Science Canada | Research News ✦ June 29 - July 3
Searching for the next God particle, 4D printing turbines, and more ↴
RESEARCH HEADLINES · JUNE 29-JULY 3
Hunting for affordable housing, open science for disease research, finding the next God particle, and more.
Housing instability still affects millions of Canadians and was top of mind this past week. From a new tool that isolates the best areas to build affordable homes to proposed legislation to codify housing as a human right in Québec.
Let’s dig in ↴
UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
The hunt for affordable housing gets a first-of-its-kind mapping tool
A new research tool, the ‘BC Public Lands Map’, aims to identify up to $50 billion in public land value. The solution combines federal, provincial, and municipal data to find areas suitable for affordable housing. Early analysis has spotted more than 50,000 parcels of land in BC and up to 273,000 possible housing units across Metro Vancouver.
“Canada has an affordable housing crisis — we have half the rate of affordable housing of other developed countries. About 10 per cent of households in Canada can’t afford their housing – they can’t afford to live in this country.” — Dr. Craig Jones
UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
Open science for better disease research
To promote transparency, the Open Science group is championing greater access to research findings, data, code, and methods. The group’s ultimate goal is to improve trust in research, increase verifiability, improve future research, and accelerate discoveries.
“In rare disease research especially, where individual centres rarely have enough participants to generate meaningful findings, this kind of data sharing is transformative: enabling larger, more representative cohorts and advancing precision medicine.”
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
The search for mysteries of the universe
To expand our understanding of the universe, SFU researchers are helping lead upgrades to the Large Hadron Collider, the most powerful particle accelerator on the planet. The collider, which helped scientists discover ‘the God particle’ in 2012, is undergoing upgrades as scientists continue searching for new fundamental particles and interactions.
“What scientists are trying to do is discover new fundamental particles and interactions that will unlock the secrets of the universe. But it’s a bit like looking for needles in a universe-sized haystack. The new detector components that we’re assembling right here at SFU greatly improve the chances of finding something new. That’s what makes it so exciting to be involved and what keeps pushing us forward.” — Dr. Bernd Stelzer, Physics Professor, SFU
MCGILL UNIVERSITY
As homelessness increases, QHPC argues that housing should be a human right
A new report from the Québec Homelessness Prevention Collaborative (QHPC) makes 17 recommendations, including the inclusion of housing in the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. The report is based on research that explores how nations like Finland, France, and Germany approach housing rights and duties to (1) assist those at risk, (2) build social housing, and (3) prevent eviction.
“The statistics of homelessness in Quebec have been getting progressively and, I would argue, catastrophically worse. Between 2018 and 2022, homelessness went up by 44 per cent, with further increases every year. Clearly, what we’re doing right now is not working.” — Pearl Eliadis, Lawyer & Associate Professor (Professional), Public Policy, McGill
MCGILL UNIVERSITY
Heat waves increase risk of heart problems
After analyzing more than 5 years of Montreal hospital admissions data, McGill researchers found about an 8% increase in the risk of hospitalization for heart conditions on the hottest days.
“Female participants demonstrated greater vulnerability in areas lacking adaptive resources, indicating that sex-specific heat-protection strategies should prioritize enhancement of community-level cooling infrastructure and support systems.”
CONCORDIA
4D-printing for lighter, faster turbine blades
New carbon-fibre composite panels can be manufactured more cheaply and more efficiently than standard aluminum options. Wind turbines are increasingly used in urban settings, and manufacturing standard blades can be costly and complex.
“The blades are made using carbon/epoxy composite materials with a fiber volume fraction of about 60%.”