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The Cautionary Tale of Trofim Lysenko
One day, years ago, when I was a cocksure university undergraduate, I was chatting to some Jehovah’s Witnesses who had come to the door of the share house I lived in. I’d ditched lectures for the day so, as a man of leisure, I had some time to discuss philosophical issues with these poor people Continue reading
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Quick Bite: New research shows what was on the menu 2 million years ago
The Ship of Theseus is the name given to a thought experiment first related by Plutarch around the beginning of the second century. In this story the ship Theseus rescued the children of Athens with was kept by the people of Athens and used every year in a pilgrimage to Delos. Over time, and many Continue reading
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Bananas, uniformity and catastrophe
I’ve been reliably informed by influencers, billionaires, failed comedians, politicians, Twitter pundits and assorted spite-filled meat-puppets looking to build an audience that diversity is a bad thing. Now I’m not one to disagree with the new intelligentsia but as a scientist, a member of the old intelligentsia I guess, I can’t help but feel, deep Continue reading
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The science behind umami: Understanding the way we perceive taste
Most of us have now heard of umami and we probably all know that umami is now recognised as the fifth of our primary tastes, formerly limited to sweet, sour, bitter and salty. You might also know that Western societies were a bit slow to the umami party. Despite being recognised in the East for Continue reading
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Milk: Nature’s Beverage and Its Curious Chemistry
I think humans have an interesting relationship with milk. Most of us start our food journey with human breast milk yet many, long after we’ve out grown any biological need for milk, chose to consume the milk and milk products of other species. To support this we have set up a $800 million dollar a Continue reading
The Science of Food 