UM in the news: Top 10 UM newsmakers for 2024

This year, UM experts and researchers attracted media attention locally, nationally and globally. Let’s find out who were the Top 10 UM newsmakers for 2024.

#1 Grolar bears-what are they and how common are they?

The topic of Grolar bears (hybrid of Polar Bears and Grizzly bears) showed up a few times on this list. The first time was after a group of researchers published their study on how common hybridization might be in Conservation Genetics Resources journal. The team of scientists from Polar Bears International, Environment and Climate Change Canada, MacEwan University, also included UM researcher Ruth Rivkin, from the Department of Biological Sciences. Some of the media outlets that featured the story included, Advnture.com, Yahoo! News, BBC.com, CBC, and Canadian Geographic.

#2 The Kyrenia shipwreck, UM expert perspective

CNN tapped Mark Lawall, UM professor in the department of Classics to give his insights on the how improvements to carbon dating and other techniques helped decipher exactly when the Greek-Hellenistic Kyrenia ship came to rest on the ocean floor. Lawall has studied ancient Greek containers used for shipping wine, olive oil and other goods from the Kyrenia shipwreck. The reach of this story was furthered after it ran on Yahoo! News, as well.

#3 Grolar bears hybrids traced to same ‘strange’ female Polar Bear

As more stories around climate change grabbed headlines around the world, media came back to the Grolar bear topic and how it may be an indicator of climate change. Researchers including UM’s Ruth Rivkin, who also works with Polar Bears International, talked about how most hybridizations could be traced back to one female polar bear.  “Rivkin suggested the initial mother may have been ‘pretty strange’ but also pointed out that while female polar bears do have ‘some level of choice’ about who they mate with, size makes a difference.” This story appeared in a number of places including, Yahoo! News, MSN, and The Guardian. Many stories also talked about the new genetic sequencing chip, which was used to track and gather information on the Grolar bears and could be used in the future to track more hybridization cases.  Some of these stories also linked to a study published in Nature by UM researchers Alex Crawford and Julienne Stroeve from Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources. 

#4 UM expert weighs in on case of serial killer, Jeremy Skibicki

The trial of Winnipeg serial killer, Jeremy Skibicki, and the lives of the women he admitted to killing caught the attention of many people worldwide and media outlets came to Brandon Trask, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law and adjunct fellow, St. John’s College, for his perspective. Some of the media outlets that featured the story with Trask’s insights included BBC, CBC, Winnipeg Free Press, Globe and Mail, and CTV Winnipeg

#5 Can a DNA analysis help improve your fitness?

Can DNA analysis help improve your fitness? UM jumped into the discussion for CNN’s Fitness, But Better series. UM’s Dylan MacKay, Assistant Professor, Department of Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, suggested people may want a level of skepticism when thinking Grandpa’s ability to throw a wicked caber toss at the annual Highland Games naturally gets passed down to them. Mackay noted while the accuracy in actual genetic testing is likely good, the science behind how the companies are interpreting the results could be problematic. This story was also picked up by Yahoo! News, intriguing readers across search engines and moving it into the top 5 most viewed news stories featuring UM experts.

#6 Are You A Bad Parent For Using Sarcasm Around Your Kids? Experts Have Thoughts

Tell me something we don’t know! So many thoughts to unpack in this interesting look at how children learn sarcasm. Melanie Glenwright, a Associate Professor of Psychology at UM, should know. She studied it and told HuffPost  “…it isn’t until ages 7 to 10 where children living in Canada begin to understand that a sarcastic speaker intends to be funny.” So, are you a bad parent for using sarcasm? Click the link above to find out. This story also ran on Yahoo! Life.

#7  and 8 A woman bought a vintage dress at an antique store. It had a secret pocket with a mysterious note

This story took two places in the Top 10 countdown because this story went big when it was first written and pitched to news outlets in December 2023, but then really took off in publications in 2024. It was covered everywhere from the New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN. When Rivers Cofield purchased the vintage dress—made in the 1880s— from an Antique mall in Maine, she found a code in a secret pocket. She posted a blog about it and for years she looked for someone to help her crack the code. Enter Wayne Chan, who is actually a data analyst at UM’s Centre for Earth Observation Science, but who also loves to solve mysteries in his spare time. So, if you missed what the code revealed, click on the story link above. 

#9 Mutated strain of mpox with ‘pandemic potential’ found in DRC mining town

UM is known for its world-renowned experts doing groundbreaking research to track and find solutions to some of the world’s most complicated viruses and pathogens. In the number nine position, is a story that features Dr. Jason Kindrachuk, Associate Professor in infectious disease at UM’s Max Rady College of Medicine in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences. He was the co-author of a paper that looked at the ‘pandemic potential’ of a certain strain of Mpox. The story was featured in the UK’s Telegraph, and shared in Yahoo! News.

#10 UM apologizes for housing Indigenous remains and artefacts, develops repatriation policy

This story was the final story on our list that received a lot of media coverage. First, for the apology  and recognition by UM for the harms it caused First Nations, Métis and Inuit descendant communities for housing remains and artefacts without permission. Second, for developing the Respectful Rematriation and Repatriation Ceremony to coordinate next steps to return these artefacts and remains to affected communities. It was covered in a variety of outlets, including MSN and The Canadian Press.

This list was compiled by UM’s Media Relations team, based on data provided by the media-monitoring platform, Cision.