This Lab 'Cooks' With AI to Make New Materials

At the University of Toronto, Ted Sargent runs a test kitchen of sorts. His team, composed of researchers and students, develops recipes, measures and mixes ingredients carefully, and then evaluates the aftermath. The concoctions mostly--if not always--turn out to be inedible. Fortunately, though, flavor is not the point. Their goal is to invent recipes to "upgrade" the greenhouse gas into useful materials, says Sargent, an electrical engineer.