news 2023

Financial technology companies should move beyond ESG standards to embrace "Impact fintech" "Impact Fintech" is a new term coined by researchers at the University of Waterloo's School of Environment, Enterprise and Development which describes a new category of financial technology firm - one that moves beyond ESG standards and instead embraces the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Research testing new technology to more effectively locate polar bear dens across the Arctic is showing promising results. Researchers from Simon Fraser University (SFU) and Brigham Young University (BYU), collaborating with Polar Bears International, hope that improving detection tools to locate dens-which are nearly invisible and buried under snow-will help efforts to protect mother polar bears and their cubs.

DNA sequencing of marine worms has revealed how they adapt to life 2,500 metres below the ocean's surface, where they experience extreme pressure conditions and temperature fluctuations. Maeva Perez is fascinated by marine worms. Her first encounter with these cold-blooded invertebrates dates back to her time at the University of Victoria, in British Columbia, where she was completing a master's in biology.

New study: Fear of human "super predator" pervades South African savanna Elephants, rhinos, giraffes and other wildlife dread people far more than lions Lions have long been considered the world's most fearsome predator, the "king of beasts," but according to a new study, fear of humans far exceeds that of lions in elephants, rhinos, giraffes and every other mammal across the African savanna.

An international research team investigates how stress caused by global warming could increase incidences of self-medication worldwide. We knew that climate change and its effects-natural disasters, pandemics, pollution-are negatively impacting mental and physical health around the world. Now a new study sheds light on another health impact of climate change: increased substance abuse.

An international study has characterized the diversity of bees in apple orchards across the globe. By carrying pollen from flower to flower, pollinator insects play an essential role in the reproductive cycle of flowering plants. Bees do more of it than any other, both here in Canada and around the world.

A new study of the intriguing TRAPPIST-1 exoplanetary system has demonstrated the complex interaction between the activity of the system's star and its planetary features. Astronomers led by a team at Université de Montréal has made important progress in understanding the intriguing TRAPPIST-1 exoplanetary system, which was first discovered in 2016 amid speculation it could someday provide a place for humans to live.

Researchers set out to achieve passive cooling inside naturally conditioned buildings in hot, arid climates As the planet gets hotter, the need for cool living environments is becoming more urgent. But air conditioning is a major contributor to global warming since units use potent greenhouse gases and lots of energy.

Researchers from Queen's University and Environment and Climate Change Canada have discovered that accelerated 21st -century warming has triggered a striking shift in algae composition in Great Slave Lake, North America's deepest lake. The findings were published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B , and suggests that declining ice coverage and other climate-related changes have marked the crossing of an important ecological threshold.

In a first-of-its-kind study, Waterloo researchers calculate the environmental footprint of hospitals Researchers from the University of Waterloo completed the first-ever assessment of a Canadian hospital to reveal its total environmental footprint and specific carbon emission hotspots. Studying a hospital in British Columbia during its 2019 fiscal year, the researchers identified energy and water use and purchasing of medical products as the hospital's primary hotspots, accounting for over half of the yearly footprint, totalling 3500-5000 tons of CO2 equivalent.

New research reveals half of our watersheds have a moderate to high potential for water risk Ontario may seem to be a water secure region, but new research out of the University of Waterloo challenges the myth of water abundance in the Great Lakes watershed. Using a first-of-its-kind risk analysis, researchers connected water quality, quantity, regulations and public concern to obtain a more comprehensive picture of water security at the local level.

The Western Institute for Earth and Space Exploration is leading a new project to measure methane released by London's dump, with a multi-disciplinary team of researchers helping to track the potent greenhouse gas. The team will use drones, satellites, as well as stationary and hand-held devices to determine exactly how much methane is produced at the city landfill on Manning Drive - officially named W12A - and whether any of it is escaping the collection system currently in place.

New research co-led by Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia shows that amplified global warming in the Canadian High Arctic drove a profound shift in the structure of a river network carved into a permafrost landscape in only 60 years. Documenting a powerful interplay among climate change, the freeze-thaw dynamics of polygonal ground and the delivery of surface water by floods as well as snow and ice melting, the team developed a new view of the physical controls governing the speed and pattern of river channel development in these fragile landscapes.

Climate change has become a climate catastrophe, say researchers. Earth, water, fire and wind are fighting back and everyone and everything is affected. And that includes the world's bird population. New research from Western University's Advanced Facility for Avian Research (AFAR) is the first to show that birds adjust their physiology during the migratory season to maintain oxygen uptake and movement to flight muscles, with some species exhibiting greater adjustments than others.

The magnitude of methane uptake in upland "sinks" may be larger than previously thought, and may increase under dry conditions, an UdeM-led study finds. Located in low-lying areas saturated with water, the wetlands that make up 14 per cent of the Arctic emit vast quantities of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Forest fires make the water in lakes whose catchment areas have been burnt murkier and also richer in nutrients, a Canada-U.S. research team has found. More than two million hectares of Quebec forest reduced to ashes. Yellowknife evacuated. New York City under a thick blanket of orange smoke. Greek islands ravaged.

Science, Health & Technology Alex Walls Fish were surprisingly resilient to marine heatwaves before 2019, highlighting the need to keep seas from warming further, according to new research . Marine heatwaves can have devastating effects on marine ecosystems and have been linked to widespread coral bleaching, harmful algal blooms, and abrupt declines in fish species.

Science, Health & Technology Alex Walls New research confirms that Tsleil-Waututh Nation has consistently and sustainably fished for chum salmon for 1,200 years longer than the archaeological record had previously demonstrated. This supports Tsleil-Waututh knowledge and further demonstrates that Tsleil-Waututh people have been sustainably living on and stewarding their traditional territory for longer than Western science may recognize.

The proposed freshwater generation systems are inexpensive, energy-efficient, and environmentally friendly A team of researchers is designing novel systems to capture water vapour in the air and turn it into liquid. University of Waterloo professor Michael Tam and his PhD students Yi Wang and Weinan Zhao have developed sponges or membranes with a large surface area that continually capture moisture from their surrounding environment.

Scientists have assembled the genome sequences of nearly 300 varieties of potatoes and its wild relatives to develop more nutritious, disease-free, and weather-proof crop As climate change continues to pose severe challenges to ensuring sustainable food supplies around the world, scientists from McGill University are looking for ways to improve the resilience and nutritional quality of potatoes.