/oss/taxonomy/term/1626/all en /oss/article/medical-student-contributors-did-you-know/seawater-really-antidote-cuts-and-scrapes <p>Recently, a carpet burn removed the epidermis, the top layer of my skin, of my upper middle finger. It left a large open wound on my hand. Fortunately, I was close to the ocean so I could swim in the seawater to speed up the healing process, or so I thought.</p> Fri, 19 Jul 2024 12:29:17 +0000 Daniela Padres 10005 at /oss /oss/article/environment-general-science-you-asked/why-sky-blue-or-better-yet-why-ocean-blue <p>The sky is blue due to a phenomenon called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayleigh_scattering">Raleigh scattering</a>. This scattering refers to the scattering of electromagnetic radiation (of which light is a form) by particles of a much smaller wavelength. Sunlight is scattered by the particles of the atmosphere, and what comes through down to earth is called diffuse sky radiation, and though only about 1/3rd of light is scattered, the smallest wavelengths of light tend to scatter easier.</p> Fri, 31 Jan 2020 19:08:37 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 8097 at /oss /oss/article/you-asked/what-sea-foam-and-why-was-it-all-over-beaches-dunkirk <p>If you watched the summer blockbuster<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7O7BtBnsG4"> Dunkirk</a>, you may have been left with the same question as one of our readers: what is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_foam">sea foam</a> and why was there so much of it at Dunkirk?</p> Wed, 17 Jan 2018 21:25:58 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 6894 at /oss /oss/article/environment-health-news/disposal-chemical-weapons-oceans <p style="text-align:justify">Since World War I, the U.S. Armed Forces have routinely discarded conventional explosives, radiological waste and chemical weapons in the oceans. When this was publicly revealed by the Department of Defense in the 1960's, massive public outrage ensued. At the time it seemed that the safest method for disposing chemical weapons was by dumping them into the ocean. The rationale was that if chemical agents were released in seawater, they would be diluted to safer levels and then be broken down.</p> Thu, 24 Apr 2014 12:40:32 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD & Alexandra Pires-Ménard, OSS Intern 2133 at /oss /oss/article/environment-health-news/small-beads-can-make-large-problem <p>Science can make for a strange bedfellow. I had just finished recording a video showing off one of my favourite sweaters and expounding on the ingenuity and the environmental benefit of it being made from recycled polyester bottles when an article appeared on one of my newsfeeds about how “your clothes are poisoning our oceans and food supply.” The message was that the very fabric I was so high on may be unravelling the fabric of society.</p> Fri, 08 Jul 2016 11:52:47 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2345 at /oss