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Vanilla I: Botany and Bad Behaviour
Humans have an almost unlimited capacity to endure other people’s suffering when there are large sums of money to be made. For proof of this we need look no further than our history books. History is littered with examples of humans behaving appallingly to their fellow human while in pursuit of a quick buck. Notable Continue reading
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Saffron: The duplicitous golden spice
Humans have always displayed enormous ingenuity when it comes to short-changing their fellow man. Modern tech companies, with their opaque terms of service and relentless data farming, are a great recent example of this but to capture the eternal nature of man’s duplicity we need look no further than our daily repast. Since antiquity we Continue reading
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Hurts so good: The painful pleasure of chillies
When I was running a medical research laboratory I was part of long running research project in Issan province in the north-eastern part of Thailand. One of the perks of working on this project was frequent trips to Thailand to work with Thai and American colleagues. My first visits were close to twenty years ago Continue reading
The Science of Food 