When nature designed lignin — the fibrous, woody material that gives plants their rigid structure — it didn’t cut any corners.

The world is filled with tiny creatures that find us delicious. Bacteria and viruses are the obvious bad guys, drivers of deadly global pandemics and annoying infections.

Every day, billions of red blood cells pass through the spleen, an organ that is responsible for filtering out old or damaged blood cells. This task is made more difficult when the blood cells are misshapen, as they are in patients with sickle cell disease, which affects millions of people throughout the world.

Treating cancer with combinations of drugs can be more effective than using a single drug. However, figuring out the optimal combination of drugs, and making sure that all of the drugs reach the right place, can be challenging.

Is excitement over meat alternatives overheated?

As a pilot project involving University of Guelph researchers monitoring wastewater at Toronto Pearson Airport for coronavirus variants enters its second year, one of its lead researchers says the work has grown more complicated. 

Scientists at Harvard Medical School have investigated why we age, and identified a possible way to reverse it. In tests in mice, the team showed that epigenetic “software glitches” drive the symptoms of aging – and a system reboot can reverse them, potentially extending lifespan.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have created a computational model to predict the growth of deadly brain tumours more accurately.

In November 2018, the Camp Fire burned a total of 239 square miles, destroyed 18,804 structures and killed 85 people, making it the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. 

Following a year when temperature records have been smashed, research from the Earlham Institute in Norwich, in collaboration with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), offers much-needed hope for improving crop resilience and food security in the face of climate change.