🛢️ Water breaks down petroleum in contaminated soil
🗳️ Right-leaning Canadians are losing trust in elections
🧠 Concurrent mental health issues and substance use disorder on the rise
🔬 Scientists discover immune cells have a ‘sense of touch’
🔋 New battery-free sensor for potential earth-space connection
🤖 Determining when AI requires oversight
🩻 AI models to predict operating room demand
UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
Simpler solutions: Water breaks down petroleum in contaminated soil
Shifting water levels have been found to speed up the cleanup of petroleum-contaminated soil from spills.
This petroleum can take decades to fully remediate; a complex and expensive process. The Waterloo researchers found that the natural shifting process of water tables significantly speeds cleanup.
“The findings suggest that water table fluctuations should be considered an active factor in contaminated site management, rather than simply background variability. Understanding the connections between hydrology, microbial activity, contaminant degradation and greenhouse gas production could help improve environmental risk assessments and inform more effective remediation strategies.”
MCGILL UNIVERSITY
Faith fades: Right-leaning Canadians are losing trust in elections
McGill researchers have found evidence of a significant decline in trust among right-leaning Canadians in the country’s electoral process since 2019. The researchers posit a potential link with the consumption of alternative and social media.
“More specifically, we find a notable drop in trust in elections among right-leaning Canadians and supporters of the Conservative and People’s parties since 2019.” — Mathieu Lavigne
MCMASTER UNIVERSITY
Problems compound: Concurrent mental health issues and substance use disorder on the rise
Researchers at McMaster have found that the odds of having concurrent substance use disorder and a mood or anxiety disorder are rising. Since 2022, nearly 17% of Canadians have experienced a mood, anxiety, or substance use disorder, and almost half of those with a substance use disorder also had a co-occurring mood or anxiety disorder.
“Compared with 2012, the odds of mood and anxiety disorders were 2.5 times higher, and the odds of concurrent disorders were nearly double.”
“Many people are not dealing with just one condition. We’re seeing growing numbers of Canadians experiencing both substance use disorders and mood or anxiety disorders at the same time, and those individuals often face the greatest challenges getting the support they need.” — Dr. Jillian Halladay
MCGILL UNIVERSITY
Touchy solution: Scientists discover immune cells have a ‘sense of touch’
In a potential win for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases, recent research has discovered new T-cell behaviours.
T cells remain in tissues after an infection and respond to infection recurrence, and the new findings could support novel treatment approaches for everything from allergies and transplant rejection to cancer research.
“Tumours are often dense and physically difficult for immune cells to penetrate. Understanding how T cells adapt to these environments could help researchers design cancer immunotherapies that are better able to reach and attack tumours.” — Dr. Judith Mandl
UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
Star power: New battery-free sensor for potential earth-space connection
A breakthrough sensor has been developed by Waterloo engineers, with the potential to expand IoT capabilities. The hydro-powered, battery-free sensor can transmit data over vast distances, marking a potential boon for satellite uplinks and expansion of IoT in remote locations.
“The proposed battery-free system eliminates the need for local infrastructure by connecting directly to cell towers, creating a feasibility path toward future satellite connection which in turn unlocks a wide array of diverse applications.” — Dr. George Shaker
MCGILL UNIVERSITY
Humans in the loops: Determining when AI requires oversight
A human-in-the-loop approach is necessary to ensure AI trustworthiness, but how best to determine when to step in?
Researchers at McGill have created an energy-efficient method for developing AI systems that measure and communicate uncertainty, indicating when human oversight is required.
“As these systems take on more responsibility, they need to become more trustworthy. They should recognize when they are uncertain, rather than giving confident answers in situations where they may be wrong.” — Mame Diarra Touré
SUNNYBROOK RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Trauma forecasting: AI models to predict operating room demand
A new Sunnybrook AI framework has been developed to forecast daily emergency surgical workloads. The data will be used to help administrators optimize operating room scheduling, and ultimately reduce wait times.
Conventional approaches rely on historical averages, but only provide limited insights at “a rate no better than flipping a coin.”
“Trauma centres regularly struggle with unpredictable surgical volumes driven by shifts in weather, day of the week, and regional activity, but the findings of our study show our AI model substantially outperformed current scheduling tools by predicting total daily surgical hours within a margin of error under two hours.” — Dr. Aazad Abbas