64.8 million years old.
Killam recipient shines in discipline with no home
Almost three years ago, an Air Canada jet flying over the Rocky Mountains from Victoria to Toronto was suddenly lifted and dropped about 20 metres, causing passengers who weren’t belted in to hit the roof of the plane.
The Arctic is a book of untold stories
For most of his 40-year-long career working in the Arctic, University of Alberta scientist John England also thought that Banks Island was a relic of an ancient world. But some time in the 1990s, he and others saw something in the accumulation of geological evidence that suggested this theory was flawed.
Unearth a Hidden Treasure: The U of A's Mineralogy and Petrology Museum
All around the museum are samples of rocks and minerals so old their age is described in millions or billions of years. There is a piece of limestone conglomerate which is 700 to 1000 million years old, a gigantic specimen of pure copper ...
New Paleontology Exhibit
A new exhibit is on display in the Paleontology museum, ESB B-01. The cast of the head of a huge Dunkleosteus now sits at the museum entrance.
Research Chairs announced for U of A
The University of Alberta has been awarded four new Canada Research Chairs to go along with 10 renewals, worth a total of $11.5 million, the federal government announced Nov. 24. Each of the four new CRCs were named as a tier 2 CRC researcher, a title which comes with a $500,000 award to be paid out over five years.
U of A researcher makes mammoth discovery
Woolly mammoths and ancient horses disappeared from North America thousands of years later than originally thought, adding doubt to arguments blaming the mass extinction on human newcomers, says a researcher from the University of Alberta.
Glacier trackers spend season on the edge
"It put us on an island that we couldn't get off, completely and utterly impossible to cross," says the PhD student, who lived on the Arctic ice cap for five weeks last summer.