Natural Sciences

Water crystallizes into ice at 32 degrees Fahrenheit most of the time, but not always.

At What Temperature Does Water Freeze?

The answer is far more complicated than it first appears—water doesn't always turn to ice at 32 degrees Fahrenheit

Nobody wants to eat a dry turkey.

Why Does Meat Dry Out During Cooking?

These artifacts are thought to have been offerings from the earliest farming communities that lived in this area. Chemical analysis of charred food residues preserved inside a number of vessels shows they were used for processing freshwater fish, which supplemented their fledgling agricultural economy.

Ancient Pots Show How Humans Adopted Farming

The switch from hunting and gathering to farming was revolutionary—but was it fast or slow?

Why decant wines?

Is Decanting Wine Worth Doing?

Does the practice really improve the taste or is it just a wine snob's affectation?

Brown rice

Five Nobel Laureates Who Made Food History

These five Nobelists have made food safer or more available, or increased our knowledge of it

As long as you're careful not to spill, the computer can get you a great culinary education.

An Online Food Education

Sharpen your cooking skills, get a culinary degree, learn to write about food or feed your inner geek with these courses

Scientists recently discovered the wild yeast that came to be used to brew lager beer.

Big Brew-ha-ha: Scientists Discover Lager’s Wild Yeast

Beer, a cornerstone of human civilization, owes its alcohol and flavor to yeast; one important variety made a long trans-Atlantic journey

Dried chili pepper wreath

Benevolent Maize and Ogre-Fart Chilis: Food Origin Myths

According to the Peruvian Yanesha people, plants originally had human forms that went through either "sublime" or "grotesque" transformations

Bananas have been cultivated for thousands of years. But are the days of the familiar Cavendish numbered?

Taming the Wild Banana

When and where did people learn to cultivate one of our favorite snacks?

Irresistible pesto

Gourmand Syndrome

First identified by neuroscientists in the 1990s, the disorder is marked by "a preoccupation with food and a preference for fine eating"

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The Joys of Jell-O

If you're feeling creative and adventurous and want to mount a Jell-O-based art project, you need to know a few things about how the stuff works

Putting beer koozies to the test.

Science in the Public Interest: The Beer Koozie Test

How well do beer koozies actually work at keeping your beverage cold?

Pulp wood (but not the kind that may appear in your cheese or bread).

The Wood in Your Food

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Eau d'Asparagus (or What's Behind That Asparagus Effect?)

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It's a Tomato! The Miracle of Life, Plant Edition

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How Can Seedless Fruit be Fruitful and Multiply?

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Experiments in Cooking: Salmon Poached in the Dishwasher

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Women in Science

Smithsonian spotlights the women that are changing the face of scientific research

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Coffee, Tea and Me: Getting That Caffeine Fix

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Neanderthals Noshed on Plants—and Cooked?

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