Power Couple
ENERGY
It was a summer of extremes, from fires blackening Western Canadian forests to a shrivelling drought in California to heat waves that baked Pakistan and India. Meteorologists pointed the finger...
Read More >>Cornfield of Dreams
AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY
Anton Korenevski was doing laboratory work one night as part of a study into how bacteria stick to surfaces when he spotted something unusual. A post-doctoral researcher at the University...
Read More >>Quantum Leaps
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
Axel Becke has a lot in common with Albert Einstein. Just like the famous physicist, Becke was born in Germany and made his greatest scientific contributions...
Read More >>You can never be too thin
MATERIALS CHEMISTRY
Tony SpringThorpe holds his thumb and forefinger about a centimetre apart, then offers this revealing quip about his long and distinguished career, “For more than 40 years I’ve been doing...
Read More >>The Dawning of 3D Materials
MATERIALS CHEMISTRY
When one thinks of potential materials for use in 3D printing, Nutella — the hazelnut and cocoa spread that is smeared on morning toast...
Read More >>Pipe dream
PETROCHEMISTRY
The Aframax-class tanker — 245 metres long and loaded with oilsands bituman piped in from Alberta — pulls away from the marine terminal at Burnaby, BC, moving through Burrard Inlet past Stanley Park.
Read More >>Arsenic—a foe with many faces
ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY
Wherever arsenic goes, its sinister reputation precedes it. And arsenic really gets around. While other elements may be found far more abundantly in the Earth’s crust, oceans or atmosphere, at...
Read More >>Safety catch
REGULATIONS
March came in like a lion for Port Metro Vancouver when a shipping container full of trichloroisocyanuric acid imported from China exploded, creating a massive chemical fire with toxic brown-grey...
Read More >>Quiet vigilance
DEFENCE SCIENCE
On Jan. 24, smoke rose into the air on the outskirts of Mosul, a large rebel-held city 400 kilometres north of Iraq’s capital of Baghdad. The black plume marked a successful air strike for the United States, which has carried out attacks since...
Read More >>Chemical green screen
GREEN CHEMISTRY
When the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) set its sights on two widely used antimicrobial agents last year, the organization wanted the results to have a more profound impact than...
Read More >>Entrepreneurship 101
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Early November drizzle falls outside the MaRS Centre in downtown Toronto but inside the atmosphere is warm and buzzing. Excited chatter echoes off the brick walls and glass ceiling of...
Read More >>Bug Patrol
BIOCHEMISTRY
Vancouver has an itch that just won’t go away. Luckily, Darin Craig, a service manager with Local Pest Control...
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