Immigration in any society is a complex subject, and a controversial one. It's something that is likely to get tempers flaring and people marching on the streets. As a cowardly food science blogger I don't normally have much to say on the topic, it's not something I feel particularly qualified to comment on and, like pineapple on pizza, people tend to do a lot of talking about immigration and very little listening.

Absinthe seems to come to us out of the mists, the alleyways and the side streets of Belle Epoque Paris. The verdant symbol of bohemian excess, absinthe speaks to us of the heyday of the Montmartre. A time when bars like the Moulin Rouge and Le Rat Mort1 provided the chaotic playgrounds for those from all levels of French society with a taste for excess.

In some of the earliest posts I wrote for this blog I discussed how cooking meat is all about anatomy. Understanding the anatomy of muscles, and how particular muscles are used by the animal, helps you understand which muscles are tender and which are tough. The toughest meat is from the muscles that did the most work when the animal was alive.

Whenever a human is eating, a salt shaker is never too far away. For six thousand years we've relied on salt to improve our food. To make the uninteresting interesting and the bland, well, less bland. Though our ancestors often found it hard to get enough salt, in the modern world we are awash with the stuff. Without even seeming to try, the average human being on the planet consumes twice as much salt per day than what is considered healthy for us.

Google says it could penalize back button hijacking by demoting websites in search ranking.

Some have suggested rampant extramarital sex in elite Roman circles led to demand for silphium outstripping supply.

Bread and biscuits made from Crispr-edited wheat showed substantially reduced acrylamide levels

2023 study made a lot of assumptions about future "anticipated LLM-powered software."

A death rate of up to 90%, attributed to warming seas, is threatening the trade in Hiroshima prefecture, which produces most of the country’s farmed oysters

In our popular culture we have a complicated relationship with mutants. For every Teenage Mutant Turtle and Wolverine, there is a Magneto, a Jason Vorhees or a Thing. The hillbillies from Deliveran…

Scientific methods validated from modern life have brought dinosaurs to life in a testable way.

In our popular culture we have a complicated relationship with mutants. For every Teenage Mutant Turtle and Wolverine, there is a Magneto, a Jason Vorhees or a Thing. The hillbillies from Deliverance probably qualify as mutants but I'm not sure whether Godzilla is a good guy or a bad guy? Are zombies mutants? Regardless, it seems that everyone agrees that messing with your DNA is a risky proposition.

Raw Farm denies link to illnesses while patients keep identifying its products.

Some staff reportedly questioned how sexy ChatGPT benefits humanity.

Robert Malone quit a vaccine panel, blaming an HHS spokesperson for "trashing" him.

Study links two crises: Climate change and antibiotic-resistant infections.

ACA requires firms to cover colonoscopies for over-45s but young people face hurdles to receive appropriate tests

New study finds that employees impressed by corporate speak may be least equipped to make effective decisions

Age-related microbiome changes increase medium-chain fatty acid-producing bacteria, driving GPR84-mediated myeloid inflammation, impaired vagal signalling and hippocampal dysfunction; targeting this g...

Claims that genes determine intelligence, health and social outcomes are reappearing. But modern science shows environment and opportunity matter far more than genes.

Fatal brain infection was thought to be from profound immune suppression. Not anymore.

The cookbook legend on food anxiety, the joy of family dinners and why she has ‘absolutely no time for’ protein shakes

Samples returned from the asteroid Ryugu contain all five canonical nucleobases (A, G, C, T and U). Their presence in Ryugu and Bennu supports the hypothesis that carbonaceous asteroids contributed to...

Cases of Buruli ulcer have been detected on the New South Wales south coast. Here’s how to protect yourself.

Humans love a good story. We also love a simple story. We like our good guys to be good, our bad guys to be bad, we like a message that reinforces our beliefs and we definitely like some closure, everything wrapped up with a nice little bow. Our love of a well-formed narrative, and our tendency to use them to interpret the world around us, creates a divergence between our narrative choices and the real world.

Staff at the Institution pick their favorite reads of the year, including riveting memoirs, fascinating true histories and fun fiction

She made a full recovery, despite the maggots.

If recent trends continue, the atmosphere may become a little toxic to breathe in 50 years.

Due to the volatile cocoa market, companies like Hershey are using replacement ingredients such as sugar, oil, milk and nuts

Is your compost a veritable Vesuvius of foul-smelling, putrescible plant waste? You might be doing everything wrong. Fear not; you can learn from your mistakes.

Family-run farms in El Salvador and Honduras face mounting losses, rising costs – and the need to adapt or be left behind

RFK Jr. has tried hard to villainize Fauci. Americans still trust Fauci more.

Burr Oak Cemetery is the final resting place of Emmett Till and blues singer Willie Dixon, among others.

World Obesity Federation says half a billion children will be overweight and calls on governments to act to create healthier environments

Multispectral imaging, proteomics, historical texts yield new insights into 16th-century medical manuals.

In 1865, Otto von Bismarck, the conqueror of France, the architect of German unification, Germany's first Chancellor and the steely-eyed hard man of realpolitik challenged a scientist to a duel. This wasn't an early case of nerd hazing. Rudolf Virchow, apart from his scientific career, was also the leader of the Progressive Party and one of Bismarck's most vocal opponents…

Carp is a prized table fish in Europe but despised in Australia. How did we get here?

The next jar of Australian honey you buy may just be doing more good than you realise.

I went into Hyperion blind, decades ago, knowing almost nothing about it. I was never the same.

Natural daily consumption of dietary alcohol by chimpanzees suggests human attraction to alcohol may come from our ancestral diet.

Latest data hints that benefits seen so far could be underestimates.

I have made the leap from literary fiction to fantasy – for those who think it’s mere wish-fulfilment, here’s why we need that thing with the dragons

Can you imagine a world without French wine? A world without the wines of Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy and Provence? A world in which French people don't look down their nose at the wines of the rest of the world? Is such a world even possible? Well, in the late 19th century this is exactly the world that almost came into being.

MAHA members call movement a "sham" after Kennedy supports glyphosate order.

As Trump slashes science funding, young researchers flee abroad. Without solid innovation, the US could cease to have the largest biomedical ecosystem in the world

Five countries responsible for 75% of world’s coffee supply record average of 57 extra days of coffee-harming heat a year

After sampling eight savoury spreads available in Australian aisles, Nicholas Jordan braces for a patriotic backlash