1990s

1990

Cool Crew... In response to the Gulf War, Defence researchers develop a water-cooled garment worn under chemical protective flight gear that allows Canadian Forces helicopter crews to fly missions twice as long as those of their British and American counterparts.

1990

A Magic Bus... Federal expertise helps a B.C. company create the world's first bus powered by hydrogen fuel cells, contributing to cleaner urban air and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

1990

Finessing Fingerprints... Fingerprint detection methods that include super-glue, a vacuum chamber, a fluorescent dye and an ultraviolet light give the RCMP and other police forces a potent weapon against crime.

1990

One Little Zooplankton... Instruments developed by Canadian fishery researchers collect the world's first extensive readings of zooplankton, minute organisms that are vital to the health and survival of Canadian and international marine ecosystems.

1991

Germ Warfare... The world's first comprehensive biological agent defence system, called MASIF, is deployed by a Defence research team in the Persian Gulf to detect biological agent attacks and to collect and analyze aerosol samples.

1992

Fog Catcher... A century-old dream is realized when water taps in the Chilean village of Chungungo, population 340, begin to flow with water culled from fog captured several kilometres away in the mountains at El Tofo. Using sophisticated instruments that determine the properties of fog, Environment Canada's Robert S. Schemenauer and his team design and build collectors that turn fog into potable water to be shipped by pipeline to arid regions. (Photo courtesy of Robert S. Schemenauer, Environment Canada)

1993

CBC in Cyberspace... Public radio is broadcast on the Web for the first time as CBC Radio, in an experiment with the Communications Research Centre, makes daily news, science and general interest programs available from CBC's Web server.

1994

As Young as Spring... Canadian scientists discover that the world is less than 11 billion years old, 5 billion years younger than previously believed.

1995

A Window on Earth... Canada's first Earth Observation satellite system, RADARSAT-1, is launched. Designed to provide images of the Earth's surface at any time of the day or night and in any climate condition, the satellite in 1997 provides the first high resolution satellite image ever taken of the South Pole, which contains 70% of the world's fresh water.

1996

Nice Catch!... On a NASA space shuttle mission in May, Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau retrieves the Spartan scientific satellite using the Canadarm. The world-renowned space robot is used again in 1998 to join the first two modules of the International Space Station, Zarya and Unity, with the help of a Canadian-developed Space Vision System, which allows astronauts to guide the Canadarm with pinpoint accuracy.

1996

A Petri Pine... Existing technology is adapted to clone superior trees by fast-tracking a single seed, started in a petri dish, into an unlimited number of seedlings ready for planting in months, rather than years.

1997

Cleaner Waste... Researchers patent a new technology for industrial use that neutralizes the contaminants in liquid effluents using a gas-fire burner containing free radicals and oxygen.

1997

Linking an Island... The Confederation Bridge connecting Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick is the first prominent Canadian structure to use fly-ash concrete, a by-product of burning coal. What used to end up in land fills is now used to manufacture high-performance concrete.

1998

A Two-Way Mirror... The CRC transmits the world's first two-way transcontinental HDTV demonstration - an open heart operation - from Ottawa to Japan using broadband terrestrial and satellite connections.

1998

Tree Rustlers Beware... A unique and innovative use of DNA "fingerprinting" is developed to assist RCMP forensic investigators collect evidence by matching stolen western red and yellow cedar trees to their stumps.

1998

Smoke Vision... Forest fires are detected, monitored and mapped with state-of-the-art technology that uses data from satellites that are able to visually penetrate dense smoke. Available to the public on the Web, the information allows researchers to predict the behaviour of each active fire.

1998

Canarie Zings... First light shines on the initial segment of CA*net3, Canada's national optical R&D Internet built in partnership with the federal government, CANARIE and a Bell Canada consortium. A generation ahead of its competitors, the network is designed to reach speeds of 40 gigabits per second, allowing a two-hour movie to be downloaded in less than half a second.

1998

Trumping Trichinellosis... A novel test to detect trichinellosis, a disease transmitted to humans from animals through infected meat, opens the Eastern Europe market for fresh Canadian pork. Canadian Food Inspection Agency researchers also use the test to detect infected walrus meat in the North.

1999

Mechanical Hearts... With federal research funding, a team led by world renowned heart surgeon Dr. Wilbert Keon conducts final tests of the world's first mechanical heart in preparation for human application. The device is small enough to fit into an average adult's chest cavity and requires no wires above the skin.

1999

Meningitis Vaccines... With the use of a conjugate vaccine developed by a Canadian research team led by NRC's Dr. Harold Jennings, Britain is the first country to immunize children and adults against meningococcal group C infection. Based on the technology, 13 patents in the U.S. are also issued for other vaccines, including the first synthetic vaccine against group B meningococcal infection.

1999

Raccoon Rabies... Canadian scientists control the spread of a new strain of rabies when Canadian molecular techniques help them identify a new virus that had infected a dead raccoon brought to their lab only hours earlier.

1999

Digitizing the David... Canadian experts participate in the "Digital Michelango Project" applying their world-leading 3-D imaging technology to capture very fine details on 7 of the Italian master's statues. Development of 3-D imaging has led to applications in fields such as industrial automation, human body measurement and heritage documentation.

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