Quick! Name the largest organ of the body! The liver? Bzzzzz! Wrong. The large intestine? Bzzzzz! Even wronger. Here’s a hint: it’s waterproof, comes in a variety of designer colours, and fits any shape of body. Yes, it’s the skin, and yes, it’s an organ, a specialized mass of tissue with a surface area …
Tag: science
Wartime rationing and making do
In today’s war against environmental degradation, there is an oft-repeated slogan: “Reduce, Re-use, Recycle.” Fifty years ago there was a very different kind of war going on, but there was a very similar slogan: “Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do and Do Without.” Every country involved in the Second World War had …
Computer memory
A while back (quite a long while, actually) I wrote a column about memory, in which I made the point that our ability to remember things is what distinguishes us from dandelions. You might also say that our ability to remember things is what distinguishes us from household appliances and other inanimate objects, but if …
Running shoes
I have the flattest feet of anyone I know, so running is not something I do if I can avoid it. When it comes time to purchase running shoes, therefore, I simply walk into the store, pick out something inexpensive in my size, and walk out again. The decision is far harder, I am told, …
Cholesterol
Archaeologists five thousand years from now, piecing together a picture of our civilization, might well conclude that we were a highly religious culture, all worshipping at the altar of the great god cholesterol, whose name appeared on all of our food containers and who was a constant topic of discussion in books, magazines and newspapers. …
Eggs
It’s eggciting for me this week to be able to eggspound on that most eggcellent eggsample of nature’s eggsquisite bounty: the egg. (For one thing, few other topics lend themselves to such eggceedingly eggscruciating eggsamples of eggcessive wordplay.) I’m going to focus on the chicken egg, although scientifically speaking the chicken egg is only one …
Bodily functions
Our bodies are complex biological machines performing millions of tasks all the time, most of which we aren’t aware of. But occasionally some function of this machine draws itself to our attention, usually at an inopportune time. Just why certain bodily functions are embarrassing and/or annoying to ourselves and those around us, when, after all, …
Libraries
I love libraries–always have–and I can’t help noticing: they’re changing. Libraries, traditionally, have been repositories for books. In fact the word derives from the Latin word for books, “liber.” But today you’ll also find newspapers, magazines, videotapes, films, CDs, computer programs and even terminals hooked up to the Internet. This is not your father’s library. …
Perennials
Despite the fact that snow covers the ground as I write this, it is, in fact, spring; and spring means, among other things, the appearance of plants, sometimes from garden beds where you’d swear there was nothing but a few dry sticks. Suddenly green shoots spring up, and before you know it, flowers are growing …
Skating
In Tulia, Texas, where I lived as a kid before we moved to Saskatchewan, when you said you were going “skating” it was understood it would be on a wooden surface with rollers attached to your feet. Imagine my shock, then, when I found out that up here, “skating” meant sliding on thin metal …
Drainage
The annoying thing about water in Saskatchewan is that we never seem to have just the right amount. There’s either too little or, more rarely, too much. This time of the year, as the snow melts, it’s usually the latter. While a lack of water is bad, a surfeit of water is often worse, as …
Saskatchewan’s ecoregions
I’m in the middle of a tour of 60-some schools with Prairie Opera, and aside from the enjoyment of performing, the best thing about the tour is the opportunity to see so much of Saskatchewan. One thing quickly impresses itself: there’s a lot more to this province than a flat, treeless plain, even if that’s …
My latest live walk and vlog
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