Browse "Science & Technology"

For example, in British Columbia, the Coastal Western Hemlock Zone is one of 14 biogeoclimatic zones. It occupies high precipitation areas up to 1000 m elevation west of the coastal mountains from the Washington to Alaska borders and beyond.

Ecology is subdivided into 3 fields of study: autecology (relations of individual species or populations to their milieu), synecology (composition of living communities) and dynecology (processes of change in related communities).

Biological Oceanography is a branch of oceanography that studies living organisms (ie, the biota) in the sea in relation to their environments.

A biological product is a substance derived from a living organism and used for the prevention or treatment of disease. Biologicals are usually too complex for chemical synthesis by a laboratory. These products include antitoxins, bacterial and viral vaccines, blood products and hormone extracts.

Biological studies of individuals and groups of organisms can occur at various levels (eg, molecular, cellular, anatomical, functional, behavioural, ecological and evolutionary).

Biomass energy, or bioenergy, is the energy stored in biomass — that is, nonfossil organic materials such as wood, straw, vegetable oils and wastes from forestry, agriculture and industry, as well as municipal solid waste.

A biosphere reserve represents one of the world’s important ecosystems and is divided into three zones: a protected core zone (such as a park or wildlife area), a buffer zone around the core, and a transition zone that fosters sustainable economic and cultural activity. The World Network of Biosphere Reserves includes 686 sites around the world, 18 of which are in Canada. The network is part of the larger Man and the Biosphere Program of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Biosphere reserves are designated by UNESCO to help conserve biodiversity, demonstrate sustainable development and build the local community’s capacity to deal with human and environmental issues.

Biotechnology was defined by the 1981 Federal Task Force on Biotechnology (Brossard Committee) as the "utilization of biological processes, be they microbial, plant, animal cells or their constituents, for the provision of goods and services.

The birchbark canoe was the principal means of water transportation for Aboriginal peoples of the Eastern Woodlands, and later voyageurs, who used it extensively in the fur trade in Canada.

Birthing practices in Canada have been shaped by periods of distinct though overlapping emphasis. During the first third of the century, the chief preoccupation was the high maternal mortality associated with childbirth.

"IT'S THE CRIME of the century," 82-year-old Len Greenall says, his voice rising in passionate indignation. "It's an immoral invasion of bodily privacy." He's sitting at the dining room table of his Surrey, B.C.

One of the easiest ways to understand bitumen is to compare it to its cousin, conventional crude oil. Whereas conventional crude oil flows freely, bitumen does not. At room temperature it looks like cold molasses, and must be either heated or diluted before it flows.

A black hole is an object in outer space whose the gravitational field is so strong that no matter or light can escape. Astronomers believe such regions can form from the collapse of massive stars. Researchers at Canadian institutions have contributed to theories supporting the existence of black holes.

THERE are few things as mournful as a darkened, silent midway. So when the Canadian National Exhibition opened last week, Toronto as a whole took heart. The historic Aug.

IT TOOK just nine seconds to turn the clock back a century. A voltage fluctuation in some Ohio transmission lines. Then, at 4:11 p.m. n a muggy August Thursday, a faster-than-you-can-blink reversal in the flow of current, suddenly sucking away a city's worth of power from the eastern half of the continent.

All these workers practised a technology that came from the great French craft tradition; their highly skilled art derived from trade guild knowledge, instruction and scientific treatises.

There are approximately 836,000 visually impaired Canadians, although only a small number of them have been blind from birth.

In Canada the largest agency serving blind and visually impaired persons is The Canadian National Institute for the Blind. CNIB has 9 geographic service divisions with over 60 regional offices, and the CNIB Library for the Blind serves all areas of Canada.

According to medical lore, the ancient Incas were the first to attempt blood transfusions. And over the centuries doctors around the world have pumped everything from beer to urine into hemorrhaging patients.

Pretty well from the time our ancestors were living in caves, humans have been concerned with appearance.