Browse "Science & Technology"

STRESSED-OUT, Canadians are more than ready for summertime, when the living is, well, easier.

These 2 great journeys were first made just before the end of the 18th century, and by the same man. Alexander Mackenzie reached the mouth of the river which now bears his name in 1789, and was the first European to cross the North American continent (to Bella Coola) in 1793.

Cancer is a term describing more than 100, possibly as many as 200, different diseases characterized by the common property of abnormal cell growth. Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in Canada and second only to accidents as a cause of death in children under 15 years of age.

The grandfatherly American with thinning hair who addressed cancer scientists in a Montreal hotel earlier this month did not look like someone about to set off an international media frenzy. Dr.

This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on August 25, 1997. Partner content is not updated.

This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on December 9, 1996. Partner content is not updated.

Carbone 14, a theatre company based in Montréal until its quiet dissolution in 2005, produced a style of physical theatre that was formalistic, imagistic and avant-garde. From the beginning it excited audiences and influenced performance art in Québec.

In 1950, one of Canada’s greatest medical innovations was developed at the University of Toronto’s Banting Institute. Cardiac surgeon, Dr. Wilfred Bigelow and research fellow, Dr. John Carter Callaghan were trying to understand how hypothermia (see Cold-Weather Injuries) could slow the beating of an animal’s heart before surgery. They were also looking for a way to stimulate the heart when it faltered as it cooled. This largely unknown area of research could have tremendous applications for humans. The doctors partnered with Dr. John A. Hopps from the National Research Council of Canada, who created a portable artificial external pacemaker. It was designed to send electric pulses to the heart, which caused the heart to contract and pump blood to the body. The device was successfully tested on a dog in 1950. This landmark discovery paved the way for the use of implantable pacemakers in humans.

The craft of carpentry involves the shaping of wood for architectural, utilitarian or ornamental purposes. European colonists who settled what is now Canada brought with them a rich heritage of CRAFTS and craft tools.

The initial purpose of CEF and its 4 sister locations across Canada was to help resolve farm production matters. This early grouping has grown into a strong national network of 19 sites that include multiple locations, sub stations and field sites in each of the Canadian provinces.

The main objective of the multidisciplinary expedition was to carry out a geological survey of the ridge. Researchers, therefore, brought a veritable geotechnical arsenal to bear on the polar ice to gather seismic, gravimetric, bathymetric and other data.

Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories, see Nuclear research establishments.

The Challenger expedition, the first worldwide oceanographic expedition, voyaged 127 663 km in the Atlantic, Southern, Indian and Pacific oceans between December 1872 and May 1876.

ALS is as common as Multiple Sclerosis. It seems to be striking people who are younger and younger.

Chemical manufacturing entails the conversion of one material to another by a chemical reaction on a commercial scale. The starting material (feedstock) can be a natural substance or a relatively pure chemical used as an "intermediate" for subsequent upgrading.

Chemical engineering is the technology of scaling up to commercial size chemical reactions which have been demonstrated in the laboratory.

Chemistry, the science concerned primarily with the structure and properties of matter and with the transformation of one form of matter into another. Now one of the most theoretically and methodologically sophisticated sciences, chemistry had its beginnings in medieval alchemy.

Early chemistry was principally analytical in nature; only as the body of experimental data increased did the present-day specialities evolve. The principal chemical subdisciplines are analytical, inorganic, organic and physical chemistry.

Childbirth is the beginning of a child’s life and a powerful rite of passage for the mother. Methods vary according to culture and time periods. Before the 19th century, Canadians relied mostly on the help of midwives, as well as prayers and even superstitions, to face the intense pains of contractions. Advances in the field of obstetrics in the 19th and 20th centuries introduced new ways of shortening the length of childbirth and managing its pains. Those developments also resulted in the transition of childbirth from homes to hospitals. Today, the different methods of childbirth can involve the help of physicians, midwives and doulas.