David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science

A first-year Waterloo student has developed a program that tracks the real-time speed of every streetcar line in Toronto. Called the TTCLeaderboard, the app is set up like keeping score of a race, ranking the lines from fastest to slowest.

Evolutionary biologists have long known that DNA, the molecule that carries the genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of all organisms, contains a record of ancestry.

But could genomes also bear an imprint of the environments in which organisms evolved? According to a recent bioinformatics study, the answer, at least for some life forms and for some extreme environments, is an unexpected yes.

As Canada experiences record snowfall, new research from the Cheriton School of Computer Science suggests that tiny amounts of industrial pollution trapped in snow can change how sunlight reaches the ground below and significantly alter fragile environments.  

The culprit is black carbon, a sooty form of pollution produced when fossil fuels burn incompletely. It can come from vehicle exhaust, industrial emissions and other combustion sources. While black carbon is already known to contribute to warming, the Waterloo research highlights another, less visible effect: how it alters the “light environment” under snow in ways that affect plant growth.