News

By: Judy Halpern

I have been teaching for over 15 years and still have little difficulty finding magic in everyday experiences. Of course as I get older, more experienced and I dare say, more cynical, I may have to look a little harder but spending time outdoors with young children makes it an everyday possibility!

By: Christine Kulyk

As a science journalist, I attended GeoCanada 2000, a landmark conference held in Calgary last summer that brought together nearly 5,000 Canadian geologists and other earth scientists to discuss common concerns and plan new research directions. Subtitled The Millennium Geoscience Summit, it was the largest gathering of Earth science professionals that's ever been held in Canada.

By: Hesham Najiya and Jason Cole

Salt, or sodium chloride, has been used by man well before recorded history. In ancient times, man started realizing the importance of salt to their diet after they start cultivating their own farms and began relying less on wild game (which was the primary source of salt). Salt exploitation and use has interestingly shaped a major part of human history, probably more than any other mineral. Even the word soldier, derived from the Roman sal dare means "to give salt" because Roman soldiers were paid with salt as well as gold.

Kelly Snyder and Peter Russell

Gypsum, hydrated calcium sulphate, Ca SO4.2H2O is a common mineral formed mainly by the evaporation of sea water. Known from antiquity, its name comes from the Arabic jips, for "plaster," then to the Greek gypsos, for chalk.

Gypsum can be found as thick layers in shale and as attractive crystals.

Jean Farquharson

What do the following activities have in common?

Dirk Schmid, M.Sc.
Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto

Finding a well-designed internet website with interesting and useful information on the earth sciences can be a frustrating exercise. Many existing websites offer content of little use to children, parents and teachers, or they are poorly organized, or they don't work properly. Websites focusing on Canadian content are few and difficult to find.

Some people have streets named after them. Some, parks. Some, towns. Some, mountains.

University of Saskatchewan Geology Prof. William Sarjeant found out quite by accident the other week he has been immortalized in a very special place -- at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. And he couldn't be more thrilled.

Canadians used to be complacent about the purity of their drinking water. Then came the wake-up call at Walkerton.

by Gary Nyp "Reprinted with permission from the University of Waterloo Magazine, Fall 2000."

Until recently, Walkerton was a tranquil southwestern Ontario town, a friendly, vibrant tourism hotbed known for its quaint shops, nature trails, and canoe trips along a serpentine Saugeen River abundant with trout, bass, and salmon.

P.E. Childs
Reprinted from Chemistry in Action, Volume 40, Summer 1993.

Most of us are familiar with the phrase "taking it with a dose of salts," but not everyone knows what it means. It goes back to the practice of taking Epsom salts as a cure for constipation.

The medicinal value of the the spring waters at Epsom, Surrey was discovered in the rein of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) and the Epsom Spa grew in fame over the next half-century. Local tradition recounts the discovery of the spa in this way:

Estimated values in $US Billions (1998 data).

One billion dollars worth of mined diamonds translates into $7 billion dollars of value-added benefits.