/oss/taxonomy/term/497/all en /oss/article/history-did-you-know/chemistry-lesson-farmer <p>The farmer had purchased some potassium permanganate. Exactly why he needed it isn’t clear but using it as a disinfectant to clean the udders and teats of cows before and after milking is a possibility. The compound can also be used to remove iron and hydrogen sulphide from well water. Potassium permanganate is a purple crystalline material that produces a very pretty purple color when dissolved in water. But when dissolved in some other liquids, the story can be quite different, as our unfortunate farmer discovered.</p> Wed, 06 Nov 2024 18:31:21 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10145 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-history/what-if-dr-kellogg-had-watched-seinfeld <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-what-if-dr-kellogg-had-watched-seinfeld">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>Dr. John Harvey Kellogg would have enjoyed The Contest and The Abstinence, two classic Seinfeld episodes.</p> <p>In The Contest, Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine wager on who can remain master of their domain for the longest time. In The Abstinence, George and Elaine experience the consequences of temporary celibacy.</p> Fri, 01 Nov 2024 21:51:44 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10139 at /oss /oss/article/history-did-you-know/true-story-frankenstein <p>"I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet."  With these words Victor Frankenstein began his account of the adventure that would terrify generations of readers.  Although Mary Shelley's classic 1816 tale is usually thought of as a horror story, it is actually a thoughtful fantasy about the consequences of science gone astray.</p> Wed, 30 Oct 2024 14:03:49 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10129 at /oss /oss/article/technology-history-did-you-know/beginnings-chemical-synthesis <p>Chemistry can be roughly divided into two branches, analysis and synthesis. Chemists either try to identify existing substances or make new ones. By the early 19th century, a number of substances had been isolated from plants, with morphine from the poppy, quinine from cinchona bark, and coumarin from tonka beans being examples. However, given that these substances were derived from living species, they were believed to be endowed with a “life force” that could not be duplicated in the lab, and that such “organic” substances could not be synthesized.</p> Tue, 22 Oct 2024 16:52:42 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10124 at /oss /oss/article/history-did-you-know/having-trouble-faces-theres-name <p>If you drive to pick up your child after school and notice that sometimes they go and greet <i>another parent </i>instead who has a car similar to yours, what goes through your head?</p> Thu, 17 Oct 2024 21:57:16 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10118 at /oss /oss/article/history-did-you-know/we-have-surplus-baby-boys <p>Be honest: have you ever made love to your partner in a specific position because you heard that it would result in a baby boy?</p> Fri, 04 Oct 2024 02:18:15 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10100 at /oss /oss/article/medical-history-did-you-know/john-daltons-eyeball <p>In 1995, researchers from Cambridge University asked the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society for a sample of an eyeball that had been sitting in a jar on a shelf since 1844. That eye had made some of the most important scientific observations in history. It—and another just like it—belonged to John Dalton, the English schoolteacher who in the late years of the eighteenth century formulated the atomic theory. </p> Wed, 02 Oct 2024 17:31:08 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10099 at /oss /oss/article/medical-history/life-and-death-soviet-era-search-longevity <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-the-life-and-death-of-a-soviet-era-search-for-longevity">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>Want to prolong life? To start with, you need three corpses from healthy young men accidentally killed in within the previous 12 hours.</p> Fri, 20 Sep 2024 22:41:00 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10088 at /oss /oss/article/history-general-science/arsenic-and-old-books <p>I’ve long been intrigued by the 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition in London. The magnificent building was constructed of 60,000 panes of glass, ten times as many as in the windows of the Empire State Building! There were exhibits from around the world that included the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond, a steam-powered printing press, an early prototype of a fax machine and a device that used leeches to predict the weather based on the idea that leeches in a jar of water would rise to the top when a storm was approaching.</p> Thu, 05 Sep 2024 18:23:37 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10058 at /oss /oss/article/student-contributors-history-did-you-know/weaving-history-persian-carpets <p>Although I could get straight to the point and tell you about Persian carpets, it’s only fitting to begin with a bit of history about the Persian Empire. Cyrus the Great, who reigned from approximately 559 to 530 BCE, founded the first Persian Empire. His legacy includes the Cyrus Cylinder, often regarded as the first declaration of human rights, in which he decreed religious freedom and protection for all within his empire.</p> Fri, 23 Aug 2024 14:17:14 +0000 Hosna Akhgary 10045 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-history/genghis-khan-hiding-inside-your-dna <p>Genghis Khan is more legend than man. We’re not even sure when he was born: historians agree it’s somewhere in the decade that spans 1155 and 1167. That birth has itself been mythologized. Stories tell of a ray of light impregnating his mother; the baby, named Temüjin, was apparently born holding on to a piece of clotted blood, an omen of his later conquests. His death in 1227 is shrouded in rumours both kind and denigrating. Genghis Khan was struck by lightning. He died of an arrow wound that led to a systemic infection. He was castrated by a princess.</p> Fri, 23 Aug 2024 13:51:15 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10044 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-history/book-natural-healers-really-hate <p>To the conspiracy-minded alternative health practitioner, everything was great until the Flexner Report was published.</p> Fri, 16 Aug 2024 03:19:23 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10038 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-history/water-cures-have-flowed-through-history <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-water-cures-have-flowed-through-history">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Fri, 16 Aug 2024 19:12:39 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10040 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-history/how-crazy-claim-about-bottle-jumper-led-riot <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-how-a-crazy-claim-about-a-bottle-jumper-led-to-a-riot">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Fri, 09 Aug 2024 16:29:23 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10023 at /oss /oss/article/history-general-science/black-goo-blue-dye-and-beyond-fascinating-history-aniline <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-from-black-goo-to-blue-dye-and-beyond-the-fascinating-history-of-aniline">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>During the Second World War, American soldiers carried a first aid kit attached to their belt that contained a powder to be sprinkled on any open wound to prevent infection. That powder was sulfathiazole, synthesized by chemists from aniline, then already a compound of great commercial importance with a fascinating history.</p> Fri, 02 Aug 2024 19:06:17 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10016 at /oss