Research Stories

BMW of telescopes gets into action The European Space Agency launched an instrument called the Planck telescope into outer space from the Guiana Space Centre in May 2010. Planck was an international effort that also involved NASA, the Canadian Space

Scientific American has identified room-temperature superconductivity as one of the 12 Events That Will Change Everything. In the magazine's June 2010 issue, this potentially revolutionary scientific advance takes its place as an event alongside 1

Geneticist and member of CIFAR's

Sometimes quietly and sometimes as in a violent crash, many of us collide with a profound awakening that will inextricably change our lives forever. In a recent Chatelaine magazine feature, Women We Love, this is how they described the way in wh

Life changes such as aging and declining health are a threat to any individual’s sense of self and well-being. This kind of threat becomes more and more pressing as baby-boomers approach the age of retirement. That is why geriatric health care prov

Why are some societies more successful than others? What are the mechanisms that promote individual and collective well-being? This volume, written by members of CIFAR’s

Anyone who has ever donned a white lab coat will tell you that accurate and reproducible measurements are the cornerstone of any big scientific breakthrough. This poses a great challenge to researchers who work to solve mysteries at the tiniest of s

Some of the tiniest organisms in the world’s oceans may also be the most resilient. One of these – a green alga called Micromonas – thrives in oceans around the world, indicating that it is well equipped to tolerate environmental change.

Geophysicist Mark Jellinek, a member of CIFAR’s

Although they measure a mere 50 nanometres across, gates that control the currents running through our computers are able to direct the transfer of millions of kilobytes of data per second. “But imagine how fast this transfer would be if we could c

The nature/nurture dilemma has long framed debates about the relative importance of genes and environment on human development. For Clyde Hertzman, a member of the

Working at the forefront of neuroscience, psychology, education and computer science, CIFAR