Kilauea fills Kapoho Bay in Hawaii
The eruption of Kilauea is fascinating. We’re watching the creation of new earth in real time. This week, as Kilauea enters its 35th year of eruption, we see it completely fill in Kapoho Bay. The lava extended the shoreline out by approximately 750 yards. Many of the seaside homes and attractions were destroyed by the lava flows but it seems as most people had evacuated before it was too late
Whiskey on the rocks.
Add a spalsh of water to your whiskey. If you’ve ever done a whiskey tasting or been to a whiskey bar you’ve probably received this advice. “It’ll bring out the full flavor, especially if it’s a Scotch”. Now there is Science to back that advice up.
Guaiacol. One of the molecules that give whiskey its characteristic smokiness.
Whiskies have a compound called guaiacol, which gives it its characteristic smokiness. Scotch whiskies typically have more guaiacol than their American or Irish counterparts because it is made with malted barley that has been smoked over a peat fire. Guaiacol is a phenol, and when it is in a solution of ethanol and water, as in whiskey, it tends to interact more with ethanol molecules than water. When whiskey is more concentrated, ethanol and guaiacol form clumps and sink deeper into the glass. But, when its diluted by a splash of water or with an ice cube, the ethanol and guaiacol are more dispersed and accumulate toward the liquid surface. This makes the whiskey smell and taste more flavorful.
So what is the optimal dilution? There is no one answer to this question. The optimal dilution for bringing out a whiskey’s flavor will vary from brand to brand. And giving your whiskey glass a gentle swirl before each sip won’t hurt either.
Read more about the research by Björn Karlsson and Ran Friedman in Scientific Reports.
A string of bombs detonated over the weekend in New York City and New Jersey. The police have arrested Ahmad Khan Rahami in connection with the attacks. C&EN explores the attacks from a scientific angle, looking at the likelihood that two materials – one called Tannerite and another named hexamethylene triperoxide diamine, or HMTD – were used as explosives. On Tannerite:
“It is impossible,” says Daniel Tanner, CEO of Tannerite Sports. Only a high-velocity bullet travelling at a minimum of 610 meters per second can trigger their exploding targets to go off. Tannerite is also resistant to fire, friction, and hard impacts. It cannot be merely jolted into exploding, suggesting that normal bomb triggers wouldn’t set it off. Furthermore, Tanner says finding aluminum or ammonium nitrate residue isn’t enough to say Tannerite was used. “Tannerite is not a compound,” he says. “It is a trademark.”
“Tannerite is not going to go off by itself,” Oxley says. “It is very stable stuff.
And on HMTD:
“HMTD is not stable and not nice stuff. You can easily set it off,” Oxley says. “To use HMTD there has to be some synthesis involved,” she says. Thus far, there are no reports as to how Rahami could have made or obtained HMTD for use in the bombs.