/oss/taxonomy/term/727/all en /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/critical-thinking-health/questions-abound-safety-humidifiers <p>According to manufacturers, 8 million or so humidifiers are<a href="https://www.energystar.gov/sites/default/files/asset/document/ENERGY_STAR_Scoping_Report_Residential_Humidifiers.pdf"> sold in the United States every year</a>. In Canada, it has been reported that<a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3810001801"> nearly half of all households</a> use a humidifier, perhaps owing to our harsher winters that bring about uncomfortable dry air.</p> Tue, 15 Dec 2020 02:26:35 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8536 at /oss /oss/article/environment-general-science/how-can-i-stop-getting-static-shocks <p>If you live in Canada, you know what a nightmare winter can be for your hair. No, not because of hat hair, (or at least not entirely because of hat hair), but because of static electricity! All those big scarves and wool hats really do a number on the frizziness of our hair. But even if you’re bald you’ve probably noticed that the number of times you get shocked when reaching for everyday items, like keys, doorknobs and shopping carts, increases in the winter too. There’s some interesting science behind these seasonal shocking scenes, and how you can stop them.</p> Thu, 20 Feb 2020 18:51:02 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 8132 at /oss /oss/article/technology/fascinating-chemistry-airbags <p>Leonardo De Vinci was fascinated by flight and dreamed of various flying machines. He was realistic enough, though, to consider the risks and thought that brave men who strapped on wings should also strap on bags of air to protect them in case they should fall out of the sky like a rock. </p> Fri, 21 Jun 2019 02:50:00 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7806 at /oss /oss/article/health-technology-you-asked/water-dehumidifier-drinkable <p>Whether water from a dehumidifier is drinkable depends how clean you keep your tank and how long the water has been sitting around. The water the dehumidifier collects is actually very clean water; comparable to distilled water. Let’s consider for a minute how a dehumidifier works. Think of it as a refrigerator with the cooling coils exposed to the air. Water vapour from the air condenses on the coils and drips into a tank. The condensed water is pure because when the water originally evaporated into the air, it left its impurities and minerals behind. So providing your coils are clean, you</p> Thu, 05 Jul 2018 16:26:02 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7161 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know/turtles-breathe-out-their-butt <p>Technically the term is <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2017/11/22/turtles-hibernation-butt-breathing/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=News0_DSC_171130_000000_Final%20remainder&utm_content=&spMailingID=31966363&spUserID=NjY0ODY0ODUzNDcyS0&spJobID=1180002835&spReportId=MTE4MDAwMjgzNQS2#.WjVeKVWnGUl">cloacal respiration</a>, and it’s not so much breathing as just diffusing oxygen in and carbon dioxide out, but the fact remains: <strong>when turtles hibernate, their main source of oxygen is through their butt</strong>.</p> Sat, 23 Dec 2017 16:51:12 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 6854 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-environment-health/cleaning-air-jeans <p>You may want them in your jeans, but you probably want to keep them away from your genes. They’re “nano” particles of titanium dioxide, about ten billionths of a meter in diameter that can exhibit beneficial properties not possessed by their larger cousins, but they may also have a darker side.</p> Wed, 18 Nov 2015 01:02:27 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2294 at /oss /oss/article/history-household-products-quirky-science-you-asked/what-ingredient-ivory-soap-makes-it-float <p>First, a little history is in order. Soap making is one of the oldest of all chemical processes. There is even a reference to soap in the Bible in Jeremiah 2:22. "For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God." The soap referred to probably was a mixture of a kind of clay known as Fuller's earth and nitre, or sodium carbonate. It would have been a good cleaning agent but it wasn't soap as we know it.</p> Fri, 26 Apr 2013 01:09:20 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1920 at /oss