/oss/taxonomy/term/5213/all en /oss/article/medical-history/odysseus-snowdrop-odyssey <p>Circe was the sorceress in Greek mythology who drugged Odysseus’ crew to make them forget their homeland, then proceeded to turn the men into swine. When Odysseus set out to rescue his crew, he protected himself with an antidote derived from the snowdrop flower. Myths often have some basis in fact as this same antidote is being studied today as a possible treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.</p> Wed, 14 Sep 2022 10:00:00 +0000 Joe Schwarcz Phd 9234 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking/impossible-crime-unless-you-know-about-chimeras <p>It seemed like an impossibility. After all, DNA doesn’t lie.</p> <p>The setting is Alaska. A serious sexual assault has been committed and investigators are trying to find out who the perpetrator is. The evidence they have is sperm, which famously contains DNA.</p> <p>When the extracted DNA is compared to the criminal justice DNA database, a match is found to a blood sample that was taken from a known criminal. Case closed, right?</p> <p>Except that when the sexual assault took place, this known criminal was behind bars.</p> Thu, 26 May 2022 23:17:25 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9123 at /oss /oss/article/history-general-science/tryst-amethyst <p>An attractive amethyst geode sits on my desk. Geodes are rocks with an internal cavity that is filled with crystals of a mineral. In the case of amethyst that mineral is quartz, tainted with iron and manganese impurities that colour it an eye-catching purple. The geode has no function except to satisfy my, some would say peculiar, passion for collecting objects that have stories to tell. With “amethyst” the story is about its name, derived from the Greek for “wine” and traces to an ancient belief that wine-coloured crystals can ward off drunkenness.</p> Tue, 23 Feb 2021 22:47:33 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8629 at /oss