/oss/taxonomy/term/909/all en /oss/article/health-and-nutrition-environment/one-birds <p>Pet birds are very popular and loads of people have bird feeders in their back yards. That makes for birdseed being a huge business! Most people of course don’t give much thought to what it actually is, other than that it’s the stuff you put in your birdfeeder. And I would venture to say that the existence of a major crop called canary grass, grown on close to a third of a million acres in Saskatchewan, would be a surprise to almost everyone. Canary grass looks something like wheat and comes in two major varieties that are described as “itchy” and “itchless.” It isn’t hard to guess why.</p> Fri, 17 Mar 2023 16:43:48 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9437 at /oss /oss/article/you-asked/can-plastic-caps-water-or-soda-bottles-be-recycled <p>Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It depends on what equipment local recyclers have available. The bottle caps and the bottle are made of different materials which presents a problem when it comes to recycling. The cap is a hard plastic, either high density polyethylene (HDPE), or polypropylene, while the bottle is made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). These plastics have very different melting points, 260<sup>o</sup>C for PET and 140-150<sup>o</sup>C for HDPE and polypropylene.</p> Fri, 14 Oct 2022 16:25:12 +0000 Joe Schwarcz Phd 9266 at /oss /oss/article/health-nutrition/feeding-dogs-theyre-human-raw-grain-free-and-vegan-diets-dogs <p>Given the breadth of commercially available dog foods it can be tricky for dog owners to make informed decisions on how to feed their pets. Add into the mix the wealth of websites and books advocating for specialized dog diets and feeding your dog well can seem like a monumental task.</p> <p>In <a href="/oss/article/nutrition/what-should-i-be">a previous article</a> I addressed what owners are able to know about a type of food, and what they aren’t, based on the package.</p> Wed, 20 Mar 2019 18:19:25 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 7657 at /oss /oss/article/nutrition/what-should-i-be <p>If you have a dog, you don’t need me to tell you how important food is to their happiness. But even if you realize how much your dog loves food (the speed with which they gobble it up is a good clue) you may not realize how complex dog foods can be. There are upwards of <a href="https://www.dailydogstuff.com/us-pet-ownership-statistics/">60 million dogs in the U.S.</a>, and all of these dogs need to eat.</p> Fri, 01 Mar 2019 23:08:50 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 7620 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know/little-dogs-are-trying-look-tough-when-they-raise-their-leg-really-high-pee <p>Female dogs opt for less yoga-like squatting postures than their male companions, who can sometimes be seen with their leg so far in the air they seem about ready to topple over. It turns out that the height to which male dogs raise their leg has a lot to do with their body size, where they are, and who’s around.</p> Wed, 08 Aug 2018 15:57:47 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 7221 at /oss /oss/article/health/how-do-veterinarians-die <p><span>I wouldn’t blame you for thinking something along the lines of “just like everyone else,” but I’m here to tell you otherwise.</span></p> <p><span>Being a veterinarian is a lot like being a human doctor. Besides the fact that both professions practice medicine, albeit on different subjects, they both require top grades and many years of school. They usually necessitate one to go into debt, to work long hours, to have extreme empathy and to be on call for days at a time.</span></p> Mon, 06 Aug 2018 14:20:37 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 7218 at /oss /oss/article/science-science-everywhere-you-asked/soft-drink-bottles-are-made-plastic-called-polyethyleneglycol-terephthalate-or-pet-while-plastic <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/?p=4403"><img alt="" height="150" src="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/files/2013/03/wine-150x150.jpg" width="150" /></a>While PET has a very low permeability when it comes to carbon dioxide, it readily allows oxygen to pass through. And oxygen is the enemy of wine! When we talk about storing soft drinks, permeability to carbon dioxide is the critical factor. A beverage that loses carbonation loses its appeal. In this case oxygen permeability is not an issue. While oxygen passing into a plastic soft drink bottle from the air may react with some of the flavor components, the effect would be minor given that we don’t store soft drinks for extended periods. But of course we do store wine to age it. And this is where oxygen becomes a problem. <a href="/oss/soft-drink-bottles-are-made-of-a-plastic-called-polyethyleneglycol-terephthalate-or-pet-while-this-plastic-is-fine-for-storing-soft-drinks-why-is-it-not-recommended-for-storing-home-made-wine/">Read more</a></p> Tue, 05 Mar 2013 18:24:28 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1889 at /oss