What is Nitrogen Blanketing? Nitrogen (N2) blanketing is a process by which nitrogen is added to fill the headspace (the area between the fill line of a tank’s contents and the top of the storage vessel) to eliminate oxygen and moisture from storage tanks. Nitrogen is commonly used to blanket due to its extremely low […]
Overview On January 31, 2020, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) declared a public health emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shortly thereafter, hand sanitizer began to disappear from U.S. retailers’ shelves, as anxious consumers (and, unfortunately, opportunistic hoarders and resellers as well) swept up all available stock. In the ensuing months, traditional […]
Overview Personal protection equipment (“PPE”)includes the gloves, gowns, N95 respiratory masks, and other items required by doctors, nurses, and other healthcare personnel responsible for treating patients, including those suffering from infectious diseases. As has become evident in the current COVID-19 emergency affecting the globe, during a crisis, these critical items may not always be available […]
Overview In March 2018, at two separate fertility clinics, one in Cleveland and the other in San Francisco, the cryogenic tanks storing eggs and embryos malfunctioned, resulting in devastating losses for couples hoping to conceive children. Nationwide, as of December 2019, there were more than 440 sites that store embryos or eggs in specialized storage […]
Overview How about meat without involving animals? Move over, veggie burgers; food companies such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, among others, have created plant-based meats that smell, taste, and look (imagine a thick, juicy hamburger) like the real thing. Unlike traditional veggie burgers, made from soy and bean paste, which have been marketed primarily […]
In 1996, California passed Proposition 215, making it the first of many states to ultimately legalize medical cannabis; as of January 2020, an additional 32 states and the District of Columbia have also made medical cannabis legal. Additionally, recreational use of cannabis is now legal in 11 states and is decriminalized in many others. Cannabis legalization […]
Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe and used across a variety of industries. Valued for more than simply filling party balloons, helium is of critical importance in many commercial applications, including high-tech, automotive, healthcare, and aerospace. Helium Uses For instance, the manufacture of fiber optics requires an all-helium environment to prevent […]
Frozen foods first became commercially viable in the 1930s, thanks in large part to Clarence Birdseye. He is credited with inventing the double-belt freezer, the forerunner to modern quick-freeze technology, which includes the tunnel freezers used by most major food processors in North America. Frozen foods offer many benefits to today’s busy consumers, including convenience; […]
Criminalization of cannabis cultivation and consumption in the United States began with prohibition by certain states in the early 20th century (between 1911 and 1933, some 29 states banned the cultivation and/or use of cannabis), with the first significant nationwide federal restrictions implemented under the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. More recently, just as the […]
