Research

The World Health Organization (WHO) is moving to categorize the compulsively playing of video games as a new mental health condition. 

The U.N. health agency said classifying Gaming Disorder as a separate condition will serve a public health purpose for countries to be better prepared to identify this issue.

The University of Waterloo has experts available to speak on this topic. 

Neil Randall - Executive Director of the University of Waterloo’s Games Institute

The University of Waterloo is proud to announce that one of its former Department of Chemistry students, German Augusto Gómez-Rios, will receive one of Canada’s most prestigious academic awards at Spring convocation: the Governor General’s Academic Gold Medal.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have developed a faster and more accurate way to take and merge photos. The result is the ability to take sections of each photo to create a single picture where all elements are in focus.

While humans and other species share some of the same genetic information, new research found that humans are unique among mammals when it comes to the types and diversity of microorganisms on our skin. This difference could have implications for our health and immune systems.

“We were quite surprised when we saw just how distinct we humans are from almost all other mammals, at least in terms of the skin microbes that we can collect with a swab,” said Josh Neufeld, a professor of biology at the University of Waterloo and senior author of the study.

A new study has calculated the lost time from work and the mental health impacts resulting from basement flooding.

Of all extreme weather events in Canada, flooding is currently the costliest, causing millions of dollars in property damage. Nonetheless, the impact of basement flooding on time off work and the mental health of impacted homeowners has barely been explored, until now.

Popular methods of protecting smartphone personal identification number (PINs) may only be successful in safeguarding your personal information 20 per cent of the time, according to a new study out of the University of Waterloo.

The study found that methods such as tilting the smartphone, a widely adopted defence strategy, does not guard against people close to you such as romantic partners and co-workers who might be angling for access to your device. 

Coupling bikeshare with public transit could be an important component when trying to increase light rail transit (LRT) ridership, according to a new study out of the University of Waterloo. 

In their study, researchers from Waterloo explored the most efficient size of a bike pool that would ensure enough bikes would be available to commuters who sign up for a share program.

Teenage girls who diet are more likely to engage in other health-compromising behaviours, including smoking, binge drinking, and skipping breakfast, a University of Waterloo study recently found.

The study found that, compared to girls who were not dieting at the time of initial data collection, those who were dieting were more likely to engage in one or more clusters of other risky behaviours three years later.

Shareholder value and market share improve when companies merge, confirms a new study from the University of Waterloo.

The study also found that the new company’s market share ended up being greater than the market share of the two merged companies combined.

The University of Waterloo will join top universities across the globe on an initiative designed to advance research and innovation in blockchain, cryptography and digital payment systems.