At the University of Manitoba, kinesiology professor Sarah Teetzel has been researching cheating and doping in sports and cautions that the extent to which the Olympics is affected is not known.
“However, as past Olympic Games and scandals have shown us, it’s not unrealistic to think it could be prevalent,” she warns.
Teetzel says that athletes from developing countries tend to be the ones who are caught at Olympic events because their doping technology is a few years behind that of developed countries and education on doping rules may not be as widely available as it is in Canada.
She notes it’s unfortunate that some athletes using cold medications are being caught by the doping tests, but that’s a consequence of the tests needing to be broad in scope to take into account the variations in doping techniques that have been attempted over the years.
Teetzel says: “It’s even possible that doping tests are unfair in that they can make some athletes ineligible when they should be allowed to participate, and the testing procedure can violate a person’s rights to privacy and autonomy.”
She adds: “We can only speculate how athletes attempting to gain an advantage are trying to beat the tests, because every year there are better or more clever ways to get around the rules. We hope athletes understand that the chances of being caught are improving.”
Teetzel says there is some room for optimism, however: “Before the Beijing games, it was thought that we were only a few years away from the advent of gene doping - the logical next step in sports cheating. But we don’t see evidence of that yet, and it’s hoped that athletes would not agree to be guinea pigs for such gene manipulation experiments.”
For more information, please contact Sarah Teetzel, Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management, at: 204-474-8762
A University of Manitoba researcher is one of an international team of geologists who have announced the discovery of what may be evidence of the oldest complex life formed on Earth. They found fossilized microorganisms that were deposited in ancient marine sediment about 3.2 billion years ago.
“These are the oldest large microfossils with significant implications for the evolution of life,” says Andrey Bekker, geological sciences.
Bekker, along with colleagues Emmanuelle Javaux of the University of Liège and Craig Marshall of the University of Kansas, published their findings in this week’s issue of the journal Nature.
The researchers examined shale samples from drill cores 600 metres below the surface in South Africa. They found unmistakeable fossilized microorganisms that had been well-preserved. This effectively pushes back the earliest evidence of complex life that lived on Earth to at least 3.2 billion years, which means that life on Earth began to form within less than one and a half billion years after planetary formation.
Previously, the oldest reliable evidence of advanced life found were fossilized bacteria in rock less than two billion years old.
He notes: “This discovery provides evidence that life was rather complex more than three billion years ago.”
For more information, please contact Andrey Bekker, geological sciences, at: 204-474-7343
University of Manitoba computer scientist Pourang Irani talks about his research in touch technology, the cutting-edge Lens Mouse - a product of the U of M’s Human-Computer Interaction lab - and future applications of touch technology.
The International Centre for Students and the World W.I.S.E. Resource Centre have once again collaborated with a variety of partners to present International Development Week events on the U of M campus from February 8 through 12th.
International Development Week (IDW) is an annual event held in February that allows Canada’s development community to showcase its work. [Read more →]
University of Manitoba researchers and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra have teamed up for the first time to bring a night of new music and new science to the stage.
In July of 2007 Professor David Barber, Canada Research Chair in Arctic System Science, began the Circumpolar Flaw Lead System (CFL) study. Involving 300 researchers from around the world it is one of the largest Arctic climate change studies ever undertaken. [Read more →]
Securing adequate food is something most of us take for granted. We may be more familiar with the struggle to keep from overindulging than the struggle for access.
But the reality is more than 100,000 Manitobans are considered “food insecure.” Rural families with low farm incomes are going without; northern communities face high food prices; and Indigenous and northern communities are often unable to obtain traditional food. To some, these challenges may seem insurmountable.
Federal Minister of State (Science and Technology) Gary Goodyear today announced $1 million for the Manitoba Alternative Food Research Alliance (MAFRA) to launch an intensive research project into food justice. This Community University Research Alliance (CURA) grant is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
University of Manitoba environmental science and studies professor Stéphane McLachlan, the principal investigator for MAFRA, said their aim is to help affected communities come up with answers to problems associated with food justice.
“Our research will be rooted in real-world problems and solutions,” McLachlan said. “Despite being a key exporter of agricultural commodities, Manitoba is one of the provinces most challenged by poverty and food insecurity in Canada. These shortcomings underlie a growing excitement over alternative food systems here.”
These systems include: local food initiatives (which connect consumers to nearby food sources and growers), community food security (when all people have unconditional access to healthy, culturally appropriate, and sustainably produced food) and food sovereignty (which gives communities control over food provision in their regions).
“We contend that all three approaches are required for building effective local food systems and for achieving food justice in prairie and northern regions of Canada,” McLachlan added.
MAFRA includes researchers from the University of Manitoba, University College of the North, and the Rural Development Institute of Brandon University as well as University of Saskatchewan, University of Calgary, and University of Victoria. In addition, 52 community organizations and NGOS are participating from urban, rural, and northern regions of Manitoba and from elsewhere in Canada. These include Food Matters Manitoba, the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba, Four Arrows Regional Health Authority, and Harvest Moon Society amongst many others.
“The impact of this research will be far-reaching. These researchers are committed to conducting a well-planned study, results of which will help communities in need in Manitoba,” said Digvir S. Jayas, vice-president (research) at the University of Manitoba. “I congratulate the recipients and commend their dedication.”
McLachlan and his MAFRA partners will spend the next five years facilitating innovative, grassroots research to investigate issues associated with just and sustainable food systems in the province. By funding community projects, skill-building workshops, curriculum development, and networking opportunities, MAFRA aims to empower communities to learn about, and develop, alternative food systems. Importantly, these initiatives will foster collaborations and support systems among the inner city, rural and northern regions in Manitoba.
Kreesta Doucette, executive director of Food Matters Manitoba (FMM), said her organization is excited about the CURA-funded project. “This project provides opportunities to move forward on a wide diversity of community needs. In addition, it will allow Manitobans to take steps towards their vision for a just and sustainable food system as articulated in the Manitoba Food Charter; this developed through over 70 province-wide consultations.”
Celia Guilford from Harvest Moon Society is equally optimistic. “We are very excited to work with university researchers and other community groups from across the province. This alliance will play an important role in addressing an ongoing rural crisis in western Canada and help address the decline of small and family farms.”
SSHRC is an independent federal government agency that funds university-based research and graduate training through national peer review competitions. SSHRC also partners with public and private sector organizations to focus research and aid the development of better policies and practices in key areas of Canada’s social, cultural and economic life.
For more information, please contact principal investigator Stephane McLachlan, University of Manitoba, Tel: 204-293-4500, e-mail: mclachla@cc.umanitoba.ca
Prominent international scientists have gathered in Winnipeg and will share their preliminary findings from the largest Arctic climate change study ever conducted in Canadian history at a press conference tomorrow.
University of Manitoba professor and Canada Research Chair in Arctic System Science David Barber, the lead investigator of the Circumpolar Flaw Lead System study, which began in July of 2007 and involved over 300 scientists from around the world, will share the preliminary results of the team’s findings. Eight of the ten team leads will be available for interviews (French and English). [Read more →]
