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From “Iron Fallout” to Hair Permanents

19 Jun 2024

For most people a car is just a vehicle that gets them from one place to another, and as far as cleanliness is concerned, occasionally driving through a car wash is good enough. But some...

Are Electric or Manual Toothbrushes Better?

7 Jun 2024

The first ever toothbrush design, used by ancient Babylonians and Egyptians, dates back to 3500 BC. The primitive toothbrush, known as a “chew stick”, was a thin twig with a frayed end. The modern...

The Chemistry of Inks: Old and New

7 Jun 2024

When we write the old-fashioned way, with ink on paper, we rarely think of the pen’s ingredients. For hundreds of years gall ink was used to produce documents such as Shakespeare’s will and the U.S...

The Canadian Connection to the American Greenback

4 Jun 2024

The green in American paper bills is chromium oxide, a refined version of chromite, a naturally occurring ore in the Earth’s crust. This ore is also the source of chromium metal which is produced...

Beware the Latrines; An Unexpected Source of Energy

31 May 2024

Although toilets may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Ancient Rome, they might have had an explosive nature back in the day that made users of the latrines take special...

Media Has an Expiration Date

31 May 2024

The tragedy occurred as I was rewatching the final season of Six Feet Under, arguably the best television series ever made....

The Truth About Truth Serum

3 May 2024

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette....

Why Measles Is So Contagious

19 Apr 2024

Even if he had been aware of what was happening inside the girl’s body, the man likely would not have been worried. She was, after all, sitting quite a long ways away....

Passover Stories Can Ignite Science

18 Apr 2024

 “Moses looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.” That passage from Exodus is one of the most famous ones in the entire Bible! After all, it was from that...

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