Innovation Toronto – Big Ideas | Imagination | Possibilities

This unassuming material is capable of capturing or releasing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in response to moisture swings.

Pulling carbon dioxide out of the air using moisture

A more efficient way to capture fresh water from the air

Bringing transformative potential to agriculture with a natural technology for ‘dimming’ genes

Staving off coral reef collapse via a new technique

LEGACY DISCOVERIES

System directs camera-equipped drones to maintain framing of an aerial shot

Could flu someday be prevented without a vaccine?

Vermont Law School (VLS)

An automated robotic system will greatly expand the use of mini-organs in basic research and drug discovery

Technology Funding Makes Climate Protection Cheaper

The airship finally takes off – Hybrid Air Vehicles has first civil customer

OMGIALMOSTDIED (Photo credit: J.J. Verhoef)

Pumping Efficiency Into Electrical Motors

Could probiotic approaches protect corals against heat stress?

Slug Glue: A Future with no Sutures?

Researchers find cheaper way to produce hydrogen from water

Plugging In, Dutch Put Electric Cars to the Test

A Voice App Unapologetically Unlike Siri

Planetary dashboard shows “Great Acceleration” in human activity since 1950

Plants as sensors for security threats?

A Young Tunisian Researcher’s Scientific Breakthrough in Cure of Diabetes

Nature inspires a greener way to make colorful plastics

Nearly indestructible virus yields tool to treat diseases

Kids Clothing Swap Online

RECENTLY UPDATED

Study collaborators held a demonstration of how biochar is created. Image by Juan Rodriguez.

Adding biochar to dairy’s manure-composting process reduces methane emissions by 84 percent

Illustration showing how cationic nanomaterials target depot-specific fat cells. Credit: Qianfen Wan/CUIMC and Baoding Huang/Columbia Engineering

A major advance in treating obesity

Using plants to produce nanobodies that quickly block emerging pathogens in human medicine and agriculture

The researchers’ microrobots use “physical intelligence” to exert control over nearby objects. By spinning and disrupting the alignment of the liquid crystal surrounding them, the robots can attract smaller particles to their edges, then precisely deposit them. (Image: Penn Engineering Today)

The ability to restructure materials on a microscopic level using microrobots

Microscopy image of nanobubbles after sonication using the UCF invention.

Using ultrasound-responsive nanobubbles to deliver osteoporosis treatment avoids side effects

Solar filters emit a red light over tomato plants growing in a research field at UC Davis in 2022. The work further tests the findings of a UC Davis study showing plants in agrivoltaic systems respond best to the red spectrum of light while blue light is better used for energy production. (Andre Daccache/UC Davis)

Agrivoltaics: Growing food and clean energy together by harvesting light

A safe, affordable variant-proof Covid drug in pill form

Researchers tested their food-safe antibacterial spray on foods including beef and romaine lettuce. CREDIT McMaster University

Phage sprays: A powerful new weapon against contamination and infection

In nature when wood dries out from being soaked, it gives off an electrical charge. Researchers at KTH in Sweden showed that if the wood's composition is nanoengineered the right way, the phenomenon can be turned into a power source. CREDIT David Callahan/KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Who knew? Harvesting electricity from wood soaking in water

Johns Hopkins engineers have developed a method to prevent harmful viruses from entering the lungs, blocking the spread of COVID-19 and influenza with a nasal spray

A nasal spray for sleep apnea?

Using a beam of harmless infrared light and an algorithm to detect malaria

A research team led by Georgia Tech Professor Phil Santangelo has developed an improved mRNA treatment that is designed to be used in a common nebulizer, like the one above, for a more efficient inhalable delivery of the medicine.

Inhalable mRNA therapy could dramatically improve treatment of common lung diseases

The green image shows the platelet/clot material. The purple image shows particles that have bound to the clot.

A viable new treatment for blood clots?

Caption:The thin-film solar cells weigh about 100 times less than conventional solar cells while generating about 18 times more power-per-kilogram. Credits:Credit: Melanie Gonick, MIT

Ultra thin ultra light fabric photovoltaics would only add about 20 kilograms (44 pounds) to the roof of a house

PhD researcher Yemima Ehrnst holding the acoustic device the research team used to boost the hydrogen production, through electrolysis to split water. Credit: RMIT University

Boosting hydrogen production: Using high-frequency vibrations to release 14 times more hydrogen compared with standard electrolysis

Ear recognition hits 97.25 percent accuracy to identify you

Fusion Breakthrough: Do we actually have liftoff?

The ice plant succulent shown here can become a living solar cell and power a circuit using photosynthesis. Credit: Adapted from ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2022, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c15123

Living plant bio-solar cells create electricity from photosynthesis

Transformative cellular glue tools could regenerate tissues, heal wounds and regrow nerves

Schematic of the integrated system with migration-assisted moisture-gradient CO2 capture and electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction. (Image: Meenesh Singh, et al.)

Integrating a carbon capture system with an ethylene conversation system for the first time

Promising environmentally friendly results in the destruction of PFAS in both drinking water and different types of industrial wastewater

Hope for alleviating long Covid brain fog using a combination of a combination of guanfacine and N-acetylcysteine

Still from WEHI-TV's animation Insulin Production and Type 1 Diabetes. Beta cells (purple) release insulin (blue) after a meal Creator: Etsuko Uno

Can a molecule different to insulin have the same effect? Could insulin come in a pill?

After just a few weeks of growth, flowers on poplar trees can be seen in the lab. These flowers typically don’t appear until after seven years of tree growth. (Photo by C.J. Tsai)

Shrinking the breeding experiments with trees from years to weeks with CRISPR

Caption:Researchers came up with a way to efficiently plan physically plausible assembly motions and sequences for real-world assemblies. Credits:Image courtesy of MIT CSAIL.

A new algorithm for the automatic assembly of products encompassing thousands of objects

Princeton Engineering researchers led by A. James Link have discovered a compound that can kill a large of drug-resistant bacteria, making it a promising candidate for development as an antibiotic. Image courtesy the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

A compound that kills bacteria that can cause incurable infections has implications for the drug-resistance crisis

A photoacoustic sensor could help clinicians diagnose tumors, organ malfunctions and more. Photo by Xiaoxiang Gao for the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego

A wearable skin patch that could help spot life-threatening conditions such as malignant tumors, organ dysfunctions and more