Physical and Environmental Sciences / en For a billion years, Earth's day lasted just 19.5 hours  – a new study reveals why /news/astrophysicists-reveal-why-earths-day-was-constant-over-billion-years <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">For a billion years, Earth's day lasted just 19.5 hours &nbsp;– a new study reveals why</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-07/GettyImages-1253695426-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=foydoqYz 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-07/GettyImages-1253695426-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=1CM88i0w 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-07/GettyImages-1253695426-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=osFArm3U 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-07/GettyImages-1253695426-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=foydoqYz" alt="view of earth from space with the sun shining in the background"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>siddiq22</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-07-13T12:54:12-04:00" title="Thursday, July 13, 2023 - 12:54" class="datetime">Thu, 07/13/2023 - 12:54</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>Without the sun’s pull on the Earth’s atmosphere, our day would be 60 hours long (photo by&nbsp;dima_zel/Getty images)</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/chris-sasaki" hreflang="en">Chris Sasaki</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physical-and-environmental-sciences" hreflang="en">Physical and Environmental Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/astronomy" hreflang="en">Astronomy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/astrophysics" hreflang="en">Astrophysics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/canadian-institute-theoretical-astrophysics" hreflang="en">Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/climate-change" hreflang="en">Climate Change</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physics" hreflang="en">Physics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">οScarborough</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">An atmospheric tide driven by the sun countered the effect of the moon, astrophysicists say</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A team of astrophysicists from the University of Toronto has revealed how the slow and steady lengthening of Earth’s day caused by the tidal pull of the moon was halted for over a billion years.</p> <p>They show that from approximately two billion years ago until 600 million years ago, an atmospheric tide driven by the sun countered the effect of the moon, keeping Earth’s rotational rate steady and the length of day at a constant 19.5 hours.</p> <p>Without this billion-year pause in the slowing of our planet’s rotation, our current 24-hour day would stretch to over 60 hours.</p> <p>Drawing on geological evidence and using atmospheric research tools, the scientists show that the tidal stalemate between the sun and moon resulted from the incidental but consequential link between the atmosphere’s temperature and Earth’s rotational rate.</p> <p>The study was <a href="https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.science.org%2Fdoi%2F10.1126%2Fsciadv.add2499&amp;data=05%7C01%7Cjosslyn.johnstone%40utoronto.ca%7Ce5d4a503473d41530b6208db78bc8829%7C78aac2262f034b4d9037b46d56c55210%7C0%7C0%7C638236523938537572%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=h9f5hPM0XIIsHiLu9xyld1Hmtw8CzNCnDLrWNJrNylk%3D&amp;reserved=0">published in the journal&nbsp;<em>Science Advances</em></a>.</p> <p>The paper’s authors include Professor <a href="https://www.cita.utoronto.ca/~murray/"><strong>Norman Murray</strong></a>, a theoretical astrophysicist with the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cita.utoronto.ca/">Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics</a>&nbsp;(CITA); graduate student <a href="https://www.physics.utoronto.ca/members/wu-hanbo/"><strong>Hanbo Wu</strong></a>, with CITA and the <a href="https://www.physics.utoronto.ca/">department of physics</a>; <a href="https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/physsci/kristen-menou"><strong>Kristen Menou</strong></a>, associate professor in the <a href="https://www.astro.utoronto.ca/">David A. Dunlap department of astronomy and astrophysics</a>&nbsp;and the <a href="https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/physsci/welcome-physical-environmental-sciences">department of physical and environmental sciences</a> at οScarborough; <strong>Jeremy Leconte</strong>, a CNRS researcher at the Laboratoire d’astrophysique de Bordeaux and a former CITA postdoctoral fellow; and <strong>Christopher Lee</strong>, assistant professor in the department of physics.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-07/Williams_2000_Reynella_tidal_laminae-crop.jpg" width="300" height="367" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Murray and his collaborators relied on geologic evidence in their study, like these samples from a tidal estuary that reveal the cycle of&nbsp;<a href="https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/nb/fundy/nature/environment/marees-tides/vives-mortes-spring-neap">spring and neap tides</a>. Thick bands correspond to spring tides, and thin bands to neap tides (image by G.E. Williams)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>When the moon first formed some 4.5 billion years ago, the day was less than 10 hours long. But since then, the moon’s gravitational pull on the Earth has been slowing our planet’s rotation, resulting in an increasingly longer day. Today, it continues to lengthen at a rate of some 1.7 milliseconds every century.</p> <p>The moon slows the planet’s rotation by pulling on Earth’s oceans, creating tidal bulges on opposite sides of the planet that we experience as high and low tides. The gravitational pull of the moon on those bulges, plus the friction between the tides and the ocean floor, acts like a brake on our spinning planet.</p> <p>“Sunlight also produces an atmospheric tide with the same type of bulges,” says Murray. “The sun's gravity pulls on these atmospheric bulges, producing a torque on the Earth. But instead of slowing down Earth’s rotation like the moon, it speeds it up.”</p> <p>For most of Earth’s geological history, the lunar tides have overpowered the solar tides by about a factor of ten&nbsp;– hence the Earth’s slowing rotational speed and lengthening days.</p> <p>But some two billion years ago, the atmospheric bulges were larger because the atmosphere was warmer and because its natural resonance&nbsp;– the frequency at which waves move through it&nbsp;– matched the length of day.</p> <p>The atmosphere, like a bell, resonates at a frequency determined by various factors, including temperature. In other words, waves&nbsp;– like those generated by the enormous eruption of the volcano Krakatoa in Indonesia in 1883&nbsp;– travel through it at a velocity determined by its temperature. The same principle explains why a bell always produces the same note if its temperature is constant.</p> <p>Throughout most of Earth’s history that atmospheric resonance has been out of sync with the planet’s rotational rate. Today, each of the two atmospheric “high tides” take 22.8 hours to travel around the world. Since that resonance and Earth’s 24-hour rotational period are out of sync, the atmospheric tide is relatively small.</p> <p>But during the billion-year period under study, the atmosphere was warmer and resonated with a period of about 10 hours. Also, at the advent of that epoch, Earth’s rotation&nbsp;– slowed by the moon&nbsp;– reached 20 hours.</p> <p>When the atmospheric resonance and length of day became even factors (ten and 20), the atmospheric tide was reinforced, the bulges became larger and the sun’s tidal pull became strong enough to counter the lunar tide.</p> <p>“It’s like pushing a child on a swing,” Murray says.</p> <p>“If your push and the period of the swing are out of sync, it’s not going to go very high. But, if they’re in sync and you’re pushing just as the swing stops at one end of its travel, the push will add to the momentum of the swing and it will go further and higher. That’s what happened with the atmospheric resonance and tide.”</p> <p>Along with geological evidence, Murray and his colleagues achieved their result using global atmospheric circulation models (GCMs) to predict the atmosphere’s temperature during this period. The GCMs are the same models used by climatologists to study global warming. Murray says the fact they worked so well in the team’s research is a timely lesson.</p> <p>“I've talked to people who are climate-change skeptics who don't believe in the global circulation models that are telling us we’re in a climate crisis,” he says. “And I tell them: We used these global circulation models in our research, and they got it right. They work.”</p> <p>Despite its remoteness in geological history, the result adds additional perspective to the climate crisis. Because the atmospheric resonance changes with temperature, Murray points out that our current warming atmosphere could have consequences in this tidal imbalance.</p> <p>“As we increase Earth's temperature with global warming, we’re also making the resonant frequency move higher&nbsp;– we’re moving our atmosphere farther away from resonance. As a result, there's less torque from the sun and therefore the length the day is going to get longer&nbsp;– sooner than it would otherwise.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 13 Jul 2023 16:54:12 +0000 siddiq22 302246 at Award-winning science student – who started university at 13 – graduates from οScarborough /news/u-of-t-science-student-graduating-at-17 <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Award-winning science student – who started university at 13 – graduates from οScarborough</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-06/DSC_8207-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=OgQK8R1i 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-06/DSC_8207-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=WuErP08K 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-06/DSC_8207-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=htCajBzt 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-06/DSC_8207-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=OgQK8R1i" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>siddiq22</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-06-06T16:33:44-04:00" title="Tuesday, June 6, 2023 - 16:33" class="datetime">Tue, 06/06/2023 - 16:33</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>Charlotte Wargniez, 17, is a new graduate and this year's recipient of the Rose Sheinin Award, given to the highest performing woman student in science across U of T’s three campuses (photo by Chai Chen)</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/alexa-battler" hreflang="en">Alexa Battler</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6899" hreflang="en">Convocation 2023</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physical-and-environmental-sciences" hreflang="en">Physical and Environmental Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-stories" hreflang="en">Graduate Stories</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/environment" hreflang="en">Environment</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sustainability" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">οScarborough</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Now a sustainability advocate, Charlotte Wargniez was inspired to switch her major to environmental geoscience after taking a first-year geology course</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><strong>Charlotte Wargniez</strong>’s rapid academic climb&nbsp;–&nbsp; one that will see her graduate from the University of Toronto Scarborough this month at just 17 –&nbsp;began the day she broke her leg.</p> <p>When she was 10, Wargniez was a competitive skier with a packed schedule&nbsp;– eight hours on the slopes and one hour studying&nbsp;– until&nbsp;a fall left her in bed with nothing to do but learn.</p> <p>She had been homeschooled all her life through virtual education&nbsp;– a necessity for her family as they bounced around the world every summer, spending six months travelling across the United States, India, Malaysia and Mexico, then living in ski resorts for the rest of the year.</p> <p>“I got really eager to learn in that time,” says&nbsp;Wargniez. "My parents gave me this legacy to be open-minded to new theories, experiences, ideas and perspectives.”</p> <p>Her school’s online curriculum let her go at her own pace, and within three months she had finished eighth-grade math&nbsp;– four grades ahead of her age bracket.&nbsp;She took an entrance exam to enrol in a French virtual high school and from then on completed a grade per year.</p> <p>Wargniez&nbsp;graduated high school at age 13 and was soon enrolled at οScarborough for neuroscience&nbsp;– she’d watched her brother grow up&nbsp;with Epidermolysis bullosa simplex, a genetic condition that made his skin extremely fragile, and picked her program accordingly.</p> <p>“It made me want to go into medicine, because&nbsp;I saw people like my brother and I really wanted to help them,” she says.</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-center"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/scale_image_750_width_/public/2023-06/MicrosoftTeams-image%20%2816%29%20copy.png?itok=CTs7rxp2" width="750" height="563" alt="&quot;&quot;" class="image-style-scale-image-750-width-"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>After studying environmental geoscience, Wargniez became a staunch proponent of sustainability (submitted photo)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>Her academic goals shifted after a&nbsp;first-year geology course&nbsp;taught by&nbsp;<strong>Nick Eyles</strong>, former professor of geology in οScarborough's department of physical and environmental sciences (DPES). She says a fascination with the Earth had been brewing after visiting almost every national park in America&nbsp;– and the course inspired her to embrace that interest. She switched her major to environmental geoscience and never looked back.&nbsp;</p> <p>“I’d wanted to go to medical school to help people, but then I realized how much of what’s happening in the world is about climate change,” she says. “I realized I could also help people through environmental geoscience.”</p> <p>Eyles became a mentor to Wargniez, teaching several of her courses and enjoying chats during office hours.</p> <p>“She’s exceptional – not just academically, but in being a competitive skier and the breadth of experience she has,” Eyles says. “It was a real pleasure to work with her. I think she’s got a fantastic future – students like her are why you teach.”</p> <p>Environmentalism was the cornerstone of&nbsp;Wargniez's extracurricular life too&nbsp;– largely through&nbsp;<a href="https://regenesis.eco/en/chapters/u-of-t-scarborough">Regenesis UTSC</a>, a student group dedicated to creating and raising awareness of environmental and sustainability initiatives. She led the team as co-president to revive οScarborough’s free store and create a bike-sharing centre on campus&nbsp;– projects that <a href="https://sustainability.utoronto.ca/adams-sustainability-student-grant/">won Adams Sustainability Grants</a> from U of T.</p> <p>She also became vice-president of academic affairs with the <a href="https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/physsci/environmental-and-physical-sciences-students-association-epsa">Environmental and Physical Science Students’ Association</a>,&nbsp;a group that works with the department to host programming, outreach, tutoring and field trips.</p> <div class="video-wrapper"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="422" loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/znixcURm3C0" title="YouTube video player" width="750"></iframe></div> <p>Wargniez says starting university so young didn’t present many challenges during her undergraduate experience. While the&nbsp;pandemic&nbsp;hit during her first year, she still made lasting friendships while living on campus and partook in research projects.&nbsp;</p> <p>She says she did sometimes feel the need to hide her age – particularly from students when she became a teaching assistant. She notes that many of the people she connected with at university may only learn how young she is by reading articles such as this one.</p> <p>Wargniez&nbsp;is the first and only student to graduate with οScarborough’s&nbsp;<a href="https://utsc.calendar.utoronto.ca/minor-program-applied-climatology">new minor in applied climatology</a>. She was also this year’s recipient of the Rose Sheinin Award, given to the highest-performing woman student in science across U of T’s three campuses, and received a DPES&nbsp;<a href="https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/physsci/dpes-excellence-and-leadership-awards">excellence and leadership award</a>.</p> <p>In the fall, she’ll head to the University of Oxford to pursue a master’s of science in sustainability, enterprise and the environment, a unique program examining how businesses and organizations can reach net-zero carbon emissions.</p> <p>“I think she’s just the sort of person we need in the realm of policymaking for environmental problems and issues&nbsp;– someone who has a thorough understanding of science, how the world works, is experienced, has met a lot of people and has that discipline,” Eyles says.</p> <p>As she looks to the future, Wargniez&nbsp;has no specific career path in mind yet, just a resolve to create change&nbsp;–&nbsp;and plans to join Oxford’s ski team.</p> <p>“I want to keep my mind open to anything that will come,” she says. “I know how I want to impact this world, and whatever I find that will work best for me, I’ll take it.”&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 06 Jun 2023 20:33:44 +0000 siddiq22 301892 at Pollution disrupts water fleas' 'chemical conversations,' disrupts food chain: οstudy /news/pollution-disrupts-water-fleas-chemical-conversations-disrupts-food-chain-u-t-study <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Pollution disrupts water fleas' 'chemical conversations,' disrupts food chain: οstudy</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-1160582972.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=q5avK1XY 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/GettyImages-1160582972.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=TjAZgtwB 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/GettyImages-1160582972.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=zP_52jIO 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-1160582972.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=q5avK1XY" alt> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-03-09T10:31:38-05:00" title="Tuesday, March 9, 2021 - 10:31" class="datetime">Tue, 03/09/2021 - 10:31</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">A new study by οScarborough's Myrna Simpson shows how low levels of pollution can disrupt communication, via "info-chemcials," between water fleas and other species (photo by iStockPhoto via Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/don-campbell" hreflang="en">Don Campbell</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physical-and-environmental-sciences" hreflang="en">Physical and Environmental Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/environmental-science" hreflang="en">Environmental Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sustainability" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">οScarborough</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Researchers at the University of Toronto&nbsp;have shown&nbsp;that pollution can disrupt the “chemical conversations”&nbsp;water fleas rely on to communicate with other species.</p> <p>Daphnia, more commonly known as water fleas, live in all sorts of aquatic environments&nbsp;– from swamps to freshwater lakes and ponds. They’re crucial to the aquatic food chain, feeding on algae, while also serving as food for insects, water mites and small fish.</p> <p>The water fleas&nbsp;navigate&nbsp;by releasing bio-molecules, or info-chemicals,&nbsp;that interact with other species, helping them detect prey or potential mates.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/UofT20835_Andre_Myrna_Simpson-11-2.jpg" alt>“It’s these info-chemicals that species use to communicate with each other –&nbsp;they’re basically like messengers,” says <strong>Myrna Simpson</strong>, a professor of environmental science in οScarborough's department of physical and environmental sciences&nbsp;and associate director of the Environmental NMR Centre.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>It’s been thought that “chemical conversations”&nbsp;between species are disrupted when one of the species is affected by pollution.&nbsp;But a new study by Simpson and former post-doctoral student&nbsp;<strong>Tae-Yong Jeong</strong>, now an assistant professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, that was recently&nbsp;<a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.0c07847">published in the journal&nbsp;<em>Environmental Science &amp; Technology</em></a>&nbsp;documents the first time this disruption between two species has been observed because of exposure to such low levels of pollution.</p> <p>The study&nbsp;found that info-chemicals between water fleas and algae could be disrupted by a small amount of fenoxycarb (200 nanograms per one litre of water), which is a type of pesticide. Fenoxycarb is also an endocrine disruptor – a chemical that can mimic or disrupt hormones in the body – which is important because the endocrine system is believed to play an important&nbsp;role in producing info-chemicals in water fleas.</p> <p>Simpson,&nbsp;a Canada Research Chair in Integrative Molecular Biogeochemistry, says the disruptions may cascade throughout the entire food web. If water fleas can’t reproduce or find food it means there will be less of them, she says, and fewer water fleas means&nbsp;less food for larger predators, but also more algae, which can lead to algae blooms that can harm fish and deteriorate water quality.</p> <p>“Daphnia&nbsp;are&nbsp;an excellent indicator of aquatic ecosystem health,” says Simpson, whose research program focuses on the effect of environmental change in water and soil at the molecular level.&nbsp;“If they’re unhealthy, other organisms living in that ecosystem are also likely unhealthy as well.” &nbsp;</p> <p>Simpson and Jeong developed a novel technique that relies on a powerful instrument called a tandem mass spectrometer to detect the info-chemical disruption. They pioneered the approach by using a method called metabolomics that’s able to detect rapid changes in tissues and cells almost instantaneously. This approach is both fast and highly sensitive to any stress or biochemical changes within an organism.</p> <p>Simpson says the fact the info-chemicals of daphnia&nbsp;and algae were disrupted so quickly, and at such a low concentration of exposure, demonstrates that these pollutants may pose a greater ecological risk than is currently recognized. She adds that most water monitoring focuses on how relatively large amounts of a toxin will affect a water flea’s ability to reproduce.</p> <p>“This shows we may need to look at things more broadly because there is this disruption taking place, and we know that these types of pollutants are commonly found in the environment at these low levels.”&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>The research, which received funding from οScarborough’s Research Excellence Faculty Scholars award, offers the potential of developing a rapid way of assessing the health of an ecosystem.</p> <p>Simpson says the overall goal is to create a framework where these novel techniques can be easily used in environmental monitoring programs.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>“Currently, water pollution tests are time-consuming and they analyze only a certain number of pollutants,” Simpson says.&nbsp;“But there are many pollutants and by-products that are undocumented. By using metabolomics to study how daphnia&nbsp;are affected, it can offer a rapid way of assessing water quality through this critically important organism.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 09 Mar 2021 15:31:38 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 168668 at Pregnant Inuit women exposed to higher levels of chemicals found in consumer products: οstudy /news/pregnant-inuit-women-exposed-higher-levels-chemicals-found-consumer-products-u-t-study <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Pregnant Inuit women exposed to higher levels of chemicals found in consumer products: οstudy</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-499247153.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=rLQ4xq8J 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/GettyImages-499247153.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=GSCyKQNw 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/GettyImages-499247153.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=kAxRzgb5 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-499247153.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=rLQ4xq8J" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2020-11-02T12:16:39-05:00" title="Monday, November 2, 2020 - 12:16" class="datetime">Mon, 11/02/2020 - 12:16</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">A οstudy found that pregnant Inuit women had concentrations of PFAAs, found in non-stick coatings for cookware and cleaning products, that were twice as high as those in a representative sample of Canadian women (photo by Halfpoint via Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/don-campbell" hreflang="en">Don Campbell</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physical-and-environmental-sciences" hreflang="en">Physical and Environmental Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/inuit" hreflang="en">Inuit</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/pollution" hreflang="en">Pollution</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/quebec" hreflang="en">Quebec</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sustainability" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">οScarborough</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Pregnant women living in Nunavik in northern Quebec&nbsp;are increasingly being exposed to potentially harmful chemical compounds commonly found in consumer products.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/photo_corpo.jpg" alt="Élyse&nbsp;Caron-Beaudoin">This is one of the findings of new study by a group of Canadian researchers including&nbsp;<strong>Élyse&nbsp;Caron-Beaudoin</strong>,&nbsp;an assistant professor in the department of health and society and the department of physical and environmental sciences at the University of Toronto Scarborough.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The study,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412020321243#!">published in the journal&nbsp;<em>Environment International</em></a>, focused on perfluroalkyl acids (PFAAs), which are used in a wide range of consumer products including non-stick coatings for cooking ware, water and stain repellents, food packaging, paints, cosmetics and cleaning products. It found that PFAA concentrations in pregnant Inuit women were twice as high as those in a representative sample of Canadian women.</p> <p>“It’s an environmental injustice because people’s food in the Arctic is being contaminated by chemicals made far away from their homes,” says Caron-Beaudoin, an expert on toxicology as well as public and environmental health.</p> <p>PFAAs do not biodegrade easily, and as a result, can persist for a long time in the environment. They can also be carried over long distances in the atmosphere and in oceans, where they accumulate in the tissues of living organisms in the Arctic food chain, according to Caron-Beaudoin.</p> <p>She says that exposure to these compounds, including during fetal development, is associated with changes in hormonal, kidney, cardio-metabolic and immune function.</p> <p>The study involved measuring changes in the concentration of PFAAs in the blood of 279 pregnant women living in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec from 2004 to 2017. The researchers&nbsp;found that one of the likely sources of PFAAs concentrations in the blood is the consumption of country foods, particularly marine wildlife.</p> <p>Caron-Beaudoin says that many living in the north experience food insecurity and rely on the nutritional and cultural value provided by country foods, which make up the traditional Inuit diet.</p> <p>“The benefit of consuming traditional foods still outweigh the negatives,” she says. “[But] we need adequate regulations that protect these country foods from harmful contaminants because these communities rely on them, especially pregnant women who need the nutritional value.”&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>While most PFAAs are regulated in North America, they do get imported by consumer products that contain them. The researchers found there’s been a drop in concentrations of legacy PFAAs – those banned by various international and North American treaties – but found that concentrations of long-chain PFAAs, which are more recent and can come from the degradation of other currently-used similar compounds such as&nbsp;Fluorotelomer alcohols&nbsp;(FTOHs), are on the rise.</p> <p>“These long-chain PFAAs are even more persistent and have an even greater potential to accumulate in the food chain than the older PFAAs,” says Caron-Beaudoin.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p>Caron-Beaudoin says compounds like FTOHs not only travel long distances from their site of production, they also travel in consumer and industrial products that get imported into North America.</p> <p>“It’s important to stay on top of this and make sure these new chemical compounds are tightly regulated as well,” she says.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 02 Nov 2020 17:16:39 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 166301 at The unexpected link between the ozone hole and Arctic warming: οexpert /news/unexpected-link-between-ozone-hole-and-arctic-warming-u-t-expert <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">The unexpected link between the ozone hole and Arctic warming: οexpert</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/file-20200213-11011-1weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=UD6aOKVm 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/file-20200213-11011-1weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ES2KVse6 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/file-20200213-11011-1weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Jiy9-7Ca 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/file-20200213-11011-1weblead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=UD6aOKVm" alt="Photo of Iqualuit, Nunavut in the foreground, the ocean in the background"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2020-02-19T09:59:47-05:00" title="Wednesday, February 19, 2020 - 09:59" class="datetime">Wed, 02/19/2020 - 09:59</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p>Temperatures are warming faster in the Arctic than anywhere else in the world. Water and sewer pipes in Iqaluit, Nunavut, are cracking during the winter as the ground shifts (photo by Sean Kilpatrick/CP)</p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/karen-smith" hreflang="en">Karen Smith</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physical-and-environmental-sciences" hreflang="en">Physical and Environmental Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/arctic" hreflang="en">Arctic</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/climate-change" hreflang="en">Climate Change</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/conversation" hreflang="en">The Conversation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">οScarborough</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p class="legacy">One of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/JC085iC10p05529">earliest climate model predictions</a> of how human-made climate change would affect our planet showed that the Arctic would warm about two to three times more than the global average. Forty years later, this “Arctic amplification” has been observed first-hand.</p> <p><a href="https://www.noaa.gov/media-release/unprecedented-arctic-warmth-in-2016-triggers-massive-decline-in-sea-ice-snow">Record-breaking Arctic warming</a> and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/22/climate/arctic-sea-ice-shrinking-trend-watch.html">dramatic decline of sea ice</a> are having severe <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1235225">consequences on sensitive ecosystems</a> in the region.</p> <p>But why has the Arctic warmed more than the tropics and the mid-latitudes?</p> <p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0677-4">We now know</a> that this is due, in part, to tiny concentrations of very powerful greenhouse gases, including ozone-depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).</p> <h3>A wonder gas?</h3> <p>The ozone layer is the protective layer in the stratosphere, roughly 20-50 kilometres above the Earth, that absorbs harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun. <a href="https://ozone.unep.org/20-questions-and-answers">Ozone-depleting substances</a> are potent greenhouse gases, but they are more commonly known for their devastating effect on the ozone layer.</p> <p>These chemicals were invented in the 1920s. They were touted as “wonder gases” and used as refrigerants, solvents and propellants in refrigerators, air conditioners and packing materials. It wasn’t until the 1980s when <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/315207a0">scientists discovered a hole in the ozone layer</a> above Antarctica that they realized the full extent of the ozone-depleting nature of these chemicals.</p> <p>In 1987, 197 countries <a href="https://ozone.unep.org/treaties/montreal-protocol">agreed to phase out their use of ozone-depleting substances by ratifying the Montréal Protocol</a>. The success of this historic international agreement has reduced the emissions of CFCs to nearly zero; however, the recovery of the ozone hole has been slower as CFCs remain in the atmosphere for decades.</p> <p>Due to the effect of ozone-depleting substances on the ozone layer, climate scientists who study these chemicals and their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.2330">climate impacts</a> have been focused on the consequences of ozone depletion. The climate impact of ozone-depleting substances themselves has been typically considered small given the very tiny concentrations of these gases in the atmosphere, and has been largely unexplored.</p> <h3>Experimenting with climate models</h3> <p>My colleagues and I were interested in understanding how ozone-depleting substances might have influenced late-20th century warming from 1995 to 2005. We specifically chose this time period in order to capture the rapid rise in ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere over this time. Since the early 2000s, atmospheric concentrations have been declining.</p> <p>One way that climate scientists approach problems like this one is to use <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/qa-how-do-climate-models-work">computer models of the Earth</a> to understand what the effects of different phenomena, such as volcanic eruptions&nbsp;and greenhouse gases&nbsp;such as methane, might have on air temperatures, ocean circulation patterns, rainfall and so on.</p> <figure class="align-center "><img alt sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315341/original/file-20200213-11044-9d8ts7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315341/original/file-20200213-11044-9d8ts7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=378&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315341/original/file-20200213-11044-9d8ts7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=378&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315341/original/file-20200213-11044-9d8ts7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=378&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315341/original/file-20200213-11044-9d8ts7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=476&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315341/original/file-20200213-11044-9d8ts7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=476&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315341/original/file-20200213-11044-9d8ts7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=476&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w"> <figcaption><span class="caption">A snowmobiler navigates the ice near Iqaluit, Nunavut (photo by Sean Kilpatrick/CP)</span></figcaption> </figure> <p>To explore the contribution of ozone-depleting substances to late-20th century warming, we ran a climate model over the period from 1955 to 2005. One of the simulations incorporated all of the various <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/Fig8-18-1.jpg">historical climate drivers</a> – those that warm the climate, like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone-depleting substances, and those that cool the climate, like volcanic particulate matter. The second simulation had all the historical climate drivers, except the ozone-depleting substances.</p> <p>This is one of the first times the role of ozone-depleting substances had been isolated. Typically, climate model experiments that examine the roles of different climate drivers will lump all greenhouses gases together.</p> <p>Comparing the two model simulations revealed that global warming was reduced by a third and Arctic warming by half when the ozone-depleting substances were not included in our simulation.</p> <h3>Arctic amplification</h3> <p>Why do ozone-depleting substances have such a large impact despite their very small atmospheric concentrations? First, these chemicals are very <a href="https://www.ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/ghgp/Global-Warming-Potential-Values%20%28Feb%2016%202016%29_1.pdf">potent greenhouse gases</a>, a fact that we have known for a long time. Second, in the late-20th century, warming from carbon dioxide was partially cancelled out by the cooling that comes from particulate matter in the atmosphere, allowing CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances to contribute substantially to warming.</p> <p>Finally, when it comes to Arctic amplification, we know that this phenomenon arises from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2071">feedbacks within the climate system</a> that act to enhance warming, and this is exactly what we find in our model simulations. In the simulation without ozone-depleting substances, the climate feedbacks were weaker than in the simulation with them, resulting in less Arctic amplification.</p> <figure class="align-center "><img alt sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315332/original/file-20200213-10980-rbmmcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315332/original/file-20200213-10980-rbmmcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315332/original/file-20200213-10980-rbmmcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315332/original/file-20200213-10980-rbmmcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315332/original/file-20200213-10980-rbmmcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315332/original/file-20200213-10980-rbmmcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315332/original/file-20200213-10980-rbmmcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w"> <figcaption><span class="caption">Climate warming could extend the growing season in Nuuk, Greenland, by two months by the end of the 21st century (photo by David Goldman/AP)</span></figcaption> </figure> <p>Understanding why the feedbacks differ is the aim of our future research but, in the meantime, our work clearly demonstrates the significant impact of ozone-depleting substances on Arctic climate.</p> <p>Thirty years ago, those who signed the Montréal Protocol were not thinking about climate change. Yet, research such as ours underscores the important role this agreement will play in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0610328104">mitigating future warming</a> as the concentrations of ozone-depleting substances decline over time.</p> <p>That said, without massive reductions in carbon dioxide emissions in the coming decades, the gains we will achieve through the Montréal Protocol will be quickly overwhelmed. Further action is needed to protect the Arctic – and our planet.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img alt="The Conversation" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130438/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" width="1" loading="lazy"><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/karen-smith-946279">Karen Smith</a>&nbsp;is an assistant professor, teaching stream, in the department of physical and environmental sciences at the&nbsp;<a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-toronto-1281">University of Toronto</a>&nbsp;Scarborough.</span></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-unexpected-link-between-the-ozone-hole-and-arctic-warming-130438">original article</a>.</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 19 Feb 2020 14:59:47 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 162785 at οresearchers turn McDonald's deep fryer oil into high-end 3D printing resin /news/u-t-researchers-turn-mcdonald-s-deep-fryer-oil-high-end-3d-printing-resin <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">οresearchers turn McDonald's deep fryer oil into high-end 3D printing resin</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/DSC_8686.jpg?h=2ad8dec0&amp;itok=PtZhOWkY 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/DSC_8686.jpg?h=2ad8dec0&amp;itok=zbAk5bFA 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/DSC_8686.jpg?h=2ad8dec0&amp;itok=RSDtr9aF 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/DSC_8686.jpg?h=2ad8dec0&amp;itok=PtZhOWkY" alt="PhD student Rajshree Biswas in a lab coat and goggles stands in front of a vial of fryer oil and 3D-printed butterflies"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2020-01-30T16:40:45-05:00" title="Thursday, January 30, 2020 - 16:40" class="datetime">Thu, 01/30/2020 - 16:40</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Rajshree Biswas, a PhD student in the lab of οScarborough Professor Andre Simpson, shows off biodegradable plastic butterflies made using a 3D printer and resin derived from McDonald's waste cooking oil (photo by Don Campbell)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/don-campbell" hreflang="en">Don Campbell</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/3d-printing" hreflang="en">3D Printing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physical-and-environmental-sciences" hreflang="en">Physical and Environmental Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-students" hreflang="en">Graduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sustainability" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">οScarborough</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Researchers at the University of Toronto Scarborough have, for the first time, turned waste cooking oil – from the deep fryers of a local&nbsp;McDonald’s&nbsp;– into a high-resolution, biodegradable 3D printing resin.</p> <p>Using waste cooking oil for 3D printing&nbsp;has significant potential. Not only is it&nbsp;cheaper to make, the plastics made from it break down naturally unlike conventional 3D printing resins.</p> <p>“The reasons plastics are a problem is because nature hasn’t evolved to handle human-made chemicals,” says&nbsp;<strong>Andre Simpson</strong>, a professor at οScarborough’s department of physical and environmental sciences who developed the resin in his lab.</p> <p>“Because we’re using what is essentially a natural product&nbsp;–&nbsp;in this case fats from cooking oil&nbsp;– nature can deal with it much better.”</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/DSC_0262_0.jpg" alt></p> <p><em>The plastic butterfly printed from the researchers’&nbsp;cooking oil-derived&nbsp;resin&nbsp;showed features down to 100 micrometres&nbsp;and was structurally and thermally stable&nbsp;(photo by Don Campbell)</em></p> <p>Simpson first became interested in the idea when he got a 3D printer about three years ago. After noting the molecules used in commercial resins were similar to fats found in cooking oils, he wondered whether one could be created using waste cooking oil.&nbsp;</p> <p>One challenge was finding old cooking oil from a restaurant’s deep fryers to test in the lab. Despite contacting several major national fast food chains, the only one that responded was McDonald’s. The oil used in the research was from one of the hamburger chain’s&nbsp;Scarborough restaurants.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/UofT14130_Andre_Simpson-14_0.jpg" alt>Simpson (left) and his team used a straightforward one-step chemical process in the lab, using about one litre of used cooking oil to make 420 millilitres of resin. The resin was then used to print a plastic butterfly that showed features down to 100 micrometres&nbsp;and was structurally and thermally stable, meaning it wouldn’t crumble or melt above room temperature.</p> <p>“We found that McDonald’s waste cooking oil has excellent potential as a 3D printing resin,” says Simpson, an environmental chemist and director of the Environmental NMR Centre at οScarborough.</p> <p>Used cooking oil is a major global environmental problem, with commercial and household waste causing serious environmental issues, including clogged sewage lines caused by the build-up of fats.</p> <p>While there are commercial uses for waste cooking oil, Simpson says there’s a lack of ways to recycle it into a high value commodity such as a 3D printing resin. He adds that creating a high value commodity could remove some of the financial barriers with recycling waste cooking oil since many restaurants have to pay to dispose it. &nbsp;</p> <p>Conventional high-resolution resins can cost upwards of US$525 per litre because they’re derived from fossil fuels and require several steps to produce. All but one of the chemicals used to make the resin in Simpson’s lab can be recycled, meaning it could be made for as low as US$300 per tonne, which is cheaper than most plastics. It also cures solid in sunlight, opening up the possibility of pouring it as liquid and forming the structure on a work site.</p> <p>Another key advantage is biodegradability. The researchers found that burying a 3D-printed object made with their resin in soil lost 20 per cent of its weight in about two weeks.</p> <p>“If you bury it in soil, microbes will start to break it down because essentially it’s just fat,” Simpson says.</p> <p>“It’s something that microbes actually like to eat and they do a good job at breaking it down.”</p> <p>The results of the research are published in the journal&nbsp;<a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b06281"><em>ACS Sustainable Chemistry &amp; Engineering</em></a>. Simpson received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Government of Ontario&nbsp;and the Krembil Foundation.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">A local <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ScarbTO?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ScarbTO</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/McDonaldsCanada?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@McDonaldsCanada</a> gave the researchers the old oil to test it out—and it WORKED! <a href="https://t.co/524Vhxx9WV">https://t.co/524Vhxx9WV</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UTSC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UTSC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UofT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UofT</a> <a href="https://t.co/XRFNSOSLZn">pic.twitter.com/XRFNSOSLZn</a></p> — University of Toronto Scarborough (@UTSC) <a href="https://twitter.com/UTSC/status/1222955319464251395?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 30 Jan 2020 21:40:45 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 162169 at Substances that created hole in ozone may account for half of Arctic warming, οresearchers find /news/substances-created-hole-ozone-may-account-half-arctic-warming-u-t-researchers-find <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Substances that created hole in ozone may account for half of Arctic warming, οresearchers find</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-647958656.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=4uH6lNxd 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/GettyImages-647958656.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=OyPw8pn1 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/GettyImages-647958656.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=5Zvz4aUn 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-647958656.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=4uH6lNxd" alt="Sun sets over multiple small icebergs"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2020-01-20T13:08:04-05:00" title="Monday, January 20, 2020 - 13:08" class="datetime">Mon, 01/20/2020 - 13:08</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">While fears over ozone depletion were initially associated with potential increases in skin cancer, researchers say the compounds have also proven to be a significant contributor to climate change (photo by Jan Sieminski via Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/don-campbell" hreflang="en">Don Campbell</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physical-and-environmental-sciences" hreflang="en">Physical and Environmental Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/arctic" hreflang="en">Arctic</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/climate-change" hreflang="en">Climate Change</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sustainability" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The substances responsible for creating a massive hole in the Earth’s ozone layer may account for nearly half of Arctic warming over a 50-year period, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Toronto.</p> <p>The research, published in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-019-0677-4"><em>Nature Climate Change</em></a>, highlights how ozone-depleting substances (ODS) are a significant and unrecognized source of 20<sup>th</sup>-century Arctic climate change.</p> <p>“Ozone depleting substances in many respects have been an under-appreciated contributor to climate change,” says&nbsp;<strong>Karen Smith</strong>, an assistant professor, teaching stream, in the department of physical and environmental sciences at οScarborough and one of the authors of the study.</p> <p>“These are potent greenhouse gases that stay in the atmosphere for a long time, and there’s still a lot we don’t know about their broader impact on climate.”</p> <p>The compounds in question eat away at the protective layer of ozone located in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. They were commonly used throughout most of 20th century in refrigerants, solvents and propellants like those found in hairsprays.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/Karen%20Smith.jpg" alt></p> <p><em>Karen Smith, a researcher at οScarborough, says ozone-depleting substances are “potent greenhouse gases that stay in the atmosphere for a long time” (photo by Don Campbell)</em></p> <p>Smith, along with colleagues at Columbia University, including lead author&nbsp;Lorenzo Polvani, used a climate model to estimate what amount of warming can be attributed to ODS. They ran two separate simulations&nbsp;–&nbsp;one with natural and human emissions measured from 1955 to 2005, and another with ODS and their ozone impacts removed.</p> <p>“We found that ODS may have caused about half of Arctic warming and sea ice loss during that period,” says Smith, whose research focuses on climate variability in the polar regions.</p> <p>Out of the four main sources of human-made greenhouse gas emissions – carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane and ODS – ODS ranked second behind only carbon dioxide in terms of its contribution to climate change during the 50-year period. ODS emissions have been reduced dramatically thanks to the 1987 Montreal Protocol banning their use, and as a result the ozone layer has slowly been recovering.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>While fears over ozone depletion were initially associated with potential increases in skin cancer and other biological effects, Smith says there have since been discoveries about how these substances contribute to climate change.</p> <p>Smith, who received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for her research, says an important next step is explore the mechanisms behind how ODS&nbsp;amplify Arctic warming despite their very low atmospheric concentrations compared to other greenhouse gases.</p> <p>“The focus of greenhouse gas emissions and their contribution to climate change has been on carbon dioxide, and rightfully so based on concentration,” says Smith, who is the director of the master of environmental science climate change impacts and adaptation program.</p> <p>“In terms of the global average, ODS&nbsp;do not play as big of a role as carbon dioxide in causing global warming, but in Arctic regions we see about double the warming.”</p> <p>If there is a silver lining, Smiths says the decline in ODS could be a good news story for climate change.</p> <p>“Thanks to the Montreal Protocol, ODS emissions have been dramatically reduced and their atmospheric concentrations are decreasing, so the phasing out of these chemicals will help mitigate future Arctic warming and sea ice loss.”</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 20 Jan 2020 18:08:04 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 161992 at Science and art history students at οjoin forces to uncover museum collection's secrets /news/science-and-art-history-students-u-t-join-forces-uncover-museum-collection-s-secrets <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Science and art history students at οjoin forces to uncover museum collection's secrets</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/P5165115_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=VuqGwVJU 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/P5165115_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=N1Ud--to 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/P5165115_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=bo-JIA8E 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/P5165115_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=VuqGwVJU" alt="Students and researchers gather around Associate Professor Alen Hadzovic as he examines a computer screen, with a piece of artwork in the foreground "> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-12-10T16:47:34-05:00" title="Tuesday, December 10, 2019 - 16:47" class="datetime">Tue, 12/10/2019 - 16:47</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Students in Associate Professor Alen Hadzovic's (seated) class brought their expertise in technology and chemistry to examine artifacts from The Malcove Collection, a large museum collection that spans prehistory to the 20th century (photo by Chai Chen)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/tina-adamopoulos" hreflang="en">Tina Adamopoulos</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physical-and-environmental-sciences" hreflang="en">Physical and Environmental Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/art-history" hreflang="en">Art History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/chemistry" hreflang="en">Chemistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/humanities" hreflang="en">Humanities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/jackman-humanities-institute" hreflang="en">Jackman Humanities Institute</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">οScarborough</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/undergraduate-students" hreflang="en">Undergraduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/university-college" hreflang="en">University College</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A group of University of Toronto students from two very different disciplines have teamed up to uncover secrets behind a museum collection that spans prehistory to the mid-20th century.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>The academic detective work was done on selected pieces from <a href="http://collections.artmuseum.utoronto.ca:8080/collections/270/the-malcove-collection/objects">The Malcove Collection</a>, a permanent display of art located at <a href="http://artmuseum.utoronto.ca/">U of T’s Art Museum</a>. The goal was to help fill some of the blanks in the collection by a true merger of the arts and sciences.</p> <p>The collection itself was donated by Lillian Malcove, a Freudian psychoanalyst who had gathered more than 500 objects over a 50-year period.&nbsp;However, little was known about the history behind many of the museum’s artifacts. A detailed material analysis was needed to help trace its history – a challenge that was tackled through two&nbsp;<a href="https://humanities.utoronto.ca/research/scholars-in-residence">Jackman Scholars-in-Residence</a>&nbsp;(SiR) projects. The SiR program is an intensive four-week interdisciplinary residency in social science research for upper-year graduates.</p> <p>“When basic information is missing, it means researchers and teachers don’t use it because they want to be able to tell their class about its history,” says <strong>Erin Webster</strong>, an associate professor, teaching stream, in οScarborough’s department of arts, culture and media. “Having that concrete, factual identification is going to make it easier to use the collection in the future.”</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/P5165120.jpg" alt></p> <p><em>(photo by Chai Chen)</em></p> <p>While Webster’s group had knowledge of art history, a group of students led by&nbsp;<strong>Alen Hadzovic</strong>, an associate professor, teaching stream, in οScarborough’s department of physical and environmental sciences, was able to lend their expertise in technology and chemistry&nbsp;to identify materials used in a few of the collection’s pieces.</p> <p>Webster had used pieces from the collection in her classes before, but the more she worked with the collection the more she realized the need for collaboration.</p> <p>“We really wanted to showcase the knowledge that could be developed by students working across disciplines,” Webster says.</p> <p>One of the technologies used was an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) hand-held spectrometer, which offers a safe and non-destructive look at the chemical elements of a sample, particularly metals in objects such as sculpture, jewelry and decorative pieces. Certain blending of materials are unique to specific time-periods, which&nbsp;helps to identify when and where&nbsp;they were made, and also allows for proper conservation of objects and their full description.</p> <p><strong>Rashana Youtzy</strong> studied Christian objects, including an oval-shaped pendant. The pendant, which has a raised image of the Virgin Mary holding a post-crucifixion Jesus on its surface, is carefully lined with leaves around its frame.</p> <p>“Holding an object that is centuries-years-old amazes me,” says Youtzy, a fifth-year οScarborough art history student. “I found it really enticing that I could contribute to the field and not only mark a check-point in my academic career, but also in the lives of the artworks.”</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/P5165140.jpg" alt></p> <p><em>(photo by Chai Chen)</em></p> <p>Working with <strong>Liam Bryant</strong>, a third-year art history specialist at University College, the group used XRF analysis and digital microscopy to accurately date the pendant down to the half-century, rather than a hundred-year gap, predicting that the two objects they studied were from the European Renaissance – and likely produced in Italy.</p> <p>“Initially we had read that the pendant was created in the 17th century and made with white bronze, then on a different file it had silver written as the material,” Youtzy says. “Through our analysis we established the material as silver, and after studying silver-working processes alongside the stylistic analysis we could claim it was made in the 16th century.”</p> <p><strong>Le Anh Chau Tran</strong>, a third-year arts management student, studied features of a manuscript from a Dutch prayer book. While it was suspected they contained gold, no one had ever done a material analysis on them before. The group figured out that parts of the manuscript were made with real gold, meaning it was likely made for elite patrons.</p> <p>“The intersection between the humanities and chemistry worlds has the potential to be a discipline in itself,” Chau Tran says.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/P5175202_0.jpg" alt></p> <p><em>(photo by Chai Chen)</em></p> <p>Hadzovic says there’s potential for an interdisciplinary approach beyond the program itself.</p> <p>“I’ve had chemistry students tell me, ‘I didn’t know I could work in an art museum,’ but you can,” Hadzovic says. “I want to constantly show students the possibilities they have in the field and the different challenges they may meet as they navigate the space of chemistry.”</p> <p>Bryant hopes to become an art conservator in the future. Since it’s hard to find art conservation classes at the undergraduate level, he used the opportunity as a way to get experience in a related field.</p> <p>“The Scholars-in-Residence program allowed me to really see what my future could look like in a sincerely palpable way,” Bryant says.</p> <p>“I suggest applying. Depending on the project, you really have the opportunity to distill a very abstract idea of your future down to an academic reality.”</p> <p>Hadzovic and Webster are offering a joint fourth-year research-based seminar this winter that has grown out of the SiR project. It will bring art history and chemistry students together for further study of Malcove objects.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 10 Dec 2019 21:47:34 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 161171 at 'It's a great honour': Eleven οfaculty named fellows of the Royal Society of Canada /news/it-s-great-honour-eleven-u-t-faculty-named-fellows-royal-society-canada <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">'It's a great honour': Eleven οfaculty named fellows of the Royal Society of Canada</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/kraatz-gallagher-klassen_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=An7GC871 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/kraatz-gallagher-klassen_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=5JOYx_P1 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/kraatz-gallagher-klassen_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=uo_UWfdp 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/kraatz-gallagher-klassen_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=An7GC871" alt="Heinz-Bernhard Kraatz, Pamela Klassen and Kathleen Gallagher"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>perry.king</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-09-10T09:53:13-04:00" title="Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - 09:53" class="datetime">Tue, 09/10/2019 - 09:53</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">From left to right: Pamela Klassen, Kathleen Gallagher and Heinz-Bernhard Kraatz are three of 11 οresearchers named fellows of the prestigious Royal Society of Canada (all photos by Perry King)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/perry-king" hreflang="en">Perry King</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physical-and-environmental-sciences" hreflang="en">Physical and Environmental Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/awards" hreflang="en">Awards</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/drama" hreflang="en">Drama</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ecology-and-evolutionary-biology" hreflang="en">Ecology and Evolutionary Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/history" hreflang="en">History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/hospital-sick-children" hreflang="en">Hospital for Sick Children</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/humanities" hreflang="en">Humanities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/laboratory-medicine-and-pathobiology" hreflang="en">Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mechanical-industrial-engineering" hreflang="en">Mechanical &amp; Industrial Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ontario-institute-studies-education" hreflang="en">Ontario Institute for Studies in Education</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physics" hreflang="en">Physics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/psychiatry" hreflang="en">Psychiatry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/religion" hreflang="en">Religion</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/royal-society-canada" hreflang="en">Royal Society of Canada</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/st-michael-s-hospital" hreflang="en">St. Michael's Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/surgery" hreflang="en">surgery</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/theatre" hreflang="en">Theatre</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">οScarborough</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/university-health-network" hreflang="en">University Health Network</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><strong>Pamela Klassen</strong> studies religion’s impact on the world at large. <strong>Kathleen Gallagher</strong> sees theatre as a way to understand students and their education. <strong>Heinz-Bernhard Kraatz</strong> is designing tools to detect biomolecules that cause cancer and other diseases.</p> <p>They are just three of 11 University of Toronto researchers named fellows of the prestigious Royal Society of Canada – considered a major achievement for scholars in this country.</p> <p>The other new fellows from οare: <strong>Cheryl Grady</strong>,&nbsp;<strong>Eric Jennings</strong>, <strong>Sidney Kennedy</strong>, <strong>Zheng-Hong Lu</strong>, <strong>Locke Rowe</strong>, <strong>Kimberly Strong</strong>,<strong> Yu Sun </strong>and<strong> Michael Taylor</strong>. (See the full list below.)</p> <p>“The University of Toronto congratulates its newest Royal Society of Canada fellows on their achievement and looks forward to the outstanding work they will continue to produce as members of the national academy,” says <strong>Vivek Goel</strong>, vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.</p> <p>“These 11 researchers, representing a wide array of disciplines, are contributing to new knowledge, insights and innovations that impact the lives of Canadians and people around the world.”</p> <p>Founded in the 1880s, the Royal Society of Canada recognizes scholars and their work in order to help them build a better future in Canada and around the world.</p> <p>Fellows have made remarkable contributions in the arts, humanities and sciences and will be mobilized to contribute knowledge, understanding, and insight through engagement with the Canadian public.</p> <p>They are nominated and elected by their Royal Society of Canada peers.</p> <p>U of T’s 11&nbsp;new fellows will join over 370 Royal Society of Canada fellows from U of T, and more than 2,000 active fellows overall.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/0J5A1064.jpg" alt></p> <h4>Pamela Klassen</h4> <p>A professor in the department for the study of religion, Klassen seeks to understand how religion shapes our world – in the past, present and imagined future.</p> <p>Since joining οin 1997, she has researched religion, gender and secularism in North America, the intersection of gender and medicine and the role of Christianity in Canadian colonialism.</p> <p>“Religion is at the heart of some of the most challenging issues in the contemporary world,” says Klassen, adding that it plays an integral role in personal decision-making, social structure and politics.</p> <p>The subject has led Klassen down several seemingly disparate roads of inquiry. They include: research into Mennonite women refugees during the Second World War; the role of religion in the home birth movement; and the history of medicine, including the role of medical missionaries.</p> <p>She describes her work as “people focused.”</p> <p>“I want to take care to reflect on what people have&nbsp;told me in interviews or from diaries and letters I’ve found in archives in a way that is respectful of their stories – but set those stories&nbsp;in a wider context so we can learn from them in a broader political, social way,” says Klassen, who previously won an American Academy of Religion award of excellence.</p> <p>Such personal engagement laid the groundwork for Klassen’s 2018 book&nbsp;<em>The Story of Radio Mind: A Missionary’s Journey on Indigenous Land</em>. The book, which combined meticulous historical research and many conversations with Indigenous historians and knowledge holders, examines the life of Frederick du Vernet, an early 20<sup>th</sup>-century Anglican archbishop who journeyed through Ojibwe, Ts’msyen and Nisga’a territory and came to condemn the devastating effects of residential schools run by his church.</p> <p>Klassen’s work on the book also led to the Kiinawin Kawindomowin&nbsp;<a href="https://news.artsci.utoronto.ca/all-news/digital-humanities-project-conveys-stories-colonial-settlement-indigenous-resistance-northwestern-ontario/">Story Nations project</a>, <a href="http://storynations.utoronto.ca/storynations_wp/">an interactive website</a> that Klassen and her students continue to work on in consultation with the Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre of the Rainy River First Nations. It focuses on a diary Du Vernet wrote on an 1898 visit to Rainy River, and includes many stories of Ojibwe women and men expressing strong resistance to the missionary presence.</p> <p>“My work has always been animated by – this is more grandiose than I want to make it sound – questions of injustice that I see around me and how religion plays into various kinds of inequality, or how religion shapes the political world in which we live,” Klassen says.</p> <p>She thanks her peers for nominating and appointing her as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.</p> <p>“It’s a great honour to be nominated and accepted,” she says. “It’s a community of such a wide array of scholars – people from so many different fields – so to have the recognition of colleagues from across the humanities really means a lot to me.”</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/0J5A1125.jpg" alt></p> <h4>Kathleen Gallagher</h4> <p>A professor in the department of curriculum, teaching and learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Gallagher uses theatre to understand young people’s views on life in and out of the classroom.</p> <p>Gallagher, who is interested in questions of pedagogy, artistic practice and the social contexts of schooling, sees theatre as a “mode of inquiry” that’s yielded important insights into young people’s views on democracy, civic engagement and inequality.</p> <p>In order to conduct her global, ethnographic research, Gallagher has relied on collaborations with graduate students, who she calls her “most important intellectual community,” as well as the active participation of youth. Such collaborations are a “lifeblood,” she says.</p> <p>“I can’t imagine operating as a researcher in any other way, frankly,” says Gallagher, who is cross-appointed at the Centre for Drama, Theatre &amp; Performance Studies <a href="/news/u-t-honours-seven-researchers-whose-impact-reaches-beyond-academia">and won a οPresident’s Impact Award last year</a>. “The richness and the contributions of young people in my research projects make it possible for me to do the work I do.”</p> <p>Gallagher has also worked with playwright Andrew Kushnir on <em>Towards Youth</em> – a play Kushnir wrote that brings to life the concept of hope among youth in drama classrooms around the world that Gallagher’s research has explored. She describes the collaboration with Kushnir as “next level” because working with a professional playwright gave her an opportunity to communicate some of her research findings to a broad audience. It was also an opportunity to work with a professional playwright.</p> <p>“To be able to be in a long-term, close dialogue with someone who brings a whole other set of professional skills, understandings and experience to that research, is a gift with untold value,” she says.</p> <p>Gallagher hopes her Royal Society of Canada fellowship opens up more avenues for cross-disciplinary work.</p> <p>“The idea that I’m going to walk into new intellectual terrain with researchers beyond my οnetwork is enormously exciting to me,” she says. “It feels like a new beginning.”</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/0J5A1070%20%281%29.jpg" alt></p> <h4>Heinz-Bernhard Kraatz</h4> <p>A professor in the department of physical and environmental sciences at οScarborough, Kraatz wants to prevent diseases by creating tools that can help spot their underlying causes.</p> <p>Kraatz is focused on creating new sensor materials that allow him to detect biomolecules, such as DNA and proteins – and even biological processes – that play a role in everything from cell division to cancer and viral infections.</p> <p>He’s also conducting research that looks at the underlying molecular causes for conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.</p> <p>“We’re looking at identification of organisms at the genetic level, but we’re also looking at detection of pathogens in the environment,” says Kraatz, who is also οScarborough’s vice-principal of research.</p> <p>Finding ways to translate such research into real-world solutions can take decades – which is why Kraatz is grateful for his lab colleagues and students who have helped push ideas forward.</p> <p>“You can have this crazy idea and a non-optimal model system to work it out,” he says. “But taking that next step to go to a model system that actually does allow you to answer that question in a definitive way – it’s really important.”</p> <p>He hopes his passion for science rubs off on his students.</p> <p>“I love discussing science with my students, first of all. This is fun, this is a dialogue. Students have ideas – I have ideas and we sort of bounce them off each other,” he says. “Students come up with brilliant ideas and offer some brilliant solutions to problems.”</p> <p>In his role as vice-principal of research, Kraatz works to promote outstanding research and scholarship in all disciplines at οScarborough while also advancing collaborations and enhancing the research environment for students.</p> <p>He considers himself a role model at the university – a responsibility he takes seriously.</p> <p>“Ultimately, [the fellowship] enhances visibility and you have an obligation to contribute to the Royal Society, but also to university life by mentoring young faculty and students,” says Kraatz.</p> <p>“Making sure they’re on a productive path going forward is critical.”</p> <hr> <p><strong>Here is the full list of new Royal Society of Canada fellows from U of T:</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Kathleen Gallagher, </strong>department of curriculum, teaching and learning</li> <li><strong>Cheryl Grady</strong>, department of psychiatry, and Baycrest Health Sciences</li> <li><strong>Eric Jennings</strong>, department of history</li> <li><strong>Sidney Kennedy</strong>, department of psychiatry, University Health Network, St. Michael’s Hospital</li> <li><strong>Pamela Klassen, </strong>department for the study of religion</li> <li><strong>Heinz-Bernhard Kraatz, </strong>department of physical and environmental sciences, οScarborough</li> <li><strong>Zheng-Hong Lu</strong>, department of materials science and engineering</li> <li><strong>Locke Rowe</strong>, department of ecology and evolutionary biology</li> <li><strong>Kimberly Strong</strong>, department of physics</li> <li><strong>Yu Sun</strong>, department of mechanical and industrial engineering</li> <li><strong>Michael Taylor</strong>, departments of surgery and laboratory medicine and pathobiology, and the Hospital for Sick Children</li> </ul> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 10 Sep 2019 13:53:13 +0000 perry.king 158082 at