Tag: food

Toasting a big week for ancient gastronomy

Blue cheese, beer and wine – it’s the hipster’s smorgasbord, but it turns out humans have been chowing down on these delicacies for a very long time. New research, published today in Current Biology, shows that preserved human poo – otherwise known as coprolites – in an Iron Age salt mine in Hallstatt, Austria contained … Continue reading Toasting a big week for ancient gastronomy

Need a rise in the bedroom? Try olives

A Mediterranean diet is associated with improvements in erectile dysfunction, according to research presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2021. Erectile disfunction primarily occurs when small arteries lose the ability to dilate and allow proper blood flow. It is more common in men with hypertension or declining testosterone levels. The researchers, led by … Continue reading Need a rise in the bedroom? Try olives

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Our hot new neighbour A newly discovered exoplanet might be our best chance of studying the atmosphere of rocky worlds, according to an international team of astronomers. Located 26 light-years away in the constellation of Virgo, Gliese 486b is classified as a super-Earth – bigger than our planet but smaller than the ice giants Neptune … Continue reading You may have missed…

Maybe we’re hardwired for calorific foods

High-calorie foods were vital for providing energy to our hunter-gatherer ancestors, potentially even fuelling modern human brain development. Although the world was vastly different then, a new study published in the journal Science Advances demonstrates how an inherent survival-driven preference for these foods may still be hardwired into our brains. In an eloquently designed experiment, … Continue reading Maybe we’re hardwired for calorific foods

Evidence of Indigenous botanical knowledge

Australia’s first plant foods – eaten by early populations 65,000 years ago – have been discovered in Arnhem Land. Preserved as pieces of charcoal, the morsels were recovered from the debris of ancient cooking hearths at the Madjedbebe archaeological site, on Mirarr country in northern Australia. Anna Florin, an archaeobotanist from the University of Queensland … Continue reading Evidence of Indigenous botanical knowledge

The secret to the Holy Grail of hot chips

Perfectly golden, crunchy on the outside but fluffy pearly white in the centre, the perfect hot chip is a thing of undeniable beauty. The Belgians and Dutch know a thing or two about chips, but we do pretty well too – except for pubs that put the schnitty on top of chips. When that plate … Continue reading The secret to the Holy Grail of hot chips