Research

WATERLOO, Ont. (Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012) – An international team of scientists, including University of Waterloo researcher Brian Kendall, has uncovered evidence for extensive ocean oxygenation about 635 million years ago. In the most recent issue of the journal Nature, the research team led by the University of Nevada Las Vegas makes a link between one of the most dramatic glaciations in the Earth’s history, the subsequent oxygenation of surface environments, and the appearance of the earliest animals.

Waterloo Hybrid Engineering team with competition vehicle

A mass of wires, hoses clamps and two motors — one electric, one gas — Waterloo Hybrid’s competition vehicle looks like a buggy bound for a distant planet.

But its purpose lies much closer to home: Push a few technological boundaries and challenge the students who put it together.

Engineering students work on car prototype

Engineering students work on car prototypes

For all its newness, the two-year-old Engineering 5 building on the University of Waterloo campus bears the whiff of old tech — the rubber and oil smell of an auto shop.

In Michael Worswick’s automotive research lab, metal and other materials are put to the test, to measure how much stress, tension, pressure and strain they can take.

A professor and Canada Research Chair in the University of Waterloo’s Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, Worswick leads a research team that punishes metal and other materials en route to a lighter, safer automobile.

Amir Khajepour’s ideal trip from A to B goes something like this: Drivers in electric cars get on the road feeling relaxed, and leave the road feeling relaxed.

No gritted teeth or finger-flipping. No dented fenders, bruised egos or missed exits. Certainly fewer lives lost.

The key, he says, is intelligence, and not just the kind that rests in the human mind.

WATERLOO, Ont. (Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012) – A University of Waterloo professor leads a team of researchers that has developed a new method of detecting Alzheimer's disease by looking into the eye. The discovery may lead to earlier, better and less expensive treatment for patients, and it was recognized with a significant government grant announced today.

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.”

A view of black siding and solar panels with a natural grass garden in front

North House, a prefabricated solar powered house.

North House, the prefabricated solar-powered home that earned international accolades for the University of Waterloo, has found a permanent home on the Rare Charitable Research Reserve on Blair Road near Cambridge, Ontario.