Comedian and food blogger Katie Molinaro (insta: @eatitkatie) joins us on the patio lab to talk about the frontiers of food science and research while discussing the oldest cheese ever found, the weirdest foods we've eaten, laboratory-grown food and what we would order for our last meal. Hosted by Dave Ciaccio (@daveciaccio) and Jesse Klein (@jessklein1). Follow us @scienceafpod and visit scienceafpod.com for more links and info!
Top this: A burger restaurant in Durham, North Carolina, is offering a peculiar addition to its selection of toppings this month — alongside the usual array of cheeses, vegetables, sauces and other condiments, one special burger is presented topped by a tarantula.
  (more...)Last month, archaeologists cracked open a tomb excavated in Alexandria, Egypt, revealing three skeletons bathing in an crimson pool of sludgy sewage. In response, tens of thousands around the world immediately petitioned for the right to sip from the freshly uncorked casket of amontillado. (Spoiler: It hasn’t worked out.) But fear not, coffin connoisseurs: There’s a new artisanal artifact in town—the world’s oldest solid cheese, over 3,000 years in the making.
  (more...)hy is it that a boil bulging with pus fills most of us with revulsion, while a similar-looking cream puff makes us lick our lips? The reason is the interesting emotion known as disgust.
  (more...)THE IMPOSSIBLE BURGER seems too good to be true—an entirely plant-based “meat” that looks and smells and tastes like beef (at least, according to some folks). Hell, it even bleeds like meat. That’s thanks to a yeast modified to carry genes for the soy leghemoglobin protein, which you’d normally find in the roots of soy plants. The engineered yeast can then churn out a vegetarian version of heme, the metallic-tasting substance you also find in your blood and muscle.
  (more...)Nestlé is claiming a world first by “restructuring” the sugar it uses in its confectionery to produce a white chocolate bar with 30% less sugar than its usual Milkybar brand.
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