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The robots came in all shapes and sizes to crawl, swim and fly at University of Toronto’s Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) and York University.

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council held its Canadian Field Robotics Network (NCFRN) field trials at U of T and York April 17–23. The event featured talks and presentations, workshops, networking events and opportunities for collaborative fieldwork and demonstrations.

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Two University of Toronto research projects have won $1 million each in funding from the Government of Canada through Genome Canada and the Ontario Genomics Institute.

The Genome Canada 2012 Bioinformatics and Computational Biology competition, a partnership with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, supports the development of the next generation of tools to deal with the large influx of data produced by today’s genomics technologies

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A technique called DNA barcoding could provide a quick and affordable way to help manage endangered species in Atlantic Canada fisheries, a University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) researcher has found.

“I think it would be quite useful,” said Megan McCusker, a postdoctoral fellow at UTSC. “On commercial fishing vessels there are people on board to identify the catch, but often they’re not able to identify every species of fish.”

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University of Toronto astronomer Marten van Kerkwijk is the recipient of a 2013 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship.

It's a distinction awarded each year to a select group of leaders in mid-career, on the basis of exceptional scholarship or creativity in the arts. The prestigious honour was designed to help academics and artists focus on individual projects.

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Call it the ultimate nature documentary. Scientists at the University of Toronto have recorded atomic motions in real time, offering a glimpse into the very essence of chemistry and biology at the atomic level.

Their recording is a direct observation of a transition state in which atoms undergo chemical transformation into new structures with new properties – in this case the transfer of a charge leading to metallic behaviour in organic molecules. It is described in a study reported in the April 18 issue of Nature.