A new compostable bioplastic for use in coffee pods represents another step forward in the production of truly green pods. The material for the new biodegradable pods was developed by researchers at the University of British Columbia. According to the researchers, pods made of the material also keep the coffee inside fresher than other compostable pods.
Read More >>A glimpse into the world of Feiyue Wang, this year’s winner of our Environment Division R&D Dima Award Feiyue Wang, MCIC vividly recalls the first time a Twin Otter airplane neatly deposited him on the Arctic sea ice next to the Amundsen, Canada’s research icebreaker. It was 2008 and Wang – an experienced aquatic...
Read More >>Researchers shine a (very) bright light on duck feathers, revealing a sensitive technique for environmental monitoring. Like the proverbial canary in a coal mine, birds of all kind can act as sentinels for toxic metals in the environment. Now agricultural and environmental scientists are discovering that birds – or more accurately their feathers – can...
Read More >>The CIC recently sent Queen’s University PhD chemistry student Bailey Smith to the virtual 2020 Canadian Science Policy Conference. Smith sampled panels on topics ranging from a green recovery to parallels between COVID-19 and climate change. Below, she offers her take on what she heard. By Bailey Smith One of the conference’s major themes was...
Read More >>Chemist partners with City of Kitchener on innovative air pollution study It’s not every day a chemist gets to directly affect government policy. So Wilfrid Laurier University chemistry Professor Hind Al-Abadleh, MCIC, is understandably excited about her school-based air pollution study in Kitchener. Al-Abadleh launched a pilot air-quality monitoring project earlier in 2020 in partnership with...
Read More >>In April 2019 Dominique Weis was at the Vancouver airport, in a plane waiting on the tarmac about to take off to Paris, when she found out that the city’s famous Notre-Dame cathedral was on fire. For Weis, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Geochemistry of the Earth’s Mantle, her first thought was for...
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