July 2008
Monthly Archive
Episode 33: Molecular Gastronomy
Friday 25 Jul 2008
The term molecular gastronomy can sound pretentious, but food writer Harold McGee describes it as “the science of deliciousness.” Learn more about the science of food (and deliciousness) in this week’s episode. First we take precautions by discussing Pepto-Bismol, in the event that an experiment in the kitchen goes wrong. Next we find out how to cook the perfect hard-boiled egg—and why it works that way. Finally join CHF’s Chi Chan and Jen Dionisio as they work with a recipe for chocolate mousse that requires only two ingredients—chocolate and water. (The photos shown here depict their experiment.) Element of the Week: Bismuth.
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Show Clock
00:00 Opening Credits
00:30 Introduction
01:14 Element of the Week: Bismuth
03:39 Mystery Solved! The Perfect Egg
06:28 Chemistry in the Kitchen: Making Mousse Without Dairy
11:04 Quote: Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
11:19 Closing Credits
Resources and References
For more on how to cook the perfect egg, an article about Hervé This in this February 2006 Discover article, Cooking for Eggheads.
If you’re intrigued by the concept of this week’s episode, check out the blog khymos.org, dedicated to molecular gastronomy and the science of cooking.
Also, check out Hervé This’s book, Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor on Amazon.com.
Credits
A special thanks to Chi Chan for researching the show.
Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music from the PodSafe Music Network. Additional music is “Happy Piano,” by Podcast Troubadour, “Big Hairy Momma,” by Al Phlipp and the Woo Team, and “Rust and Bones,” by Tom Caderet.
The photos this week were taken while Jen and Chi made chocolate mousse in the kitchen at CHF.
Posted in History, Society No Comments
Episode 32: Religious Experience
Friday 18 Jul 2008
There’s an old stereotype that portrays science and religion as inevitably mired in conflict. On today’s show we look past the clichés—evolution and Galileo and all that—for some areas where the two have something constructive to say to each other. We start off with early philosophers’ attempts to understand the soul as an element. Next, we chat with Jackie Duffin, a historian and hematologist at the University of Toronto, who inadvertently found herself making a case for sainthood for Marie-Marguerite d’Youville (pictured). Partially because of Duffin’s testimony, d’Youville was recognized as the first Canadian saint in 1990. Duffin’s experience with the Vatican inspired her new book, Medical Miracles: Doctors, Saints, and Healing in the Modern World, which will be published by Oxford University Press this October. We wrap up the show with a look at the chemistry of zombies. Element of the Week: Pneuma.
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Show Clock
00:00 Opening Credits
00:32 Introduction
01:01 Element of the Week: Pneuma
03:00 A Conversation with Jackie Duffin
07:55 Mystery Solved! Zombies
10:42 Quote: Albert Einstein
11:02 Closing Credits
Resources and References
For background on pneuma, we relied on William Newman’s Promethean Ambitions: Alchemy and the Quest to Perfect Nature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004).
Mary Roach tells the story of the weight of the soul in her book on scientific studies of the afterlife, Spooked, and also in “A Soul’s Weight,” Lost Magazine (December 2005). [Note: we are having trouble linking to the article, but just Google the phrase "soul's weight lost magazine."]
You can learn more about the process of canonization and miracle verification at the Web site of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
The information on voodoo powder came from William Booth, “Voodoo Science,” Science 240 (1988): 274–277.
You can find a chemical analysis of tetradotoxin here.
Today’s quote is from Albert Einstein’s 1941 book, Science, Philosophy, and Religion.
Credits
A special thanks to Robert Hicks for researching the show.
Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music from the PodSafe Music Network. Additional music is “To Lose the War,” by Josh Woodward, “Burnt Sugar,” by Plasmabat, and “Funk in A,” by Pat Zalenka.
The portrait of Marie-Marguerite d’Youville is in the public domain, and was downloaded from the Vatican’s biography of the saint.
Episode 31: Motherhood
Friday 11 Jul 2008
What makes motherhood scientific? This week, we try to answer, with a look at motherhood, pregnancy, and science. We explore the history of pregnancy tests, and what that has to do with South African clawed frogs. Janet Golden, an expert on fetal alcohol syndrome, joins us to talk about how ideas have changed regarding pregnant women and what they should and shouldn’t consume. And we learn about Marie Curie and her daughters—one a scientist, the other a writer. Element of the Week: Curium.
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Show Clock
00:00 Opening Credits
00:32 Introduction
01:06 Element of the Week: Curium
03:43 A Conversation with Janet Golden
07:55 Chemistry in Your Cupboard: Home Pregnancy Tests
11:07 Quote: Katharine Whitehorn
11:29 Closing Credits
Resources and References
For more on the history of pregnancy tests, read Rebecca Lipsitz’s article “Pregnancy Tests,” in Scientific American (November 2000). Find a preview here.
Learn more about Janet Golden’s research and other work at the Center for Children and Childhood Studies.
Read more about Marie Curie on the Nobel Prize Web site.
Credits
Special thanks to Erin McLeary for researching the show.
Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music from the PodSafe Music Network. The music at the end of the Element of the Week is “Podcast Background Music Loop 6,” by Nick Murray. At the show ID, you’re hearing “A Song for Jake (Unplugged),” by DJOC. Under the quotation is “Edgar Meyer Winter,” by Shibboleth.
This week’s image is the cover of Janet Golden’s book, Message in a Bottle: The Making of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, available on amazon.com.
Posted in History, Medicine No Comments
Episode 30: American Chemistry
Friday 04 Jul 2008
Chemistry has been part of the American experience ever since the settlers at Jamestown built a lab for blowing glass and assaying metal (you can learn more on our Jamestown episode). Today we celebrate the 4th of July with a tribute to American scientific and technological achievements—and we’ve thrown in some fireworks, just for fun. We start with Glenn Seaborg (pictured) and the trans-uranium elements. Named for their position on the period table following uranium, the trans-uranium elements are all radioactive, with short-half lives, and all have their origins in the lab. Seaborg’s research group at the University of California discovered 10 of them. Next, we chat with Dale Keairns, the president of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, about a century’s worth of engineering progress. Element of the Week: Americium.
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Show Clock
00:00 Opening Credits
00:31 Introduction
00:57 Element of the Week: Americium
03:03 A Conversation with Dale Keairns
07:22 Mystery Solved! Fireworks
09:54 Quote: Vannevar Bush
10:25 Closing Credits
Resources and References
For background on americium: This reference page, from an online periodic table prepared by the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Chemistry Division.
For more on the Manhattan Project, including documentary histories by participants in the project, visit the Atomic Heritage Foundation.
The AIChE and CHF are preparing a special Web site dedicated to the AIChE centennial. Check for updates here.
Our information on fireworks was largley adapted from this helpful site prepared by the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin.
Today’s quote is taken from the transmittal letter that accompanied Vannevar Bush’s famous 1945 memo, Science, The Endless Frontier. Thanks to the National Science Foundation, you can now read the entire document online.
Credits
A special thanks to Chi Chan for researching the show.
Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music from the PodSafe Music Network. The music at the Element of the Week is “Meltdown Man,” by Derek K. Miller. At the show ID, you’re hearing “The Corner of Sacco and Vanzetti,” by Shibboleth. The show ends with “Blink and You’ll Miss ‘Em,” by DJOC.
The portrait of Glenn Seaborg is from the United States Atomic Energy Commission’s Division of Public Information, courtesy of the Chemical Heritage Foundation.
Posted in Society, Technology No Comments
