Research profiles

Hydrogen has many potential uses, from powering nonpolluting vehicles, to heating homes, offices and fuelling aircrafts. Hydrogen is highly efficient, and can be produced safely from a variety of diverse, renewable resources. But real challenges exist before hydrogen will become a common fuel source. These challenges include developing reliable storage systems and an efficient method of transporting hydrogen. The Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières is home to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Hydrogen Canada Strategic Research Network, and one of Canada’s foremost researchers in the area of hydrogen storage. This network is developing cleaner methods to produce high quality hydrogen from renewable resources and more practical hydrogen storage solutions.

The Canadian population is aging. This demographic shift is creating greater demand for certain kinds of services and products to help aging Canadians live safely, a demand that will only continue to grow. A researcher at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design is creating an Empathy Suit that, when worn, physically simulates the physiological changes associated with aging. This suit will provide a wealth of incredibly valuable information in designing new products and services for seniors.

A Canadian-built meteorological station, part of the Phoenix Mars Lander, has provided space explorers with the first comprehensive picture of the Martian climate and proof that snow has existed on Mars! The research team, led by York University, designed and built the meteorological station, which arrived on Mars in May 2008. Phoenix continued to operate successfully for five months, gathering thousands of photographs and using its robotic arm to dig samples of the Martian soil for on-board analysis.

Researchers at McGill University’s Montreal Neurological Institute have improved our understanding of how the human brain is mapped. Experiments by this team over the last several decades have demonstrated that individuals can learn new skills without keeping any memory of having done so, and also that people have multiple memory systems which govern our activities. These findings have guided the creation of various pre-surgical evaluation procedures and the manner in which neurosurgeons fix problems without causing patients to lose function in other areas.

Oceans cover approximately 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, and yet our knowledge of this vitally important environment remains limited. In response, Canadian scientists have deployed a state-of-the-art undersea observatory to collect data on the least understood ecosystem on the planet. The NEPTUNE Canada project, based at the University of Victoria, is the world’s first cabled undersea laboratory and will measure the changing biological, chemical and physical properties of the sea floor. Scientists will also be able to better understand the driving forces behind earthquakes, volcanoes and continental movements.