Most of Canada to receive emergency alert test today
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
New research by a Université de Montréal biologist seeks to explain how squirrels conserve energy when they hibernate, and what implications that information could have on the future of space travel.
Matthew Regan's study of the thirteen-lined ground squirrel found in North America seems to confirm the theory of "urea nitrogen salvage," which suggests that some hibernating animals can pull off a "metabolic trick" in which their gut microbes recycle urea nitrogen – a waste product created in both the ground squirrel and in humans that is usually excreted in urine – and repurpose it to create new tissue proteins.
One of the problems hibernating animals encounter is losing important dietary nitrogen because of their extended fasting period, which can cause protein imbalances. In other animals this could lead to muscle loss, but Regan's research suggests this recycling of nitrogen prevents this damage in hibernators.
Regan's team injected squirrels with urea that was specifically marked to make it easier to track as the squirrels' gut microbes broke it down. They tracked this process during different seasons of the year, and found that the reincorporation of the nitrogen was actually at its highest in late winter, towards the end of the animal's hibernation period. This suggests that the salvaging process is most active just before the squirrel must come out of hibernation in spring, helping to prepare it for an active season of foraging for food and mating.
Regan suggests this same process could have applications for astronauts in space, who commonly experience some muscle loss in space flight.
Currently, astronauts exercise intensely in space in order to reduce these effects on their muscles, but that requires both room in the spacecraft and some equipment.
But if the process of urea nitrogen salvage could be replicated in astronauts, this could help prevent muscle loss in future trips into deep space when spacecraft may need to be smaller and might not be able to carry exercise equipment.
"Because we know which muscle proteins are suppressed during spaceflight, we can compare these proteins with those that are enhanced by urea nitrogen salvage during hibernation," he said. "If there is an overlap between the proteins in spaceflight and the ones from hibernation, then it suggests this process may have benefits to muscle health during spaceflight."
Regan's research began at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It caught the attention of the Canadian Space Agency, which gave Regan a research grant at Université de Montréal to continue his work.
A little closer to home, Regan also suggests his research could be useful in health-care settings to help those in hospitals who are bed-ridden or elderly. He also sees possible applications for those who are malnourished, a condition which currently affects more than 805 million people globally.
“To be clear, these applications, though theoretically possible, are a long way from delivery, and a lot of additional work is needed to translate this naturally evolved mechanism safely and effectively to humans,” Regan said.
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
Canadian immigrants threatened by hostile regimes are urging parliamentarians to quickly pass the 'Countering Foreign Interference Act' so they can feel safe living in their adopted home.
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has made headlines with his recent arrival in the U.K., this time to celebrate all things Invictus. But upon the prince landing in the U.K., we have already had confirmation that King Charles III won't have time to see his youngest son during his brief visit.
A long-simmering feud between hip-hop superstars Drake and Kendrick Lamar reached a boiling point in recent days as the pair traded increasingly personal insults on a succession of diss tracks. Here’s a quick overview of what’s behind the ongoing beef.
The Israeli military said Wednesday that it has reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza, a key terminal for the entry of humanitarian aid that was closed over the weekend after a Hamas rocket attack killed four Israeli soldiers nearby.
An Ontario woman said it would have been impossible to buy a house without her mother – an anecdote that animates the fact that over 17 per cent of Canadian homeowners born in the ‘90s own their property with their parents, according to a new report.
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.