The Secret History of the Slave Behind Jack Daniel’s Whiskey
Back in 1866, Jack Daniel’s became the first registered distillery in the United States; today, it’s the top-selling American whiskey in the world. For much of the brand’s 150-plus years, the story we...
28 Jan 201943min
Sweet and Low (Calorie): The Story of Artificial Sweeteners
For decades, ads for treats sweetened with substances like Sweet’N Low, NutraSweet, and Splenda have promised what seems like a miracle of modern science: that you can enjoy all the dessert you want, ...
15 Jan 201943min
Dirty Tricks and Data: The Great Soda Wars, Part 2
Over the past five years, more than forty cities and countries around the world have passed a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. These soda taxes are designed to improve public health—but do they? Or h...
18 Des 201845min
Souring on Sweet: The Great Soda Wars, Part 1
Public health researchers agree: the evidence is clear that Americans consume way too much sugar, that sugar contributes to weight gain, and that rising rates of obesity in the U.S. will lead to signi...
4 Des 201846min
The Truth is in the Tooth: Braces, Cavities, and the Paleo Diet
Brush, floss, and forget: chances are, you only think about your teeth when they cause you trouble. But teeth have tales to tell, such as how old we are, how fast we grew, and how far we’ve traveled… ...
19 Nov 201836min
Who Invented Mac and Cheese?
The warm, gooey dish, a childhood staple across North America, is many things to many people: a mainstay of African-American Sunday dinners, according to soul food expert Adrian Miller; a comforting y...
13 Nov 201830min
How the Carrot Became Orange, and Other Stories
Thousands of years ago, in what’s now Afghanistan, people unearthed the tangled, gnarled roots of Queen Anne’s Lace—a ubiquitous, hairy-stemmed plant with a spray of tiny white flowers. These fibrous,...
6 Nov 201838min
The Incredible Egg
We love eggs scrambled, fried, or poached; we couldn’t enjoy a quiche, meringue, or flan without them. But for scientists and archaeologists, these perfect packages are a source of both wonder and cur...
23 Okt 201843min
