Research

Monday, September 17, 2012

In nanotechnology, what you can't see may help you

by Christian Aagaard, Communications & Public Affairs

Frank Gu standing in the engineering lab
Tiny machines being developed at the University of Waterloo will someday move through the bloodstream of a cancer patient to attack a tumor.

Wild science fiction? Not at all, says Frank Gu.

“I always refer to nano-therapeutics as the smart bomb,” he says. “We guide the delivery of ammunition to tumor cells, then detonate it at the site, while making sure the neighboring healthy cells are OK.”

Monday, September 17, 2012

Prestigious Banting Postdoctoral Fellows come to Waterloo

by Media Relations

WATERLOO, Ont. (Monday, September 17, 2012) - Could gravity become a tool in quantum information science? Is sustainability able to incorporate both human and environmental needs? Can we build a computer that sees? Three top researchers at the University of Waterloo have been awarded prestigious Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships to probe these and other questions.

Friday, September 14, 2012

A living classroom on the art of aging well

by Tenille Bonoguore, Communications & Public Affairs

Age may be getting the best of them, but there is much to learn from the silver-haired residents who will soon be living on the University of Waterloo’s North Campus.

In an initiative that’s the first of its kind in Canada, a long-term care facility will be built as part of the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (RIA). 

Ron Schlegel, the former health studies and gerontology professor who co-owns Schlegel Villages, is the primary donor and driving force behind the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging. 

Friday, September 7, 2012

Getting to quantum computing is as exciting as being there

by Christian Aagaard, Communications & Public Affairs

Ray Laflamme in NMR lab
Numbers and symbols usually fill a large white board in Raymond Laflamme’s office, but he doesn’t mind wiping off a corner to draw a tree.

It’s his way of patiently dealing with a question on a difficult topic: The Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) has been around for 10 years. How soon before we get a viable quantum computer?

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Quantum teleportation goes distance

by Media Relations

WATERLOO, Ont. (Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012) - An international research team including several scientists from the University of Waterloo has achieved quantum teleportation over a record-breaking distance of 143 kilometres through free space.

The experiment saw the successful teleportation of quantum information — in this case, the states of light particles, or photons — between the Canary Islands of La Palma and Tenerife.  The breakthrough is a crucial step toward quantum communications via satellite.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Building better batteries

by WISE Team, Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy

Diagram describing chemicals contained in different batteries

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and pure electric vehicles are better for the planet. They generate less pollution and less greenhouse gas emissions.

So why don't we see more of them on the roads? Blame the battery. The lithium-ion versions currently used simply don't have the capacity that drivers want. A Nissan Leaf, for example, can travel only 100 miles on a single charge.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Managing the risk of new contaminants

by Staff, Communications & Public Affairs

 A man and two women stand over a large tub full of fish. One of the women holds a net.

Mark Servos works on a water testing project with graduate students Jennifer Kormos, centre, and Heather Loomer, right.

Most of today’s water treatment systems are good at removing solids, bacteria, and parasites.