Earthblog

A new technique called metabolomics can measure up to 200 substances in a blood sample at the same time. Clinical researchers see it as the long awaited tool for making more subtle diagnoses than what is currently possible.

This is an aha moment for some clinicians in Calgary. More subtle diagnoses and personalized treatments are just around the corner and Calgary researchers are leading the work.

A new technique called metabolomics can make a comprehensive reading of a blood or urine sample. It looks at up to two hundred small substances a body produces by the minute in a similar way that genomics takes a broad look at a person’s DNA. Genomics looks at how the individual is programmed to function. Metabolomics takes a snapshot of how the person is actually functioning.

Making small waves in the way students obtain information.

It may not be sparking any intellectual revolutions but the trend of using Podcasts as a lecture tool may change just how students learn and interact in their courses. That’s the impression of University of Calgary communications professor Dawn Johnston, one of four who piloted Podcasting as a lecture tool in September 2006. Johnston is still using the technology today –but with important changes.

LP sales spin on in the digital age

At a time when few leave home without their earbuds and iPods, it’s hard to imagine why some music fans are choosing to go back to a cumbersome, century-old technology.

According to Nielsen SoundScan, an information system that tracks sales of music throughout the United States and Canada, vinyl record sales topped two million in 2009, the highest for vinyl since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991.