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www.affinity.utoronto.caYOURPrograms and services that support YOUR University of Toronto- Home and Auto Insurance- Life Insurance- U of T MasterCard ®- U of T Travel Program- Investment ServicesThis year over 64,000 alumnisupported the University ofToronto through their use ofU of T Affinity Services.Great products and servicesavailable exclusively forU of T alumni.Your PrivacyThe University of Toronto respects your privacy. From time to time we contact the alumni community to provide details aboutour affinity programs. We utilize a third party mailing or telephone service to ensure that all personal data is kept confidential.We do not rent, trade or sell our mailing lists. If you prefer not to receive information regarding the university's affinityprograms, you can call 1-800-463-6048 or contact us at 21 King's College Circle, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3J3 - attn alumni records- with a note indicating "no affinity mailings". Or simply send an email to address.update@utoronto.ca indicating "no affinitymailing" in the subject line. Please be sure to include you name and address so that we can properly process your request.www.affinity.utoronto.ca
LeadingEdgeThe Lives of OttersHigh levels of mercury and lead in fish may not be good for them – or usOtters are well known for their playful nature, but new researchsuggests the amphibious mammals may bear grim news aboutwidespread pollution. U of T surgery and physiology professorCarin Wittnich and Michael Belanger, a staff member in the departmentof surgery and president of the Oceanographic EnvironmentalResearch Society, are investigating the level of toxic pollutants in otters– after earlier studies showed alarming levels of mercury and lead in fishpopulations. Otters, which survive on a diet of fish, may provideimportant clues about the spread of these pollutants, and how theymight affect humans. “Our data has shown that, instead of getting better,the levels of heavy metals and other contaminants are actually goingup,” says Wittnich. “There’s obviously cause for concern.” The lastmajor study of this type was done in 1979. – Graham F. ScottMagic TouchA computer you can really grab on toA Fad WorthRevisitingWhen Apple introduced theiPhone last year, the product’snew touch-screen technologywas heralded as a major innovation.Unlike other hand-held devices,the iPhone has no tiny keys to type ormeddlesome screens to scroll through.Users simply tap, pinch or swipe a fingeron the phone’s touch-sensitive screen.To Daniel Wigdor, a PhD studentinvolved in the computer science department’sDynamics Graphics Project,however, the iPhone’s technology isn’t allthat new. Wigdor and others have beenresearching touch-screen computer interfacesfor years. Now, he and his collaboratorshave helped develop a semitransparent,two-sided device that allowsusers to type on a virtual keyboard withall 10 fingers instead of just one, cropand resize photos and perform othertasks. Because the unit is partially transparent,it avoids what Wigdor calls the“fat-finger problem,” which affects touchscreengadgets such as the iPhone. Inthese devices, the on-screen item beingtouched disappears behind the user’s finger.Wigdor’s unit allows users to viewtheir fingers in shadow, as if seeing themthrough an opaque screen. Small dots,called touch cursors, hover over the fingersto indicate the point on the screenthat the user is about to select.Wigdor and his collaborators atMitsubishi Electric Research Labs andMicrosoft Research have created a usableprototype, but the technology – whichthey dubbed LucidTouch – is not yetready for public consumption. Thedevice relies on an attached webcam torelay images from the other side, andWigdor hopes to fix this problem byembedding sensors in the unit. He’s notsure when the invention will becomewidely available. “The question iswhether there’s a company interested inbringing it to market,” he says.– Tim JohnsonAdding Salba, a variant of the grainthat sprouts from the popularChia Pet, to a healthy diet mayreduce the risk of heart disease in peoplewith Type 2 diabetes. A new long-termstudy by Vladimir Vuksan, a professor inthe department of medicine and nutritionalsciences, has shown that Salba canlower elevated blood pressure andreduce blood-clot formation in peoplewith well-controlled Type 2 diabetes.Growing scientific evidence suggests thatwhole grains such as Salba, a rich sourceof dietary fibre and omega-3 fatty acids,helps prevent diabetes and heart disease.WWW.MAGAZINE.UTORONTO.CA 13PHOTOGRAPHY: CHIA PET® IMAGE USED COURTESY JOSEPH ENTERPRISES, INC.
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