Category: Science

Why does salt enhance the flavor of almost all food?

Ever wondered why salt is so important to us in our diet? Ever noticed that the taste of something can actually change significantly after you’ve added salt? The Straight Dope has the answers:

Besides banging harder on the body’s salt gong, adding NaCl to some foods can increase the volatility of certain chemical compounds, meaning the molecules are more easily released to the air, and of course aroma is an important part of the taste experience. Finally, studies have shown the sodium in salt can suppress bitter tastes.

See full article for everything you wanted to know about salt, but were afraid to ask.

Ten Politically Incorrect Truths(?) About Human Nature

See this intriguing post, which as the title states, is a bunch of very politically incorrect “truths” about human nature. I have a feeling that the author has only presented one side of the argument in many cases. In other words, I feel that, at least in some cases (most notably #6 the Trivers-Willard hypothesis), unproven theories have been presented as facts without presenting the arguments or evidence against them.

Notwithstanding the lack of rigor in separating facts from theories, it still makes for very interesting reading. At the very least, these are all “plausible” theories, and do have a possibility of being true. For example:

Men strive to attain political power, consciously or unconsciously, in order to have reproductive access to a larger number of women. Reproductive access to women is the goal, political office but one means. To ask why the President of the United States would have a sexual encounter with a young woman is like asking why someone who worked very hard to earn a large sum of money would then spend it.

Read the full article. Certainly worth it. You don’t have to believe it all, but think about it…