The 12th annual launch of the McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal took place in the Bellini Atrium, where students from…
McGill Biochemistry Research Awareness Day (RAD) 2016
Research Awareness Day (RAD) is an annual event run by the Biochemistry Undergraduate Society (BUGS), which seeks to inform and…
McGill’s 2016 Undergraduate Research Conference
The Undergraduate Research Conference that took place during the fall semester of 2016 featured original research projects by students selected…
The 2016 Lorne Trottier Public Science Symposium
The 2016 Lorne Trottier Public Science Symposium took place in Montreal on October 17 and 18. This year’s event, entitled Science…
MSURJ Volume 11 Launch!
(Photography credits: Carter van Eitreim) On March 31, students, authors and guest presenters gathered in the Bellini atrium for the…
What Is the human brain project?
(image: Greg Dunn – wired.com) In 2013, the Human Brain Project (HBP) was granted €1-billion by the European Commission’s Future…
First language shapes later processing patterns in the brain
By Leanne Louie Whether you still speak it or not, your first language dictates the way your brain processes…
Meet MSURJ: Sebastian
Hello MSURJ enthusiasts! My name is Sebastian Andric and I am a Junior Editor on the MSURJ team. I am…
Floorball
(image: wikimedia commons) What a new form of hockey can contribute to skill development for our national sport Joshua Shapiro…
Meet MSURJ: Meng
Hello, hello! I’m Meng, one of the co-Editors-in-Chief for the 2015-2016 school year. I am a graduating pharmacology student minoring…
The cognitive neuroscience of deception
Truth about lies, the highest governing process Ji Yun Shin We have probably encountered many troubling scenarios in life where…
We’ve been featured!
MSURJ, currently in its 11th year of print, was recently featured by the McGill Tribune as one of the best scientific publications…
Meet MSURJ: Alex
Hello everyone! I’m a U2 Computer Science student, and have recently joined MSURJ as an editor. I have research…
Meet MSURJ: Aditya
Aditya Mohan is a youth leader in STEM from Ottawa, Ontario who has always been keenly interested in science and…
RAD 2015: Biochemistry Research Awareness Day
As per tradition, this year’s Research Awareness Day, organized by the Biochemistry Undergraduate Society, was kicked off with coffee, treats,…
Undergraduate Research 101 with MSURJ: A Fond Recap
Just this past week, on a somewhat blustery but clear night, our research journal team did something groundbreaking—we did a…
Insects for a snack?
by Loloah Chamoun If I told you that I could incorporate insects into your diet without you even noticing, would…
Meet MSURJ: Nick
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Like many other grade 3 students, I wanted to…
Meet MSURJ: Sapan
I was born and raised in Northern New Jersey, and am a third-year student pursuing an Honours Anatomy and Cell…
Meet MSURJ: Tatiana
Hello readers! My name is Tatiana Alejandra Sanchez, and I am in the fourth year of my undergraduate studies at…
Industrial agriculture
by Dima Mutran Did you know that 82% of starving children in the world live in countries where food is…
Meet MSURJ: Adam
Hello friends! My name’s Adam and I’m the Managing Editor for Outreach on MSURJ! I’m studying biochemistry and will be…
…And we’re back!
We’ve been busy revamping both our website and the abstract blog, but we’re back in business and ready to launch…
Biochemistry Research Awareness Day
McGill’s annual Biochemistry Research Awareness Day (RAD), hosted by the Biochemistry Undergraduate Society (BUGS), took place on the 15th of November this…
MSURJ’s 2014-2015 Editorial Board
Popularized by the famous French writer Marcel Proust, the Proust questionnaire delves deep into the mind of the responder, touching…
Wine and cheese tips for the socially awkward
Pretty much every department at McGill hosts at least one wine and cheese night. These events are a great…
Isn’t evolution JUST a theory?
“Isn’t evolution JUST a theory, anyway?” This confusion is a prominent one. It stems from the multiple definitions of the…
A silver (or mother-of-pearl) lining
Located in a coastal region at the southern tip of Ross Island – a scant 1,360 km north of the…
NiRC 2014: National Integrative Research Conference
Started in 2011, the National Integrative Research Conference (NiRC) is an initiative of McGill’s Bachelors of Arts and Sciences Integrative…
3, 2, 1… Launch!
This year’s edition of the McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal (MSURJ) will be launched today! Thank you to everyone who…
[Profile] Ran Shu, the escape of senescence in human fibroblasts
Ran Shu always knew he wanted to do research, but wasn’t always so sure that he’d get his opportunity. Despite…
[Author Profile] Aaron Eger, role of parrotfish community composition as an indicator for species richness in Bajan coral reefs
Aaron Eger is proof that there is biology research can be more than pipetting and cell cultures. He has come a…
[Profile] Felix Cormier, Marcel Georgin, Stephen Koelbl, and Robert Oda, development and characterization of a directional gamma-ray detector
Researchers dream about projects that go perfectly – protocols that work on the first attempt, equipment that doesn’t break, and results that…
[Profile] Jenna Hotton, synaptic characterization of the DCN circuit
Generally speaking, most people think of what is referred to as the cerebral cortex when they think of the brain.…
Crickets, cheese, and computers: Ampersand 2014
Interdisciplinary is hailed as the next big thing in academia and problem-solving. Bringing together two different disciplines and the perspectives…
McGill students’ astronomy club: Out of this world
Between the COSMOS series, recently reintroduced with Neil deGrasse Tyson as host, and the BICEP2 discovery, the realm beyond our atmosphere has…
[Photo] The Borexino Experiment
“BOREXino” refers to an experiment performed by an international collaboration centered on solar neutrino physics. Neutrinos are released in radioactive…
[Photo] Bikini (Atoll)
What do a popular bathing suit style and a nuclear testing site have in common? Their name. Fun fact: “Bikini”…
Summer Opportunities 101
Are you looking for a summer internship or job? Searching and applying for your first work experience is no easy…
Infinity Series II: Zero volume with infinite surface area
Ascending and Descending (M. C. Escher, Lithograph, 1960). This is the second entry of the “Infinity Series”, which will introduce…
[Photo] What does a social network look like?
Jeffrey Heer and Danah Boyd are co-founders of the powerful program Vizster, a software which allows users to visualize online social networks in clean,…
Infinity Series I: Finite area with infinite perimeter
This is the first entry of the “Infinity Series”, which will introduce you to the peculiar world of infinity. Today,…
[Photo] An augmented reality sandbox
The Augmented Reality (AR) Sandbox was created by the joint forces of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) of the University…
Sergeant scientist: McGill’s role in military research
McGill has a long and fascinating history of pseudo-military research: for example, the CIA conducted extremely damaging experiments on depatterning…
Apartment Hunting 101
It’s the time of the year again when we begin to consider whether we should stay at our current place…
Top ten scientific breakthroughs: 2013 Edition
As an aspiring scientist, nothing excites me more than a good step forward in a research field, and by those…
Register for MSURJ’s new R tutorial!
[Photo] Tongariro Crossing, aka Mt. Doom
Tongariro Alpine Crossing is located in Tongariro National Park – New Zealand’s oldest national park and a dual cultural and…
Paging Dr. Robot: IBM introduces the clinician’s trusty sidekick, Watson
Keeping up with medical research is a monstrous task for today’s clinicians. Masses of new data rapidly augment the already-enormous…
[Photo] Glowing catsharks: Biofluorescence at work
Anyone who has heard of GFP should know that some marine organisms – such as corals and jellyfish – can…
You are an eggplant (Q.E.D.)
I will now prove that you are an eggplant. Let We have that We can also conclude that Subtracting the…
From fly sex to lizard saliva: Why we must fund all scientific research
It is vital that we recognize the value of pushing the frontiers of knowledge, even in the most unlikely of…
Scientifically proven* to improve your life – An interview with useful science
*This site has not undergone any kind of scientific review process – but it is super cool. What started as…
[Photo] Your next hiking trip: Paria Canyon
The Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness is a wilderness area created by the United States Congress in 1984 to protect the…
“Do you even hack?”: An interview with hack McGill
Last semester, the word “hackathon” popped up on my Facebook newsfeed – a lot. Apparently, more than one of my…
Study zones on campus
Welcome back to school! Is one of your New Year’s Resolutions to be more studious? If so, you’re probably looking…
[Survey] What skills do you need for a lab position?
[Video] A cappella physics
What do you get when you cross “Bohemian Rhapsody” with a burning passion for physics? “Bohemian Gravity”, of course! ……
Gender bias in neuroscience: SfN’s San Diego Symposium
This weekend, San Diego hosted the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting. Among topics ranging from neural injury and plasticity to…
The hidden businessperson: Money’s conspicuous absence in the concept of “doctor”
I recently searched Google Images for the keyword “doctor.” The page of results was flooded with attractive (predominantly white and…
[Photo] Sundarbans, Bangladesh
Mangrove forests are on the decline, yet they are precious havens for many endangered species. The largest remaining mangrove forest…
Get your writing groove on
Everyone needs epic essay writing music. Nothing makes writing a paper go faster than putting on some beats and rocking…
Black holes and dinosaurs
So the last topic was on the idea of infinity (remember that we have to be careful about infinity –…
The exam survival guide
By now, you have no doubt either had your first midterm or you are busy studying for one. You might…
Guts, toes, and other reasons why physics isn’t so bad
In my experience, McGill students are a diverse bunch. However, there’s one question that we invariably ask one another. It’s…
[Photo] Light-in-a-ball
Light and matter seem to be two completely separate types of stuff, but an accumulating body of research is showing…
[Photo] Meteor showers & the dark sky program
The Dark Sky Program in Hungary has nominated several areas for protection from light pollution – all the better to…
Why do apes still exist?!
One of the leading arguments many evolution critics propose is: If humans descended from apes, why are there still apes?! This…
[Photo] Close-up of achondrite
Not all meteorites are created equal. The most common sort are chondrites. Chondrites are stony meteorites which compose approximately 80 percent…
A Darwinian perspective
This semester, I have undertaken an independent study under the supervision of Dr. Ehab Abouheif and Dr. Anila Asghar investigating the…
October Science Events
The leaves are changing, midterms are approaching, and the school year is definitely well underway. But before you get too…
Seven types of professors you will meet
Even to a first year, it’s obvious that McGill has many wonderful professors. Your profs will make you laugh and…
UPDATE: IP dispute over McGill students’ million-dollar business plan appears unresolved, but settlement near.
As reported earlier this week, a team of McGill students who had entered an international business plan competition found themselves in…
[Photo] The trials of a baby star
Do you want to be a star? Well, you’ll have a bit of work to do. First, you start as…
Everything you thought you knew about food is wrong…
At a time when the obesity epidemic is overwhelming healthcare systems globally, when it seems that almost everyone is “watching…
[Photo] El collar del hierro, The ferro-necklace
Ferrofluids are nifty stuff. A fluid which can become strongly magnetized in the presence of a magnetic field, they create…
Scandal: Is academic integrity on the decline?
McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic…
[Photo] Rim wildfire in yosemite
The Yosemite National Park has become the site of a massive wildfire. One of California’s largest wildfires in history, it…
[Photo] Antartica’s blood falls
Discovered in 1911 by explorer Griffith Taylor, Antarctica’s Blood Falls are a unique and fascinating natural phenomenon. The distinctive red…
Start your school year at one of these science events in September!
General Soup and Science @ the Redpath Museum: the 16th edition of this Faculty of Science tradition will be held September…
Welcome Back!
We hope you’ve had a great summer and are ready for a wonderful year! This year will undoubtedly bring a…
Collaboration and clean-energy at Polytechnique
Can Quebec run on only clean energy? At Polytechnique Montréal on a Tuesday night, four speakers from four institutions sought…
Storify: Expedition 35 lands
Read our live Storify of Commander Hadfield’s return to Earth here!
Ask MSURJ: What have we learned in undergrad?
From some outgoing editors: Shannon (B.Sc (Physics), ’13) : Find a club or extracurricular that you are interested in, ASAP.…
Summer of Science!
There are tons of things to do in Montreal over the summer months – festivals, concerts, just soaking up the…
NIMH “throws shade” on APA weeks before new DSM
Only a few weeks ago, blogs were heralding the impending arrival of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical…
Harvard medical school to close primate research facility
McGill is not only a top-tier undergraduate institution, it’s also one of Canada’s largest research institutions. A significant part of…
Done with exams? Need some reading material?
How about some award-winning science books! The Canadian Science Writers Association just awarded two prizes to “honour outstanding contributions to…
We are proud to announce…
The McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal is proud to announce that our guest speaker for our annual launch party is…
McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal Launch Party
Please join us as MSURJ opens its annual launch to the general public! Come pick up this year’s issue, join…
Rejection: It’s good for you
In science, the possibility of rejection is quite high. You may not be given a lab position, your P.I. may not…
What is infinity?
To read more by Shunsuke: http://msurjblog.com/author/shunsukekatayama/ “I love you to infinity”, “I love you to infinity plus one”, “I love you…
Finding a way: Picking & switching majors 101
Picking a major is one of the most defining short-term decisions we university students can make. After all, when we…
How I grew to love chemistry
As this year is slowly at an end (you may say it’s February now, but with the blink of an…
Life after McGill: The impact of undergraduate research on a medical student
Lisa Zhang, former MSURJ Managing Editor, was an Interdepartmental Honours in Immunology student who graduated from McGill in 2011. She…
La Mathematica dell’Arte: Let’s think about angles
What if you had the power to change the position of everything in the city while retaining the relationships between…
Reviewer #3…
(Part of a behind-the-scenes series about editing the undergrad research journal. Read the first post here.) As the first and…
In the name of science, my #overlyhonestmethods
I first became interested in science when I was about 13 — it was a picture of a glowing transgenic…
Listen to the Rhythm of the Lab
In a full-year research project, there’s often an mental, physical, emotional slump after Christmas for students. We had just seen…
An editor’s first editorial season
As a first year university student, I’ve not only had to adjust to university life but also to the editorial…