Soundwaves settle debate about elusive quantum particle

As far as research subjects go, it's not always easy to find common ground with a single-celled bacterium. Yet the more Paul Wiggins studies his model bacteria, Acinetobacter baylyi, the more he sees surprising commonalities between their behavior and our own as humans.

Researchers at University of Toronto's Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry have made a key discovery about how certain bacterial strains produce a set of economically valuable chemicals—opening the door to new, more sustainable production methods. The finding, published in Nature Microbiology, shows how a family of molecules used in everything from cleaning products to cosmetics to nutritional supplements could be made via bacterial fermentation instead of from palm oil, as th

Natural resources—such as fossil fuels, water, and minerals—are materials found in the environment that are essential for life and highly utilized in production. Though these resources are viewed as essential to economic development and wealth, many resource-rich countries have paradoxically struggled with limited economic growth and unstable political institutions. This phenomenon, known as the "resource curse," challenges the notion that resource abundance automatically translates into economi

Too much stress can make even a rock crack. But before rocks reach their breaking point, they "sigh" a chemical warning by releasing nuclides, a type of atom defined by the number of neutrons as well as protons in the nucleus. Scientists have studied these naturally occurring geochemical emissions for more than half a century, but struggled to link nuclide release to the timing of rock breakage. Now, an international team of scientists from universities in China (led by Xin Luo at Hong Kong Univ