Initial progress is reported on understanding what can happen if you add red wine to hot dogs before the hot dogs are fully hot dogs. This study explains: “Effects of adding red wine on the physicochemical properties and sensory characteristics of uncured frankfurter-type sausage,” Xi Feng [pictured here], Joseph G. Sebranek, Hyun Yong Lee, Dong […]
Tag: Food
Strawberry scrotum, the doctors’ delight
Doctors are, sometimes, fascinated by scrotums and by strawberries. Studying scrotal symmetry – or its lack – yielded an Ig Nobel prize in 2002. As discussed on this blog previously, the strawberry is used extensively as an analogy in medical practice. The scrotum and strawberry have a lot in common, for example, their distinctive skins. The […]
Prof. Lentle on food and digestion
Roger Lentle is a professor at the Massey Institute of Food Science and Technology New Zealand. Here is an example publication from professor Lentle (along with co-author C. de Loubens) ‘A review of mixing and propulsion of chyme in the small intestine: fresh insights from new methods’ in: Journal of Comparative Physiology B, May 2015, […]
Garlic — A Sensory Pleasure or a Social Nuisance? [podcast 75]
Whether garlic is a sensory delight or a social horror is the big question in this week’s Improbable Research podcast. SUBSCRIBE on Play.it, iTunes, or Spotify to get a new episode every week, free. This week, Marc Abrahams — with dramatic readings by Yale/MIT/Harvard biomedical researcher Chris Cotsapas — tells about: Garlic —A Sensory Pleasure or a Social Nuisance?— “Garlic: A Sensory Pleasure or a […]
“If it smells like meat…” a ‘Rule of Thumb’ for dogs
Although you might think (as many have) that dogs have a strong preference for eating meat, things may not be quite so clearcut. Authors Anandarup Bhadra and Anindita Bhadra of The Dog Lab (doggedly observing dogs at the Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, India), propose instead that dogs’ […]
Can (or should) Ostriches Eat Horseshoes?
The idea that ostriches are partial to eating horseshoes goes back a long way. Hundreds of years in fact. See this 14th century depiction of a horseshoe (and nail) Struthioniforme mealtime. But can the birds actually eat and digest them? Over the centuries, several experiments have been performed to find out, and some are recounted […]
Banana shape(s) – the math(s)
Have you ever mused upon the question: ‘Is the cross section of a banana an ellipsoid, and if so, can it be used to gauge its volume and surface area? Yes? Then a report in the International Journal of Agricultural Science, Research and Technology (IJASRT) 2011 Vol. 1 No. 1 pp. 1-5, may be of […]
The Acoustics of Breaking Chopsticks
What are the acoustics of breaking a bamboo chopstick? According to a new paper by physicist Tzay-Ming Hong and his colleagues at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, it’s kind of like the acoustics of breaking a bundle spaghetti: they both apparently resemble the Gutenberg–Richter scaling law, which relates earthquake magnitude to the frequency of earthquakes with at […]
Rice-cravings increased by lack of rice (new study)
“Cravings for rice, a Japanese dietary staple, have been reported for Japanese people. Deprivation of a craved food is known to increase the desire for it, but the effects of deprivation of rice have yet to be explored.“ Until now, that is … for investigators Sakura Komatsu,Yasushi Kyutoku, Ippeita Danc, and Kenjiro Aoyama at Doshisha […]
Getting to the bottom of the Swiss fondue paradox – philosophically
“We review the history of the philosophy of fondue since Aristotle so as to arrive at the formulation of the paradox of Swiss fondue. Either the wine and the cheese cease to exist (Buridan), but then the fondue is not really a mixture of wine and cheese. Or the wine and the cheese continue to […]