One of the favorite things my wife Laura and I enjoy reading could be best classified along the lines of ‘news of the weird’. It doesn’t matter if it is the ‘true tales’ of Bat Boy or a diddy about the potent antifungal and antibacterial properties of Garlic…. it is all so much fun to pour over!
Now, I know most of you probably don’t read ‘New Scientist’ , it’s really only a light version of science and it’s more on the line of ‘Psychology Today’. It’s more sizzle than substance, but nevertheless , it has some redeeming features… like it’s own version of ‘news of the weird’. Here are a few from the latest issue:
1) Why do the preformed hamburgers you buy in stores change from a circle to an oval when cooked? The answer we are told is simple, the fibers are stretched in the direction of the conveyor belt in which they travel and revert after cooking (anisotropic). Hand made hamburger patties are not so stretched and maintain their basic configuration ( they are isotropic). I can see it all now… you stand over the neighbor’s grill and smirk over his store bought patties and say, “hmmmm. I prefer the isotropic properties of my cooked hamburgers… yours are unfortunately anisotropic.”
2) Why do we have garlic breath when other substances are more beniegn? It has to do with the ‘potent’ antibacterial and antifungal properties of Garlic. Garlic produces Allicin which is not very stable and converts to a bunch of smelly sulfur compounds that eventually makes its way back through your lungs and then out to your breath. Aaaaaah, but I am never giving up garlic!
3) Companies that produce music speakers have an interesting challenge. The cabinet of the speaker must be constructed in such a manner that vibration is minimized. This is often accomplished by using the hardest wood available. It was discovered that whisky soaked wood was incredibly hard, even breaking off several drill bits in the evalution phase. What the scientists discovered by accident was soaking the left over shavings produces a wonderful whiskey all it’s own!
This isn’t really all that new, enterprising folks on ‘ebay’ are already marketing barrell shavings for your enjoyment! In fact there is quite a selection!
So I thought from now and again I would post dsome of the real … but fascinating stuff… that is out there… if all we do is take some time to read!
Roger Freberg