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Sliding Away the Nonsense Around Non-Stick Coatings

20 Mar 2017

So you want to buy a "green" pot or pan to avoid those nasty chemicals associated with "synthetic" non-stick coatings? They're available. A line of non-stick pots and pans is being advertised as...

Triacetone Triperoxide- the Elusive Explosive

20 Mar 2017

We have become familiar with the routine at airports. Your carry-on bags are passed through an x-ray machine after which an officer will often wipe your bag with a piece of fabric which is then...

Pyrex Wonders

20 Mar 2017

Glass is made by mixing and heating silica (sand), sodium carbonate (soda) and limestone (calcium carbonate).  But, as we know, glass breaks quite easily, especially when subjected to sudden...

Unexpected consequences are part and parcel of science

20 Mar 2017

Science is as a quest for knowledge. Sometimes it ends with a clear-cut result, often not. The Earth goes around the sun. Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen. The speed of light is 299,792,458...

Encompassing Dogs

20 Mar 2017

Because my wife and I had a wonderful dog for nearly 9 years and since I give a lecture on human waste in our Environment course at McGill, I was most interested to see the article that is making...

Weighing the benefits of tea

20 Mar 2017

“Get in here and sit your ass down!”...

Why Black Hair Dye Became Popular in 1930s Detroit

20 Mar 2017

Well, because Henry Ford decided that younger men could work more productively on his automobile assembly line and so began to fire older workers and higher younger ones. This prompted some of the...

Chemistry at the Vatican

20 Mar 2017

The new Pope, we now learn, once worked as a chemist. It is interesting then to note that his selection was signaled through some nifty chemistry. The smoke signals used during the conclave are...

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