/oss/taxonomy/term/651/all en /oss/article/environment/its-thanksgiving-and-time-talkturkey <p>Eventually we will run out of oil.  There is no doubt about that.  The earth is of a fixed size, and the amount of oil stored in the ground is not infinite.  We take it out of the ground and do not replenish it.  Therefore we will run out.  It’s just a question of when.  When people think of the uses of oil, they think of course of gasoline, heating oil and aircraft fuel.  But you have to remember that the raw materials we need to make plastics, cleaning agents, many medications, cosmetics, fibres and a myriad of other consumer items are also sourced from oil.  Indeed, when we run out we wi</p> Mon, 09 Oct 2017 21:47:13 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 4094 at /oss /oss/article/history/how-was-spaceshipone-powered <p>Who would have ever thought that rubber tires and laughing gas would be instrumental in getting a privately funded craft into space to claim a prize of ten million dollars? Yet, that is just what happened a few weeks ago. SpaceShipOne, built by the private “Scaled Composites” company made it into space twice in a week to meet the condition that had been set for winning the ten million dollar Ansari X Prize. This was no small feat.</p> Tue, 06 Nov 2012 17:08:01 +0000 OSS 1743 at /oss