Some stories I’ve done over the years, either for my day job at U of T Engineering News or for freelance clients.
If you want more, check out the the blog section of my website.
How does the brain give rise to the mind?
Image: Katrin Bolotsova, via Pexels
From AI to optogenetics, new techniques and strategies are enabling researchers to learn from cognitive disorders and probe the roots of consciousness
[Reach Magazine, June 2024]
Graphene won’t crack under pressure
Teng Cui and his colleagues developed a new method to measure the ability of graphene to resist mechanical fatigue. (Photo: Daria Perevezentsev)
New research shows that not only is graphene ultra-thin and super-strong, it’s also able to withstand more than a billion cycles of high stress before it breaks.
[U of T News, January 28, 2020]
Big cats of southern Alberta
A reexamination of old fossils shows that Smilodon (sabre-toothed cats) roamed further north than previously thought — and that Eurasian cave lions came further south.
[Canadian Science Publishing, October 7, 2019]
Leading the ‘vinyl renaissance’
Rob Brown is chief operating officer of Viryl Technologies, one of only two companies in the world that make vinyl record pressing machines.
[U of T Engineering News, September 27, 2019]
Spray-on solar power
Protective polymers from researchers at the University of Saskatchewan could lower the cost of photovoltaics.
[Canadian Science Publishing, September 23, 2019]
Why don’t more Torontonians cycle to work?
A new study maps cycling stress levels and accessibility across the city.
[U of T Engineering News, September 10, 2019]
Out of thin air
A promising technique for converting atmospheric CO2 into commercially valuable products.
[U of T Engineering News, May 29, 2019]
Cleaning up the lithium-ion battery supply chain
Li-Cycle is a Toronto-area company that recovers critical materials from lithium-ion batteries
[U of T Engineering News, April 30, 2019]
How self-driving cars could shrink parking lots
Optimizing for autonomous vehicles could increase the capacity of a parking lot by up to 62 per cent
[U of T Engineering News, March 28, 2018]
Let them eat dirt
University of British Columbia microbiologist Brett Finlay suggests that bacteria have a role to play in keeping us healthy
[Innovation.ca, February 13, 2017]
A 150-year-old fossil mystery from the Canadian Arctic
A fossil recovered during the search for the lost Franklin Expedition is finally identified after a century and a half
[Canadian Science Publishing, January 10, 2017[
What if all the ice on earth melted?
I researched and wrote the script for this video starring Bill Nye, which has more than 6.5 million views on YouTube.
[AsapSCIENCE, September 7, 2016]
Designing against disaster
As offshore wind turbines proliferate, engineers are considering the possibility of collisions with ships.
[Hakai Magazine, June 11, 2015]
What if humans disappeared?
I researched and wrote the script for this video, which has more than 8.5 million views on YouTube.
[AsapSCIENCE, January 28, 2015]
How Toronto engineers built a human-powered helicopter
Todd Reichert and Cameron Robertson won the Sikorsky prize for designing and building the quadcopter Atlas
[Torontoist.com, July 16, 2013]
The Human Edge
I edited and wrote some of the display copy for this exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre
[Opened 2013]
Nature’s industrialists
This story won the inaugural Award of Journalism Excellence in Engineering from Engineers Canada
[Canadian Chemical News, December 2012 issue]
Final verdict
This story won the Herb Lampert Emerging Journalist Award from Science Writers & Communicators of Canada (formerly the Canadian Science Writers’ Association)
[Canadian Chemical News, July/August 2011 issue)535U of f