Issue link: https://owlkids.uberflip.com/i/1516659
TEXT: JOHN CROSSINGHAM PHOTOS: HERSHEY COMPANY (REBECCA JUTKUS); DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY (BARRET KURYLYK). Rebecca and the Hershey's team show off sweets they've worked on. Barret monitors the health of the water by measuring nitrates, which can cause harmful algae blooms. OWL: You research groundwater. What is that? BARRET: If you take away frozen water (from glaciers and ice), most of the remaining fresh water is underground. About half of the water that makes its way to rivers and streams comes from groundwater. O: Wow! How does it get there? B: It comes from rainfall and melted snow. In Canada, underground water levels rise every April, May, or June. That's because as the snow thaws, the water percolates (seeps down) into the ground. O: Can you tell where that water will go? B: Water flow is very predictable. Using research and equations, we can create a computer model (3D map program) of an area to answer questions like, What happens if a hurricane goes by? What happens to water flow if the trees are cut down? We can predict how each event will impact water flow across an entire landscape! OWL: How did you get into food science? REBECCA: As a kid, I really liked science, but I was trying to figure out how to turn that into a job. Then I learned about food scientists—the people who create waffles and cake mixes and stuff like that. I thought that sounded really cool! O: Is your job just like a Willy Wonka adventure? R: A typical day involves various meetings with my team. We can have anywhere from 10 to 20 projects that we're working on at a time. But yes, there's a fun side to this job. Recently, we had a meeting where we had to try 15 different types of mints to find the best one for a new product! O: What is a lesser-known fact about candy science? R: There's a lot of science and engineering that goes into something as simple as a chocolate bar. You're trying to make sure every single one is the same, which requires a lot of accuracy and testing. TURN THE PAGE TO READ ABOUT MORE COOL CAREERS! > WHO: Barret Kurylyk WHERE: Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia WHAT: These scientists research the water cycle—how rain or snow goes from the atmosphere to the land, to bodies of water. Barret specializes in hydrogeology, which looks at how groundwater (underground water) connects to this cycle. HYDROLOGIST HYDROLOGIST Of all the usable freshwater in the world, about 97 percent of it is groundwater! DID YOU DID YOU KNOW? KNOW?