SCRIBE Research Highlights
CBS is home to a wide range of innovative and interdisciplinary research programs. The research stories highlighted in this page showcase some of the exciting discoveries emerging from our labs and field sites. These stories have been written by graduate students in the SCRIBE (Students Communicating Research in Biology Education) program. SCRIBE writers take an active role in translating and communicating research results for non-specialist audiences as they develop their knowledge mobilization skills.
Past SCRIBE stories
- Feb. 9, 2026: The Secret Lives of Serengeti Lions: How Large Lion Prides Thrive Against the Odds
- Feb. 3, 2026: How Fish Can Protect Your Brain From Injury
- Jan. 29, 2026: Survival of the Fittest: How Threatened Freshwater Mussels are Optimizing Their Chances of Survival
- Jan. 8, 2026: LEGO: Suitable for Fish Aged “Larvae” and Up
- Dec. 17, 2025: Peat Potential: The Benefits of Peat in Renewing Soil and Vegetation at Mining Sites
- Dec. 1, 2025: Under Pressure: Why Stress Raises Blood Pressure for Some, but Not Others
- Nov. 12, 2025: Mean, Green, Cleaning Machines: Using Algae to Help Keep Aquaculture Systems Clean
- Oct. 7, 2025: Fit for a female: The impact of housing on mating success in zebrafish
- Oct. 1, 2025: What Drives Fish Health in Streams Near Farmlands? Fish Brains May Hold a Clue
- Aug. 27, 2025: Bat Roostmates Share More Than Just Space: Exploring the Invisible World of the Gut Microbiome
- Aug. 25, 2025: Sparrow Supermoms: Why Some Female Birds ‘Double-Brood’
- July 25, 2025: How Agriculture Reshapes Stream Food Webs Across Seasons
- July 22, 2025: Understanding Your Enemy: Disrupting Cancer Communication as a Key Step in the Fight Against Breast Cancer
- July 14, 2025: Feeding the Microbiome: How Human Milk Influences Gut Health Beyond Infancy
- June 27, 2025: How Does your Garden Grow? Global Study Highlights the Need for Precision Fertilization
- June 23, 2025: Study Offers a ‘Cunning’ Solution to Improving Sustainability of Salmon Farms
- June 20, 2025: Protein Isn’t Everything: How Beans Help Curb Hunger
- June 10, 2025: Counting Steps and Catching Zzzs: Do Kids’ Movements Measure Up?
- May 29, 2025: One Gene, Two Fates: How a Single Mutation Spot Triggers Two Deadly Heart Diseases
- May 26, 2025: Slowing the Surge: Can Timing of Exercise Help Reduce Unhealthy Spikes in Blood Pressure?
- May 16, 2025: Simply Trout-standing: New Study Hints at How Fish ‘Just Keep Swimming’ Amidst Environmental Changes
- May 15, 2025: Serving Tau up on a Platelet: Identifying a Novel Method to Monitor Huntington’s Disease
- May 12, 2025: Taking a ‘Three-Dimensional Approach’ to Cancer Research Yields New Insight
- April 7, 2025: Burning Questions: Why Your Muscles Prefer Carbs Over Fats During Intense Exercise
- April 3, 2025: Tiny Vessels, Big Impact: How Capillaries Control Blood Flow
- March 10, 2025: Nutrigenomics and You: How do Health Care Providers Feel About Using Your Genetics in Personalized Nutrition?
- Feb. 28, 2025: Rethinking Fat: The Surprising Role of Omega-3s and Omega-6s in Combating Obesity
- Feb. 26, 2025: When the Old Way Isn’t the Best Way: Reimagining a New Approach to Environmental Risk Assessment
- Feb. 24, 2025: Imbalanced Micronutrients During Pregnancy Linked to Obesity in Offspring, Finds U of G Study
- Feb. 20, 2025: Aging Like Fine Wine and Cheese: New Insights Hint at the Key to Recovery in Aging Muscles
- Feb. 3, 2025: To Smoke or Not to Smoke, That is the Question: How Cannabis Impacts the Cardiovascular System
- Jan. 28, 2025: The Downsides of Sharing: Savannah Sparrow Females that Mate with ‘Taken’ Males Pay a Cost
- Jan. 16, 2025: New Study Adds to the Arsenal in the War on Fungal Pathogens
- Jan. 14, 2025: Why so Sheddy? Tracking how Environmental DNA Production Varies Within a Single Daphnia
- Dec. 11, 2024: Breaking all the Rules: Parasitoid Wasps Defy Expected Diversity Patterns
- Dec. 2, 2024: “Learning by doing”: Open science tutorials for students, by students
- Nov. 25, 2024: Environmental DNA as a Gateway to Research Experience
- Nov. 21, 2024: What a pain in the back: How personalized approaches to care can help people with low back pain
- Nov. 19, 2024: Eyes as a Window to the Brain
- Oct. 31, 2024: From Kidney to Pancreas: The Multi-faceted Role of Nephrin in Human Health
- Oct. 28, 2024: World Getting ‘Greener and Bushier’ But Many Regions Threatened: U of G Study
- Oct. 15, 2024: isolateR: How a New Tool is Rethinking Microbial Identification and Discovery
- Sept. 17, 2024: Survival of the inconsistent: how behavioural plasticity in caribou increases population resilience
- Sept. 5, 2024: “Overexcited” Astrocytes Help Explain Neuron Dysfunction in Fragile X Syndrome
- Aug. 26, 2024: Life Will Find a Way: The Important Role of Fungi in Ecological Restoration
- July 30, 2024: You are What Your Mother Eats: Omega-3s Boost Gut Health in Mice Offspring
- July 2, 2024: Gut Reactions: U of G Study Finds Food Dyes Can Harm Gut Microbes
- June 27, 2024: From Genes to Geography: Mapping Butterfly Diversity in North America
- June 18, 2024: Uncovering a Piece to the Metabolism Puzzle: Study Reveals Novel Regulator of Energy Metabolism
- June 17, 2024: Race Against Resistance: Protein Profiles Reveal New Potential Target for Antibiotics
- June 7, 2024: Better Together: Unveiling Plant Cooperation in the Face of Nutrient Enrichment and Herbivory
- May 23, 2024: Unraveling the Effects of Warming Lakes on Fish Communities
- May 15, 2024: Is it Getting Hot in Here? How Heating the Skin on Your Feet May Help Rehabilitate Loss of Balance
- April 4, 2024: “Nutrient Density is Key”: A Look at Plant-Based Food Intake in Children
- March 19, 2024: Enhancing Animal Welfare in Captivity: Insights from the Itinerant Lives of Wild Animals
- March 11, 2024: Winter is Coming: How Seasonality May Impact Grey Squirrel Gut Microbiomes
- Feb. 7, 2024: Closing the Knowledge Gap Between Lyme and Other Diseases
- Feb. 2, 2024: Welcome to the Neighbourhood: Red Squirrel Neighbours Share Gut Microbiome
- Jan. 26, 2024: When a potato isn’t just a potato: the ‘dirt’ on understanding plant underground storage organs
- Jan. 15, 2024: Saving Salamanders: Scientists ‘map’ a path to protect an endangered species
- Jan. 8, 2024: Target practice: How identifying motor synergies can enhance athletic training
- Sept 27, 2023: The Transformative Power of Exercise: Cycling Across Canada with Parkinson’s Disease
- Sept 19, 2023: Shedding Light on an Age-old Problem: Researchers Probe Muscle Function Decline in Older Adults
- Sept 6, 2023: What is the Key to Stable Ecosystems? Researchers Find Answers in Economic Principles
- Aug 30, 2023: Scientists are Harnessing the Magic of Math to Predict Species Extinction
- Aug 10, 2023: Surviving Pipelines: Young Pacific Salmon Respond Differently to Oil Spills
- Aug 1, 2023: Beyond Birds: Wildlife Rehabilitators Discover Spread of Avian Influenza to Small Mammals
- June 14, 2023: Just an Arm's Reach Away: The Role of Thyroid Hormones in Urchin Development
- May 25, 2023: Un-processing Obesity: Insights into the Relationship Between Processed Foods and Obesity in Parents and Young Children
- May 3, 2023: Fighting Off Fungi: New Molecular Tool Joins the War Against Fungal Pathogen
- Apr 3, 2023: A Better Morning Brew: Researchers Shed Light on the Asynchronous Flowering of Coffee Plants
- Mar 2, 2023: Can Cannabis Treat Brain Cancer? Study Shows that Molecules in Cannabis Have the Potential to Attack Tumour Cells
- Feb 23, 2023: Genetic Diversity May Hold the Key to Bringing Back an Iconic Endengered Tree
- Jan 30, 2023: Have Your Estrogen and Eat it Too: Phytoestrogens in Soy may Support Kidney Health, Study Finds
- Jan 23, 2023: When Squirrels Win the Spruce Cone Lottery, They Stop Shouting "Get Off My Lawn!"
- Jan 16, 2023: The Heart Wants what the Heart Needs: Study Offers New Insight into Cardiac Adaptations in Aquatic Athletes
- Jan 4, 2023: Divergence Makes the Genome Wander: What an Icelandic Fish is Teaching Scientists About Evolution
- Dec 8, 2022: There's Something in the Water: Accurately Identifying Freshwater Microbial Communities
- Nov 30, 2022: Small but Mighty: The Surprising Role of Bacteria in Brain Development
- Oct 19, 2022: Attack is the Best Form of Defense: Finding New Ways to Target Cystic Fibrosis Bacteria
- Sept 19, 2022: Spying on Seabirds: Combining Old and New Tools to Understand How Kittiwakes Expend Energy
- Aug 29, 2022: The Roots of Change: How Human Activity is Altering Plant Interactions with Fungi
- Aug 16, 2022: A Food Web of Lies: How Misinformation in the Seafood Supply Chain Affects our Role as Top Predators
- July 28, 2022: Let Them Play: How Richer Home Environments Make Mice More Social
- July 14, 2022: Eat Your Leafy Greens: Dietary Nitrate Improves Metabolic Health, Study Finds
- July 11, 2022: Getting the Most out of Grading: How to Make Student Assessment more "Authentic"
- July 4, 2022: Stopping the Spread: The Fight Against Metastatic Cancer
- June 20, 2022: Low Oxygen Impairs Brain Development in Fish, but the Fish Aren't Stressed About It
- June 6, 2022: Life in the Cold Lane: Study Sheds New Light on Beetle Biodiversity in the Sub-Arctic
- May 24, 2022: Plant Roots and Mycorrhizal Fungi: The Plot Thickens in a 500-Million-Year-Old Mystery
- May 13, 2022: Folic Acid: Friend or Foe? Excess Folic Acid During Pregnancy Without Enough Choline Can Promote Obesity in Offspring
- Apr 14, 2022: When Habitual Exercise Becomes a Problem: The Link Between Exercise Addiction and Low Energy Availability
- Mar 22, 2022: Fish Out of Water: an Unexpected Discovery
- Feb 4, 2022: Learning how to Learn: an Instructional Guide
- Jan 17, 2022: Catch me if you can: study reveals the best ways to mark and recapture sea lampreys
- Dec 10, 2021: Study Finds Key Brain Protein May Have Role in Psychiatric Disorders
- Oct 18, 2021: Chilled out: How Turtles Survive in Frozen Ponds for Months Without Oxygen
- Oct 5, 2021: Restoring Natural Habitat on Farmland Yields Big Biodiversity Payoff
- Sept 20, 2021: Tiny Wasps Have Big Impact on Spruce Budworm Outbreaks
- Aug 17, 2021: It’s a No-brainer: Study Sheds New Light on How Tumour Cells Invade Brain Tissue
- July 22, 2021: Gone Fishing: Fish Oil Supplements Reduce Impacts of Breast Cancer in Obese Mice
- July 15, 2021: Study Turns Conventional Thinking on Myofascial Back Pain Upside Down
- July 6, 2021: eDNA: a Conservation Game-changer
- June 28, 2021: The Evolution of Learning and Behavior: How Toads Could Unlock the Complexities of Human Behavior
- June 14, 2021: How to Improve Drug Production: An Unbe-leaf-able Story
- June 8, 2021: Genome Miners Strike Toxin Gold
- May 26, 2021: Feed Your Genes: How Genetics Influence Our Response to Food
- May 18, 2021: Don’t Fret, Just Sweat
- May 10, 2021: Smaller Brains Help Toads Survive a Harsh Life atop Mountains
- May 5, 2021: The State of Matter Matters: How Does Consumption of Solid Versus Liquid Fats Affect Appetite?
- Apr 26, 2021: Fishing for Ecological Opportunity in Ashby Lake
- Apr 19, 2021: Hey, Stress, LEAve Them Plants Alone
- Apr 9, 2021: Antidepressants in the Water Affect Daphnia and Their Babies… and Their Babies’ Babies!
- Mar 30, 2021: Following the Fertilizer Trail: Study Explains How Nutrient Run-off Leads to Far Off Impacts
- Mar 15, 2021: Lost in Translation: Deconstructing Different Knowledge Systems to Improve Cross-Cultural Communication
- Feb 19, 2021: Engaging Diverse Learners in Biology
- Jan 5, 2021: There’s Nothing Fishy About It: Omega-3’s in Fish Oils Reduce Inflammation
- Dec 17, 2020: No More “Use it or Lose it”: New Discovery May Stave Off Muscle Loss During Post-Injury Recovery
- Dec 1, 2020: A Diagnostic Bull’s-eye? Researchers Use Platelets and Citrate to Take Aim at Lyme Disease
- Oct 28, 2020: This is your brain (waves) on drugs
- Sept 18, 2020: Ribosome Royale: A Specialized Secret Agent in the Fight to Detect Cancer
- July 6, 2020: Caring for Caribou: Understanding How Logging Affects Survival of a Threatened Species
- June 10, 2020: Help Me Genome, You’re My Only Hope: A Fishy Resistance Story
- May 28, 2020: Take This to Heart: TBC1D1 May Help Reduce Risk of Heart Disease in Diabetics
- May 7, 2020: Blooming Change: A Story of Adaption
- Mar 13, 2020: It Takes a Village: Citizen Scientists Monitor Canada’s Favourite Butterfly
- Feb 28, 2020: Eat Lots, Fly Early: Supplemental Feeding Leads to Earlier Fledging in Canada Jays
- Feb 21, 2020: Together We Stand, Divided We Fall: How Microbes Cooperate in the Human Gut
- Feb 4, 2020: We Can’t Direct the Wind, but We Can Adjust the Sails: Using Models to Predict Hypoxia in Lake Erie
- Jan 24, 2020: You are What You Eat, but What Should Your Food Eat? Feed-additive Benefits in an Antibiotic-free Future
- Jan 16, 2020: Historical Fish Stocking Records may Hold the Key to Saving the Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout
- Jan 7, 2020: Bold is Best: How Personality Impacts Mating and Chick Survival in Arctic Seabirds
- Dec 6, 2019: A Tale of Two Worlds: Emersion and Exploration Behavior in an Amphibious Fish
- Nov 5, 2019: What’s Really in your Protein Powder?
- Oct 22, 2019: When Cutting Off Blood Supply is A Good Thing: Using Ischemic Preconditioning to Enhance Exercise Performance
- Oct 1, 2019: How to Find a Needle in a Haystack, Fast
- Sept 16, 2019: Limited Oxygen Builds Stronger Alligator Hearts, Study Finds
- Sept 4, 2019: Why You Should Keep Your Finger on the ‘Pulse’ of Carb Substitutes
- Aug 15, 2019: Water, Sugar, Salt: A Winning Combination in Hockey
- Aug 7, 2019: Limited Phosphorous Supply? Try Your Friendly Neighbourhood Fungi
- Aug 2, 2019: Growing Up is Hard: Study Explains High Mortality in Sea Urchins Following Metamorphosis
- July 30, 2019: Breaking Taboo: Understanding the Evolution of Menstruation
- July 25, 2019: How Rapid Evolutionary Change has Made Landlocked Salmon Less Seaworthy
- July 22, 2019: Tips for Healthy Living: Eat Healthy, Exercise, and…Spit in a Tube
- July 16, 2019: To Divide or not to Divide? That is the Question Being Answered by Dlx Proteins in Developing Embryo Cells
- July 10, 2019: More than Just a Hunger Hormone: Ghrelin Could Help Prevent Diabetes
- July 3, 2019: Fruit Flies (Yes, Fruit Flies!) Reveal New Insights into Animal Aggression
- June 28, 2019: Frogs of a Stressor Evolve Together
- June 24, 2019: Candy or Chips? An Analysis of Taste Preferences and Why it Matters to Your Health
- June 13, 2019: A Step Forward in Understanding Injurious Fall Risk in Older Adults
- June 5, 2019: The “Goldiloxygen” Zone: Finding the Oxygen “Sweet Spot” for Growing Human Cells in the Lab
- May 29, 2019: Poop Bacteria versus C. difficile: Pathogen Proves to be a Complex Opponent in the Battle Between Good and Bad Gut Bacteria
- May 22, 2019: ‘Tis but a Scratch! Damselflies Lose a Limb to Escape Predators in the Nick of Time
- May 13, 2019: Go Ahead and ‘Sweat It’: How to Survive as a Fish Out of Water
- May 8, 2019: DNA May Provide Clues Towards Personalized Treatments for Metabolic Syndrome
- May 1, 2019: Genetic Study of Early Maturing Salmon Yields Surprise Discovery
- April 25, 2019: Got Mussels? Understanding Why Turbid Rivers Have More Bivalve Shellfish
- April 16, 2019: Getting to the Heart of the Matter in Aquatic Ecosystem Stability
- April 12, 2019: Making Sense of Moving Through Life
- April 5, 2019: Biting the Bullet: Why Some Canadians and Wildlife Literally ‘Eat Lead
- April 2, 2019: Feathered Jet Setters: Tree Swallows Map out Complex International Routes and Stopovers During Migration
- Mar 29, 2019: Study Shows How Agrochemicals Can Increase Risk of Parkinson’s Disease
- Mar 26, 2019: Know Your Enemy: Do Invasive Species Evolve More Rapidly?
- Mar 22, 2019: When it Comes to Overtraining in Athletes, Less May be More
- Mar 20, 2019: Bill C-69 Fails to Deliver on Indigenous Consultation and Knowledge Systems
- Mar 14, 2019: Investigation into Novel Gene Mutation Provides Surprising Insights into Rare Kidney Disease
- Mar 6, 2019: New Study Explains Link Between High Fat Diet and Diabetes
- Feb 26, 2019: Fishing for Answers: Using Seabirds to Better Understand Fish Populations
- Feb 19, 2019: Are Strawberries too Tasty to Evolve?
- Feb 11, 2019: How to Build a Better Trap for an Invasive Pest: Study its Personality
- Feb 4, 2019: Unfolding the Mystery of How Plants Defy Dehydration
- Jan 28, 2019: Winter Blues? Study Suggests Exercise Builds both Fitness and Cold Tolerance
- Jan 18, 2019: Fatty Acids Tell a Genetic Story about Health Risks, Says Study
- Jan 7, 2019: Uncovering New Pieces of the Bacterial Cell Division Puzzle
- Dec 13, 2018: Tape: the Latest Weapon Against Back Pain
- Dec 12, 2018: Linking Humans to Fisheries Food Webs
- Nov 21, 2018: Zebrafish Moms May Protect Eggs from Stress with Hormone that Reduces Cell Death
- Nov 8, 2018: Combatting Obesity with ‘Methyl Donor’ Micronutrients
- Oct 12, 2018: Novel Potential Role for Vitamin D During Puberty
- Sept 26, 2018: Helping Farmers Avoid Sour Grapes: Researchers Develop Test for Hidden Viruses in Ontario’s Vineyards
- Sept 12, 2018: CBS Turns a Scientific Eye to Improving Teaching and Learning
- Aug 30, 2018: Researchers Get it “Right” in the Study of Heart Failure
- Aug 22, 2018: Solid and Liquid Fat Get Digested Differently, Says Study
- Aug 16, 2018: Herbal Medicine Fraud: Do You Know What’s in Your Pill?
- Aug 8, 2018: Reduced Skin Sensitivity in Older Adults May Contribute to Poor Balance
- Aug 1, 2018: Plant Movement Important for Wind Pollination, Study Says
- July 25, 2018: Study Paves Way to Better Identify and Treat Important Pathogen
- July 18, 2018: Starting out Strong: Inspiring Lifelong Dietary Habits in Preschoolers
- July 11, 2018: Tick Tock: Calibrating the “Molecular Clock” to Date a Species’ Evolutionary History
- July 5, 2018: Understanding How Cellular Components Function as a Team
- June 27, 2018: How to Multi-task with Ease: Train the Body and Mind as One
- June 20, 2018: Want to Know How to Survive Extreme Environments? Ask an Amphibious Fish
- June 14, 2018: Revealing the Hidden Relationships Inside Plant Cell
- June 7, 2018: Regulating Blood Flow Takes Team Work
- May 31, 2018: Not All Frogs are Created Equal When it Comes to Measuring Environmental Quality
- May 24, 2018: When Brain Regions Can’t Communicate, and How to Prevent It
- May 17, 2018: New Research Reveals How Our Body Responds to Muscle Fatigue
- May 9, 2018: Deciphering Mode of Bacterial Infections Could Help Cystic Fibrosis Patients Breathe Easier
- May 1, 2018: Lichens: a Bellwether of Biodiversity in City Parks
- April 18, 2018: New Possible Drug Targets Emerge for Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis
- April 9, 2018: Genetics Help Power Atlantic Salmon Restoration
- Mar 28, 2018: Unlocking the Potential for Lipid Production in Plants
- Mar 21, 2018: You Can't Make a Sea Urchin Without Breaking Some Cells
- Mar 16, 2018: A Study in Purple: an Emerging Symbol for Healthy Food
- Mar 8, 2018: Common fluorescent label has unintended impact on health of zebrafish
- Feb 23, 2018: Study Discovers Unexpected Ability in Cell-trafficking Protein
- Feb 7, 2018: Study Shows New Twist on Mind-muscle Connection
- Jan 26, 2018: Gaining virtual insights into the molecular structure of the brain
- Jan 10, 2018: Iron Deficiencies More Common in Elite Athletes than Previously Thought
- Jan 10, 2018: “Junk” DNA Predicts Body Size in Seed Shrimp
