Simon Fraser University researchers have received nearly $1 million in special funding from the Digital Research Alliance of Canada to develop an artificial intelligence–powered system that forecasts whale movements in busy shipping corridors.

The Humans and Algorithms Listening for Orcas (HALLO) project aims to help the Port of Vancouver and vessel pilots make more informed decisions about when and where to slow down for the Salish Sea’s endangered Southern Resident killer whales.

The system integrates real-time acoustic and visual data, vessel tracking, and citizen-scientist whale spotting reports to track not only where the Southern Resident J, K, and L pods currently are, but forecast where they’ll be over the next few hours. 

New multiplexed imaging technology using standard clinical MRI systems can simultaneously map more than 20 biomarkers in high resolution, providing a comprehensive view of the brain with a single scan. Researchers demonstrated the multiplexed MRI technology, or MRx, by characterizing brain tumors and multiple sclerosis lesions — revealing different structural, physiological and molecular changes within the diseases.

The new technology deploys a recently discovered CRISPR protein, Cas12a2, which acts like a paper shredder. When activated by a specific genetic target, it rips the genome apart, a lethal move that researchers can program to destroy harmful virus-infected cells or cancer cells.