News archive - 2018

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

New powder could help cut CO2 emissions

Scientists at the University of Waterloo have created a powder that could capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from factories and power plants.

The advanced carbon powder, developed using a novel process in the lab of Zhongwei Chen, a chemical engineering professor at Waterloo, could filter and remove CO2 from emissions at facilities powered by fossil fuels before it is released into the atmosphere with twice the efficiency of conventional materials.

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Inability to perform basic activities delays mental health patients’ discharge

Mental health patients who have difficulty performing daily living tasks are four times more likely to experience discharge delays than someone who can perform those tasks independently.

In a recent study, researchers from the University of Waterloo found patients who had not been able to maintain or learn skills such as taking medication, preparing meals, or arranging transportation experienced discharge delays of more than 30 days.

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Artificial Intelligence being used to develop drugs even faster and cheaper

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is making it possible to discover new drugs faster, cheaper, and more efficiently.

Chemists at the University of Waterloo have introduced AI to interpret the results acquired by the differential mobility spectrometry (DMS) technique to predict drug properties. This could reduce in principle the time between concept and coming to market of new drugs by years and decrease production costs by $100s of millions.

Thursday, December 6, 2018

Drawing is better than writing for memory retention

Older adults who take up drawing could enhance their memory, according to a new study.

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Peace, not war, responsible for deforestation in armed conflict zones

Rates of deforestation in war zones increase dramatically once peace is declared, according to a study from the University of Waterloo.

The study, by Simron Singh, a researcher in Waterloo’s Faculty of Environment and Nelson Grima from the University of Vermont, looked at data on conflict zones around the world, with a specific focus on Nepal, Sri Lanka, Ivory Coast and Peru.