science

Keener and two colleagues developed and patented the radiant frying system in 2007. The radiant fryer uses infrared energy to produce the appealing crispy exterior unique to fried food. Sixty-eight panelists were recruited on the basis of age, preference for fried chicken products, and a habit of eating "fast food" at least two times a month. The group consisted of students, employees and visitors of the Department of Food Science. Panelists rated randomly numbered samples of chicken patties on the basis of flavor, crispiness, oiliness, appearance and overall preference.

Humankind is capable of great accomplishments, such as sending probes into space and eradicating diseases; these achievements have been made possible because humans learn from their elders and enrich this knowledge over generations. It was previously thought that this cumulative aspect of culture — whereby small changes build up, are transmitted, used and enriched by others — was limited to humans, but it has now been observed in another primate, the baboon.

While it is clear that monkeys like chimpanzees learn many things from their peers, each individual seems to start learning from scratch. In contrast, humans use techniques that evolve and improve from one generation to the next, and also differ from one population to another. The origin of cumulative culture in humans has therefore remained a mystery to scientists, who are trying to identify the necessary conditions for this cultural accumulation.

If you want your shindig to stand out, you should ditch that traditional booze, morph yourself into a cocktail alchemist and one-up your friends and coworkers with science...

The Ouya isn't your standard liquid cocktail. It's served as liquid-filled beads formed using a technique known as reverse spherification, a fancy term for turning liquids or liquefied foods into gel-covered, liquid-filled spheres that pop in your mouth.

Check out the full recipe here.

Here's some more information on these strange creatures:

Via NASA:

What does the Earth look like during a total solar eclipse? It appears dark in the region where people see the eclipse, because that's where the shadow of the Moon falls. The shadow spot actually shoots across the Earth at nearly 2,000 kilometers per hour, darkening locations in its path for only a few minutes before moving on. The featured image shows the Earth during the total solar eclipse of 2006 March, as seen from the International Space Station. On Friday the Moon will move in front of the Sun once again, casting another distorted circular shadow that, this time, will zip over part of the north Atlantic Ocean.