expatiari expatria

Category: yummy

Tea Science

Steeping the perfect cup of tea is a science. Most important of course are the tea leaves (or tips and/or stems), then the water, then temperature, then time. However, whether due to laziness or to ignorance, emphasis is too often precisely backwards.
For example, let’s take a typical but hypothetical New Jersey suburbanite. She uses the [...]

Melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet

Once upon a time, long long ago, a fluffy snow flake fell gracefully from the heavens and landed softly somewhere on the ice sheet of Greenland.

Inevitably, more snow fell on top of him. And more snow, and more snow. He was happy to have so many friends. It was crowded but cozy. And day after [...]

Gōngfu Chá Dào Animated

Chili Burn

Capsaicinoids produce a burning sensation when the seeds and fleshy fruits of capsicum plants are eaten by mammals. The irritants protect the seeds from destructive mammalian digestive tracks. However, birds are not sensitive to capsicum and disperse the seeds without damage.
Capsaicin does not cause a chemical burn, but by binding to a vanilloid receptor, it [...]

Spamacology Rx

Were it not for spam, one might be caught in the dark regarding the latest advances in erectile dysfunction pharmacology. Here are the specials on the menu this week:
Carisoprodol (Soma, Carisoma): skeletal muscle relaxant
Diazepam (Valium, Stesolid, Diazemuls, Seduxen, Bosaurin, Diapam, Antenex, Apozepam): benzodiazepine derivative possessing anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, sedative, skeletal muscle relaxant and amnestic propertiesused [...]