“Blood, it’s in you to give”. So proclaims in a recruitment campaign by the Canadian Blood Services, hoping to encourage more Canadians to donate [1]. Undoubtedly, blood plays an eminent role in the normal function of all systems in the body. And in modern medicine, blood is used as a therapeutic modality in procedures such as surgeries, cancer treatments, and transplants. However, with an aging population, more of these procedures will be performed. This is why the demand for blood in Canadian hospitals increases by 8% [1]. But what is blood? What is exactly in blood that make them so…

Imagine a scenario, where you have a patient with a life-threatening infection. Such a patient might require prompt antimicrobial therapy. However, in clinical microbiology, there is this constant race against the clock in identifying these disease-causing organisms so that an effective treatment can be provided. In fact, often, it is only after the death of a patient that the disease-causing organism is identified. This is primarily because traditional culture methods can be laborious, and in the case of mixed cultures, other analyses are required to identify microorganisms at the species level. Taken together, the entire process can be time consuming,…

Dedicated to the memory of John-Christian Solomon. “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. Sokath, his eyes uncovered!” Apart from linguistic historians, researchers from other fields are also hungry for revelations; Artificial Intelligence researchers are eager to see how to apply it in cases of complex dynamical systems and in imbuing artifacts with the capacity to learn language; Developmental psychologists and neurophysicians would have new perspectives on problems like William’s syndrome and be able to better diagnose and predict the neurological effects of strokes. This essay explores theories on the origins of language put forward in Derek Bickerton’s Language & Species and…

The SCQ is happy to partake in the Week of Science initiative, and will have only textbook pieces for this particular week. If you need a breather, please take a moment to peruse our humour section. That should work nicely – – – The environment is a hot topic these days, with most people being aware of problems pertaining to global warming, air pollution, and/or loss of biodiversity. However, there is another problem that has been under the radar for quite some time; that is the challenge of sustainable agriculture. Whilst, the world’s population has been increasing at a fast…

The SCQ is happy to partake in the Week of Science initiative, and will have only textbook pieces for this particular week. If you need a breather, please take a moment to peruse our humour section. That should work nicely – – – DISCLAIMER: This article is intended to help readers understand the role of emergency contraceptive pills in pregnancy prevention, but not to encourage or discourage the use of this medication. Did you know that morning-after-pills can still be effective for pregnancy prevention if given within 5 days after unprotected intercourse? This, despite a name that seems to imply…

The SCQ is happy to partake in the Week of Science initiative, and will have only textbook pieces for this particular week. If you need a breather, please take a moment to peruse our humour section. That should work nicely – – – “Considering how dangerous everything is, nothing is really very frightening.” ~Gertrude Stein Roller coasters are the descendents of Russian ice sleds, which first appeared in the 16th and 17th centuries. These large contraptions were simply made of very long steep pieces of wood covered in ice. Riders would typically climb a 20 meters high hill and would…

The SCQ is happy to partake in the Week of Science initiative, and will have only textbook pieces for this particular week. If you need a breather, please take a moment to peruse our humour section. That should work nicely – – – INTRODUCTION The red algal Porphyra sp. is thought to be the single most important seaweed genus for providing food globally (Madlener 1977, Indergaard 1983, Kenicer et al. 2000). It is a common and conspicuous component of rocky intertidal habitats in temperate marine waters worldwide and is widely utilized by humans for its nutritional values nearly universally where…

The SCQ is happy to partake in the Week of Science initiative, and will have only textbook pieces for this particular week. If you need a breather, please take a moment to peruse our humour section. That should work nicely – – – INTRODUCTION The red algal Porphyra sp. is thought to be the single most important seaweed genus for providing food globally (Madlener 1977, Indergaard 1983, Kenicer et al. 2000). It is a common and conspicuous component of rocky intertidal habitats in temperate marine waters worldwide and is widely utilized by humans for its nutritional values nearly universally where…

The SCQ is happy to partake in the Week of Science initiative, and will have only textbook pieces for this particular week. If you need a breather, please take a moment to peruse our humour section. That should work nicely – – – Brief With the recent application of metagenomic techniques to wastewater treatment, the “black box” of enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) has been opened. Dirty limericks are included to illustrate some key points. The Solution to Pollution is Dilution: The Old School I once took a poo in a bucket It smelled and I wanted to chuck it…