Zombies are just regular people, or at least they were before — well, you know. With that in mind and with Halloween approaching, The Washington Post asked experts in several fields to address some zombie mysteries based on what is known about human bodies and brains....
You won't find much — if any — mention of garum, the fermented fish-based condiment, on the menus at the San Francisco restaurants Saison or Angler. But a few dribbles of this umami-rich elixir make diners croon, "Mmm, what is that?". You'll find garum in...
Dr. Nancy Rawson is a scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia and serves on the Science and Medical Advisory Council for the Smell and Taste Association of North America (STANA). She discusses the long-term COVID side effect of loss of taste and/or...
Two and a half years ago, my nose stopped working. That’s when I realized how often smell comes up in daily conversation: “That Uber smelled weird,” or “that woman was wearing way too much perfume,” or “someone’s definitely smoking weed nearby.” I have anosmia, a symptom of...
Communicating a sensory experience to someone who doesn’t know what you’re talking about is hard. How would you describe the color red to someone who’s colorblind? How might you explain the aroma of onions sautéing in butter to someone who’s never smelled it? Meaty, savory, rich,...
In this episode Anjula meets Hannah, a mother of two who feels she was negatively affected by the diet culture she witnessed growing up. She wants her children to take pleasure in food without feeling guilty but feels society gives parents and children mixed messages...
Candles are calming, smell great, create ambience, and always score as a favorite house-warming gift. But you may have heard that they can also spew toxic, cancer-causing chemicals into the air. These rumors may leave you wondering, Are candles bad for you or the environment? Don’t...
It’s been over 2 years since the pandemic began, and COVID-19 still dominates small talk. Sharing personal experiences with the disease was also how the conversation started when Christine Kelly, who lives in London, spoke with C&EN: “I got it three times,” she says. “The...
You may have noticed that real-life caviar bumps are suddenly all the rage – on celebratory, hedonistic display at bougie restaurants and bars, art openings, and festivals. But how did we come to lick salt-cured, unfertilised fish eggs off our hands in the first place? Food writer Maggie...
Olfaction has always been our underdog sense. It’s both primitive and complex, which makes it hard to study and harder still to transfer to our increasingly digital existence. Our scientific understanding of how smell works lags so far behind our grasp of hearing and (especially)...