/oss/taxonomy/term/2852/all en /oss/article/technology-history-did-you-know/beginnings-chemical-synthesis <p>Chemistry can be roughly divided into two branches, analysis and synthesis. Chemists either try to identify existing substances or make new ones. By the early 19th century, a number of substances had been isolated from plants, with morphine from the poppy, quinine from cinchona bark, and coumarin from tonka beans being examples. However, given that these substances were derived from living species, they were believed to be endowed with a “life force” that could not be duplicated in the lab, and that such “organic” substances could not be synthesized.</p> Tue, 22 Oct 2024 16:52:42 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10124 at /oss /oss/article/technology-general-science/oh-bathtub-ring <p>In 1933 Calgon Incorporated of Pittsburgh introduced its flagship product, appropriately named “Calgon.” The name was derived from the phrase “calcium gone,” which was an accurate description of what the product was designed to do, namely soften water. Hard water has a high content of dissolved minerals, mostly salts of calcium and magnesium. Various problems ensue when the concentration of these is greater than about 120 mg per liter. Unlike the sodium salts of fatty acids that are the basis of soaps, their calcium and magnesium salts are insoluble, resulting in the classic bath tub ring.</p> Wed, 16 Oct 2024 19:49:35 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10115 at /oss /oss/article/technology-general-science/tiny-micrornas-win-big-nobel-prize <p>It may surprise you but when microRNAs were discovered, the scientific community shrugged. “So what?” it seemed to say. Here we are, in 2024, and this discovery has resulted in two of its leading figures, Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun, receiving the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.</p> <p>How can something be so important to win the top award in science yet appear to be so trivial as to earn a collective “meh?”</p> <p>The reason is that we are an egocentric species. We don’t much care about worms.</p> Fri, 11 Oct 2024 04:50:40 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10109 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition-technology/genetic-engineering-has-been-applied-cheese-making-no-reason-be-cheesed <p>Cheese producers were cheesed off.  People were just not eating enough veal.  Slaughterhouses were running short of calf stomachs and the cheese industry was feeling the pinch.  There was not enough rennet to meet the demands of turophiles (that's "cheese lovers" from the Greek “turo” for cheese) around the world.</p> Tue, 24 Sep 2024 16:33:42 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10093 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-technology/can-you-trust-dr-wikipedia <p>Do you know who invented the electric toaster? If you answered Alan MacMasters, a young Scotsman with high cheekbones and quite a head of hair, you’ve been lied to by Wikipedia.</p> Fri, 06 Sep 2024 14:15:01 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10060 at /oss /oss/article/technology/say-cheese <p>Cheese producers were cheesed off. People were just not eating enough veal. Slaughterhouses were running short of calf stomachs and the cheese industry was feeling the pinch. There was not enough rennet to meet the demands of turophiles (that's "cheese lovers" from the Greek “turo” for cheese) around the world.</p> Tue, 16 Jul 2024 16:48:57 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10003 at /oss /oss/article/technology-history-general-science/media-has-expiration-date <p>The tragedy occurred as I was rewatching the final season of <i>Six Feet Under</i>, arguably the best television series ever made.</p> <p>Each episode begins with a death, sometimes comical, sometimes deeply affecting. In this case, the entire episode died. The image started to freeze, displaying rectangular blocks of colour. The audio soon followed. The episode lived up to its name, “The Silence.”</p> Fri, 31 May 2024 16:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9965 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-technology/reports-death-dental-cavities-are-greatly-exaggerated <p>If I asked you to name the most common chronic disease in children, what would you say?</p> Fri, 17 May 2024 16:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9949 at /oss /oss/article/technology-history-general-science/truth-about-truth-serum <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-the-truth-about-truth-serum">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>The plot of the 1961 action film The Guns of Navarone revolves around a Second World War British commando raid on the island of Navarone in the Aegean Sea to destroy two giant radar-controlled guns the Germans had installed to target Allied ships.</p> Fri, 03 May 2024 17:06:15 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9937 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-technology-environment-climate-change/folly-water-fuelled-vehicles <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-the-folly-of-water-fuelled-vehicles">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Fri, 26 Apr 2024 16:00:00 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9930 at /oss /oss/article/medical-technology/springtime-montreal-means-scent-asphalt-air <p>So, what is asphalt and where does it come from? The source is petroleum, that dark viscous liquid found deep within the Earth, the product of once living organisms subjected to millennia of intense pressure and heat. It is not an understatement to say that petroleum is vital to modern life. It is of course used to produce the fuel that our cars, trucks, buses, ships and airplanes run on, but petroleum also furnishes the raw materials used to make our plastics, synthetic fibres, medications, agrochemicals and personal care products.</p> Wed, 24 Apr 2024 10:00:00 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9923 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-technology/how-spot-ai-fakes-now <p>In a recent <a href="https://variety.com/vip/sora-ai-video-confusion-human-test-survey-1235933647/">test</a>, a little over a thousand American adults were shown eight videos, and they had to choose if the video was real or if it had been completely generated by an artificial intelligence (AI). Half of the videos were real; the other half, AI generated. The results show that, on average, people couldn’t tell. As a group, they were split fifty-fifty on almost all of them.</p> Thu, 14 Mar 2024 21:24:08 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9871 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-technology/repronizer-merits-reproach <p>We have become accustomed to seeing a lot of gobbledygook online. But the jargon that purports to explain the workings of the “Repronizer” elevates bunk to new heights. What is the Repronizer? A device to “bioprogram hair.” Not a hair dryer, the profusion of ads proclaim, although it sure looks like one. But if you are going to pay about $1200 for a gizmo, you do expect it to do more than dry hair. And Lumielina, the Japanese manufacturer, claims it does. Not only does it not damage hair like a hair dryer, it improves the quality of hair with each use!</p> Wed, 28 Feb 2024 16:57:46 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9847 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-technology/will-right-boots-stop-you-slipping-ice <p>Have you ever slipped on ice and fallen on your derrière? At best, it is unpleasant; at worst, it can send you to the hospital with a broken bone (or even kill you). Icy sidewalks and parking lots are a hazard with which those of us living far from the equator must deal, and one would hope that winter boots would offer protection. Shopping for a new pair, you will see convincing names for outsole technology. You would be forgiven for thinking that science has delivered a modern winter boot that digs into the ice and never lets you down.</p> <p>You would be mistaken.</p> Fri, 15 Dec 2023 13:23:27 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9759 at /oss /oss/article/contributors-technology-environment/dry-water-lets-whet-your-appetite-some-science <p>The poem, “My country”, by Dorothea MacKellar, is recited by every preschooler in Australia. One line is of particular relevance: </p> <p style="text-align:center"><em>“A land of droughts and flooding rains”. </em></p> Fri, 01 Dec 2023 19:00:10 +0000 Ben Selinger FRACI, CChem 9747 at /oss