If you're taking any science labs in school or work in a lab every day, then there's no reason why you shouldn't be the one to prepare Christmas dinner this year.

Potatoes harvested early in the season have high starch content, which limits browning. Early potatoes may have starch on the surface, which covers the sugars that brown faster. But rinsing the potatoes several times can eliminate this problem.

For more food science, check out Harold McGee's book On Food and Cooking.

The FADER called it. LA Times called it. Random blogs have called it. Just like gold and fluorescent are the new black, hypercolor clothes are about to replace acid wash jeans as the nerdiest textile. It's about time! What's more stylish than wearing micro encapsulated PH indicators?

I guess I'm kinda fashionable but I was never on top of the hypercolor fad of the 90's. If only I had realized the chemistry involved in these garments I'd probably be dressed in a hypercolor unitard through public school.

How does it work though? Gordon Nelson gives you the summary in his paper "Application of microencapsulation in textiles": 

There are two major types of colour-changing systems: thermochromatic which alter colour in response to temperature, and photochromatic which alter colour in response to UV light. Both forms of colour-change material are produced in an encapsulated form as microencapsulation helps to protect these sensitive chemicals from the external environment. Today manufacturers are able to make dyes that change colour at specific temperatures for a given application, e.g. colour changes can be initiated from the heat generated in response to human contact.

Wikipedia breaks down the science, albeit unsourced, in greater detail:

The liquid [inside the micro capsules] is a leuco form of a dye (in this case crystal violet lactone), a weak acid (1,2,3-benzotriazole), and a quaternary ammonium salt of a fatty acid (myristylammonium oleate) dissolved in a solvent (1-dodecanol). At low temperatures, the weak acid forms a colored complex with the leuco dye, interrupting the lactone ring. At high temperatures, above 24-27 °C, the solvent melts and the salt dissociates, reversibly reacts with the weak acid and increases the pH. The pH change leads to closing of the lactone ring of the dye, which then regains its colorless (leuco) form.

At least it should tie me over until the wearable computer fad comes back into style...

Jacks of Science is a bit of an experiment.

I hypothesized that the site would become a flourishing group science blog as far back as 2006.

To observe this desired blog state I devised a simple theory. I would mix a solution from a staff of student bloggers in different fields such as Physics, Biology, Geology, and Chemistry.

Would I be able to find reactants that formed a homogeneous mixture or a highly reactive substance on the brink of explosion?! Even if I found writers that worked coherently together, would I continue to get decent results over time? 

I figured that the greatness of Jacks of Science would be directly correlated with post diversity. Many authors would lead to diversity in post subject matter, writing style, humor, complexity, geekiness, and length. However, in theory, things are much different than in experiment. As you may have noticed, this diversity of authors ended up just being a diverse range of posts authored by me. I didn't follow through on my original plan of finding other writers since I was busy trying to become a better blogger myself.

The original intention of the site has been lost but, 102 posts later, as my domain renewal date draws nearer, you're looking at the results of the Jacks of Science experiment. Full of random art doodled on my class notes (which now includes my 1st and 2nd year!), to pro-piracy open science discussion, to science DJ mixes, to my most popular article: Science Valentines.

So I'm trying to draw some conclusions about the data so far. As far as the traffic indicates the site is growing in popularity but I'm just not sure if things are working out. Blogging is a lot of fun, but the Jacks of Science initiative, as originally imagined, has been stagnant for some time. It doesn't seem to be going anywhere for a variety of reasons off the top of my head.

• No clear audience that I'm writing for!
• No incentive for new writers to be part of the site!
• I can only post once a week by myself (quality over quantity)!
• Science is boring (and thus cannot reach a wide enough audience)!
• My single column blog theme is too narrow!

Vegetarians beware, this post is all about meat.  More specifically, we look at the what makes meat the colour it is.  It all comes down to a handy molecule called myoglobin.  But first, a bit about twitching.

The difference between white and dark meat or white and red meat is a consequence of the different muscle cell types.  Muscle cells are commonly called muscle fibres.  White muscle fibres are also known as "fast-twitch" muscle fibres, and are geared towards (as their name implies) quick, sudden movements like a short burst of flight.  Most of the energy for white muscle fibre movement comes from the metabolism of glycogen, a networked polymer of glucose.  Glycogen metabolism doesn't require oxygen, but results in a buildup of lactic acid, which limits the length of time the cell can work before it needs rest to get rid of the accumulation of lactic acid and restore glycogen stores.

Red or, "slow-twitch" muscle fibres, by contrast, dominate in muscles that require prolonged constant effort, such as the legs of most animals.  Their primary source of energy is fat stores by way of cellular respiration.

Most animal muscles are made of a combination of white and red muscle fibres.  At one extreme, frog legs are almost exclusively white muscle fibres, since they make nothing but sudden fast movements.  Animals that are constantly chewing their cud, such as cows, have cheeks that are made up of only red muscle fibres.  Birds such as chickens or turkeys fly rarely, and only for short periods, so their breast muscles are mostly white fibres, while their legs are a combination of white and red.  Ducks are migratory birds, so their muscles contain a high proportion of red fibres to support extended periods of flight.

 

Most of raw meat's colour comes from a pigment called myoglobin, which is related to hemoglobin and binds oxygen to transport it around the cell.  Myoglobin, like hemoglobin, contains a heme group (pictured above) which contains a central iron atom, usually in the +2 oxidation state.  The colour of myoglobin is determined by whatever the iron atom is bonded to:  if it's bonded to an O₂ molecule, the myoglobin is bright red, whereas in the absense of oxygen it bonds to water and is a purple colour.  If the iron atom becomes oxidized, or loses an electron, the myoglobin turns brown.  This can happen after a prolonged time without access to oxygen, or in an acidic environment.

 

When meat is cooked, some of the proteins in it denature and become opaque, turning red meat pink.  At 60 degrees C, the myoglobin itself denatures and becomes tan-coloured, giving well done meat a brownish-grey colour.  Freezing for long periods of time can also denature the myoglobin.

Finally, curing meat can cause other molecules to bond to myoglobin.  Nitrite, used in cured meats like ham and bacon, reacts to form nitric oxide.  Myoglobin bonded to nitric oxide is pink in colour.  Smoking or barbequeing meat can also turn it pink‚ nitric oxide (named Molecule of the Year in 1992) is the culprit again.  This is the characteristic smoke ring‚ of smoked and barbequed meats that is prized by barbeque aficionados.

This post was generously contributed by long-time Jacks of Science fan Kate Cook studying at University of Waterloo. Thanks for the meat knowledge Kate!

Here at Jacks of Science we generally don't advocate the use of illicit substances, but if you're going to do it anyway, why not look into the science of reducing your harm and read the Harm Reduction Journal.

Harm Reduction Journal is an Open Access, peer-reviewed, online journal whose focus is prevalent patterns of psychoactive drug use, the public policies meant to control them, and the search for effective methods of reducing the adverse medical, public health, and social consequences associated with both drugs and drug policies.

Some of the many great highly accessed articles include:

Cannabis and tobacco smoke are not equally carcinogenic

Decreased respiratory symptoms in cannabis users who vaporize

You can even use some articles to support bad parenting skills...

A preliminary DTI study showing no brain structural change associated with adolescent cannabis use

And also improve them!

Safe storage of methadone in the home - an audit of the effectiveness of safety information giving

A Big Purple Haze Peace Dude goes out to Improbable Research for mentioning this journal! 4/20!

Mothers around the world know that fresh air is good for you--or as a scientist could tell you, bad for bacteria. Now a UK company has developed a product that produces hydroxyl radicals by reacting terpenes (a class of hydrocarbons produced by plants and contained in many essential oils) with atmospheric ozone. The germkilling radicals, consisting of a neutral but highly reactive OH molecule with an unpaired electron, prevent bacteria from absorbing nutrients properly, but are harmless to humans. Hospitals, lately worried about the threat of 'superbug' epidemics--infections of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, could reduce a heavily contaminated room to below infectious levels in minutes. And doesn't that smell sweet?