Summer is a popular time for Adopt-a-Pet theme months. However, some animal advocates say these theme months lead people to impulsively acquire pets, only to return or abandon them months later. University of Guelph population medicine professor Jason Coe and researcher Rachel O’Connor led a study, published recently in the journal Society & Animals, on …

Nearly 80 per cent of Chinese patent medicines (CPM) are mislabelled, according to results of a DNA barcoding technique developed at the University of Guelph. The methods developed in this new Nature – Scientific Reports study will extend the use of DNA barcoding to quality testing of natural health products, the researchers say. A team of …

Fear alone may be enough to cause vulnerable species to go extinct, according to a new University of Guelph study. Prof. Ryan Norris has discovered that the mere smell of a predator affects the reproductive success of fruit flies. “This finding sheds light on the role fear plays in animal extinction,” said Norris, an integrative …

By Merritt Turetsky Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in The Conversation Canada. A lonely bird call breaks my concentration and I glance upward. Where glacier-topped mountains should be filling the horizon, instead my view is obscured by a strange orange haze. Even the bright sun has given up. It seems to float in the …

Beginning this fall, the Art Gallery of Guelph (AGG) will explore nationhood and Canada’s Indigeneity with an exhibition funded by nearly $200,000 from the federal government. “150 Acts: Art, Activism, Impact” will draw on the gallery’s collection and work by contemporary Indigenous artists to tell Indigenous stories through paintings, sculpture, drawings, textiles, installations and multimedia, …

Those young squirrels now scampering around your neighbourhood were born in this year’s earliest litters and are more likely to survive than squirrels born later and still curled up in their nests, according to a new University of Guelph study. That’s because when it comes to survival in the squirrel world, the first out of …

It is a long and complicated path from evading Taliban threats in Afghanistan to transforming Canada’s beef industry, but that’s the route being traced by a former refugee named as one of the first Arrell Food Institute scholars at the University of Guelph. Nasrin Husseini is among the inaugural group of five U of G …

By Evan Fraser Editor’s note:  This article originally appeared in The Conversation Canada. 2017 marks the sesquicentennial of Confederation. While the anniversary is a chance to reflect on the past,  The Conversation Canada asked academic authors to look down the road a further 150 years. U of G geography professor Evan Fraser, director of the Arrell Food Institute at …

Think of the sunny heroine of Anne of Green Gables and you might not think of dark times.  But readers of the complete journals of author Lucy Maud Montgomery will learn of the real-life struggles endured by one of Canada’s most famous writers. Personal, professional and financial challenges faced by Montgomery are detailed in her …

A University of Guelph project to save an endangered thistle may ultimately restore the plant and help preserve biodiversity in Canada’s national parks. The Gosling Research Institute for Plant Preservation (GRIPP) at U of G is working with Parks Canada on restoring Hill’s thistle, a native plant which is threatened by encroaching vegetation and human …

By Robert Hanner Editor’s note:  This article originally appeared in The Conversation Canada. Canada Day 2017 marks the sesquicentennial of Confederation. While the anniversary is a chance to reflect on the past, The Conversation Canada asked some academic authors to imagine what our world will be like in 2167. U of G professor and scientist Robert …

Few, if any, people know more about Canada Day than U of G professor Matthew Hayday. The history professor has written numerous research papers, articles, book chapters and columns on the topic. He has spoken about the July 1 celebration in talks across the country, and co-edited a book about Canada’s national days and holidays …

Lyme disease cut short the life of Magnotta Winery co-founder Gabe Magnotta. Now the foundation created in his name has given $1.4 million to the University of Guelph to help prevent and fight the debilitating disease. The grant will create the G. Magnotta Lyme Disease Research Lab, intended to improve diagnostic testing and treatment to …

Two oak saplings to be planted at the University of Guelph this week have roots in a Great War conflict considered by many to mark a coming of age for Canada. Descended from a handful of acorns pocketed by a Canadian soldier after the Battle of Vimy Ridge in spring of 1917, the Vimy oaks …

For the first time in its history, the University of Guelph will have one of its own graduates serving as its chancellor. Martha Billes, the controlling shareholder of Canadian Tire Corp. (CTC) Ltd., was installed today as U of G’s ninth chancellor. The Canadian business icon and well-known philanthropist is a 1963 graduate of the …

When natural disasters strike, such as the mudslides and flooding in Sri Lanka last week or the 2015 Nepal earthquake, what do rural people need to rebuild their lives, and how to get it to them? A University of Guelph professor believes eSAKs are the answer. That’s emergency sustainable agriculture kits, says plant agriculture professor …

There’s safety in numbers for herd animals, but not if some members of the herd make poor decisions. That was one of the findings of research by  U of G integrative biology professor John Fryxell and U of G graduate Daniel Fortin, now a biology professor at Université Laval. They studied the movement patterns of …

A gene linked to grooming could be the key to saving honeybees from the deadly varroa mite, according to new University of Guelph research. Prof. Ernesto Guzman discovered that honeybees with higher expression of a gene linked to vigorous scratching are better at removing mites from their bodies, and more resistant to the bugs, than …

It started with a tweet one July evening in 2015 from a vacationing entomologist in New England. Alongside her photos of a spindly-legged insect, Nancy Miorelli wrote in a Twitter posting: “Fly ID help? On the beach in New Jersey.” Morgan Jackson, a PhD student in U of G’s School of Environmental Sciences, took less …

Shortness of breath is the No. 1 complaint of people suffering from heart failure. Now a University of Guelph researcher has discovered its surprising cause – and an effective treatment – in a groundbreaking new study. Jeremy Simpson, a professor in U of G’s Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences and the study’s lead …