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Why Are Kids Dipping Cookies in Ranch, Are Food Comas Real, and What's Inside the Mummy's Stomach?
Just in time for the holidays, Ask Gastropod is back with a plate full of listener questions for your listening delight! You came to us with mysterie…
1 year, 3 months ago
Hacking Taste (encore)
Taste is the oldest of our five senses, and yet perhaps the least understood. It's far more complicated than salty versus sweet: new research is dram…
1 year, 3 months ago
The Curiously Strong Story of Mint
What’s the coolest flavor of the holiday season? It's peppermint, obviously, and it’s showing up in everything from coffee to chocolate and cookies t…
1 year, 3 months ago
Dishwashing Debates: The Soapy Science Behind Everyone's Favorite Chore
Next week, the US celebrates the dishwashing Olympics—also known as Thanksgiving. But how best to tackle the washing-up after the big meal can cause …
1 year, 4 months ago
V is for Vitamin (encore)
They're added to breakfast cereal, bread, and even Pop-Tarts, giving the sweetest, most processed treats a halo of health. Most people pop an extra d…
1 year, 4 months ago
Bringing Salmon Home: The Story of the World's Largest Dam Removal Project
The Klamath River on the California-Oregon border was once the third largest salmon river in the continental U.S. There were so many fish, indigenous…
1 year, 4 months ago
Potatoes in Space! (encore)
Today, a half century after Neil Armstrong took one small step onto the surface of the Moon, there are still just ten humans living in space—the crew…
1 year, 4 months ago
Absinthe: The World's Most Dangerous Drink?
To painters and poets in late-1800s France, absinthe was "the green muse" or the "green fairy," an almost magical potion that promised vivid dreams, …
1 year, 5 months ago
From Trash to Treasure: Why's It So Hard to Save Restaurant Leftovers From the Dumpster?
Every day, at the end of service, restaurants throw away tons of entirely edible food: heaps of pastries and whole loaves of bread, vegetables choppe…
1 year, 5 months ago
Smashing Pumpkin Myths: What's Big, Orange, and Having an Identity Crisis?
It’s already begun: that time of the year now known across the land as Decorative Gourd Season. Squash are everywhere—carved into jack o’lanterns on …
1 year, 6 months ago