Neatorama

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• When Good Food Goes Bad
• Doctor Who Projection Watch
• Saudi Arabia Plans to Build Mile-High Building
• Periodic Table of Storytelling
• Creative Commons Haircut
• Boy Without Hands Wins Penmanship Award
• Goat Hacks Vending Machine
• Dutch Superbus: Stretch Batmobile as Public Transportation
• Jail: India's Next Call Center?
• Cat Allergy Vaccine
• Economist to Parents: Raising Kids Shouldn't Cost That Much
• Bicycle Chain Chandeliers

When Good Food Goes Bad Posted: 11 Apr 2011 05:08 AM PDT The following is an article from the book Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Plunges Into the Universe. In the back of the cave, Og groans in misery. Ogga is smug -she told him to leave that two-day-old meat alone. But it looked fine to Og, and as usual, he thought with his stomach instead of his head. Og swears to the gods of food that if only they will let him get through this, he will never touch meat again. Food, by virtue of once being alive, has a tendency to do what all dead things do: decompose. Food decomposes when its molecules break down into simpler molecules and elements. To do this, it needs the assistance of several helpful organisms and chemicals within its own body. INVASION OF THE MICROSCOPIC KILLER SPONGES! Bacteria are little more than live microscopic sponges. The cellular wall of a bacterium (that’s what they call one bacteria) is porous -just like a sponge. To eat, it simply soaks up whatever it happens to be lying in. (What a life!) Salmonella bacteria NATURAL FOOD In its natural state, food is wet, warm, and out in the open. Take away any one of these conditions, and you take away a bacterium’s ability to thrive. Therefore, in order to preserve our food we wrap it (to take away its air) and/or chill it (to slow down its rate of reproduction). Alternately, we can dry it (a bacterium can’t eat what it can’t soak up). BACTERIA ARE OUR BUDDIES All bacteria aren’t deadly, of course -in fact, most are harmless. We have bacteria all through us, both inside and out. We couldn’t live without them. The deadly bacteria are the ones that produce toxins as they eat and reproduce. Some familiar examples are salmonella, e. coli, anthrax, and the bacteria that cause botulism. DANGER! DANGER! ENGAGE DEFENSE MECHANISM! If bacteria are threatened (say, by excessive heat), they have a special defense mechanism. They produce spores, which are sort of like seeds that protect the bacteria until they’re in a condition where they can thrive again. And like seeds, they’re tough. They resist heat, And they can wait around for ages. That’s why it isn’t a good idea to reheat meat too many times. Every time the meat is reheated, more spores have a chance to form. Then, if the meat is put back into the fridge, the spores have a chance to germinate (make baby bacteria) before it gets too cold. If you keep heating and cooling, you’re just creating more and more heat-resistance spores that will develop into bacteria whenever conditions are ripe. Penicillin fungus FUNGI: NATURE’S RECYCLING PROGRAM When a fungus invades your food, it’s just doing its job, which is to recycle dead matter into nutrients. Unfortunately, if you ever smelled fertilizer, you know how awful those nutrients smell. And just because they’re good for plants, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re good for people. When you digest your food, you keep your digestive enzymes in your stomach. But fungi releases its enzymes into its surroundings (like that loaf of bread you’ve had hanging around for a week), and allows them to go to work breaking down the food into a form it can absorb. (Image credit: Flickr user Orange Coast College Biology Department) “HOW’S THE MUSHROOM SANDWICH TODAY?” Molds and mildew are both forms of fungus. The fuzzy stuff on that old bread are actually tiny mushrooms. A fungus reproduces by forming mushrooms that release tiny spores into the air. And like bacterial spores, the fungus’s job is to find a good place to live (and eat!). Where is such a place? Well, a fungus does not need light to survive, so any warm, dark, wet place suits it just fine (which is why its nice to have a window in your bathroom). ATTACK OF THE ENZYMES Enzymes are another culprit in food spoilage. They aren’t alive; they’re chemicals produced by everything that lives. Enzymes are present in all foods, and they don’t just sit there, they have a very important job: to assist in the break-down process by speeding up chemical reactions. Decaying peach RIPE FOR THE PLUCKING One example is the ripening of fruit. Once the fruit is ripe, the process doesn’t stop. After all, one of the goals of a fruit (if you can attribute goals to fruit) is to scatter its seeds. And one way to do this is to create a food succulent enough to entice a creature to eat it and discard the seeds. Those fruits that aren’t eaten become overripe and eventually fall apart in a gooey mess. Which is another way to disperse seeds. (Image credit: Andrew Dunn) “WHAT’S THAT SMELL?” Meats containing lots of fat have a nasty tendency to go rancid. Rancidity (yes, that’s a scientific term) is a chemical reaction that breaks down fatty acid molecules into smaller molecule-weight fatty acids. As it does so, some of the molecules evaporate, releasing unpleasant odors. This actually happens with all meat, but the process is faster with fatty meats. “WHAT’S THAT BLACK STUFF?” Some spoiled foods are easy to identify. Mold growing on bread looks fuzzy; if you miss it and take a bite anyway, the musty flavor should tip you off. Old milk smells sour and tastes worse -if it gets old enough, it actually curdles. If meat gets old enough, it’ll turn brown without the benefit of cooking. (Image credit: Flickr user Quinn Dombrowski) “BUT IT LOOKS FINE TO ME!” But sometimes you can’t tell when food is spoiled, like when bacteria leave an invisible slime on meat. You can check for slime by running a knife blade across the meat. If the blade has a cloudy, slippery stuff on it, your meat has been slimed. It’s even harder to tell if an egg is bad. One way you can test it is to put it in a bowl of water. If it sinks, it’s fine. If it floats, better get rid of it (preferably without breaking its shell). OLD MUSTARD NEVER DIES Not all foods go bad so readily. The yellow mustard that’s been in your fridge for three years, for instance, is a preservative in itself -that’s why it won’t go bad (though it will lose its flavor). (Image credit: Flickr user busbeytheelder) Then there are antimicrobials (they keep bacteria and fungi from invading your food) and antioxidants (they prevent rancidity, browning, and black spots). Other preservatives absorb water, preserve texture, and prevent trace metals from turning your food strange colors. Some old-fashioned preservatives are salt (to preserve meat and fish), sugar (to preserve fruit), and alcoholic beverages (which is why Aunt Bess’s fruitcake can keep for years). IT CAME FROM THE BACK OF THE FRIDGE But, as you probably know, not all food can be preserved. And if you’ve ever neglected to clean out your fridge for a while, you’ve undoubtedly  discovered that stuff that lurks in the back has been doing a slow morph into something alien, evil-smelling, and possibly so dangerous it should come with its own Surgeon General’s warning. ___________________ The article above was reprinted with permission from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Plunges Into the Universe. Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. If you like Neatorama, you’ll love the Bathroom Reader Institute’s books – go ahead and check ‘em out!

Doctor Who Projection Watch Posted: 10 Apr 2011 10:23 PM PDT Doctor Who Projection Watch – $19.95 Attention Doctor Who fans! Behold the Doctor Who Projection Watch from the NeatoShop! This fabulous time piece has the ability to project the image of the 11th Doctor. Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fantastic Doctor Who items.

Saudi Arabia Plans to Build Mile-High Building Posted: 10 Apr 2011 06:47 PM PDT Saudi Arabia’s proposed Kingdom Tower will rise to 5,280 feet. That’s a full mile. If completed, this building in Jeddah will cost $30 billion to build and will contain apartments, hotel rooms, and offices in its 12 million cubic feet of space. The above graphic compares the structure to the Petronis Tower (center) in Malaysia and the Empire State Building (left) in the US. Currently, the tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa, which is 2,700 feet tall. Link via Gizmodo | Image: The Daily

Periodic Table of Storytelling Posted: 10 Apr 2011 06:18 PM PDT deviantART user ComputerSherpa created a periodic table as a means of organizing the major tropes that can be found in popular stories. Pictured above is one small selection. When ComputerSherpa offered this to his classmates for critique, one cleverly suggested that it be used as a dartboard. Link

Creative Commons Haircut Posted: 10 Apr 2011 03:01 PM PDT Flickr user George Kelly spotted this fellow at the recent SXSW conference in Austin promoting Creative Commons. In the spirit of that organization, he was glad to have his photo taken so as long as it was properly licensed. Link via Walyou

Boy Without Hands Wins Penmanship Award Posted: 10 Apr 2011 11:07 AM PDT Nicholas Maxim was born without hands or forearms, but the fifth grader can write -and well, too. Nicholas has won a special award in Zaner-Bloser’s 20th annual National Handwriting Contest. “We submitted his entry because we felt his penmanship was amazing considering he completes most of his work without using his prostheses,” said Cheryl Hasenfus, Readfield Elementary School principal. At those times, Nicholas writes by holding a pen or pencil between his upper arms. On behalf of Zaner-Bloser, a publisher of educational materials, Hasenfus presented a trophy to Nicholas during a school assembly for his excellent penmanship. The school is in Readfield, Maine. Inspired by his ability, Zaner-Bloser decided to create a new award category in his honor: Nicholas Maxim Special Award for Excellent Penmanship Other winners of the competition will be announced in May. Link -via Arbroath

Goat Hacks Vending Machine Posted: 10 Apr 2011 11:04 AM PDT (YouTube link) “This guy is crazy!” …crazy like a fox. This is apparently a vending machine at a petting zoo from which people can buy treats to feed the animals. But Billy here has figured out how to “tap” into it himself! -via Buzzfeed Update: purple_phoenix, who works there, tells us this is not a billy goat, but a female sheep! That’ll teach me to go by YouTube titles.

Dutch Superbus: Stretch Batmobile as Public Transportation Posted: 10 Apr 2011 10:54 AM PDT What looks like a Stretch Batmobile, goes really fast, and runs on electric motor? The Dutch Superbus, the brainchild of Wubbo Ockels, who created the car for public transportation (that or a really, really expensive ride to prom). AOL’s Translogic blog has the video clip: Link (Photo: Radio Netherlands Worldwide)

Jail: India's Next Call Center? Posted: 10 Apr 2011 10:53 AM PDT The next time you get an Indian talking from a call center on your customer service call, don’t get too upset. Instead, have pity as your counterpart may soon be talking from jail! For a man serving a life sentence for murder, Pradeep Deburma has a slightly unlikely dream: to work in a call centre like hundreds of thousands of other young ambitious Indians. Even more improbably, he has every chance of realising it while still behind bars. Deburma, 24, is detained in a high-security prison near Hyderabad which is launching an innovative scheme to turn convicts into "outsourcing providers" for local firms and eventually, it is hoped, international clients. The scheme is in its early stages, with prisoners being trained in basic data entry skills. Jail authorities hope that inmates will soon be just as likely to tap at a keyboard as dig vegetables, make carpets or stitch uniforms. "We have got so many computer literates and professionals in our prison," said Gopinath Reddy, director general of prisons in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Talk about being chained to the desk! Jason Burke of The Guardian has more: Link (Photo: Jason Burke)

Cat Allergy Vaccine Posted: 10 Apr 2011 10:52 AM PDT Love cats but have cat allergy? Well, hang in there – scientists are closing in on a cat allergy vaccine that will let you have your cat fix without the sniffles: A mix of seven synthetic peptides makes up the vaccine. The idea, the researchers wrote, is that the immune system will encounter these peptide strands, which fit into the immune cells like a key to a lock, and recognize them as harmless. That action stops the sniffling, sneezing inflammatory response in its tracks, even when the peptides are attached to real cat proteins. An early clinical trial on 88 patients resulted in no serious side effects, the researchers reported. A single injection reduced the skin’s inflammatory reaction to cat allergens by 40 percent, the researchers wrote. Link

Economist to Parents: Raising Kids Shouldn't Cost That Much Posted: 10 Apr 2011 10:52 AM PDT Remember our post from way back when about the cost of raising a child totaling about $250K? Well, economist Bryan Caplan decided to take a closer look as to exactly why (and how we can lower that cost). The Week summarizes: So… we’re spending too much on kids? "In a nutshell," says Sierra Black at Strollerderby, "Caplan believes that parents are ‘overcharging’ themselves for their children." By committing to intense tactics like attachment parenting, which requires moms to carry newborns non-stop and respond to their every desire, they’re unnecessarily robbing themselves of time. Parents also feel obligated to spend a fortune on lessons of every kind, and an endless stream of educational videos and toys. And all that expensive attention is really unnecessary? Yes. Caplan says the bottom line is that nature — the kids’ genes — mostly determines who they’ll be; the power of nurture, he says, is minimal. Research on twins and adopted children shows that kids raised by highly educated parents with big vocabularies, for example, tend to know more words when they’re tiny. But by the time they reach age 12, "the effect of enriched upbringing on vocabulary was barely visible," Caplan says in The New York Times. Link (Photo: Caitlin Caplan)

Bicycle Chain Chandeliers Posted: 10 Apr 2011 08:25 AM PDT Carolina Fontoura Alzaga’s edgy chandeliers made from bicycle chains are inspired by victorian chandeliers but add a contemporary bike culture twist. The recycled bicycle parts become a representation of the dismissed, invisible, and powerless, but also an affirmation of self-propelled movement. The bicycle chandelier thereby creates a new third meaning of reclaimed agency. Link – Via Notcot

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