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Molecular gastronomy
The terms “soft condensed matter physics, biochemistry, and molecular biology” are not usually associated by the average person with “bread, cheese fondue, and the mystery of milky sambuca,’ but as Rachel Ehrenberg recently pointed out in Science News, they should be.That’s because (and if you watch the Food Network, this won’t come as a surprise) the methods and knowledge of science are being increasingly enlisted to improve what comes out of chef’s kitchens.“Molecular gastronomy” is a relatively new branch of science. But as one of its founding fathers, chef Hervé This of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research in Paris, points out in the Science News article, chemist Antoine Lavoisier experimented with the ...Popcorn
Download the audio version.Get my science column weekly as a podcast.***There’s been a lot of attention paid to the movies this past week due to the various awards handed out between old clips of previous awards being handed out that aired on TV Sunday night.Which got me thinking about the food that has become synonymous with the movies: popcorn.Native Americans enjoyed popcorn for millennia before movies came along: bits of popcorn found in a New Mexico cave have been carbon dated to about 4,000 years ago. (Of course, somebody could have been performing a shadow play on the wall of the cave via firelight while people munched, but there’s ...Food on the Web
This week's CBC Web column (the last of the series)...***“What’s for dinner?” is a question whose answer can inspire joy, dread, or simply ennui. We all have our favorite recipes, and a few that are far from our favorites. But we get tired of even our favorite things if we get them night after night. And we get tired of our least-favorite things even faster.What to do? Why, turn to the Internet, of course.Back when home computers were first being talked about, it was always said you could keep your recipes on them. Now we’ve come full circle with recipes on the World Wide Web...and then some. After all, with a ...Tearless onions
Download the audio version.Get my science column weekly as a podcast.I’m a sensitive kinda guy. I fact, I’m so sensitive I sometimes tear up just during the process of making dinner.It’s not that I’m overcome with emotion at the blessing of having at my disposal the wherewithal to stir-fry. (I’m not that sensitive.) No, it’s usually because I’m slicing onions.Onions have been a part of the human diet since prehistoric times. We don’t even know where they originated: some say central Asia, others Iran or West Pakistan. (So I learned from the interesting history of onions I found on the website of the U.S.’s National Onion Association, an organization whose very ...Break out the bubbly…the bubbly diet soda, that is
I was recently chided for drinking too much Diet Coke. "It may not have sugar, but it has aspertame, which is just as bad if not worse!"Well, "Pbbbbbbt!":"A sweeping review of research studies of aspartame says there is no evidence that the non-nutritive sweetener causes cancer, neurological damage or other health problems in humans."Neophobia
Download the audio version.Get my column as a podcast.***When I was a kid, I was a picky eater. I knew what I liked, I knew what I didn't like, and I knew what I was sure I wouldn't like if I ever tried it, which I had no intention of doing, because why should I force myself to eat something I already knew I didn't like?I remember my first visit to a Chinese restaurant. As the adults in our party chowed down on interesting concoctions of vegetables and noodles and meat in exotic sauces, I had a hamburger. They weren't getting me to eat that stuff!Of course, what goes ...On the pouring of ketchup
It's not easy to find the perfect topic for a mid-summer science column, when people are more interested in getting to the lake, swimming in the pool, or barbecuing in the backyard than--Wait, wait. "Barbecuing in the backyard..."I think I've got it--the perfect summer science topic!Thanks to Robert Allgeyer, whose definitive paper on the topic can be found online, I can offer you sage scientific advice regarding the best way to get ketchup from a traditional glass narrow-mouthed bottle.After all, who hasn't struggled to get that red elixir of tomatoey goodness out of a bottle and onto the fries where it belongs?As Allgeyer points out (and as I ...Good news for carnivores!
Recent studies published in the journal Cancer Science have disproved the common myth that consumption of red meat increases colorectal cancer risk.Read the whole thing.Are you as surprised as British researchers…
...to discover that "Chocolate gives people more of a buzz than passionate kisses"?"There is no doubt that chocolate beats kissing hands down when it comes to providing a long-lasting body and brain buzz -- a buzz that, in many cases, lasted four times as long as the most passionate kiss."Mmmm...chocolate...Mrs. Beeton’s Ad of the Day
Gordon & Dilworth's doesn't appear to be in operation any longer, but I found the old ad at left, also from Gordon & Dilworth's, at the British Library's site: it rhapsodizes even more effusively about the glories of tomato catsup. "This is the popular national sauce of America," it proclaims, and ads, "It is made but once a year, in Tomato Season, from whole Fresh Tomatoes," which makes it sound more like a fine wine than what we today think of as the cheapest and tawdriest of ...
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Magebane
“Spectacular” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Evil wizards, multi-level conspiracies, hidden kingdoms…Lee Arthur Chane…has done a marvelous job…Magebane is a very entertaining book and well worth the time.” – A.M. Donovan, Night Owl Reviews
I happily recommend Magebane and I’ll certainly give Chane’s next novel a try based on this one.” —Bill Capossere, Fantasy Literature
“…an original and delightful tale of epic fantasy and magic, steampunk science, adventure, tragedy, and love…” – Errant Dreams Reviews
Eight centuries ago, the world changed. A devastating war swept the lands, and the MageLords, who had long ruled by virtue of their spell powers, were driven to a distant place, separated from those they had ruled by a magical Barrier. With magic banished from the rest of the world, the MageLords became mere legend and people turned to science to improve their lives. But if one man has his way, all that is about to change….
Written as Lee Arthur Chane (the middle names of my older brothers, Jimmy Lee and Dwight Arthur, and myself, Edward Chane Willett).
Marseguro
Winner of the 2009 Prix Aurora Award for Best Long-Form Work in English
Water world Marseguro is home to the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from human DNA. When an unmodified human seeks revenge on a Selkie by activating a distress beacon taken from the remains of the original colony ship, a strikeforce is sent from Earth to eradicate the genetic abomination. Yet Marseguro will not prove as easy to conquer as the Earth force anticipates…
Terra Insegura
Finalist for the 2010 Prix Aurora Award for Best Novel in English
Marseguro, a water world far from Earth, is home to a colony of humans and the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from modified human DNA. For seventy years the colony has lived in peace. Then Earth discovers Marseguro, and a strike force is sent to eradicate this “abomination.” But Marseguro has created a genetically tailored plague to use against Earth’s Holy Warriors. With the enemy defeated, the people of Marseguro feel they are safe. But Chris Keating, the traitor who signaled Marseguro’s location to the Holy Warriors, has fled to Earth, unknowingly carrying the deadly plague within him. The people of Marseguro feel they must send a ship to Earth with a life-saving vaccine. Only time will tell what awaits them when they reach their destination.
Lost in Translation
Kathryn was a human empath whose world and life had been destroyed when the alien S’sinn slaughtered her parents before her very eyes. Jarrikk was a young S’sinn, an unproven warrior who’d seen his flight mates slaughtered by the humans who’d sought to colonize his world.
As humans and S’sinn found themselves on the brink of war, these two Translators had to work together to find a common ground and avert catastrophe. But whether their Translators’ oath and training could overcome the enemies leagued against them was very much in doubt…
Archives
Song of the Sword
My new YA fantasy novel from Lobster Press
Before the Lady called her, Ariane’s life was a mess. Two years ago, her mother disappeared. She bounced around different foster homes until her aunt finally took her in. The meanest clique at her new high school has decided to make Ariane their prime target. And to top it all off, she is having frightening premonitions, and they are becoming more intense. The moment water touches her skin, she sees visions of a lake, a lady, and a sword. When a staircase opens up in the middle of Wascana Lake and the water begins singing to her, she has no choice but to answer the call….
Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw
Ten walks to points of historic and architectural interest in the cities of Regina and Moose Jaw (eight walks for Regina, two for Moose Jaw).
Johnny Cash: The Man in Black
When country music legend Johnny Cash took the stage at Folsom State Prison in 1968, he solidified the public’s perception of him as a rebel who followed his own path. Born in Arkansas during the Great Depression, Cash endured poverty, the death of his older brother, and a difficult relationship with his father. He turned to gospel and country music to express the pain, and after many years of struggling, his songs of hardship and hope would finally reach the ears of those waiting for an artist who represented them, ordinary people fighting to survive.
Andy Warhol: Everyone Will Be Famous for 15 Minutes
“Paintings are too hard. Machines have less problems…” In the 1960s, Andy Warhol became the most famous creator of a new style of art called pop art, which transformed mass-produced items of popular culture into fine works of art. From Campbell’s Soup cans to photographs of Marilyn Monroe, Warhol’s willingness to use anything and everything from the mass media in his work expanded the range of subject matter available to artists. His avant-garde films, artistic usage of American icons, and unconventional social life made him a controversial figure, both greatly admired and deeply reviled. A trendsetter rather than a trend-follower, a dispassionate observer of both the seamy and celebrity sides of life, Warhol was a true American rebel.
Disease-Hunting Scientist
The true stories of six real disease hunters. Epidemiologists travel the world trying to keep us safe from deadly diseases—from high-tech labs in Canada to remote villages in Africa. Learn how these “disease detectives” are coming up with new ways to fight disease, and find out if you have what it takes to become an epidemiologist, too!
The Bounty Mutiny
The Bounty was a British ship visiting Tahiti in 1789 when some of the crew overthrew the captain, William Bligh, and set him adrift in a tiny boat with sailors loyal to him. The mutiny resulted in a number of trials–both of the men who mutinied and of Bligh for losing command of his ship. These fascinating events have been the source for numerous Hollywood movies, most recently The Bounty. The Bounty Mutiny: From the Court Case to the Movie explores the famous case and the movies it inspired.
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