Waterloo researcher is leading the charge to create technologies and policies that will support an electrified energy future.

Harnessing the power of the quantum realm is paving the way for a new breed of computers with tremendous processing power. Today's computers encode, store and manipulate information using bits - zero or one. Quantum bits, or qubits, have the remarkable property of being in a "superposition" of zero and one. In other words, they can be in both simultaneously. This characteristic, and other quantum phenomena, offer a much richer environment for processing information and allows us to develop devices that will drastically outperform today's computing and communication technology.

Chris Eliasmith’s team at the Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience has built Spaun, the world’s largest simulation of a functioning brain.  Spaun is able to shift between diverse tasks — from copying human handwriting to finding hidden patterns in a list of numbers. Understanding the intricate connections between 2.5 million simulated neurons will lead to better understanding of how changes in the brain affect changes to behaviour.

As a member of the Event Horizon Telescope team, Avery Broderick is helping to unravel the mysterious nature and behaviour of black holes, from the properties of the "event horizon" to how some can launch the energetic jets of matter and radiation that shape their host galaxies.

Black History Month is both a reflection on and celebration of black culture