Vinegar, Umami, Hot Hands
What's In This? Vinegar
Guest: Lawrence Diggs, “The Vinegar Man,” international vinegar consultant
Vinegar—it’s in so many of the common foods and condiments we eat, it’s been around for thousands of years, and it can be made at home from leftover juice. This fascinating liquid is a bigger part of your life than you'd imagined.
The 5th Basic Taste
Guest: Gary Beauchamp, Distinguished Member, Emeritus Director and President, Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA
Umami, the mysterious fifth basic flavor, wasn’t discovered until the early 1900s. After umami’s discovery and synthesis, it got added to everything from Chinese food to cheese. Now it’s being needlessly taken out of food products everywhere. But why?
The Science behind “The Hot Hand”
Guest: Ben Cohen, journalist, "The Wall Street Journal," and author “The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streaks”
A group of scientists tried to prove the “Hot Hand” phenomenon fake in 1985, but new research questions whether there may really be such thing as being on a roll. Ben Cohen unpacks the math behind the “Hot Hand,” showing all the ways winning streaks affect our lives, even off the court, from classical composers to “The Princess Bride.”