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Cheesy Science

You’d cheddar brie-lieve it, this week’s It’s Okay To Be Smart is so gouda, nay, grate, that it will leave you wanting meaux.

What I’m trying to say with all those horrible puns is I freakin’ love cheese, so I headed over to my favorite cheese shop here in Austin to learn a little bit about some of mankind’s earliest and most delicious biotechnology.

Enjoy!

Keep your eyes on the blog for more cheese-related science this week. We didn’t have time to cover everything in the video and there is so much delicious knowledge to share.

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#JerusalemRd #Chelsea #Michigan

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This is where I am today. This is where I wish I could stay.

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Hi Joe, I have a super odd question. Why is it that when you put sugar onto berries, it "draws out" the juice? I know it probably (definitely?) has to do with osmosis, but my inner geek is wanting to know the chemical reactions, etc. Would it still work with salt? I assume it would. Thanks muchly!! :)

Sugar (sucrose) and table salt (NaCl) are both hygroscopic, meaning that they absorb water from the surrounding environment. When sugar absorbs water, the water molecules take up residence in between the sugar molecules, increasing the volume of the wet sugar suspension and creating a viscous saccharide gloopitude that is somewhere between liquid and solid, a sensation one might scientifically describe as “sticky”.

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　　　ワカの食べ歩きブログ春日井市･名古屋市･グルメ Cafe CROCE

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Coconut Dream Cake | Roost Blog

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Important read in The Guardian

It’s time to end the academic culture that says working yourself to sickness means you’re just working hard enough. It’s time to end the culture that says taking time for yourself and your own health comes at the expense of doing good work. It’s time to end the culture that says sleep deprivation, anxiety attacks, and binge drinking are just part of the game. It’s time to end the culture that says if you’re not getting along with your mentor, then it’s all your fault. It’s time to end the culture that says advisors and faculty don’t have to take responsibility for the health of their students. It’s time to end the culture that says seeking help means you’re weak, or a bad researcher.

I’m not afraid to admit that this is an issue that touched my life during my Ph.D. Thankfully I had amazing friends and family outside my program to help me through tough times. But I know that not everyone has a support system like mine. I also watched in sadness when, after a fellow Ph.D. student committed suicide, our program, university, and health services did nothing to acknowledge that it happened, or that the culture of academia could have contributed to it, and (as far as any of us have been able to tell), has done little if anything to stop it from happening again.

Some graduate programs are putting better student support systems in place, and for every bad advisor we can find an exception that cares and helps their students to the utmost of their ability. But academia, overall, still possesses a culture of acceptance and ignorance when it comes to mental health issues, especially in graduate programs.

It’s time to end that culture.

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Beignets Tiramisu with Chocolate Ganache | Half Baked Harvest

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salted caramel cupcakes

click here for recipe

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 fieldguided

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PHOTO OP: Flufficus Bunnicus

Via negotiable_me.

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Ooh! I want it so badly!

Routledge’s Miniature Library - Language of Flowers c1880

Peach Blossom = I am your captive. Pine-Apple = You are Perfect. Pomegranate = Foolishness

Measures 70mm x 97mm

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I need some bunnies. Seriously.