Media Room

100 years of exploring and understanding our planet

EXTRACT: FRONT Earth & Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Alberta of exploring and understanding our planet Dr. John A. Allan Dr. John A. Allan founded the Department of Geology at the University of Alberta in 1912, and subsequently helped establish both the Alberta Research Council and the Alberta Geological Survey. During his 37-year academic career, he published more than ...

Make the world a more survivable place

EXTRACT: eMake the world a more survivable placef Receiving honorary degree, acclaimed photographer James Balog calls on grads to take action on climate change. (Edmonton) James Balog, the internationally acclaimed photographer whose images of retreating glaciers have helped document the effects of climate change, received an honorary degree today from the University of Alberta. Balog and the U of Afs Department of ...

Honours grad fords stream between water science and policy

EXTRACT: Honours grad fords stream between water science and policy Alan Shapiro, studying the science of water at UAlberta led to a thirst for broader knowledge he can put to use for society. (Edmonton) Alan Shapiro found water at the University of Alberta. It happened four years ago and it set Shapiro on ...

Regeneration of Little Ice Age bryophytes emerging from a polar glacier with implications of totipotency in extreme environments

EXTRACT: PNAS: May 28, 2013 URL: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/05/22/1304199110 Regeneration of Little Ice Age bryophytes emerging from a polar glacier with implications of totipotency in extreme environments Catherine La Farge, Krista H. Williams, and John H. England Across the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, widespread ice retreat during the 20th century has sharply accelerated since 2004. In Sverdrup Pass, central Ellesmere Island, ...

Melting Glaciers Cause One-Third of Sea-Level Rise

EXTRACT: Melting Glaciers Cause One-Third of Sea-Level Rise The world's glaciers lost 260 gigatons of water each year between 2003 and 2009, making these rivers of ice responsible for almost a third of sea-level rise in that time, new research finds. The study, to appear tomorrow (May 17) in the journal Science, ...

Deep fracture fluids isolated in the crust since the Precambrian era

EXTRACT: Fluids trapped as inclusions within minerals can be billions of years old and preserve a record of the fluid chemistry and environment at the time of mineralization1, 2, 3. Aqueous fluids that have had a similar residence time at mineral interfaces and in fractures (fracture fluids) have not been previously ...

A Day of Fun-Filled Knights

EXTRACT: A DAY OF FUN-FILLED KNIGHTS Churchill Square rings with the sounds of medieval combat as Sir Matthew (of Normandy) Barnett, centre, and Lady Shannon Poole, right, display their combat prowess Sunday during the Knights in the Square event. Warriors and bards, and courtly lords and ladies, were invited to a revel by Citadel Theatre in honour of its production ...

The spacingTime Continuum Inaugural Whyte Ave Edition

EXTRACT: The spacingTime Continuum Inaugural Whyte Ave Edition April 8, 2013 | By Kurt Borth ca 1910 - PC014144: "Whyte Avenue, Edmonton South, Alta." Image courtesy of Peel's Prairie Provinces, a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries. 2013 - Whyte Avenue a century later at the corner of 104 street facing ...

Proterozoic ocean redox and biogeochemical stasis

EXTRACT: The partial pressure of oxygen in Earths atmosphere has increased dramatically through time, and this increase is thought to have occurred in two rapid steps at both ends of the Proterozoic Eon (?2.50.543 Ga). However, the trajectory and mechanisms of Earths oxygenation are still poorly constrained, and little is known ...

Bioavailability of zinc in marine systems through time

EXTRACT: Bioavailability of zinc in marine systems through time Two geomicrobiologists in our department are part of a research team that successfully challenged a long-accepted theory about the chemical composition of the ancient oceans. MSc student Leslie (Jamie) Robbins and Kurt Konhauser contributed to a study led by University of California Riverside ...

The top 12 research stories of 2012

EXTRACT: The top 12 research stories of 2012 By News StaffJanuary 3, 2013 Researchers in their element (clockwise from top left): Chris Herd with a meteorite chunk, Marianne Clark in a change room, Miriam Reichel with a toothsome T. Rex fossil, and John Law in the lab where he is working with Michael ...

A History in Strata: 100 Years of U of A Geology

EXTRACT: A HISTORY IN STRATA: 100 YEARS OF U OF A GEOLOGY Four cases of geologic specimens were waiting in their exhibit cases in Assiniboia Hall. John Allan, who would eventually become a professional engineer in the self-regulated sense, was ready and waiting after receiving official notification that he would be the first lecturer in geology. And then the students ...

The Changing Face of the North

EXTRACT: The North is melting. But as the worlds northernmost research university, the U of A is at the forefront of understanding these changes from polar bears to glaciers These are interesting times, observes Marianne Douglas, director of the Canadian Circumpolar Institute at the University of Alberta. Shes in her Pembina Hall ...

A scholar and a steward of the North

EXTRACT: A scholar and a steward of the North John England in June 1971, standing on the cliffs of the outer Hazen Plateau on Ellesmere Island, silhouetted against the sea ice on Lady Franklin Bay. As the University of Alberta's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences celebrates its 100th year, one of its ...

Edmonton researcher's meteorite study shines a light on the red planet

EXTRACT: Edmonton researchers meteorite study shines a light on the red planet By Marty Klinkenberg, Edmonton JournalOctober 11, 2012 Dr. Chris Herd, associate professor, Earth and atmospheric sciences at the University of Alberta, holds a sample of a Martian the Tissint Meteorite on October 10, 2012. Photograph by: John Ulan, University ...

Meteorite delivers Martian secrets to U of A researcher

EXTRACT: Meteorite delivers Martian secrets to U of A researcher By Brian MurphyOctober 11, 2012 UAlberta researcher Chris Herd shows off a piece of the Tissint meteorite that landed in Morocco last year. (Photo: John Ulan) (Edmonton) A meteorite that landed in the Moroccan desert 14 months ago is providing more information about Mars, ...

Royal Society of Canada honours U of A standouts

EXTRACT: Royal Society of Canada honours U of A standouts Michael Brown In recognition of their outstanding scholarly and scientific achievements, four University of Alberta faculty members have been elected as fellows to the Royal Society of Canada, and a renewable-resource mainstay has been recognized with the societys communication award. The new fellows are ...