/oss/taxonomy/term/157/all en /oss/article/environment/heat-may-do-more-make-us-feel-miserable <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-its-too-darned-hot">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Fri, 05 Jul 2024 15:41:21 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9996 at /oss /oss/article/student-contributors-health-and-nutrition-environment/where-there-smoke-there-are-air-quality-indices <p>I woke up from a nap to see a doomsday-esque picture outside the car window. My friends and I were driving back to Montreal during the <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/wildfire-smoke-montreal-has-worlds-worst-air-quality-today">poorest air quality day of the summer</a>, and the city looked near apocalyptic. The sky was orangey grey, the sun was invisible, and the air smelt strongly of smoke. As someone who lived in Ontario and Quebec most of my life, I’m unaccustomed to bad air quality caused by forest fire smoke.</p> Fri, 21 Jul 2023 14:37:26 +0000 Maya McKeown, B.Sc. 9571 at /oss /oss/article/pseudoscience-environment/dowsing-dowse-it-work <p>Desperate times call for desperate measures, I suppose. Although we live in a world driven by technology, we are always one cataclysm away from retreating to magical notions. Climate change is <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/science/science-explorer/climate/droughts-and-climate-change">making droughts worse</a>, which will increase the value of water moving forward. An ancient pseudoscience is poised to make a resurgence in these desperate times.</p> Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:28:14 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9439 at /oss /oss/article/contributors-climate-change/mama-seals-are-asking-wheres-my-ice <p>The Gulf of St Lawrence is a large area of saltwater and is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Cabot Strait in the southeast and the Strait of Belle-Isle to the north. Surrounded by land masses and islands from five provinces, the salt water, sea ice and rich feeding area has been a nursery and home to harp seals for generations.</p> <p>See the map of this area from the Government of Canada.</p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 336px;" class="file-original " src="/oss/files/oss/screen_shot_2021-07-30_at_9.44.46_pm.png" width="1308" height="880" alt="" /></p> Sat, 31 Jul 2021 02:14:13 +0000 Raymond Johnson PhD, Contributor 8796 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19-environment/decline-rush-hour-traffic-boon-health <hr /> <p>This article was originally published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-decline-in-rush-hour-traffic-a-boon-for-health">the Montreal Gazette</a></p> <hr /> <p>Soon everyone, or almost everyone, will be vaccinated and many people who have been working from home will have to figure out when they will be returning to the office. The decision is a complicated one.</p> <p>Many people enjoy working from home when possible and were probably surprised to realize that it can be quite feasible. Of course, it was not everyone’s cup of tea.</p> Fri, 09 Jul 2021 18:40:44 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 8782 at /oss /oss/article/environment-climate-change/convergence-how-climate-change-brought-two-women-artists-together <p>Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, 30, is a native of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Islands">Marshall Islands</a> in the western Pacific Ocean. This country of ~53,000 people is spread out over 1,159 islands with most of the population on 29 coral atolls. As a poet, Kathy writes about sea-level rise, and the damage to homes, businesses and their way of life. Most of the islands are only a few feet above sea level. With very little total land area it has a significant population density per square mile.</p> Fri, 30 Apr 2021 21:36:36 +0000 Raymond Johnson PhD, Contributor 8718 at /oss /oss/article/history-general-science/what-exactly-green-chemistry <p>In 1942 nylon went to war. American paratroopers dropped from the sky with nylon parachutes and hunkered down in nylon tents. Soldiers on leave hoped to seduce European women with gifts of nylon stockings. Bristles for toothbrushes, strings for tennis racquets, insulation for wires, bearings for machinery, catheters, sutures, umbrellas, undergarments, shower curtains and numerous items of clothing all made of nylon soon hit the market. Consumers were absolutely taken with this miraculous new material.</p> Fri, 30 Apr 2021 20:52:48 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8716 at /oss /oss/article/environment/under-microscope-pollen <p>Grains of pollen actually produce the male gametes (sperm cells) of flowering plants. They become dehydrated to better allow themselves to be carried on by wind, water and animals to other plants where they land in the gynoecium, the innermost part of a flower that contains the ovaries. After rehydrating itself, a pollen grain forms a pollen tube, through which it transfers sperm cells into the ovaries of the flower, completing the pollination process.</p> Mon, 11 Mar 2019 15:17:19 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 7642 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know/your-allergies-are-getting-worse-because-climate-change <p>If you feel like your recent periods of coughing, sneezing and shaking your fists at the trees for producing so much pollen are getting longer, you’re probably right.</p> Thu, 10 May 2018 17:48:44 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 7068 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know-technology/space-based-solar-power <p>There are certain problems with solar power technologies that still need some work. We are addressing quite a few bumps on the road to completely sustainable energy though. High costs of solar cells are being brought down by green energy rebates and tax exemptions.</p> Mon, 07 Aug 2017 21:55:04 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 2592 at /oss /oss/article/environment-did-you-know/grolar-bears <p>Experts believe that the polar bears are traveling south to escape the effects of global warming while the grizzly bears are moving northward thus leading to the creation of a new species: grizzly-polar bear hybrid. DNA samples taken from the hybrid that Jim Martell shot and killed in 2006 proved the first hybrid case in the wild. The hybrid is similar in appearance to its parents. It is smaller than a polar bear but larger than a grizzly bear. Furthermore, the hybrids’ hair and feet are a blend of both.</p> Wed, 31 May 2017 14:43:17 +0000 OSS 2516 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-environment-news/climate-change <p style="text-align:justify">As we get ready for winter here and watch news reports of unseasonable plummeting temperatures in some parts of North America, it is hard to be concerned about global warming. But climate change is here and it comes with baggage. Yes, there are some scientists who argue that humans are not responsible, and claim that we have experienced natural warming and cooling trends throughout history. They, however, are in the minority.</p> Fri, 21 Nov 2014 22:27:48 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2213 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-environment/time-change-climate-about-climate-change <p>When it comes to the science of climate change, what you hear depends on who’s doing the talking</p> Sun, 06 Mar 2016 20:28:04 +0000 Adam Brown PhD 2326 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know/what-greenhouse-effect <p>The greenhouse effect is caused by gases in the atmosphere that let sunlight through, but prevent some of the heat it generates from being re-emitted, acting as a blanket around the earth. If we had no greenhouse effect, the Earth would be around 33 degrees coller than it is, with temperatures averaging about -18 degrees Celsius. On the flip side, if we have too much of a greenhouse effect (ie concentration of greenhouses gases), it’s possible the planet can overheat.</p> Tue, 21 Feb 2017 16:18:15 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1505 at /oss