Front cover of Autumn 2023 issue of University of Toronto Magazine, featuring the back half of an electric car, with its charging cable plugged into a large Earth globe and the words

Autumn 2023

PDF Edition

Electric cars are coming. As U of T experts warn in this issue’s cover story, though, to achieve a truly low-carbon future we can’t place all our bets on electrification. Elsewhere in this issue, we look at research into new kinds of treatments for addiction, and visit a U of T technology lab that is working with actors, writers and directors to generate new experiences for theatre audiences.

Featured Posts

David Rokeby in glasses and a black T-shirt, standing in front of a screen, with multiple colours in various patterns projected on the screen

The Theatre of Tomorrow

A U of T lab is working with actors, writers and directors on how they could harness AI and other emerging technologies to generate new ideas and – just maybe – reinvent theatre

Black and white photo of astronomers Clarence Chant and Reynold Young kneeling and sitting, respectively, on the ground. Young is looking through the eyepiece of a long cylindrical-shaped camera positioned perpendicular to the ground and attached to a square tube covered with a cloth-like material. Chant is holding a black rectangular board underneath the tube.

The Einstein Camera

A century ago, a U of T astronomer led a small group of Canadians on a daring expedition to remote Australia. Their mission? To prove the Theory of General Relativity

In This Issue

First-year student Reva Birla, in a black shirt, mauve hoodie and ripped blue jeans, is sitting on the side of her bed next to a large, black suitcase and looking out the window of her dorm room.

Living in Harmony

For Reva Birla, a cozy new home. For U of T Scarborough, a student residence that meets one of the most energy-efficient design standards in the world

Building engineer Gurtaj Bajwa is writing on a small notepad in a room with large white pipes running parallel to the walls and ceilings, housing the geothermal system at U of T Scarborough's Instruction Centre

Clean Machine

Geothermal systems like this one will help U of T Mississauga meet its goal of becoming carbon neutral by mid-century

A bald man in a white lab coat stands mid frame. He's talking to someone next to him, but we can only see his purple lab gloves. To their left is a large blue container and a glass covering. There are three large oval shaped openings with black edges that allow researchers to get inside the container, presumably to do experiments

Accelerating Progress

A global consortium based at U of T has received the largest ever Canadian research grant, worth $200 million

Coloured graphite drawing of a woman asleep in bed under a green and yellow leaf-patterned blanket, next to a blue alarm clock and a blue-shaded lamp.

Improving Your Shuteye

Anthropologist and sleep expert David Samson offers five useful ideas for getting a better night’s rest

Professor Thy Phu, with thick blue-framed glasses and the front strands of her black hair dyed in red, stands with one hand on her hips and the other resting against a tall grey wooden fence. Behind and above her is a tree branch laden with leaves and white flowers.

Unseen Stories

The American perspective dominates our understanding of the Vietnam War. In her new book, Professor Thy Phu offers a glimpse from the other side

Fourteen brass spherical resonators of increasing size from top to bottom, attached to the right side of a steel frame, which is attached to a rotating mirror on the left side. Rubber hoses are connected to several of the spheres.

Ode to Ingenuity

U of T’s collection of scientific artifacts shows how researchers pursued discovery – and sometimes made history

U of T Mississauga professor Akwasi Owusu-Bempah in a blue T-shirt and ripped jeans, sitting on a concrete boulder, behind which is a paved footpath with a short concrete wall and a grassy hill with trees on the other side

The High Road to Justice

Now that cannabis is legal, Canada owes a debt to the communities that paid a steep price during the war on drugs

Artist rendering of a collaboration space in the Sam Ibrahim Building, with wooden tables joined together in a zigzag shape, and a screen hanging from the ceiling.

Scarborough Strong

A $25-million gift will establish a new centre for entrepreneurship at U of T Scarborough

Outdoor photo of Cody Caetano in a white T-shirt under an off-white short-sleeved button-up shirt, revealing tattoos along his forearms. He is seated on a wooden bench with a flower bed.

Healing with Humour

Cody Caetano has written a painfully honest – and sometimes hilarious – memoir of growing up in a wayward family