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How A Nano-suit Can Be A Life-Saver

When is a suit a lifesaver? My dad, who was a tailor, would threaten to kill me if I didn't wear...

Why a Student Flipped Over a Dissection

Decades ago, I used my home microscope to examine some water on top of a barrel's lid in my backyard...

Harry Wilson: Too Good To Play For The Textbook Giants

Harry Wilson was far more than a textpert-college chemistry teacher. Despite his different...

The Coarse Language of Wine and Racial Colors

Depending on how much light is scattered and transmitted, clouds assume different colors. And be...

Enrico Uva

After majoring in chemistry at Concordia University I worked briefly at Fisheries and Oceans' Arctic Biological Station and in the food industry. I subsequently did an education degree at McGill... Read More »

The Chemistry Of Light Bulbs—And Why CFLs Are Overrated

Mar 26 2011 | 38 comment(s)

Light bulbs rely not only on simple materials but on esoteric ions and compounds. And while we take their emissions, visible light, for granted, the inner workings of these deceivingly simple gadgets depend on the complex behavior of electrons.

We’ll discuss four types of light bulbs:incandescent bulbs, halogens, fluorescent lights (including CFLs) and LEDs.

A) INCANDESCENT BULBS

The light bulb of the short-lived variety, is the traditional tungsten incandescent bulb. Inside the glass, electricity flows through a thin filament of the element tungsten (chemical symbol, W, for its old name wolfram).

Not-So-Smart Use Of The Smart Boards

Mar 23 2011 | 4 comment(s)

I suspect that the following critique of smart board use in education applies to how society in general responds to technological innovation. It would not be shocking because the seeds of all that is desirable or reprehensible in our culture are found in schools.

Close-Up Photos of Everyday Objects

Mar 22 2011 | 6 comment(s)

Here are some pictures I've been taking with a-not-very-fancy digital microscope.

An aborted apple seed next to a healthy one.

Notice the great oxidation of this 1921 Lincoln penny.

The milky secretion from a cut stem of the oleander plant. The poison oleandrin is also found in its leaves.

The tip of a geranium bud. 'Photo taken this morning.

Grapefruit flesh

Parent of Autistic Child Battles Pseudoscience

Mar 18 2011 | 5 comment(s)

My mother-in-law recommended a certain pediatrician when we moved back to Canada from the U.S. Things seemed to go smoothly with our healthy daughter, but I grew suspicious of his abilities when a discussion exposed his poor understanding of the genetics of blood types. A couple of years later, when we told him that we suspected our two year old son was autistic, he brushed it off claiming, “Yeah, sure. Everybody’s autistic nowadays.” When we insisted on a referral, he recommended a psychiatrist whose specialty was dealing with eating disorders.

Swimming Pool Chemistry: Backyard Perils And Experiments

Mar 17 2011 | 4 comment(s)

One of the first things I noticed when I bought a pool is that pool chemistry-terms are confusing to both lay people and specialists alike. A pool manual’s usage of terms such as “alkalinity” and “free chlorine” are not textbook definitions. But once I sorted through the initial confusion, it gave me one more excuse to do some simple experiments in my backyard.

Letting the Mind Mesh With Life

Mar 14 2011 | 15 comment(s)

Imagine a network of neurons that correspond to a personality trait. As a person matures he acquires more traits from experiences and especially when he spends time with people. Some of the traits are entirely mimicked from these friends and acquaintances. Other networks grow more intricate as we recognize the attribute in others. Some of these traits cannot interconnect in the brain. Weaker ones become isolated and eventually weeded out.