September
13,
1990
September6,
1990
Vol.
9.
No.
2
tf
CANADIAN
SCIENCE
Executive
Editor:
Lydia
Dotto
Managing
Editor:
John
Holt
ISSN
0712-488
Published
by:
Canadian
Science
News
Service,
Room
H-02,
University
College,
University
ol
Toronto,
Toronto,
Ont.
M5S
1
A1
(416)
595-7153
Canadian
Scienpe
News
Service
acknowledges
a
grant
from
the
Science
Culture
Canada
Program
Old
pollen
Two
samples
of
species
of
pollen
that
became
extinct
at
the
time
or
the
chunge
between
the
Cretaceous
and
Tertiary
periods,
the
time
when
It
appears
some
catastrophe
wiped
out
the
dinosaurs.
(Dr.
A.
Sweet,
GSC)
By
John
Eberlee
A
Calgary
geologist
studying
ancient
pollen
fossils
believes
there
was
more
to
the
disappearance
of
the
dinosaurs
than
simply
a
large
rock
falling
to
Earth.
Some
scientists
suggest
that
the
extinction
of
the
dinosaurs
65
million
Old
stream
By
Lorraine
Brown
A
scientist
with
the
Ontario
Ministry
of
Environment
in
Dorset,
Ontario,
has
rediscovered
studies
done
50
years
ago
on
populations
of
stream
flies
in
two
streams
in
Algonquin
Park.
Process
recycles
printing
ink,
helps
solve
pressing
problem
By
Lorraine
Brown
A
recycling
company
in
Owen
Sound,
Ontario
has
developed
a
portable
system
to
recycle
printers'
ink.
Proactive
Recycling's
system
filters
and
cleans
waste
ink
so
that
it
can
be
re-used,
lowering
printing
costs
and
greatly
reducing
the
expensive
problem
of
disposal
of
this
relatively
unknown
liquid
hazardous
waste.
Proactive
is
recycling
ink
for
a
large
offset
press
in
Scarborough
and
several
smaller
printing
houses
and
newspapers
in
western
Ontario.
They
are
aiso
testing
their
equipment
with
Maclean
Hunter
in
Toronto
and
other
large
printing
companies
in
southern
Ontario.
j
About
three
per
cent
of
the
ink
used
jn
printing
is
lost.
Fibres
from
the
paper,
especially
newsprint,
get
into
the
"fountains'
which
dispense
the
ink
onto
the
press.
When
the
fountains
become
clogged,
the
printing
operation
is
stopped;
the
thick
mixture
of
ink
and
paper
fibre
is
cleaned
from
the
fountains;
then
printing
resumes.
,
Large
presses
such
as
those
of
Canada's
major
newspapers
and
printers
can
produce
a
200-litre
drum
of
waste
ink
a
day.
A
few
large
printing
companies
have
recently
been
attempting
to
start
up
their
own
recycling
operations,
but
in
most
cases
the
ink
is
trucked
away,
solidified
by
She
addition
of
ash,
then
buried
in
Special
landfill
sites,
j
The
disposal
of
waste
ink
costs
Snore
per
litre
than
virgin
ink
-
S300-5400
for
each
200-litre
drum
of
waste
ink.
There
are
also
environmental
costs:
the
long-term
effects
of
putting
hazardous
materials
in
landfill
sites
are
still
not
understood.
There
are
also
potential
environmental
dangers
involved
in
transporting
the
hazardous
waste.
"Waste
printers'
ink
is
our
raw
material.
With
our
process,
a
hazardous
waste
becomes
a
good,
usable
product,"
says
Bert
Wakcford,
sheds
new
light
on
dinosaur
extinction
SMS-''
s'&t?tE3BS9Zili&-
years
ago
was
caused
by
a
collision
between
the
Earth
and
a
large
asteroid
(perhaps
10
kilometres
in
diameter).
According
to
this
theory,
sudden
climatic
changes
brought
on
by
such
an
event
would
have
been
sufficient
to
wipe
out
most,
if
not
all,
large
animals.
studies
help
new
acid
rain
research
The
50-year-old
research
provides
important
baseline
data
on
stream
fly
populations
from
an
era
when
acid
rain
was
not
a
problem,
says
Dr.
Ron
Hall.
It
also
confirms
what
his
own
experimental
work
has
shown:
in
the
one
of
three
Owen
Sound
men
who
started
the
company
in
1989.
The
new
portable
system
-
one
of
only
two
in
North
America
-
is
set
up
in
a
truck,
which
can
park
in
a
printing
plant's
loading
Tiay.
Drums
of
waste
ink
from
the
plant
are
brought
into
the
truck.
There,
the
ink
is
heated
to
improve
its
ability
to
flow,
then
forced
by
a
pump
through
a
series
of
filters.
The
resulting
recycled
ink
is
virtually
free
of
contamination,
and
can
be
re-used
at
the
plant.
The
small
amount
of
contaminant,
mainly
paper
fibres,
is
a
non-hazardous
waste
that
can
be
disposed
of
along
with
other
was.tcs
from
the
plant.
Printers
tend
to
be
conservative,
and
question
the
new
technology.
But
once
Wakeford,
an
accountant,
points
out
the
savings,
they
become
interested.
By
recycling
rather
than
disposing
of
waste
ink,
the
printer
can
save
from
40
to
60
per
cent
of
the
cost
of
ink
disposal.
Giant
'tent'
to
shelter
shuttle
A
giant
tent,
developed
by
a
Canadian
firm,
is
on
standby
to
protect
the
U.
S.
space
shuttle
if
it's
forced
by
emergency
to
land
off
course.
Sprung
Instant
Structures
Ltd.
of
Calgary
clinched
the
contract,
the
biggest
awarded
in
Western
Canada
by
NASA,
after
competing
against
bidders
from
around
the
world.
The
massive
portable
structure,
11
storeys
high
and
the
length
of
a
football
field,
Is
the
result
of
years
of
research
by
Sprung,
a
100-year-old
family
firm
specializing
in
supersized
tents.
The
shuttle
tent
is
loaded
in
containers
at
John
F.
Kennedy
Space
Center
in
Florida
ready
to
be
flown
to
any
one
of
the
shuttle's
60
designated
landing
sites,
around
the
world.
With
Telltale
evidence
throughout
the
geological
record
confirms
that
an
asteroid
collided
with
Earth,
says
Dr.
Art
Sweet
of
the
Geological
Survey
of
Canada's
Institute
of
Sedimentary
and
Petroleum
Geology.
He
explains
that
"shocked
quartz",
a
deformed
mineral
caused
by
massive
impact
or
explosions,
can
be
found
where
there
are
65
-million-year-old
rocks.
However,
this
sudden
catastrophe
may
not
be
the
whole
story,
says
Sweet.
His
research
on
pollen
fossils
suggests
the
environment
began
to
change
adversely
long
before
the
asteroid
struck
Earth.
Specifically,
his
research
shows
a
gradual
reduction
in
the
abundance
of
insect-pollinated
plants
during
the
thousands
of
years
leading
up
to
the
collision.
"We
saw
the
number
of
insect-borne
pollen
grains
decline
from
roughly
10
grains
per
10,000
to
about
2
grains
per
10,000."
Sweet
says
the
bulk
of
the
pollen
they
observed
was
wind-blown.
He
adds
that
it's
easier
to
estimate
the
numbers
of
insect-pollinated
plants
intervening
50
years,
acid-sensitive
species
left
the
stream,
and
acid-tolerant
species,
including
blackflies,
moved
in.
Hall
discovered
the
research,
done
by
Professor
Frederic
Ide
and
William
Besides
the
environmental
benefits,
the
system
could
also
result
in
highcr-quality
printing.
"Once
a
printer
realizes
that
they
will
not
have
to
pay
the
disposal
costs
for
waste
ink,
they.
are
much
more
likely
to
clean
the
fountains
more
often,"
said
Wakeford.
"The
more
frequently
the
fountains
are
cleaned,
the
higher-quality
the
printing
will
be,
and
high
quality
is
very
important
to
printers."
Proactive
has
recently
been
approved
for
a
grant
from
the
Ministry
of
Environment's
Industrial
4Rs
Initiatives
Program.
To
qualify,
they
had
to
fulfill
the
four
critet
a
of
recovery,
reduction,
recyclii
and
reuse.
Since
they
recover
100
per
cent
of
the
waste,
ink,
turning
it
into
a
reusable
product
through
recycling,
and
creating
a
95
per
cent
reduction
in
liquid
hazardous
waste,
the
company
qualified
on
all
four
criteria.
(Canadian
Science
News)
aluminum
'ribs'
and
a
weatherproof
synthetic
covering,
the
shelter
could
be
erected
in
10
days.
The
shuttle
could
be
lowed
inside
and
huge
doors,
on
motorized
wheels,
can
be
closed
to
protect
it
from
rain,
wind
and
dust
and
from
sightseers.
In
order
to
prevent
the
interior's
being
contaminated
by
dust,
NASA
requires
that
the
shuttle
cargo
bay
doors
can
be
opened
only
in
a
controlled
environment,
such
as
that
provided
by
the
Sprung
structure.
Several
of
the
Sprung
structures
were
used
to
provide
temporary
accommodation
for
businesses
in
Santa
Cruz
after
the
1989
Califomian
earthquake.
(Canadian
Science
News)
because
each
individual
produces
far
fewer
pollen
grains
than
do
their
wind-pollinated
cousins.
As
well,
insect-borne
pollen
is
easier
to
identify
under
a
microscope
-
it
is
usually
more
complex
in
shape
and
structure
than
windblown
pollen.
His
evidence
doesn't
indicate
that
insect-pollinated
plant
species
were
becoming
extinct
before
the
asteroid
hit
Earth,
but
it
does
suggest
"they
were
endangered.
Their
environment
was
probably
under
stress,"
speculates
Sweet.
Precisely
what
the
stresses
were
is
still
unclear.
There
could
have
been
any
number
of
atmospheric,
climatic
or
oceanic
changes.
Sweet
figures
anything
thai
affected
insect-pollinated
plants
must
have
also
affected
the
dinosaurs.
Perhaps
ongoing
environmental
changes
made
the
dinosaurs
more
vulnerable
to
extinction,
he
suggests.
(Canadian
Science
News)
Two
more
fossil
pollens.
The
one
on
the
left
became
extinct
at
the
boundary
between
the
Cretaceous
and
Tertiary
periods,
the
other
survived
for
a
short
time
but
then
also
disappeared.
(Photo
by:
Dr.
A.
Sweet,
GSC)
Sprules
of
the
University
of
Toronto,
while
looking
through
old
reports
in
the
U
of
Ts
archives.
He
contacted
Professor
Ide,
who
is
now
in
his
80s,
and
discovered
that
Ide
had
several
years
more
worth
of
data,
original
collecting
equipment
and
photos
of
the
research
stored
away
in
his
basement.
"The
research
was
meticulous,"
says
Hall.
"They
collected
and
recorded
daily,
from
1937
to
1942.
They
even
collected
specimens
which
we
were
able
to
track
down
in
the
Royal
Ontario
Museum
to
confirm
that
the
species,
whose
scientific
names
hevc
been
changed,
were
exactly
the
same
as
the
ones
we
are
studying
today."
In
the
1940s,
the
researchers
were
interested
in
stream
insects,
including
stoneflies,
mayflies,
and
blackflies,
as
food
sources
for
game
fish.
They
studied
contents
of
fish
stomachs
at
different
times
of
day,
and
kept
track
of
the
effects
of
temperature
changes
on
the
insects'
emergence
patterns.
They
wanted
to
determine
ways
to
make
streams
more
productive
for
fish.
While
their
research
had
nothing
to
do
with
levels
of
acidity,
it
still
provided
valuable
data
on
stream
populations
that
can
be
used
in
acidity
studies
today.
Until
he
found
Idc's
reports.
Hall,
who
has
been
studying
the
effects
of
Now
this
shows
acidification
on
stream
flics
for
13
years,
had
had
to
infer
what
the
effects
of
acidification
were,
by
comparing
areas
with
high
acidity
to
those
with
low
acidity.
"I
have
done
work
across
a
'spatial
"gradient',
going
from
high
acidity
in
New
Hampshire
and
the
Adirondack
to
a
very
low
acidity
in
Kcnora,
to
put
together
a
story
about
the
impacts
of
acidification
on
invertebrates,"
he
says.
Moving
across
this
acidity
gradient.
Hall
developed
lists
of
acid-sensitive
and
acid-tolerant
species.
However,
acid
rain
researchers
have
not
had
any
'temporal
data'
data
from
one
site
over
a
long
period
of
time,
he
says.
The
old
research
reports,
compared
with
a
similar
study
done
today,
provide
the
first
good
temporal
data
on
effects
of
acidification.
Hall
repeated
the
1940s
study
as
exactly
as
he
could,
and
found
that
the
results
corroborated
his
own
experimental
research
on
effects
of
acidification
on
stream
flies.
Species
that
were
acid-sensitive
were
found
in
the
streams
jn
the
1940s,
but
not
today.
Acid-tolerant
species
did
not
exist
in
the
streams
in
the
1940s,
but
thrive
there
now.
Hall's
research
is
funded
by
the
Ontario
Ministry
of
Environment.
(Canadian
Science
News)
some
backbone!
Picture
of
a
section
of
the
spine
produced
by
the
CAMRA
system,
a
medical
Imaging
system
that
combines
series
of
x-ray
or
CATscan
pictures,
to
produce
a
3-D
Image
that
can
be
routed,
cross-sectioned
etc.
to
aid
doctors
In
diagnosis
or
treatment
(Photo
courtesy
ISG
Technologies
Ltd.)
(Canadian
Science
News)