Media Releases
Below is a selection of recent press releases. For all the latest news please visit www.utoronto.ca/news
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Computers spot false faces better than people
TORONTO, ON — A joint study by researchers at the University of California San Diego and the University of Toronto has found that a computer system spots real or faked expressions of pain more accurately than people can. The work, titled “Automatic Decoding of Deceptive Pain Expressions,” is published in the latest issue of Current Biology. “The computer system managed to detect distinctive dynamic features of facial expressions that people missed,” said Marian Bartlett, research professor at UC San Diego’s…
Scientists open a new window into quantum physics with superconductivity in LEDs
TORONTO, ON - A team of University of Toronto physicists led by Alex Hayat has proposed a novel and efficient way to leverage the strange quantum physics phenomenon known as entanglement. The approach would involve combining light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with a superconductor to generate entangled photons and could open up a rich spectrum of new physics as well as devices for quantum technologies, including quantum computers and quantum communication. Entanglement occurs when particles become correlated in pairs to predictably interact…
U of T students to pilot gesture-controlled drones in robotics competition
TORONTO, ON -- In a showdown worthy of Star Wars, University of Toronto engineering students will fly quad-copter drones controlled only by gestures in a battle of piloting and programming prowess. Undergraduate students in The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering have written software programs that allow them to control quad-copter drones using only hand and arm gestures. The participants have trained for a year to perfect their piloting techniques. There will be two contests—a talent…
Access to global networks drives tech firms’ ability to thrive
TORONTO, ON – Technology firms who avoid transnational investments miss out on opportunities to share knowledge generated elsewhere and risk isolation and failure in the long run, says new research from economic geographers at the University of Toronto. The study shows that a firm increases its viability when it spreads investment among strategic locations around the world with clusters of similar or related industries, creating a global cluster network. “By neglecting to build knowledge pipelines to industry hotspots around the…
Rotman initiative for women in business renews sponsorship agreement with BMO Financial Group
TORONTO, ON – Executives in the GTA will find renewed inspiration in 2014 thanks to BMO Financial Group’s continued sponsorship of the Women in Leadership Speakers series at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. The one-year renewal of sponsorship will allow the Rotman Initiative for Women in Business to bring some of the world's top leaders and authors to its Toronto audience. "Last year we saw standing-room only audiences,” says Beatrix Dart, Associate Dean, Executive Degree Programs and…
U of T will defend its title at Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition
TORONTO, ON – University of Toronto will be defending its title for the upcoming Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) provincial competition! The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition is a University-wide competition for doctoral students, in which participants have three minutes or less to present their doctoral research to a panel of non-specialist judges. The challenge is to present complex research information in an engaging, accessible, and compelling way. The finalists then compete in the provincial 3MT® competition at McMaster University, Hamilton.…
Educated immigrants having difficulties accessing high-skill occupations
TORONTO, ON - Highly educated immigrants to Canada are facing more difficulties in accessing professional and management occupations than in the mid-1990s, say University of Toronto researchers. In a recent study published by the Journal of International Migration and Integration, sociologist Jeffrey G. Reitz and doctoral candidates Josh Curtis and Jennifer Elrick analyzed trends in the success of immigrants with university degrees in census data from 1996, 2001, and 2006. They discovered that although recent immigrants are much more likely…
Vienna Philharmonic to address Nazi past at sold out symposium
TORONTO, ON – It has been almost one year since Austrian researchers published the full extent of Nazi collaboration by one of that country’s leading cultural institutions, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. On March 17th, a century after the start of World War I and 75 years since World War II began, the historian and the leader of the Orchestra involved in documenting that history will discuss their findings for the first time in Canada. The evening, hosted by the Chumir Foundation…
New University of Toronto study reveals housing crisis for Toronto’s low-income families
TORONTO, ON – A University of Toronto study has found that low-income families in Toronto who reside in aging apartment buildings face a lack of adequate and affordable housing places, placing many residents at risk of homelessness. The researchers found that nine out of ten of these families live in housing that is overcrowded, precarious, unaffordable, or in poor condition. Families sacrifice groceries and transportation to pay rent; parents and children crowd into one-bedroom apartments; and infestations and disrepair are…
Back from Egypt: Filmmaker/activist John Greyson and Cecilia Greyson to speak at OISE
TORONTO, ON – The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto presents activist/filmmaker John Greyson and his sister Cecilia Greyson in an exclusive Toronto engagement: Arrested in Cairo: Reflections on Repression and Solidarity, a conversation and film screening on Friday, March 21, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. Canadian filmmaker and activist John Greyson, along with emergency room doctor Tarek Loubani, was arrested in Egypt in August 2013 while trying to access Gaza on a humanitarian mission. They…