Browse "Science & Technology"

A doctor's diagnosis can land like a punch in the solar plexus: you have Parkinson's disease. Chronic, progressive and incurable. In the life-altering reverberations that follow come the questions.This article was originally published in Maclean's Magazine on April 29, 2002

A patent applies to an invention that is determined to be new, useful and inventive. A patent provides an inventor with the exclusive right to make, use or sell their invention for a certain number of years. When a patent expires, the invention becomes public property. (See also Intellectual Property; Inventors and Innovations.)

The peavey is a lever for handling logs It was designed in 1858 and named after its inventor Joseph Peavey, who was a Maine blacksmith. The peavey, which is a refinement of the earlier cant hook, greatly facilitated the down

Pediatrics is that branch of MEDICINE concerned with the child, its development, care and diseases.

This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on June 2, 1997. Partner content is not updated. Islanders had never seen anything quite like it. On July 13, 1995, the world's largest floating crane, known as the Svanen, arrived off the coast of Prince Edward Island for work on the $1-billion bridge that has finally linked the province to mainland Canada.

The petrochemical industry, which produces chemicals using OIL AND NATURAL GAS as major raw materials, occupies an important position in Canada's MANUFACTURING and consuming sectors. Oil and natural gas are composed primarily of hydrocarbons. Most petrochemicals contain hydrogen or carbon or both.

Since its first commercial exploitation in the 1850s, petroleum has become the major energy source of Canada and the industrial world.

People did not start drilling for buried petroleum until the middle of the 19th century, though its existence had been known for centuries.

Petroleum industries find, produce, process, transport, refine and market petroleum commodities.

Research has always been the backbone of the petroleum industry. Bringing crude oil, bitumen or natural gas to the surface presents major technological problems and, once recovered, there is little use for the resource in its raw state.

The pharmaceutical industry involves companies that research, create, market and sell both generic and brand-name drugs.

Pharmacy is the act or practice of preparing, preserving, compounding and dispensing drugs. Louis HÉBERT, one of the first settlers of New France, was a pharmacist from Paris.

Human biological history is most directly told by the fossil record. Although early hominid remains (fossils in the human line) are not found in the Western Hemisphere, Canadians have contributed significantly to paleontology.

Kinesiology, a branch of the educational curricula of every province in Canada which originated with a variety of forms of activity and concepts such as drill, calisthenics, gymnastics, physical training and physical culture.

Physicians for Global Survival (Canada) (originally Physicians for Social Responsibility) is a voluntary nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention of nuclear war. It came into being largely as the result of the efforts of the founding president, Dr Frank Sommers.