McGill Science

Our Office at McGill, dedicated to separating sense from nonsense for the public, was founded by three chemists in 1999. Earlier this morning, one of them, David Harpp, passed away.

David had a sharp mind and a kindness about him that I will miss dearly.

www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/...

At the McGill Sustainability Park, the ReACT Hubs will confront real-world sustainability challenges by convening researchers from across McGill to work alongside societal partners.

🔗 mcgill.ca/x/5iJ

📷 Mockup showing potential wet labs at the Sustainability Park.

McCall MacBain International Fellowships - McCall MacBain Foundation The McCall MacBain International Fellowships enable globally minded Canadian undergraduate students to develop strong intercultural competencies and ties to different regions of the world through a ye...

The deadline to apply for a McCall MacBain International Fellowship is Tues. January 13!

These fellowships are open to undergraduate students and offer the opportunity to spend a full year abroad in a country where you are not already fluent in one of the major languages.

➡️https://mcgill.ca/x/5or

Four McGill studies made @quebecscience.bsky.social's Top 10 Discoveries of the Year 🔬🌍 Their topics range from prehistoric fossils to female fertility, highlighting the range of expertise at McGill.

Congratulations to the researchers behind this achievement!

🔗 https://mcgill.ca/x/5Jq

McCall MacBain International Fellowships - McCall MacBain Foundation The McCall MacBain International Fellowships enable globally minded Canadian undergraduate students to develop strong intercultural competencies and ties to different regions of the world through a ye...

The deadline to apply for a McCall MacBain International Fellowship is Tues. January 13!

These fellowships are open to undergraduate students and offer the opportunity to spend a full year abroad in a country where you are not already fluent in one of the major languages.

➡️https://mcgill.ca/x/5or

We're kicking off 2026 with a stellar workshop lineup!
📊Intro to R
🤖 Programming with GenAI
📂 Understanding file systems
📈 Statistical simulation studies
...and more!
Learn more and register here: mcgill.ca/x/i2X

@cjep.bsky.social paper on gender equity in cognitive science @nserc-resnet.bsky.social funding, highlighting progress in past 6 years.

Led by @mcgillscience.bsky.social psych trainee Michelle Yang; co-authored w/ @pennypexman.bsky.social. A @wicscanada.bsky.social effort.

doi.org/10.1037/cep0...

Congratulations to Prof. Audrey Moores (Chemistry), who has been awarded the Canadian Pacific Chair in Biotechnology!

Read more ➡️ mcgill.ca/x/it5

Single people who date without a clear understanding of what they are looking for in a relationship experience more loneliness and decreased life satisfaction, McGill researchers have found.

🔗 https://mcgill.ca/x/itU

The University flag will be lowered today, Dec. 3, in honour of Prof. Emeritus Balfour Mount (Palliative Care, Medicine and Health Sciences) The Hon. Prof. Kelvin K. Ogilvie (Chemistry, Science), and Prof. Ante L. Padjen (Pharmacology, Medicine and Health Sciences).

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, a McGill-led research team has observed a giant helium cloud escaping from the distant exoplanet WASP-107b, offering new insights into the evolution of planetary atmospheres.

➡️ mcgill.ca/x/iFB

Awesome to see such a big turn out for our 80th celebrations as a Dept! 💚💙💚💙💚💙

Last night, our colleagues in Geography celebrated the department’s 80th anniversary! Over 100 students, faculty members, staff, and alumni gathered for an evening of wine, cheese, and conversation.

Read our story about the department's history ➡️ mcgill.ca/x/wFT

On Thursday, November 13, over 150 students, alumni, staff and faculty members gathered to celebrate the 20th anniversary of McGill's Bachelor of Arts and Science (B.A. & Sc.) program.

Read more about the event and this unique program ➡️ mcgill.ca/x/iyP

📸 by Alex Tran

@mcgillarts.bsky.social

This past September, St. James Parish in Barbados celebrated We Gatherin’, a year-long festival of Barbadian heritage, culture and community. As part of the festivities, McGill’s Bellairs Research Institute hosted a day-long Science Adventure for local schoolchildren.

Read more ➡️ mcgill.ca/x/iyg

Christian Genest receives the 2025 Acfas Urgel-Archambault Prize  - McGill Reporter McGill statistics professor is honoured for accomplishments that include refining climate forecasting models and improving risk management

🎉 Congratulations to @mcgill.ca Prof. Christian Genest (Dept. of Mathematics and Statistics) for receiving the 2025 @acfas.ca Urgel-Archambault Prize! His work has transformed mathematical knowledge into operational tools for preventing and managing risks.

reporter.mcgill.ca/christian-ge...

Researcher Daniel Levitin in his lab at McGill University, with musician Sting.

The musician who decoded the mind’s melody 🧠🎶

From platinum record rock-and-roll producer to award-winning #McGill neuroscientist, Daniel Levitin has spent his life uncovering how the songs we love may be the brain’s most powerful medicine 🎼

🔗 mcgill.ca/x/iCh

McGill breaks into the global Top 10 for sustainability! 🌱 Ranked #9 worldwide in the QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2026, this recognition reflects our community’s commitment to research, innovation and collective action for a more sustainable world.

🔗 Read more: mcgill.ca/x/iC5

Two McGill professors awarded funding for AI research through Canada-France collaboration McGill Professors Jackie Chi Kit Cheung and Lijun Sun have received funding for their research projects on reasoning and responsible artificial intelligence (AI) from the Canadian Institutes of Health...

Congratulations to #McGill Professors Jackie Chi Kit Cheung and Lijun Sun, who were awarded funding for #AI research through a Canada-France collaboration 👏🎉

Learn about this funding: mcgill.ca/x/iCg

Meet Maya — a McGill undergrad whose summer project became a published paper. ✨ Alongside a team of McGill researchers, she mapped coastal buildings at risk from long-term sea-level rise.

🔗 Learn more about her inspiring journey at mcgill.ca

Congratulations to the 2025 BMO Responsible AI Scholars, presented by the #McGill Collaborative for AI and Society (McCAIS). The awards support undergrad and grad students in all McGill faculties pursuing research in responsible #AI. Read more in the McGill Reporter: mcgill.ca/x/iju

Visual with photos of two professors Title: Neurogenesis Speaker Series Wednesday, November 26, 2025, 4:30-6:30 p.m., The Neuro with Delphine Raucher-Chene, MD, PhD, and Tasmia Hai, PhD

How can digital tools transform mental health research? Can brain anatomy show us how parents and children share attention? 🧠

Find out at the next Neurogenesis Faculty Lecture on Nov. 26 at @theneuro.bsky.social w/ Delphine Raucher-Chéné & @tasmiahai.bsky.social!

👉 Register here: mcgill.ca/x/iHe

McGill-led team maps ‘weather’ on a nearby brown dwarf in unprecedented detail Researchers at McGill University and collaborating institutions have mapped the atmospheric features of a planetary-mass brown dwarf, a type of space object that is neither a star nor a planet, existi...

Researchers at @mcgill.ca and collaborating institutions have mapped the atmospheric features of a planetary-mass brown dwarf, offering potential insights into planet and star formation.

➡️ mcgill.ca/x/iVL

A worn-down mammoth tooth discovered nearly 150 years ago on an island in Nunavut offers new insights into where and how the Ice Age giants lived and died, indicating that they once roamed much farther east than previously believed.

➡️ mcgill.ca/x/iVk

A team at McGill University studying ferroptosis, a form of cell death, have discovered that the process begins deep inside the cell, a finding that could lead to new treatments for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

➡️ mcgill.ca/x/iHg

What does a 14th-century painting have to do with artificial intelligence and neuroscience? For McGill University PhD candidate Hannah Derue, the answer is it has a role to play in addressing chronic pain and the need to better understand and express it.

➡️ mcgill.ca/x/irV

Homecoming 2025: Water, Climate Change, and the Future As part of last weekend’s Homecoming festivities, Interim Dean of Science Alanna Watt hosted an engaging and timely event on Friday morning entitled “Water, Climate Change, and the Future,” which highlighted the importance of freshwater science research in the face of a changing climate. The event featured presentations from McGill Professors Irene Gregory-Eaves (Biology) and Jeffrey McKenzie (Earth and Planetary Sciences), two leading experts in freshwater science. Following their presentations, Professors Gregory-Eaves and McKenzie answered audience questions about their research. Professor Gregory-Eaves, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Freshwater Ecology and Global Change, presented her work studying the structure and functioning of lakes through initiatives like the NSERC LakePulse network. Canada is the most lake-rich nation in the world, making it a critical region for understanding the effects of climate change on lake ecosystems. Professor McKenzie is a hydrogeologist with a focus on cryohydrogeology, which is the study of the interactions between climate change and groundwater in cold regions. As permafrost in the Canadian Arctic thaws due to rising global temperatures, it leads to changes in groundwater flow that McKenzie’s Laboratory for Advanced Hydrologic Modeling and Stuff (LAHMAS) group studies using numerical models and field-based research. The event, which was attended by 35 McGill alumni and staff, was one of three events hosted by the Faculty of Science for Homecoming. On Friday afternoon, alumni, staff, students, and prospective students toured new Biology labs. Later that same day, the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences also hosted a reunion. In addition to events organized by the Faculty of Science, three Psychology professors - Anna Weinberg, Sara Colalillo, and Melanie Dirks - participated in a Homecoming Signature Masterclass focused on Youth Mental Health.

As part of last weekend’s Homecoming festivities, Interim Dean of Science Alanna Watt hosted an engaging and timely event on Friday morning entitled “Water, Climate Change, and the Future,” which highlighted the importance of freshwater science in the face of a changing climate.

➡️ mcgill.ca/x/irP

When McGill PhD candidate Sam McNichol boarded the Atlantis this spring, he expected to spend a month collecting deep-sea samples in the mid-Pacific. He didn't anticipate that two of his shipmates would witness a rare volcanic eruption on one of their last days at sea.

➡️ mcgill.ca/x/iKr

YouTube video by McGill University Rowan Barrett Time Capsule

Day 1 of #McGill Homecoming 2025 kicks off with a Bicentennial Digital Time Capsule reveal ⏳⤵️

First up: Professor Rowan Barrett, evolutionary biologist & former Canada Research Chair in Biodiversity Science (@mcgillscience.bsky.social) youtu.be/LNKbdN_-PC8

When Amanda Cook and Alice Curtin attended the Fast Radio Burst Conference in Thailand last year, an idea was already forming between them—why not organize the next conference at McGill themselves?

This past summer, the two organized this year’s conference right here at McGill.

➡️ mcgill.ca/x/iKw