/oss/taxonomy/term/2016/all en /oss/article/medical-environment-did-you-know/whipping-some-science <p>Want to add a bit of extra delight to that cake or sundae? No need to bother with whisking some cream when you can just reach for that aerosol cannister of whipped cream. Just squeeze the little trigger and perfectly whipped cream gushes out! For the propellant action you can thank nitrous oxide, also known as “laughing gas.” That term was coined by the great English chemist Humphry Davy upon noting that “this gas raised my pulse upwards of twenty strokes, made me dance about the laboratory as a madman, and has kept my spirits in a glow ever since.”</p> Tue, 13 Aug 2024 20:25:13 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10026 at /oss /oss/article/medical-history/not-laughing-matter <p>When I was growing up, “looning” meant one thing. You would fill a balloon with water and throw it at a target that usually did not welcome such activity. Today, “looning” has taken on another meaning. At music festivals and at raves, those eardrum-blasting, strobe-lighted parties frequented by the under-thirty crowd, it is not unusual to see dancers raise a balloon to their lips. But they are not blowing into it. They are inhaling the gas it contains. It makes them all giddy, justifying the name by which the gas is known. Laughing gas!</p> Wed, 25 Oct 2023 16:03:58 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9700 at /oss /oss/article/drugs-health-history/great-moment <p>Rarely does a single event alter the course of medicine, but that is exactly what happened at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital on October 16, 1846 in the surgical theatre that would eventually be christened “The Ether Dome.” Dr. John Collins Warren, having just excised a growth from the neck of a patient rendered unconscious with ether, looked up at the physicians and students who had witnessed the epic event, and declared, “Gentlemen, this is no humbug!”</p> Mon, 01 Jun 2015 11:40:53 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2263 at /oss