Research

São Paulo, Brazil is on the verge of facing a similar crisis to what was experienced in Cape Town, South Africa – “Day Zero.” The Water Institute at the University of Waterloo is working together with the Secretariat for the Environment of the State of Sao Paulo to put a comprehensive work plan to investigate the key water supply risks and water management opportunities available to the state of Sao Paulo.

The government has passed changes to the country's tobacco laws that will give Health Canada the power to mandate plain packaging for cigarettes. Legislation has also been passed that will formally legalize, and heavily regulate vaping. 

The University of Waterloo has experts available to speak on plain packaging for cigarettes and vaping. 

David Hammond – Public health and health systems 

As historic flooding caused by climate change devastates communities in New Brunswick and British Columbia, new research from the University of Waterloo reveals the insurance industry hasn’t considered a changing climate in their practices, putting homeowners at financial risk.
 

University of Waterloo chemists have found a much faster and more efficient way to store and process information by expanding the limitations of how the flow of electricity can be used and managed. 

In a recently released study, the chemists discovered that light can induce magnetization in certain semiconductors – the standard class of materials at the heart of all computing devices today. 

Advances in our understanding of the development and persistence of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) have the potential to improve treatment according to a new study by the University of Waterloo. 

Bottom row (from the left): Kirsty Duncan, Slim Boumaiza, John Ilowski, Julie Payette, Denis Jacques, Mario Pinto; Top row: Other award winners and industry partners. Photo credits: MCpl Vincent Carbonneau, Rideau Hall © OSGG, 2018

A decade of research at Waterloo Engineering has yielded promising new technology to boost the efficiency of internal combustion engines.

When an election is held we often employ a peculiar kind of logic. As we mull over the candidates we may have a top choice, but if we think our preferred candidate isn’t going to win, we might vote for our second choice. Or maybe we cast a ballot for our second choice because we want to make sure that a frontrunner who doesn’t represent our view loses.

According to a study from the University of Waterloo the more diverse your friendship group the more likely you are to engage in strategic voting, which can lead to better electoral outcomes for the entire population.

The study further found that the more closely we associate with friends and colleagues who share a similar ideology, the more likely our view of the world is reinforced. This well-known property of social networks is known as homophily (often called the echo chamber effect) and is perhaps what’s behind the adage that birds of a feather flock together.