Latest News

• share
• favorite_border

Engineers have shone new light on an emerging family of solar-absorbing materials that could clear the way for cheaper and more efficient solar panels and LEDs. The materials, called perovskites, are particularly good at absorbing visible light, but had never been thoroughly studied in their purest form: as perfect single crystals. Using a new technique, researchers grew large, pure perovskite crystals and studied how electrons move through the material as light is converted to electricity.

• share
• favorite_border

Women now account for 30.6 per cent of first-year students in U of T Engineering programs: a record for the Faculty and a number that surpasses all other Ontario universities. It is the only engineering school in Ontario with female first-year enrollment of more than 30 per cent. National figures are expected later this year from Engineers Canada.

• share
• favorite_border

University of Toronto researchers from Engineering, Biology and Medicine teach computers to ‘read the human genome’ and rate likelihood of mutations causing disease, opening vast new possibilities for medicine

• share
• favorite_border

The higher your level of education, the greater your earnings and your sense of “personal mastery” or being in control of your fate, University of Toronto researchers say. But wait: there’s a downside.

• share
• favorite_border

Personalized dietary advice based on a person’s genetic makeup improves eating habits compared to current “one-size-fits-all” dietary recommendations, says a University of Toronto researcher.

• share
• favorite_border

New iPod smart phone app developed by University of Toronto measures frequency of tremors in alcoholics.

• share
• favorite_border

Reported online today in the journal Brain, findings from researchers at the University of Toronto and Harvard University show that a group of inhibitory neurons, whose loss leads to sleep disruption in experimental animals, are substantially diminished among the elderly and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease.

• share
• favorite_border

Adults who have dyslexia are much more likely to report they were physically abused before they turned 18 than their peers without dyslexia, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Toronto and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers in the University of Toronto’s Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering have designed and tested a new class of solar-sensitive nanoparticle that outshines the current state of the art employing this new class of technology. This new form of solid, stable light-sensitive nanoparticles, called colloidal quantum dots, could lead to cheaper and more flexible solar cells, as well as better gas sensors, infrared lasers, infrared light emitting diodes and more.

• share
• favorite_border

University of Toronto biologists leading an investigation into the cells that regulate proper brain function, have identified and located the key players whose actions contribute to afflictions such as epilepsy and schizophrenia. The discovery is a major step toward developing improved treatments for these and other neurological disorders.

• share
• favorite_border

Thywissen’s lab has revealed some of these answers in a new paper about the magnetism and diffusion of atoms in ultracold gases, published in the journal Science. The researchers optically trapped a cloud of gas a billion times colder than air in a very low-pressure vacuum.

• share
• favorite_border

Four percent of Canadians aged 12 to 14 years old had consumed five or more drinks on at least one occasion in the preceding year, according to a new study from the University of Toronto. The study was published this week in the journal ISRN Public Health. The findings also indicated that the odds of binge drinking were twice as high among youth with three or more chronic conditions.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers have found that the phenomenon of “face pareidolia”--where onlookers report seeing images of Jesus, Virgin Mary, or Elvis in objects such as toasts, shrouds, and clouds--is normal and based on physical causes.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at the University of Toronto say a sleep disorder that causes people to act out their dreams is the best current predictor of brain diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

• share
• favorite_border

A new University of Toronto study has found that by two years of age, children are remarkably good at comprehending speakers who talk with accents the toddlers have never heard before.

• share
• favorite_border

The adult offspring of parents who were addicted to drugs or alcohol are more likely to have arthritis, according to a new study by University of Toronto researchers. Investigators examined a group of 13,036 adults and found that 20.4 per cent of respondents had been diagnosed with arthritis by a medical professional.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study by University of Toronto researchers has found that kids’ books featuring animals with human characteristics not only lead to less factual learning but also influence children’s reasoning about animals. Researchers also found that young readers are more likely to attribute human behaviors and emotions to animals when exposed to books with anthropomorphized animals than books depicting animals realistically.

• share
• favorite_border

A joint study by researchers at the University of California San Diego and the University of Toronto has found that a computer system spots real or faked expressions of pain more accurately than people can. The work, titled “Automatic Decoding of Deceptive Pain Expressions,” is published in the latest issue of Current Biology.

• share
• favorite_border

Thirty percent of adults with Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD) report they were physically abused before they turned 18. This compares to seven per cent of those without ADD/ADHD who were physically abused before 18.

• share
• favorite_border

New research from the University of Toronto shows that a little training can go a long way in a desperate situation.