How nanoparticles affect flow through porous stuff in surprising ways

06-Apr-2017 - Those who have mixed oil and vinegar may have unknowingly observed a strange fluid phenomenon called fingering instability. A type of this phenomenon, called viscous fingering (VF), occurs in porous media where fluids of differing viscosity converge in finger-shaped patterns as a result of ...

Nitrogen fertilizer remains in soils and leaks towards groundwater for decades

Long-term legacy of past fertilizer applications must be considered in reducing nitrate contamination of aquatic ecosystems

23-Oct-2013 - Nitrogen fertilizer applied to crops lingers in the soil and leaks out as nitrate for decades towards groundwater – "much longer than previously thought," scientists in France and at the University of Calgary say in a new study. Thirty years after synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizer had been ...

Getting a grip on CO2 capture: Canadian researchers 'see' how to capture CO2

02-Nov-2010 - The ability to keep CO2 out of the atmosphere to help prevent climate change is a global issue. The challenge is to use materials that can capture the CO2 and easily release it for permanent storage. Researchers at the University of Calgary and University of Ottawa have provided deeper insights ...

Chemist stitches up speedier chemical reactions

New details about the Piers catalyst will help chemical industry improve products

11-May-2010 - Some people have streets named after them. Warren Piers, a chemistry professor at the University of Calgary, has a catalyst penned after him. And in a paper published in the online edition of Nature Chemistry, Piers and former graduate student Edwin van der Eide reveal the inner workings of the ...

Physicists play Lego with photons

University of Calgary researchers use quantum entanglement to stack light particles

17-Feb-2010 - While many of us enjoyed constructing little houses out of toy bricks when we were kids, this task is much more difficult if bricks are elementary particles. It is even harder if these are particles of light – photons, which can only exist while flying at an incredible speed and vanish if they ...

U of C chemists discover recipe to design a better type of fuel cell

New formula helps increase the efficiency and decrease the cost

20-Oct-2009 - Fuel cells are often touted as one method to help decrease society's addiction to fossil fuels. But there is still a lot of work to be done before fuel cells will be ready for mass market to be used in transportation, home heating and portable power for emergencies. U of C chemists Jeff Hurd and ...

Gas storage hots up!

Chemists in Canada have synthesised an amine functionalised metal organic framework that shows a preference for CO2 adsorption

27-Aug-2009 - The impact of CO2 is a global issue and many scientists are looking into ways of CO2 mitigation. Materials that are capable of capturing and storing CO2 are therefore of great importance and metal organic frameworks (MOFs) already show great promise for such applications. George Shimizu and ...

New angle on gecko research

Scientists discover trigger that deploys geckos' amazing grip

06-Aug-2009 - Geckos are very adept at climbing through difficult terrain using an intricate adhesive system. Until now it has not been known when and how they switch on their unique system of traction. Scientists at the University of Calgary and Clemson University in South Carolina have discovered that the ...

'Seeing' the quantum world

Computer animation used to help explain mysteries of quantum physics

19-Dec-2008 - Quantum physics is both mysterious and difficult to grasp. Barry Sanders, director of the University of Calgary's Institute for Quantum Information Science, is hoping to change that. Sanders, who is also the iCORE Chair of Quantum Information Science, has produced a four-minute animated movie ...