Lydon on love
Research and DiscoveryNobody at McGill spends more time unravelling the mysteries of love and relationships than Professor John Lydon. A native of New York City who came to McGill’s Psychology department in 1990, Lydon is a world-renowned expert on attraction and commitment in intimate interpersonal relationships. One of his most recent studies looked at male-female attraction, and the impact of attachment anxiety in it, in the context of speed dating. And another of his previous studies examined the role of commitment in overcoming relationship adversities.
Love potion #1?
Research and DiscoveryIt’s got a good rep, and a great nickname – the “love hormone.” Oxytocin helps women give birth and breastfeed. At orgasm, both men and women release it. And lots of scientific evidence suggests that it plays some role in bonding and attachment in everything from prairie voles to humans. So when researchers started paying serious attention to the role of oxytocin in human social behavior, there were those who hoped that, because it also seems to increase our trust in one another, it might become a panacea for a range of social ills.
Love: a timeless inspiration for singers and songwriters
Research and DiscoveryBy Chris Chipello “When someone tells us they love us, we may have our doubts. When they sing it, all our doubts seem to melt away.” – Daniel Levitin, The World in Six Songs. In his 2008 book The World in Six Songs, Daniel Levitin argues that music isn’t a mere pastime, but a deeply [...]
Defective cell ‘battery’ plays central role in neurodegenerative disease
Research and DiscoveryNew research out of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital has traced a devastating neurodegenerative disease that first appears in toddlers just as they are beginning to walk to defects in mitochondria, the ‘batteries’ or energy-producing power plants of cells.
I think therefore I am (an agent of positive change in the world)
Notes from the fieldSometimes life gives you lemons, and sometimes life gives you a three-day, all-expenses-paid trip to the United Arab Emirates, where you get to rub shoulders with Nobel Laureates, astronauts, musicians and close to 200 students from the top universities in the world. Masters students Julie Anne Ames and Josée Méthot report back from Abu Dhabi’s Festival of Thinkers.
Tweeting #Higgs boson search updates live from #CERN
Research and DiscoveryAndreas Warburton, an associate professor in McGill’s Department of Physics, checks in from CERN, were he live tweeted from the recent Higgs boson update press conference for McGill’s Media Relations Office.
Feist goes back to school
Research and DiscoveryA few dozen diligent students, hard at work in Stewart Biology building over the weekend of Dec. 3, were rewarded by a surprise rock star sighting. Those who poked their heads out of their labs at the right time bumped into Feist and her band, who were on campus to visit prof. Dan Levitin’s laboratory.
The mall as living lab
Research and DiscoveryThe female computer voice offers carefully modulated instructions. “Turn left after exiting the second set of doors and then trail the left side wall. That wall will turn to the right for 10 feet and then to the left for 15 feet.“ These directions, from a downloadable recording designed to help guide blind people through a shopping centre in Roseville, Minnesota, offer a glimpse into the world of the disabled. And something similar will soon exist in Montreal’s Place Alexis Nihon.
Teaching robots how to be surprised
Research and DiscoveryRight now, we still have it over robots. They may be better at mindless repetitive tasks and simple information gathering, but for the time being humans are still better at making decisions. But who knows for how long, now that researchers at McGill’s Centre for Intelligent Machines (CIM) are trying to teach robots to become intelligent information gatherers.
Sperm counts with male contraception researcher Bernard Robaire
Research and DiscoveryIt’s not every day that a conversation moves from mouse sperm to global population issues. But for Bernard Robaire, a professor in the Departments of Pharmacology and Therapeutics and Obstetrics and Gynecology, who works on male fertility, the two are at least loosely connected.