/oss/taxonomy/term/1518/all en /oss/article/student-contributors-did-you-know-general-science/what-makes-perfect-polish <p>I got my nails done for my convocation ceremony. My friends and I were greeted with a number of options: basic, shellac, acrylic… not to mention the selection of colours we had to choose from as well. But the quest for a perfect manicure has far preceded last Wednesday afternoon.</p> Fri, 15 Jul 2022 11:00:00 +0000 Cat Wang 9175 at /oss /oss/article/history/bugs-plastics <p>During the first years of the twentieth century, the demand for shellac outstripped the supply. It wasn’t because people developed a sudden penchant for shiny furniture. Electricity was starting to take the world by storm and electrification required the use of insulating materials and shellac was a very effective insulator! The problem was that it was hard to come by. Shellac is the resinous secretion deposited on some species of Asian trees by Laccifer lacca beetles. Workers scrape off the resin, heat it, and filter it to produce the commercial product.</p> Fri, 20 Aug 2021 20:38:31 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8813 at /oss /oss/article/nutrition-you-asked/why-there-shellac-my-chocolate-mints <p>Indeed, it is the same substance. The revelation that furniture varnish can appear in food would probably send scientifically primitive bloggers into a tizzy. This varnish, or shellac, is the resinous exudate produced by the female Indian "lac" bug, an insect that spends its whole life attached to a tree, sucking its sap and converting it into the familiar sticky substance that has long been used to provide a glossy protective coating on wood. It takes about 100,000 insects to produce a pound of red-tinged resin. The colour can be extracted and used as a dye.</p> Thu, 27 Sep 2018 14:28:07 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7375 at /oss /oss/article/environment-history-quirky-science/how-asian-bug-led-first-synthetic-plastic <p>During the first years of the twentieth century the demand for shellac outstripped the supply. People did not develop a sudden penchant for shiny furniture, but electricity was starting to take the world by storm and electrification required the use of insulating materials. Shellac was a very effective insulator! The problem was that it was hard to come by. Shellac is the resinous secretion deposited on some species of Asian trees by Laccifer lacca beetles.  Workers scrape off the resin, heat it and filter it to produce the commercial product.</p> Tue, 25 Feb 2014 23:15:08 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2103 at /oss