/oss/articles/rss en /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/critical-thinking-student-contributors-health-and-nutrition/real-gold-or-fools-gold-controversies-bee-pollen <p>The <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10045447/">earliest evidence</a> of human consumption of bee products can be traced back to a painting from between 8000-5000 B.C. in Spain. The Greeks considered pollen to be the food of kings. There is a reference to bee pollen in the Bible. Ancient philosophers such as Hippocrates, Pliny the Elder, and Pythagoras believed in the therapeutic potential of bee pollen. So, it seems only natural that we, in the present day, would take a fascination with bee pollen.</p> Thu, 19 Sep 2024 15:03:05 +0000 Daniela Padres 10083 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/your-hairdresser-will-heal-you-now <p>My hairdresser brings me to an isolated room. On the sparsely decorated walls, a framed drawing of the head meridians and a yin-yang symbol representing the Chinese body clock, in which different organs are claimed to be at their peak activity at different times of the day.</p> Thu, 19 Sep 2024 14:56:29 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10082 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition/what-does-health-canada-issued-natural-product-number-npn-supplement-mean <p>Prescription drug sales in Canada amount to roughly $50 billion a year. That’s a lot of money, but the $13 billion pulled in annually by the natural health products industry isn’t small potatoes either. The question is what consumers are getting for that money.</p> Wed, 18 Sep 2024 22:07:09 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10081 at /oss /oss/article/environment-general-science/breaking-down-bioplastics-benefits-and-problems <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-breaking-down-bioplastics-benefits-and-problems">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>What chemical reaction developed in a lab has had the greatest impact on the world? I think I can make a case for polymerization, the process by which small molecules are linked together to make long chains. Specifically, I have in mind the polymerization that produces plastics, a group of materials that can be shaped when soft and then hardened to retain a given shape.</p> Fri, 13 Sep 2024 17:57:45 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10078 at /oss /oss/article/student-contributors-environment/botanical-sexism-really-blame-increased-pollen-allergies-urban-cities <p>The story starts with horticultural epidemiologist Thomas Ogren. His <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/guest-blog/botanical-sexism-cultivates-home-grown-allergies/">major citation is that of the 1949</a> USDA Yearbook of Agriculture where it was recommended that “when used for street plantings, only male trees should be selected, to avoid the nuisance from the seed”. He claims this led to a major skew toward planting male trees in urban cities in the following years in attempts to reduce the work needed to pick up the petals, berries, and fruits produced by female trees.</p> Thu, 12 Sep 2024 18:25:36 +0000 Daniela Padres 10077 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/what-media-gets-wrong-about-cam <p>There must be a template for this.</p> <p>Time and time again, I have seen journalists cover so-called complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in a way that is so similar, it’s making me think they must teach that template in journalism school.</p> <p>It’s a story structure that sounds good at first. It aims to be balanced in giving voice to both patients and practitioners, as well as proponents and skeptics. It uses storytelling to grab the reader’s attention. All the ingredients are seemingly there to cover the topic responsibly.</p> Thu, 12 Sep 2024 18:17:51 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10076 at /oss /oss/article/medical-health-and-nutrition/another-bullet-fired-highly-processed-food <p>Elie Metchnikoff drank sour milk every day. He believed that the lactic acid bacteria found in fermented foods like yogurt, especially the <i>Lactobacillus bulgaricus</i> strain, helped to promote longevity by preventing potentially disease-causing bacteria from proliferating in the intestines. He attributed the long life of Bulgarian peasants to their daily consumption of yogurt.</p> Wed, 11 Sep 2024 16:54:56 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10071 at /oss /oss/article/medical-health-and-nutrition-general-science/should-you-be-worried-about-eating-burned-toast <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/the-right-chemistry-should-you-be-worry-about-eating-burned-toast">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Fri, 06 Sep 2024 21:30:09 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10065 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-technology/can-you-trust-dr-wikipedia <p>Do you know who invented the electric toaster? If you answered Alan MacMasters, a young Scotsman with high cheekbones and quite a head of hair, you’ve been lied to by Wikipedia.</p> Fri, 06 Sep 2024 14:15:01 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10060 at /oss