Global Hydrologists

Pure water plays a pivotal role in almost every life science experiment, diagnostic test or chemical reaction. It’s so important, there’s even a  high impact journal  dedicated to reporting on new water-based research and purification methods. Sadly, lab water still rarely gets the attention it deserves.   The Ultimate Dissolution Solution Without pure water, very few experiments, tests or reactions would be possible. Thanks to its favorable chemical and physical properties, water is often considered the ‘universal solvent’ as it dissolves more substances than any other liquid. Perhaps even more importantly, many biochemical reactions will only take place within aqueous solutions. Ultra-Sensitive Analytics Some of the most interesting science being carried out at the moment pushes the boundaries of analytical sensitivity. Techniques such as inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) and ICP atomic emission spect...

  Oil-adsorbing sponge The words “oil spill” call to mind images of a large slick, perhaps floating on water. But many spills aren’t like that — the oil instead takes the form of microscopic droplets suspended in wastewater. Cleanup techniques such as booms or skimmers don’t work on these types of spills. A collaboration between professors   CHUL PARK  and  AMY BILTON   has produced a possible solution. Led by former graduate student Pavani Cherukupally, the team developed  a sponge that can remove tiny oil droplets from wastewater  with more than 90% efficiency, in just 10 minutes. Partnering for next-generation water treatments In developed countries, people expect clean, safe drinking water whenever they turn on their taps, but civil engineering professors  BOB ANDREWS ,   SUSAN ANDREWS   and  RON HOFMANN   know that this cannot be taken for granted. As members of UofT Engineering’s  Drinking Water Research Group (DWRG)...

  The web is facing a deluge of AI-generated content, with an explosive 8,362% surge from November 2022 to March 2024, according to  a study by Copyleaks . From Q1 2023 to Q1 2024, the volume of AI-detected content jumped 2,848% based on an analysis of more than a million web pages per period using data from common web crawls. The rise of reasoning AI Simultaneously, AI tools are becoming more capable for academic tasks. OpenAI’s new “reasoning” model, o1, is a prime example. Designed to tackle complex problems in science and math, o1 has demonstrated remarkable STEM capabilities. In tests, it placed among the top 500 students in the U.S. Math Olympiad qualifier and demonstrated Ph.D.-level accuracy in physics, biology, and chemistry questions. This development echoes Google Deepmind’s announcement in July that its AI achieved a silver-medal standard in the Math Olympiad. Yamin sees this as a step in the right direction. GenAI is a double-edged sword in scientific publish...