Guest post by Steven Du
Creamistry – n. the science of creating ice cream using Liquid Nitrogen and not to be confused by the Ice Cream shop with the same name [4]. Ice cream does not seem complicated to make, but contrary to popular belief it is not as simple as just freezing cream and sugar; rather, this complex process requires slowly freezing cream to allow for small ice crystals to form, which results in a creamy ice cream texture. While the ice cream making process ...read more
Diamonds found in meteorites on Earth may have come from an ancient long-dead planet the size of Mercury or Mars, the first potential known relics from these lost worlds, a new study finds.
Scientists examined a ureilite, a kind of meteorite that is rich in carbon and sometimes even possesses diamonds. More than 480 ureilites have been discovered so far, says study lead author Farhang Nabiei, a materials scientist and electron microscopist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in L ...read more
Our first question upon hearing that someone has a new baby is usually "Is it a boy or a girl?" But our first question upon hearing that someone has gotten a new puppy is more often "What breed is it?" Breed is at the heart of how we perceive dogs. It affects many of our expectations of them - energy level, intelligence, friendliness - for better or for worse. With mutts, however, our urge to make breed-based assumptions can be stymied by the lack of a known breed to which to attach those assump ...read more
Jupiter may be one of the most recognizable sights in the solar system, but it still manages to surprise us. (And not just the everyday folks unfamiliar with its nighttime appearances.)
With NASA’s Juno probe in orbit around the gas giant, we’re seeing a new side to the planet, answering some questions but raising others. The latest came out last week at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna, Austria, where researchers showed off twisty patterns of the ...read more
Several years ago, after Thanksgiving dinner at my parents’ house in Vermont, lightning struck a backyard maple tree. There was a ferocious crack and the darkness outside the kitchen windows briefly turned day-bright. It wasn’t until spring that we knew for certain the tree was dead.
This maple was a youngster, its trunk the diameter of a salad plate. Were its life not cut short by catastrophe, the tree might have lived 300 years. But death by disaster is surprisingly common in tree ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine