MAY 29, 2008 | Vol. 4 No. 14

Revolutionary procedure a world first
A surgical team at the Foothills Medical Centre has successfully performed groundbreaking neurosurgery with a robot developed by a team at the University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine. >> more

U of C moves up to sixth place in NSERC support
Federal funding for natural science and engineering to the U of C has increased by $5.1 million putting this year’s total at $23.6 million—moving the university up to sixth place.
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U of C dinosaur egg expert “cracks” FBI case
Darla Zelenitsky, a U of C dinosaur paleontology expert, worked with the FBI to help them solve the case of one of the largest fossil seizures in U.S. history. >> more

Arctic Institute wins award to promote northern science
The Arctic Institute of North America now has $180,000 in their pockets to promote northern science in the media. The program will help fill the gap in returning research results to communities—a longstanding criticism by Inuit. >> more

Making your commute count
Neil Duncan, an engineering professor, is taking a longer than normal commute. He’s getting ready to cycle across Canada to raise money for pediatric cancer. >> more

English professor’s first book wins prestigious poetry prize
In her book, Birch Split Bark, Diane Guichon uses a birch bark canoe to speak of the private waters that make us universally human. For her works of poetry, she has won The City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize. >> more

New ISEEE program tackles energy systems
U of C’s new interdisciplinary specialized program on energy and environmental system (EES) is training students to tackle the hardest energy systems problems. >> more

Are the creative prone to mental illness?
A group of four students from the Faculty of Medicine are using their jazz talents to raise awareness about mental illness by exploring the lives of some of the most famous jazz musicians of all time. >> more

Canada’s history comes to life online
Our Roots is 1.3 million online pages of facts about Canadians and Canada taken from 5,500 books and documents. The project, led by the U of C and l’Université Laval, is now re-launching its website. >> more

How buckyballs hurt cells
‘Buckyballs”—curious soccer ball-shaped molecules—are able to invade cell membranes, according to a new study of carbon-60 toxicity and it’s raising questions about its effect on humans. >> more

El Nino to the rescue!
A U of C archaeologist and researcher from North Carolina State University have come up with the earliest evidence for the cyclical El Nino phenomenon after reconstructing the ancient sea voyages of Magellan. A paper about their research made headlines around the world in May. >> more

Missing link settles debate over origin of frogs and salamanders
A discovery made by a research team led by scientists at the University of Calgary has to put to rest one of the greatest controversies in verterbrate evolution. >> more

2008 Campus Fair: Call for volunteers
Campus Fair is Saturday, June 14 and there are lots of volunteer opportunities. >> more

German theologian to talk about marriage and sexuality crisis
Marriage and sexuality came into a state of crisis during the 1700s and German theologian Dr. Wolfgang Breu is on campus June 6 to talk about how this happened. He will lecture in German. >> more

Mozart and Barbershop with a twist
University of Calgary’s fourth annual chamber music festival takes place June 2—14.
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Commodities, the Economy and Money Conference
The Governor of the Bank of Canada, Mark Carney, will speak at the Commodities, the Economy and Money Conference presented by the Haskayne School of Business in partnership with the Bank of Canada June 19 and 20. >> more

Postcard from Doha
When Victoria Marshall got the call from a headhunter to work as the head of information services at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, she put her PhD dissertation in the cupboard and moved to the Middle East. Now she's joined the team at the University of Calgary-Qatar. >> more