The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) has released a short list of six proposals for its Discovery Frontiers competition. The fund provides $1 million annually over four years to successful applicants. Projects submitting full proposals are: New Materials for Clean Energy and Enhanced Energy Efficiency from Heavy Oil and Oil Sands Reservoirs (Univ of Calgary); Nickel Catalysts for Electrochemical Clean Energy (Queen's Univ); Frontiers of Solar Energy Conversion (McMaster Univ); Point-of-Use Green Solar Battery for All (Univ of Montreal); Bio-Inspired Solar Energy (Univ of Toronto); and, An Emerging New Era of Thermionics and Thermoelectrics (Univ of British Columbia). Applicants receive up to $10,000 to help prepare their applications....