/oss/articles/rss en /oss/article/health-and-nutrition-history-did-you-know/peanut-butters-history-goes-back-incas <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/article561786.html">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>Slap a tariff on peanuts!</p> <p>That was the decision arrived at by the U.S. Congress in 1921 after hearing testimony about how American peanut farmers were being undercut by imported peanuts from China. The witness was George Washington Carver, who also expounded on all the uses to which peanuts could be put.</p> Fri, 20 Dec 2024 21:04:02 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10209 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition/why-its-been-so-difficult-address-inflammations-role-heart-disease <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/article618459.html">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Fri, 20 Dec 2024 18:45:57 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 10208 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition-reviews/christmas-desserts-will-make-you-live-longer-says-satirical-study <p>Here is your permission to indulge in delicious Christmas treats this holiday season: a study shows—nay, <i>proves!</i>—that yuletide desserts often use ingredients that have been scientifically demonstrated to lower your risk of disease and death. You will still die, as we all do eventually, but not quite as early if you devour a Christmas log.</p> <p>Before you start baking, though, I need to point out that this study should be taken with a grain of salt, as it was written with tongue firmly planted in cheek.</p> Fri, 20 Dec 2024 18:21:18 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10207 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-environment-did-you-know/good-old-dihydrogen-monoxide <p>You have probably heard about people who have actually signed a petition to ban dihydrogen monoxide. The petition states that this chemical is found in cancerous tissue, accelerates corrosion, can cause suffocation, can result in blistering burns in its gaseous form, contributes to global warming, and for those who have developed a dependency on it, complete withdrawal means almost certain death. Usually, the aim of circulating this petition is to demonstrate scientific illiteracy by drawing attention to people not recognizing that dihydrogen monoxide is just the chemical term for water.</p> Wed, 18 Dec 2024 17:50:36 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10205 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know-general-science/smelly-truth-about-fragrances <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/article561182.html">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>Can a “fragrance-free” product have a smell? Absolutely. Can an “unscented” product contain any ingredients that have a smell? Yes. It’s all a matter of semantics, although there are no universally recognized definitions here.</p> Fri, 13 Dec 2024 19:38:53 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10198 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/telepathy-tapes-prove-we-all-want-believe <p><i>The Telepathy Tapes </i>is <a href="https://thetelepathytapes.com/">a seven-hour podcast series</a> that takes listeners on an incredible journey. Here is a summary of the show. A journalist taps into a community of parents of nonverbal autistic children and discovers that we all live in a simulation and the real world is Heaven, and these neurodivergent kids are actually gifted and they can visit Heaven at night, download infinite knowledge, and use telepathy to communicate.</p> Fri, 13 Dec 2024 15:56:21 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10197 at /oss /oss/article/student-contributors-health-and-nutrition-environment/date-food-label-dates <p>I do my best to engage in conscious shopping practices. By shopping for fewer items and going for second-hand, I reduce waste, save money, and engage more with local businesses. A motivation for these shopping habits is reducing food waste, especially considering that according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations the food that wasted globally could feed 1.26 billion people each year.</p> Fri, 13 Dec 2024 13:46:44 +0000 Paige Boklaschuk BSc 10196 at /oss /oss/article/history-did-you-know-general-science/it-all-comes-out-wash <p>Unless you are in the habit of reading the ingredients list on your laundry detergent, you are not likely to be familiar with sodium carbonate. Yet this industrial chemical of great importance has a fascinating history. So important that in 1775 the French Academy of Sciences offered a prize to anyone who could develop an efficient process for producing this substance, commonly known as “soda.” </p> Wed, 11 Dec 2024 22:11:46 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10195 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition/are-black-plastic-spatulas-and-serving-spoons-safe-use <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-are-black-plastic-spatulas-and-serving-spoons-safe-to-use">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>There is probably no quote more often cited in discussions of toxicity than that of 16th-century Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus, namely that “only the dose makes the poison.”</p> Fri, 06 Dec 2024 18:28:36 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10192 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-technology/dental-x-rays-may-be-overused-they-are-safe <p>X-rays of our teeth are routinely prescribed by dentists, but you know what else follows a certain periodicity? Media coverage of the alleged danger and overuse of these dental radiographs.</p> Fri, 06 Dec 2024 18:22:15 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10191 at /oss