Research

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Environments containing species that are distantly related to one another are more productive than those containing closely related species, research from the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) shows.

The experimental result from Assistant Professor Marc William Cadotte confirms a prediction made by Charles Darwin in On the Origin of Species, first published in 1859. Darwin had said that a plot of land growing distantly related grasses would be more productive than a plot with a single species of grass.

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Corporate giving to local charities spikes during "mega-events" such as the Olympics or Super Bowl, and when natural disasters hit close to home, says a new study on philanthropy.

The findings, by András Tilcsik, an assistant professor of strategic management at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and Christopher Marquis, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, go against previous research that shows corporate giving tends to stay stable.

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An embattled mayor is beset by questions about a video allegedly showing him smoking crack cocaine.

A senator and fundraiser for the Conservative Party of Canada resigns from caucus but keeps his seat when he is found to have used a personal cheque from the Prime Minister's chief of staff to cover his $90,000 debt to taxpayers; however, the chief of staff resigns.  

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If Canada is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 17 per cent below the 2005 level by the year 2020, federal and provincial governments must agree on how much each province will cut, say University of Toronto researchers.

Scientists from U of T's School of the Environment are sending that message in a report to all Canadian federal and provincial governments, opposition parties and other participants in the climate policy dialogue.

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Actress Angelina Jolie’s revelation that she has undergone a preventive mastectomy to reduce her risk of breast cancer is all over the news, drawing attention to mutations in genes BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 that dramatically elevate some women’s risk for the disease.

Writer Jenny Hall spoke to Kelly Metcalfe, a professor at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the U of T and an adjunct scientist at the Familial Breast Cancer Research Institute at the Women’s College Research Institute.