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The stories behind the science

Brought to you by Ingenium – Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation

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A composite image of a clog hanging out of a wastewater pipe, a caribou with antlers, and a lightning storm over a city.

3 things you should know about antlers, what you should be flushing down the toilet, and electron rain

Three images, side by side. From left to right: many spices and spice-filled spoons on a black surface, a crouching man with pen and notebook in hand, lunar craters of varying sizes.

3 things you should know about naming new animal species, the secrets hiding in lunar shadows, and possible new beneficial uses for spices

A composite image of a herd of cows staring at the camera and an excavator sitting on a landfill

2 things you should know about methane reduction and landfill engineering

Three images side by side: cluster of coppery beetles devouring a rose flower, colours showing gravity variations of the Earth, and four yellow and one white synthetic diamonds.

3 Things you should know about geoid models of Earth’s variable gravity, harmful invasive insect species, and synthetic diamonds

Several exhibition display cases, panels, and screens in a large, brightly-lit air hangar-style room with a high ceiling and tall, exposed metal walls.

Diane Pitre and Steven P. Deschamps’ LGBT Purge Stories Told at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum

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3 Things you should know about new energy technologies, human-influenced mineral formation, and the versatile uses of mushrooms

Three images, side by side. From left to right: a group of piglets, a view of the Earth from space, a person kneeling in front of bags of soil

3 things you should know about pig to human organ transplants, the shape of the Earth, and fertilizers

Three images side by side: potato sprouts, the northern lights, and asbestos fibres on a rock sample

3 things you should know about asbestos, potatoes, and the Aurora Borealis

On the left, an astronaut in a mask holding a wrench, in the middle a tracter in a field, and on the right a poop emoji.

3 things you should know about pooping in space, the science behind the colour of your poop, and how our poop helps grow our crops

Close-up of Whitlock Automatic Harp in collections storage. Details show strings pulled across a wooden soundboard, encased behind a glass cabinet and framed by an ornate wooden cabinet.

“Mystery Music”: Digital Strategies for Collections Research

Display at the Canada Science and Technology Museum showing the different technology found on the smartphone.

Exploring the Born-Digital: An Archaeological Approach to Collections Research

The flock of sheep at Fiola Farm grazes in the meadow. Some sheep stand, while others lie in the shade.

Wool in the Pembina Fibreshed

The Channel

From the Channel

A typical advertisement from soft drink producer Christin Limitée of Montréal, Québec. Anon., “Christin Limitée.” La Presse, 26 March 1949, 52.

Business & Economics

“Like our ancestors the Normans, let us drink cider!” A brief overview of the history of Christin Limitée, a Québec soft drink producer which lasted for more than a century, under various names, Part 1

Rénald Fortier

Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation

Welcome you to our virtual meeting place, my reading friend. Right off the bat, yours truly must admit that I am not a fan of the type of product at the heart of the peroration about which I am going to type to you this week. While it is true that I consumed soft drinks in my distant youth, at a time when dinosaurs were still pounding the ground of our big blue marble, it is equally true that I have not absorbed that type of junk food for a great many years. However, I must admit to having a

The Bollée Voiturette which completed the Paris-Marseille-Paris race of October 1896. Anon., Paris-Marseille-Paris (1711 kilomètres) – Course de voitures automobiles organisée par l’automobile-club de France. (Paris: Publications du journal Le Génie Civil, 1896), 49.

A brief portrait of a dynamic duo of dentists from Québec, Québec, Henri Edmond Casgrain and Marie Wilhelmine Emma Casgrain, born Gaudreau, during the Belle Époque – and a little something on their first horseless carriage, a Bollée Voiturette, part 3

Rénald Fortier

Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation

Hello, my assiduous reading friend. As promised, here is the 3rd and final part of this article, a part during which yours truly will conclude the fascinating story of the Bollée Voiturette designed by the French automobile pioneer Léon Auguste Antoine Bollée. The first competition in which said Voiturette, a quartet of Voiturettes in fact, seemed to participate was the Course de voitures automobiles Paris-Marseille-Paris which was held in France, obviously, in September and October 1896. The

3 things you should know about the science of making delectable chocolate, how fevers help fight infections, and how Canadian scientists are studying material from the asteroid Bennu

Renée-Claude Goulet

Canada Agriculture and Food Museum

Meet Renée-Claude Goulet, Cassandra Marion, and Michelle Campbell Mekarski. They are Ingenium’s science advisors, providing expert scientific advice on key subjects relating to the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, and the Canada Science and Technology Museum. In this colourful monthly blog series, Ingenium’s science advisors offer up three quirky nuggets related to their areas of expertise. For the March edition, they tell us how making appetizing

Léon Auguste Antoine Bollée and a young woman aboard a typical Bollée Voiturette, circa 1896. Max de Nansouty, Chemins de fer – Automobiles (Merveilles de la Science, 5) (Paris: Ancienne Librairie Furne, 1913), 43.

Road Transportation

A brief portrait of a dynamic duo of dentists from Québec, Québec, Henri Edmond Casgrain and Marie Wilhelmine Emma Casgrain, born Gaudreau, during the Belle Époque – and a little something on their first horseless carriage, a Bollée Voiturette, part 2

Rénald Fortier

Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation

Hello again, my reading friend and welcome to this 2nd part of our article on a dynamic duo of dentists from Québec, Québec, during the Belle Époque, a 2nd part in which the names of Henri Edmond Casgrain and Marie Wilhelmine Emma Casgrain, born Gaudreau, will be mentioned very rarely. After all, yours truly had mentioned to you my intention to satisfy your desire to know more about the Bollée Voiturette.

Henri Edmond Casgrain and Marie Wilhelmine Emma Casgrain, née Gaudreau, enjoying a winter ride in their modified Bollée Voiturette horseless carriage. Anon., “Blätter und Blüten – Ein motorschlitten.” Die Gartenlaube, 14 February 1899, 98.

A brief portrait of a dynamic duo of dentists from Québec, Québec, Henri Edmond Casgrain and Marie Wilhelmine Emma Casgrain, born Gaudreau, during the Belle Époque – and a little something on their first horseless carriage, a Bollée Voiturette, part 1

Rénald Fortier

Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation

Guten Morgen, mein Lesefreund. Wie geht’s? Would you like to join me on a quick jaunt down the yellow brick road of memory lane to a beer garden near you? […] Wunderbar! We will have to postpone that for another day, however. It was in fact towards a Québec counterpart of a Parisian bistro from the Belle Époque that we will have a bite today. Besides, a beer garden in February, are you nuts? However, it was not every day that an engraving showing a Québec couple from said Belle Époque, a period

An advertisement of Maple Leaf Milling Company Limited of Winnipeg, Manitoba, for Red River Cereal. Anon., “Maple Leaf Milling Company Limited.” Nor’-West Farmer, 20 February 1929, 35.

Canadians either adore Red River hot breakfast cereal or have never heard of it: The crunchy saga of a quintessentially Canadian food item

Rénald Fortier

Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation

Do you often prepare yourself a bowl of hot cereal for breakfast, my eating, err, my reading friend? Yours truly must admit I never developed a taste for that food item. Even so, I shall entertain you today, I hope, with the tale of an iconic, or so I am told, Canadian hot breakfast cereal. The saga of Red River Cereal began in April 1887, in the village of Teeswater, Ontario, with the birth of Gertrude Edna “Gert / Gertie” Skilling. The early years of that bright child were quite typical. After

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3 things you should know about the science behind the diversity of Canada's winter precipitation, the April 2024 solar eclipse and how to safely watch it, and how the new methods of bioponics can make hydroponic agriculture organic

Michelle Campbell Mekarski, PhD

Canada Science and Technology Museum

For the February edition, they tell us why there are so many different forms of winter precipitation in much of Canada, how solar eclipses come about and why safety comes first when observing them, and how a new form of agriculture called bioponics makes organic certification of hydroponics possible.

The Albertan Blériot Type XI after its cross-Channel flight, Aéroport de Calais, near Marck, France, July 1955. Frank H. Ellis, “Fabriquée par des étudiants de Calgary… Une réplique de l’avion de Blériot a franchi la Manche illégalement.” Technique pour tous, November 1958, 14.

“Looks Like An Animated Pipewrench,” but it flew 70 years, 2 months and 6 days ago; Or, How a Blériot Type XI made in Alberta performed an illegal 1 hour and 40 minute return flight from Calais to Dover in July 1955, part 3

Rénald Fortier

Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation

Welcome, welcome, my reading friend. Let us conclude without any further ado the saga of the Alberta-made Blériot Type XI which performed an illegal 1 hour and 40 minute return flight from Calais, France, to Dover, England, in July 1955. Three days after the successful flight between France and England made on 28 July 1955 by the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Salis, Jean Henri Brion Chopin de La Bruyère, co-owner of that aircraft, was ready to make his own crossing. And yes, he had re-assembled the

Businessmen partners Alastair Auld Mactaggart, on the left, and Jean Henri Brion Chopin de La Bruyère discussing the July 1955 flight across the Channel, Edmonton, Alberta. Anon., “City Pilot Plans Fly Channel In Copy of Bleriot’s Plane.” The Edmonton Journal, 17 May 1955, 1.

“Looks Like An Animated Pipewrench,” but it flew 70 years, 2 months and 6 days ago; Or, How a Blériot Type XI made in Alberta performed an illegal 1 hour and 40 minute return flight from Calais to Dover in July 1955, part 2

Rénald Fortier

Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation

As predicted in the 1550s by the world-famous French apothecary / astrologer / author / physician Michel de Nostredame, you came back, my reading friend, and… No, yours truly does not believe in astrology. Astrology is utter nonsense and pure hogwash. My horoscope told me so. I used that introduction to this second part of our article on the Blériot Type XI aircraft constructed in Calgary, Alberta, in 1952-53, by students of the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art (PITA), because I could

Some photographs of the Blériot Type XI completed in Calgary, Alberta, in 1953, and one of its pilot, David Franz McTavish. Anon., “Technical Students in Calgary… and a Commercial Pilot Reconstruct and Fly the Bleriot 11.” Canadian Aviation, February 1954, 21.

“Looks Like An Animated Pipewrench,” but it flew 70 years, 2 months and 6 days ago; Or, How a Blériot Type XI made in Alberta performed an illegal 1 hour and 40 minute return flight from Calais to Dover in July 1955, part 1

Rénald Fortier

Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation

Are you an aviation enthusiast, my reading friend? Yes? No? Actually, who cares. Yours truly is of the opinion that even people who do not give a rodent’s posterior about aviation might stick around long enough to read this week’s pontification in its verbose entirety. Shall we begin? Our story began in Calgary, Alberta, at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art (PITA), at some points in the mid to late 1940s, if not earlier. The British Canadian gentleman in charge of the workshops of

Alt-text to be added

3 things you should know about gene editing to cure disease, how biofuels can reduce aircraft carbon emissions, and the potential for robots to replace farm tractors

Renée-Claude Goulet

Canada Agriculture and Food Museum

January edition, Ingenium's science advisors provide context around the latest developments in a genetic treatment for sickle cell disease, how sustainable aviation fuels reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and how autonomous robots may someday replace traditional farm tractors.

2 things you should know about methane reduction and landfill engineering

Michelle Campbell Mekarski, PhD

Canada Science and Technology Museum

Back and front view of the vegetable dehydration plant of Ferdon Limitée in Laprairie / La Prairie, Québec. J.B. Roy, “La déshydratation des légumes.” Le Bulletin des Agriculteurs, January 1946, 8.

“You know how to dry cabbage the way you do it at home?” La Société Ferdon Enregistrée / Ferdon Limitée of Laprairie / La Prairie, Québec, the first vegetable dehydration plant of the Belle Province, part 2

Rénald Fortier

Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation

Welcome aboard, my reading friend! I dare to hope that all is well with you. Many people are not so lucky. If you have no objection, yours truly would like to begin this second part of our article on the first vegetable dehydration plant in Québec with added information concerning the photograph you have just seen. The gentleman whose photograph was / is in the upper left corner of said photograph was the managing director of Ferdon Limitée, initially La Société Ferdon Enregistrée de Laprairie /

Back view of the first vegetable dehydration plant in Québec, La Société Ferdon Enregistré of Laprairie / La Prairie, Québec. Pellerin Lagloire, “Déshydratation.” Le Bulletin des Agriculteurs, January 1944, 15.

“You know how to dry cabbage the way you do it at home?” La Société Ferdon Enregistrée / Ferdon Limitée of Laprairie / La Prairie, Québec, the first vegetable dehydration plant of the Belle Province, part 1

Rénald Fortier

Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation

Are you feeling a bit peckish at the moment, my reading friend? That happened to me very often a little before the mid-1980s, after a day spent in the library of an institution of high learning mentioned many times in our blog / bulletin / thingee since December 2018, McGill University, in Montréal, Québec, if I remember correctly. Human memory is indeed a faculty that forgets, or even a faculty which can sometimes remember events that never took place, but back to my peckishness of the 1980s

William C. Horgan with his still incomplete multi-wing ornithopter, the Chicago Bird, Chicago, Illinois. Anon., “Inventor Builds Flying Machine Near Garfield Park.” The Inter Ocean – Magazine, 11 May 1902, 7.

Sorry, but no, the Wright brothers did not really invent the airplane: An all too brief overview of the piloted powered heavier than air flying machines fabricated and / or tested before 17 December 1903, part 4

Rénald Fortier

Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation

Bonjour, ami(e) lectrice ou lecteur, hello, my reading friend, and welcome to the 4th and final part of our all too brief overview of the piloted powered heavier than air flying machines fabricated and / or tested before 17 December 1903. Let us begin.

Percy Sinclair Pilcher, circa 1899. Anon., “Todtenschau – Pilcher’s Tod.” Illustrirte Aëronautische Mittheilungen, January 1900, 22.

Sorry, but no, the Wright brothers did not really invent the airplane: An all too brief overview of the piloted powered heavier than air flying machines fabricated and / or tested before 17 December 1903, part 3

Rénald Fortier

Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation

Greetings, my reading friend, and welcome back to our all too brief overview of powered and piloted flight before the Wright brothers. It is with sadness I begin this third part of our saga. You see, the story we are about to look into did not end well. Percy Sinclair Pilcher (1867-99) was an English engineer / university lecturer who completed a triplane powered by a gasoline engine in the late summer of 1899. The design of that aeroplane was based on experience derived from a series of 4 very

Hiram Stevens Maxim. J. Bucknall Smith, “Some Features of the Inventive Career of Hiram S. Maxim.” Cassier’s Magazine, April 1895, 434.

Sorry, but no, the Wright brothers did not really invent the airplane: An all too brief overview of the piloted powered heavier than air flying machines fabricated and / or tested before 17 December 1903, part 2

Rénald Fortier

Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation

Good morning, afternoon or evening, my reading friend. I hope you are well. Not everyone has that chance. Would I be correct in assuming that you are ready and eager to renew our acquaintance with the individuals who fabricated and / or tested piloted powered heavier than air flying machines before 17 December 1903? […] Wunderbar! Let us initiate this second part of our quest more or less when we finished the first part of this mind-blowing article, in other words at the end of the 19th century

Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright. Anon., “Les Frères Wright et leur Aéroplane à moteur.” L’Aérophile, December 1905, 265.

Sorry, but no, the Wright brothers did not really invent the airplane: An all too brief overview of the piloted powered heavier than air flying machines fabricated and / or tested before 17 December 1903, part 1

Rénald Fortier

Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation

Why such a look of surprise, my easily confused reading friend? You thought that yours truly had forgotten the 120th anniversary of the first controlled and sustained flight of a piloted powered aeroplane, on 17 December 1903, did you not? Yes, you did. Do not deny it. Your ears twitch when you fib. Actually, if yours truly may be permitted to play devil’s advocate, given the winds which blew at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in December 1903, a winged anvil or Steve the kākāpō would have taken to

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