Imagine patterning and visualizing silicon at the atomic level, something which, if done successfully, will revolutionize the quantum and classical computing industry. A team of scientists in Edmonton, Canada has done just that, led by a world-renowned physicist and his up-and-coming protégé. University of Alberta PhD student Taleana Huff teamed up with her supervisor Robert…
Democratizing The Space Race With Nanosatellite Technology
Smaller, faster, cheaper — miniaturised space technology opens the door to future University-based space exploration. Researchers with the University of Alberta’s AlbertaSat team present the miniature fluxgate magnetometer, destined to go where no such magnetometer has gone before atop the Ex-Alta 1 CubeSat set for launch in spring 2017. Designed and built by faculty and…
Satellites Help Scientists See Forests for the Trees and Climate Change
Scientists have found a way to use satellites to track photosynthesis in evergreens—a discovery that could improve our ability to assess the health of northern forests amid climate change. An international team of researchers used satellite sensor data to identify slight colour shifts in evergreen trees that show seasonal cycles of photosynthesis—the process in which…
Flywheel Technology Could Create New Savings for Light Rail Transit
University of Alberta mechanical engineering professors Pierre Mertiny and Marc Secanell are looking to make an old technology new again and save some money for transit train operators such as the Edmonton LRT while they do it. “The flywheel is an old technology, but that’s partly what makes it so sensible,” says Mertiny. “Fundamentally, it’s…
The Hot Problem of Black Hole Firewalls
For the last four years, physicists studying the mathematical underpinnings of black holes have been wrestling with a strange idea: that black holes contain a region known as a “firewall,” which utterly annihilates matter that dares to cross its boundaries. However, a new paper titled Naked Black Hole Firewalls, co-authored by University of Alberta physics…
Simulating The Jet Streams And Anticyclones of Jupiter And Saturn
A University of Alberta researcher has successfully generated 3D simulations of deep jet streams and storms on Jupiter and Saturn, helping to satiate our eternal quest for knowledge of planetary dynamics. The results facilitate a deeper understanding of planetary weather and provide clues to the dynamics of Earth’s weather patterns evidenced in jet streams and…
Electrical Engineers Take Major Step Toward Photonic Circuits
Team invents non-metallic metamaterial that enables them to ‘compress’ and contain light Edmonton—The invention of fiber optics revolutionized the way we share information, allowing us to transmit data at volumes and speeds we’d only previously dreamed of. Now, electrical engineering researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada are breaking another barrier, designing…
The New Atomic Age: Building Smaller, Greener Electronics
UAlberta research team developing atom-scale, ultra-low-power computing devices to replace transistor circuits. (Edmonton) In the drive to get small, Robert Wolkow and his lab at the University of Alberta are taking giant steps forward. The digital age has resulted in a succession of smaller, cleaner and less power-hungry technologies since the days the personal computer…