The Tribune

The US National Cancer Institute team has found a way to manipulate immune cells in one’s own body to attack certain kinds of cancer. Two of 17 people treated have been declared clear of skin cancer after treatment using genetically modified versions of their own immune cells.

In this age of greenhouse gasses and smog advisories, air pollution has gotten a pretty bad name, and rightly so. But it still looks pretty trippy. Air pollution is divided into four categories: criteria air contaminates (which create smog and acid rain), persistent organic pollutants (which travel well and bioaccumulate in body tissues), heavy metals (which enter the food and water supply) and toxins (which will, in one way or another, kill you).

A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism has revealed that many young adults are lacking vitamin D, which is linked to increased body fat. Due to the inverse relationship between muscle fat and strength, the study is being approached as a plausible explanation for weakness symptoms.

Many people drink coffee to wake themselves up in the morning or stay focussed throughout their day. But a team of scientists from BBC’s Bang Goes the Theory have taken the term “running on coffee” to another extreme: they have built a car that runs on coffee rather than gasoline.

Researchers at McGill and affiliated institutions have received $5 million to study the effects of common synthetic substances on reproductive health. Awarded by the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR), the five-year grants will fund two multidisciplinary teams of researchers from McGill University, the Research Institute of McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC), and several other universities in Quebec and Ontario.

A recent study published in Nature has revealed that a proportion of morbidly obese people are missing a certain piece of DNA. The study found that seven of every 1,000 obese people are missing a specific part of their DNA, which contains about 30 genes. Professor Philippe Froguel and Dr.

Research led by the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center confirms that diagnoses of “poop” dermatitis, formally known as allergic/irritant contact dermatitis, has recently made a comeback in pediatricians’ offices worldwide. This skin condition is characterized by skin irritations found on the buttocks and upper-thigh regions and is caused by substances found within the toilet seat.

Human papillomavirus has been found in more than half of young adults in new sexual relationships, a groundbreaking Montreal study has reported. Led by Dr. Eduardo Franco¬ – director of McGill University’s Cancer Epidemiology Unit – and a team of McGill and University of Montreal researchers, the study reported that 56 per cent of participants were infected with at least one type of HPV and 44 per cent of that group were infected with a high-risk type of the disease known to cause cervical cancer.

Great things tend to happen when established musicians play with other established musicians. Take Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Cream, considered some of the earliest examples of the “supergroup,” or more recent bands like Broken Social Scene and The New Pornographers, whose members almost all had notable solo careers before breaking big together.

Last Friday, the Redpath Museum auditorium was filled with students and faculty members attending the first of a four-part lecture series by former McGill professor Don Donderi on the psychology and science behind UFOs and aliens. During his talk, Donderi laid out his basic thoughts on alien encounters, provided scientific insight into numerous examples of documented “close encounters,” and discussed what he intends to convey over the course of the entire lecture series.