/oss/taxonomy/term/2173/all 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/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/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/health-and-nutrition-contributors-did-you-know/story-sushi <p>What is more romantic than an evening of sushi for two? Although this traditional Japanese dish has only become popular in the West relatively recently, the history of this culinary art with its unique zests and colourful presentation dates back to around 700 AD. It all started with a way to preserve fish! Raw, cleaned and salted fish was placed on a layer of hand-pressed rice that was allowed to ferment, meaning that naturally occurring microbes in the rice proceeded to convert some of the carbohydrates in the rice into lactic acid, an effective preservative.</p> Fri, 06 Dec 2024 05:51:01 +0000 Melody Ko MD 10190 at /oss /oss/article/medical-history-did-you-know/murder-most-foul <p>One of my favorite detective stories is Agatha Christie's "The Crooked House." The plot revolves around an elderly tycoon who requires daily insulin shots. He also suffers from glaucoma for which he has been prescribed eyedrops. Everything is fine until someone in the "Crooked House" switches the eyedrops with the insulin. Murder most foul!</p> Thu, 05 Dec 2024 18:25:23 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10189 at /oss /oss/article/student-contributors-did-you-know-general-science/turns-out-you-cant-let-cold <p>I’m sure you have been told or have even been the one to tell someone to “close the door” because they were “letting the cold in”. While efforts to keep the house warm are noble, the advice is not supported by science. Cold cannot be let in because it doesn’t exist! Well, sort of.</p> Fri, 29 Nov 2024 15:20:43 +0000 Angelina Lapalme 10182 at /oss /oss/article/medical-health-and-nutrition-did-you-know/acne-and-diet-ambiguous-association <p>You have probably heard that drinking milk and eating chocolate causes acne or, at the very least, that they make it worse. Diet is often blamed for a teenager’s pimply skin, but is there good evidence behind this accusation?</p> Fri, 22 Nov 2024 22:14:36 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10174 at /oss /oss/article/medical-history-did-you-know/bite-science-venoms <p>You are likely aware of the large number of drugs that have been developed from chemicals found in plants, including aspirin from willow bark, atropine from deadly nightshade, and both morphine and codeine from the opium poppy. Indeed, more than a hundred-twenty, or over one-quarter of all drugs that currently exist, are derived from plants, although many of these have been chemically modified from their original form so as to improve potency and/or reduce unwanted side effects.</p> Fri, 22 Nov 2024 16:02:03 +0000 Patricia Brubaker, Ph.D., F.R.S.C. 10173 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know-general-science/acrylic-fingernails-harbour-interesting-chemistry <p>I was queried via email “if there are chemicals in acrylic fingernails.” I imagine the question was really about the safety of the ingredients because for many the term chemical has become synonymous with toxic substance. Well, yes there are chemicals in acrylic fingernails, just like in everything except in a vacuum. As far as safety goes, it is possible to have an adverse reaction to some of the ingredients but that is not common. What there is for sure in acrylic fingernails is a lot of interesting chemistry.</p> Wed, 20 Nov 2024 21:17:57 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10169 at /oss /oss/article/medical-history-did-you-know/sometimes-luck-serves-springboard-science-0 <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-sometimes-luck-serves-as-a-springboard-for-science">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>It is a lifesaver, stocked in every emergency room! N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is amazingly effective as an antidote to acetaminophen poisoning.</p> Fri, 15 Nov 2024 22:57:27 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10165 at /oss /oss/article/medical-history-did-you-know/lorenzos-oil-contributed-treatment-devastating-disease <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-lorenzos-oil-raised-awareness-about-a-devastating-disease">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>Given that he had trained and practised as a physician before turning to filmmaking, it is no surprise that George Miller was so captivated by the story of Michaela and Augusto Odone’s struggle to save their son from a deadly disease that he decided to turn it into a movie.</p> Fri, 08 Nov 2024 22:05:23 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10154 at /oss /oss/article/history-did-you-know/chemistry-lesson-farmer <p>The farmer had purchased some potassium permanganate. Exactly why he needed it isn’t clear but using it as a disinfectant to clean the udders and teats of cows before and after milking is a possibility. The compound can also be used to remove iron and hydrogen sulphide from well water. Potassium permanganate is a purple crystalline material that produces a very pretty purple color when dissolved in water. But when dissolved in some other liquids, the story can be quite different, as our unfortunate farmer discovered.</p> Wed, 06 Nov 2024 18:31:21 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10145 at /oss /oss/article/student-contributors-did-you-know-general-science/chemistry-spider-webs <p>“The itsy-bitsy spider climbed up the waterspout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out…”. But funnily her web remained unscathed. How?!</p> <p>With Halloween having just passed, we saw spider web decorations completely overtake houses, adorn witch hats and even candy wrappers. Despite my fear of spiders, I have an immense amount of respect for them and not for their contributions to our environment. I admire them because spiders are quite the biochemists, and their webs are a product of a biochemical reaction that we can only attempt to reproduce in the lab.</p> Wed, 30 Oct 2024 15:22:54 +0000 Angelina Lapalme 10130 at /oss /oss/article/history-did-you-know/true-story-frankenstein <p>"I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet."  With these words Victor Frankenstein began his account of the adventure that would terrify ���۲�ݮ��Ƶ of readers.  Although Mary Shelley's classic 1816 tale is usually thought of as a horror story, it is actually a thoughtful fantasy about the consequences of science gone astray.</p> Wed, 30 Oct 2024 14:03:49 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10129 at /oss