Technology and Computing
EVERY YEAR, when the PopSci staff gathers to brainstorm our issue themes, there’s one thing the entire crew can count on: One of the dozens of Post-its in my scrawl will bear the word crunch. I always bring it up because of the visceral feeling it evokes. Not only do you feel the snap of a perfectly fried chip, but you also taste it, see it, and hear it. For some, just the word itself is enough to spark cravings…
Robots can see in wavelengths beyond human eyes. Robots can hear in wavelengths beyond human ears. Robots can even feel with tactility approaching human skin. But when it comes to tasting, robots are laggards. Taste is a sense that may seem basic to any human, including young children licking food from the floor, but not to robots. Tasting technology doesn’t even come close to the multifaceted sensitivity of the human tongue. For robot-builders and food scientists alike, improving that technology…
Analysis paralysis—being so overwhelmed by options you can’t pick a path—has new meaning thanks to climate change. Making the “right” choice has never been more complicated, but we’re here to help. This is Impact, a new sustainability series from PopSci. Many products often come with expiration dates to indicate a predetermined shelf life, like food and medicine. Once the indicated date has passed, these products are generally deemed unfit for use or consumption—but does that mean people should toss them out the…
This story originally appeared in the Taste issue of Popular Science. Current subscribers can access the whole digital edition here, or click here for a new subscription. Bored by the uniform tastes born of modern industrialized farming, food historians, small-farm growers, and curious gourmands are resurrecting forgotten eats—once-famous crops ready for a second act. Their efforts represent a clarion call to embrace bites with flavors as rich as their backstories. Here are a few long-gone bites making delicious comebacks. Cocke’s Prolific white dent corn Cocke’s…
No matter how carefully you peel back the two chocolate wafers of an Oreo, the creme filling will always stick to one side. It’s not possible to split the creme down the middle. That’s according to new fluid dynamics research published in the journal Physics of Fluid. While the finding might not be a total shock to snack aficionados, it sheds light on the next generation of 3D printed manufacturing. Crystal Owens, the lead author on the study, and a…
There are certain foods people often associate with grilling. You can slow smoke a brisket, char a whack of burgers, or maybe even fire up some veggies if you’re trying to balance out the barbecue. Traeger, however, hopes hungry backyard cooks will use its new Timberline-series pellet grills to cook just about anything they can think of thanks to smart new additions like a modular accessory system, redesigned digital interface, and totally new induction burner outside the main cooking area. …
Look through your favorite gravy recipe or read the back of a powdered sugar package, and you might notice a common ingredient: cornstarch. If humans could put this versatile starch in everything, we just might—it helps us fry crispy tofu and extract gold from rock, to name two of the jobs it does well. But odds are you’re underutilizing it in your own life. What makes cornstarch so useful? To fully realize cornstarch’s potential, you must understand it. At the…
Real life is much more complicated than a simple good versus bad. And in a world in climate turmoil where nobody is ever sure what’s right and wrong for the environment, the cast of heroes and villains is hardly black and white. Still, the narrative is irresistible. And for some people, it can be pretty easy to fall into, even with simple decisions like what kind of burger to order. For Ricardo San Martin, the co-founder of the alternative meats…
Teake Zuidema is a writer and photographer based in Savannah, Georgia. This story originally featured on Nexus Media News, a nonprofit climate change news service. On a sunny day last August, Daniel Malechuk opened the door to a 77,000-square-foot warehouse just outside Atlanta. Inside, under the soft magenta glow of LED lights, grew five varieties of hydroponic lettuce stacked nine levels high. A handful of employees were busy harvesting the greens. Their pace matched Malechuk’s ambition: to grow 10 million heads…
Imagine settling in for an elegant fish dinner and you’re asked to hold a seashell to your ear. You abide, and hear the incessant squawking of seagulls. You’re not likely to forget that meal. Restaurants and chefs have all sorts of escamotages they hope will ensure that your experience is memorable and meaningful. That seashell stunt, for example, is chef Heston Blumenthal’s signature plate, Sound of the Sea, and it uses those additional elements to enhance your perception of the…
This post has been updated. It was originally published on December 16, 2014. Christina Agapakis is a biologist, designer, and science writer. She makes art with microbes, soil, and food. Lucky Peach was a quarterly journal of food and writing. Each issue focused on a single theme, and explored that theme through essays, art, photography, and recipes. This story is excerpted from Issue 13, “Feel the Joy: The Holiday Issue.” On a Sunday that’s usually a week or two after “Western” Easter, my parents set…
You might not think of mushrooms as great cooks. But fungi, as it happens, could be a wonderful way to make flavors. By using fungal enzymes to transform other biological material, it’s possible to create some rather pleasant aromas. Scientists have found a way to generate a potent wild strawberry scent by allowing one particular fungus to work on the pulp, seeds, and skin of black currants, a type of berry commonly grown in Europe. They published their results on…