Archive for October 10th, 2007

The Future of Food

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007

Popular Science has a great article and gallery of some of the tools used in molecular gastronomy.

A kitchen equipped for “molecular gastronomy”—gourmet cuisine as cooked by Mr. Wizard, basically—is all about the tech. Devices that wouldn’t be out of place in a chemistry lab fill the kitchens of some of the world’s most adventurous chefs, enabling far-out dishes like whipped-cream pancakes, lobster sorbet (shells and all) and meat-flavored mushrooms. Wiley Dufresne, head chef at one of molecular gastronomy’s Meccas, WD-50 in New York City, is so protective of his machines that he wouldn’t allow them out of his kitchen to be photographed for this piece, insisting that we get our own. And so we did.

Posted in food/cooking, science/nature | No Comments »

What the F***? Why we curse.

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007

Cognitive scientist Steven Pinker has written an interesting and amusing article on why swears carry such an impact.

But perhaps the greatest mystery is why politicians, editors, and much of the public care so much. Clearly, the fear and loathing are not triggered by the concepts themselves, because the organs and activities they name have hundreds of polite synonyms. Nor are they triggered by the words’ sounds, since many of them have respectable homonyms in names for animals, actions, and even people. Many people feel that profanity is self-evidently corrupting, especially to the young. This claim is made despite the fact that everyone is familiar with the words, including most children, and that no one has ever spelled out how the mere hearing of a word could corrupt one’s morals.

Posted in funny, language, science/nature | No Comments »