Technology

Microsoft and Partners Unveil Windows Phone 7 Global Portfolio

*First phones available soon from leading mobile operators around the world.*

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 11, 2010 — Microsoft Corp. today joined its partners in revealing nine new Windows Phone 7 handsets that will be available this holiday season from leading mobile operators in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. With more than 60 mobile operators in over 30 countries worldwide committed to bringing Windows Phones to market, the millions of people around the world looking for a phone that plays as hard as it works will have a variety of phones from leading device-makers to choose from. (more…)

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U of T Researchers Explore Charcoal’s Potential to Reverse Climate Change

It’s black, it’s gritty, it’s essential for barbecues—and it just might save the world from global warming.

Biochar, a kind of charcoal that is rich in carbon, traps CO2 from the atmosphere and can store it in soils for hundreds to thousands of years, says Professor Nathan Basiliko, a soil scientist at U of T Mississauga’s Department of Geography. Now, Basiliko and colleagues in the Faculty of Forestry are poised to demonstrate that wood waste from Ontario’s forest industry could be used to produce energy and biochar, making the wood a truly carbon-negative biofuel. (more…)

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Up in Smoke: Quebec Prison Partial Smoking Ban is not Successful

The partial smoking ban in Quebec prisons is leading to a slew of new problems according to an investigative study involving the Université de Montréal. Their findings, part of a report conducted by the Institut National de Santé Publique, show that the courtyard-only policy for smoking has not led to quitting but rather to tension in the prison and cigarette-based economy. (more…)

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UMD and UMass Chemists Design Cloaked, Anti-Cancer Toxin to Kill Tumors from Within

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — A research team including University of Maryland chemistry and biochemistry Professor Lyle Isaacs and University of Massachusetts Amherst chemist Vincent Rotello has demonstrated that they can deliver a dormant toxin into a specific site such as a tumor for anti-cancer therapy, then chemically trigger the toxin to de-cloak and attack from within. It holds promise as a complex and sophisticated synthetic, therapeutic drug delivery system for living cells. (more…)

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