How 17th Century Fraud Gave Rise To Bright Orange Cheese

Kraft, that behemoth of a food company, announced a few weeks ago they were removing two artificial dyes in some versions of its macaroni and cheese products. Why did we start coloring cheeses orange to begin with?

This week, a look at the curious history here of coloring cheese.

TTFN, Fred. 

Quote of the week: "Christmas Time is here again, Ain't been round since you know when..." - The Beatles, "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)" (Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey)

   How 17th Century Fraud Gave Rise to Bright Orange Cheese by fredwine

7 Foods That Won’t Be the Same If Trans Fats Are Banned

Last month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it is moving toward significantly limiting–more or less banning–trans fats from foods in the US.  The agency decided that trans fats are not safe for human health, and shouldn’t be in foods we eat.

Many companies have already rid their foods of trans fats, and New York City even banned trans fat from restaurant food in 2006.

This week, a look at foods that rely on trans fats and some predictions from industry experts about how these foods will change.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "If the sun has faded away, I'll try to make it shine." - The Beatles, "Any Time At All" (Lennon-McCartney)

   7 Foods That Won’t Be the Same If Trans Fats Are Banned by fredwine

The Surprising History of the Pencil

"Take out your No. 2 pencils for Iowa Test of Basic Skills."  There are many things about grade school that no longer haunt me, but a call for pencils will make my stomach churn in a flash.  Rigidly timed, complicated instructions and inflexible rules made standardized test taking very different from normal classroom life.  And while it was not the cause of the anxiety, the No. 2 yellow pencil, the easily remembered visual associated with those tests, gets the blame. 

This week, a look at the history of the pencil.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Take a sad song and make it better." – The Beatles, "Hey Jude" (Lennon-McCartney)

   The Surprising History of the Pencil by fredwine

Molasses and Sharks

Imagine a jar of molasses...24 ounces of sticky goodness.  Now multiply that by 1.19 million and you will have how much molasses was spilled into the waters off of Hawaii: 223,000 gallons.  The spill has killed thousands of fish and the massive die-off could attract sharks, which is not the sweet treat anyone was expecting. 

This week, as look at molasses and sharks.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Seems that all I really was doing was waiting for love." – The Beatles, "Real Love" (Lennon)

   Molasses and Shark Attacks by fredwine

Health 'Facts' You Only Thought You Knew

It was Mark Twain that said, "Be careful when reading health books; you don't want to die of a misprint."

This week, as look at health facts that may not be facts at all.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Though I know I'll never lose affection for people and things that went before, I know I'll often stop and think about them." – The Beatles, "In My Life" (Lennon-McCartney)

   Health 'Facts' You Only Thought You Knew by fredwine

Faster Than the Speed of Light

So far, Albert Einstein's theory that nothing can travel faster than light has yet to be disproved.  Not for lack of trying, I assure you, as numerous scientists across the globe try to poke holes in the math over and over again. 

And while it seems ripped straight from an episode of Star Trek, NASA has invested real money into understanding the science behind travel faster than the speed of light.  We may be a while yet from muttering "Engage" on the command deck of a starship, but you have to start somewhere.

This week, a look at photons and the possibility of traveling faster than light.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "When you find yourself in the thick of it, help yourself to a bit of what is all around you." – The Beatles, "Martha My Dear" (Lennon-McCartney)

   Faster Than the Speed of Light by fredwine

A Race to Save the Orange by Altering Its DNA

Citrus greening, also called Huanglongbing or yellow dragon disease, is one of the more serious diseases of citrus. This bacterial disease is thought to have originated in China in the early 1900s.  Other than tree removal, there is no effective control once a tree is infected and there is no known cure for the disease. It reduces the quantity and quality of citrus fruits, eventually rendering infected trees useless. In areas of world affected by citrus greening the average productive lifespan of citrus trees has dropped from 50 or more years to 15 or less, and trees in the orchards usually die 3-5 years after becoming infected.

Is genetic engineering the last hope of citrus?  Many farmers think so. 

This week, a look at altering the DNA of oranges in an attempt to stave off citrus greening.

TTFN, Fred. 

Quote of the week: "Out of college, money spent, see no future, pay no rent, all the money’s gone, nowhere to go." – The Beatles, "You Never Give Me Your Money" (Lennon-McCartney)

   A Race to Save the Orange by Altering Its DNA by fredwine

10 Oldest Known Diseases

In the study of ancient diseases, nothing speaks like the dead.  So it's relatively easy to date tuberculosis due to the lesions it leaves on bones. Pneumonia may be more ancient than TB, but lung tissue doesn't hold up so well after being buried. DNA testing of samples from mummies and skeletons can conclusively identify disease. And even without the evidence of a body, genes in existing samples of TB and leprosy bacteria suggest prehistoric origin.

This week, a look at the 10 oldest known diseases.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "I may not have a lot to give, but what I got I'll give to you." – The Beatles, "Can't Buy Me Love" (Lennon-McCartney)

 

   10 Oldest Known Diseases by fredwine

Every Night You Lose More Than A Pound While You Sleep

Why do we weigh less in the morning?  This article suggest is it carbon loss.  Maybe it is water vapor, maybe it is something else entirely like running in your dreams.  Then again, may it is magic.  

Two of the many comments attached to this article: "now if i can just figure out how to sleep 30 days in a row" and "to sleep: perchance to diet".

This week, a look at losing weight through sleep.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "I need to laugh and when the sun is out, I've got something I can laugh about." - The Beatles, "Good Day Sunshine" (Lennon-McCartney)

   Every Night You Lose More Than a Pound While You Sleep by fredwine

True Colors

From the day that babies are brought home and cradled in their pink or blue blankets, implications have been made about gender and color. While there are no concrete rules about what colors are exclusively feminine or masculine, there have been studies conducted over the past seven decades that draw some generalizations. 

This week, a look at the true colors of gender.  You can find the full size chart at http://blog.kissmetrics.com/gender-and-color/?wide=1.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week:

   True Colors Short by fredwine

The 500 Phases of Matter

Forget solid, liquid, and gas: there are in fact more than 500 phases of matter.  Thankfully that portion of my education is in the past and memorizing the other 497 is not on my to-do list.

This week, a look at how everything I ever learned about states of matter is now outdated.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "There are places I remember all my life, though some have changed, some forever, not for better, some have gone and some remain." – The Beatles, "In My Life" (Lennon-McCartney)

  The 500 Phases of Matter by fredwine

Sticking Power

Velcro: a man-made interpretation of nature's glue that never wears out.  When it first arrived in America, it caused a sensation. In 1958, a syndicated financial columnist named Sylvia Porter announced that “a new fastening device” had so bewitched her that she spent days playing with it. “It’s on my desk as I type this,” she wrote.

You want to open and close some now, don't you?  This week, a look at velcro.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "When I cannot sing my heart, I can only speak my mind." – The Beatles, "Julia " (Lennon-McCartney)

   Sticking Power by fredwine

Flush with Success

Call it what you will: privy, latrine, water closet, lavatory.  It makes our lives better that we can even imagine.  And while it is disappointing to find it is just an urban legend that it was invented by Sir Thomas Crapper, it is good to know that King Minos of Crete had the first flushing water closet recorded in history, over 2800 years ago.

This week, a look at the indoor toilet.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Sleep pretty darling, do not cry and I will sing a lullaby." – The Beatles, "Golden Slumbers" (Lennon-McCartney)

   Flush With Success by fredwine

Packed With Power

Imagine a world where everything that used electricity had to be plugged in. Flashlights, hearing aids, cell phones and other portable devices would be tethered to electrical outlets, rendering them awkward and cumbersome. Cars couldn't be started with the simple turn of a key; a strenuous cranking would be required to get the pistons moving. Wires would be strung everywhere, creating a safety hazard and an unsightly mess.

Thankfully, batteries provide us with a mobile source of power that makes many modern conveniences possible. This week, a look at batteries.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Someday when I'm lonely, wishing you weren't so far away, then we will remember things we said today." – The Beatles, "Things We Said Today" (Lennon-McCartney)

   Packed With Power by fredwine

Soft Landings

Parachute pants are a style of trousers characterized by the use of nylon, especially ripstop nylon. In the original loose-fitting, extraneously zippered style of the late 1970s/early 1980s, "parachute" referred to the pants' synthetic nylon material. In the later 1980s, "parachute" may have referred to the extreme bagginess of the pant. 

While they became a fad in US culture in the 1980s as part of an increased cultural appropriation of breakdancing, they have very little to do with parachutes, although they did slow you down when you tried to run...or so I have heard.

This week, a look at the history of the parachute.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The sun is up, the sky is blue, it's beautiful, and so are you." – The Beatles, "Dear Prudence" (Lennon-McCartney)

  Soft Landings

Salt Sugar Fat

Every year, the average American eats thirty-three pounds of cheese (triple what we ate in 1970) and seventy pounds of sugar (about twenty-two teaspoons a day). We ingest 8,500 milligrams of salt a day, double the recommended amount, and almost none of that comes from the shakers on our table. It comes from processed food. It is no wonder, then, that one in three adults, and one in five kids, is clinically obese. It is no wonder that twenty-six million Americans have diabetes, the processed food industry in the U.S. accounts for $1 trillion a year in sales, and the total economic cost of this health crisis is approaching $300 billion a year.

This week, a look at Salt Sugar Fat, a book by Michael Moss that shows how we got here.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Who will love me till the end, through thick and thin, she will always be my friend." – The Beatles, "Another Girl" (Lennon-McCartney)

   Processed Food Industry Disapproval Matrix by Michael Moss by fredwine

Kids With Allergies Get Bullied

It's tough enough having to avoid products with peanuts and other ingredients as a kid with severe food allergies. It's tougher when someone at school waves a granola bar in your face at the peanut-free lunch table.

That's what happened in September 2012 to a Pennsylvania fifth-grader. The boy had experienced allergic reactions to merely touching peanuts or breathing peanut particles in the past, so the act of granola-waving was more serious than for other allergy sufferers.

This week, a look at the disturbing trend in children getting picked on for not being able to eat certain foods.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns, it calls me on and on." – The Beatles, "Across The Universe" (Lennon-McCartney)

Kids + Allergies = Bullied

Motion Sickness

Kinetosis, better known as motion sickness, is a condition in which a disagreement exists between visually perceived movement and the vestibular system's sense of movement.  But why does it happen?  The most common hypothesis for the cause of motion sickness is that it functions as a defense mechanism against neurotoxins.  Really, would I kid you?

The "area postrema" in the brain is responsible for inducing vomiting when poisons are detected, and for resolving conflicts between vision and balance. When feeling motion but not seeing it (for example, in a ship with no windows), the inner ear transmits to the brain that it senses motion, but the eyes tell the brain that everything is still. As a result of the discordance, the brain will come to the conclusion that one of them is hallucinating and further conclude that the hallucination is due to poison ingestion. The brain responds by inducing vomiting to clear the supposed toxin.

Great...now I feel sick.  This week, a look at motion sickness and how to cure it.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "When you've seen beyond yourself, then you may find peace of mind is waiting there." – The Beatles, "Within You Without You" (Harrison)

Motion Sickness

Being Nice Helps You Make Friends

You've been told to be nice since you were a child.  Nice can be rather vague.  What exactly does it mean to be nice?  In my mind it means being kind, generous, agreeable, pleasant, respectable, friendly, forgiving and tactful.  It means going out of your way to treat others in the way that you want to be treated.  But that's just me.

There are, of course, lots of reasons to be nice, and now we have one more: the data support it.

This week, a look how science has proven that being nice helps you make friends.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "I never needed anybody's help in any way, but now these days are gone and I'm not so self assured." – The Beatles, "Help" (Lennon-McCartney)

Being Nice = Friends

They Say Tomato. We Say Tasteless

Plant geneticists say they have discovered an answer to a near-universal question: why are store-bought tomatoes usually so tasteless?  Yes, they are often picked green and shipped long distances and likely refrigerated, which destroys their flavor and texture. But now researchers have discovered a genetic reason that diminishes a tomato’s flavor even if the fruit is picked ripe and coddled.

The unexpected culprit is a gene mutation that occurred by chance and that was discovered by tomato breeders. It was deliberately bred into almost all tomatoes because it conferred an advantage: It made them a uniform luscious scarlet when ripe.

Whatever the color, I only eat them in tomato sauce or soup.  The Kitchen Manager at Amy's in Medford can attest to my reaction to eating fresh tomatoes; it is not a pretty sight.

This week, a look at the improving flavor of tomatoes.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see." – The Beatles, "Strawberry Fields Forever" (Lennon-McCartney)



They Say Tomato, We Say Tasteless

The Color of Beer

We've talked about beer and its mineral content, how beer was one of the six drinks that shaped the world, about studying really old beer and how beer is better for post-workout replenishment.  But have we talked about the two basic chemical reactions responsible for beer being "beer-colored" rather than clear like water?

One reaction couples amino acids to sugars; the other spurs sugars to decompose. In addition to adding color to beer, the products of these reactions also add significant flavor to the resultant brew.

This week, a look at the color of beer.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arrive; you were only waiting for this moment to be free." – The Beatles, "Blackbird" (Lennon-McCartney)


Color of Beer

Dissolving Islands

If you've ever considered an island getaway to Hawaii, time is of the essence: the mountainous tropical paradise of Oahu will erode, according to new research, with the biggest losses coming from within the island itself.

To be accurate, you do have some time to book that vacation before Hawaii's Oahu flattens from an island into a low-lying sea mount...likely another 1.75 million years, give or take a millennia. After that, however, the forces working to eat away at Oahu from the inside out will begin to triumph.

This week, a look at dissolving islands.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Try thinking more, if just for your own sake." – The Beatles, "Think For Yourself" (Harrison)

Hawaii Dissolving