Play food science trivia along with a former state trivia champion

Learn the history of food science breakthroughs from the 20th century

Long after humans developed the means to produce sufficient food to feed civilizations, scientific research focused on a wide variety of objectives, such as developing methods to preserve food quality (accomplished via frozen food), speeding up cooking (leading to the microwave), and lowering the cost of sweetening food, which high fructose corn syrup provides.

Barbecue relies on a unique scientific equation

Barbecue's distinct flavor starts with an interaction between the heat source and food, which creates a Maillard Reaction—better known to diners as those crunchy, caramelized bits on the outside.

Watch Anthony Bourdain's meal at El Bulli, which popularized molecular gastronomy

The 'drinks' included cocktails in the form of alcohol-infused sugarcanes, a cotton candy piña colada, and a dual-textured, temperature-changing gin fizz. Foods included a gorgonzola cheese sphere with the consistency of a chocolate egg and a dish of freeze-dried and foam tofu with the appearance and texture of tiramisu.

Neural replays in mice help explain food aversions

Princeton University scientists published research in 2025 analyzing how mice learn to associate certain foods or flavors with feeling ill—even when there’s a time gap between eating something and feeling sick. The work, performed with grape Kool-Aid and injections of a substance that made mice sick, traced the literal “gut reaction” of how gut distress signals are linked to neural replays of what the mouse ate.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor scientific achievements that make people laugh, then think

These prizes show that even seemingly trivial work can gain attention, build momentum, and connect with broader audiences when presented engagingly. Winners include creating a toilet that analyzes your poop and understanding why scientists lick rocks.

Finding the way home through flavor

In the fall of 1996, 9-year-old Alvin Chang rushed into his family's kitchen to find his grandmother making his absolute favorite dish: kimchi. This interactive story follows Chang's yearslong attempt to recreate the flavor from his childhood home.

Intriguing facts about tomatoes

This episode of the Lunchbox Envy podcast dives deep into the world of tomatoes. Why do they taste nicer in certain settings? Do they "scream"? What are their health benefits? All of these questions and more are answered about the luscious red fruit. Listen and reflect on the historical and cultural significance of the tomato.

The best restaurant tasting experiences in every state

Looking for the best tasting experiences that are a must-try in your home state or anywhere you may be traveling? Here are your options.

Tasting a lab-grown chicken nugget

Taste testing the first clean meat chicken nugget from a San Francisco company developing cultured meat. It’s chicken, but not as you know it.

What it's like to be a competitive barbecue judge

Follow food writer and barbecue lover Mattie John Bamman as he tries to become a certified barbecue judge. The training is practical and subjective, involving learning the strict Kansas City Barbecue Society standards and the judges’ (literal) tastes.

Play an incremental game that teaches the history of particle physics

Developed during the CERN Summer Student Webfest 2014, this game tasks you with building the reputation of your particle accelerator as you discover particles and hire staff to collect data. A historical breakdown accompanies each discovery, allowing you to recreate the timeline of the field.

The surprising science behind Pop Rocks

Have you ever wondered why Pop Rocks makes tiny explosions in your mouth? Well, there’s actually pressurized carbon dioxide bubbles trapped within the sugary candy. This 19-second video shows you what Pop Rocks look like under a microscope.

An interactive periodic table maps every possible combination of cheese variables

Plotting milk type, texture, rind, mold, aging, and processing as intersecting axes, the tool shows which combinations already exist as named cheeses, which survive only as rare regional styles, and which remain entirely unexplored.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

Watch a USA Memory Champion answer questions about memory

Six-time USA Memory Champion, Nelson Dellis, answers popular questions about memory, from how sleep, stress, emotion, and attention influence memory to ways techniques like the memory palace, mnemonics, and the PAO system can dramatically improve recall.

How spoiled meat helped uncover a bacterium that can survive the vacuum of space

When a can of ground beef and pork spoiled despite attempts to sterilize it with gamma radiation, researcher Arthur Anderson isolated the bacteria in the food and discovered Deinococcus radiodurans. The polyextremophile has since been found on the walls of nuclear reactors and overcomes radiation damage through highly optimized DNA repair mechanisms.

Gold has no nutritional value or flavor—but edible gold is still popular

Gold is a pretty expensive topping. Nonetheless, luxury menus around the world are offering food staples—think bagels, chocolate, and burgers—wrapped or dusted with gold. What's the deal with this fascination?

Make these Aztec-inspired amaranth and honey skulls for Dia de los Muertos

On the Day of the Dead, ghosts enjoy earthly delights amid Mexican cemeteries. Baskets of sweet breads and tamales grace graves, while altars honoring the departed display hot chocolate and chicken legs. Hear from experts why this morbid day emphasizes the significance of offering foods loved by the dead. Intrigued? You can learn to make them yourself with recipes provided.

College football rivalry trophies range from historic prizes to bizarre oddities

From the Paul Bunyan Trophy and the Golden Hat to the Old Brass Spittoon and the Bronze Pig, rivalry games feature prizes that mix tradition, regional pride, and a dash of eccentricity.

Browse the prehistoric salad bar with these ancient plants

In this video, Benjamin Burger, associate professor of geology at Utah State University’s Uintah Basin Campus talks about the different types of plants present during the Mesozoic Era. Professor Burger explores how these plants changed over time, served as food sources for the dinosaurs, and co-evolved with them during this period.

A list of one guy's hundreds of fortune cookie fortunes

Simple idea: Eat lots of Chinese food, collect wisdom in the form of fortunes. Josh Madison held onto hundreds of these and lists them here, noting the ones he received more than once with a number.

The first chili cook took place in a Texas ghost town

"The Great Chili Confrontation" happened October 21, 1967, in Terlingua, Texas, a small ghost town near Big Bend National Park. The showdown was between journalists H. Allen Smith, who wrote an article titled “Nobody Knows More About Chili Than I Do,” and Wick Fowler, a Texas reporter.

Over time, people develop a resistance to spicy foods

TRPV1 is a receptor in the body that detects potentially harmful things and responds in a variety of ways, including sweating, tearing up or a runny nose. Over time, more exposure to spicy foods can build up a resistance that minimizes these reactions.

The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets

Is it possible to out-eat the price you pay for a buffet? How do these places make money? We looked at the dollars and cents behind the meat and potatoes.

Try your hand at Tonys trivia

Wondering which musical was nominated for the most Tony Awards, or which theatrical families have seen multiple members nominated in the same year? This collection of statistics and trivia about the awards will satisfy your curiosity. There's even a section for people who have won Oscars and Tonys for the same role—also known as "overachievers."

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

The history of many kitchen appliances involves unexpected discoveries and applications, including wartime radar turned hamster defroster and replacing an 'ice king' with heat-stealing boxes.

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.

This poison ivy knowledge quiz—accompanied by photos of the plant's varied forms—may help you identify this common rash-inducing growth.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

A vending machine run with Anthropic's AI went out of business after it was convinced to give away items for free and sell a video game console.

When caught in the mouths of cardinal fish, seed shrimp release glowing, bioluminescent chemicals, which alert predators of the cardinal fish, prompting the shrimp's ejection.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Lesser-known phobias include turophobia, or the fear of cheese, and nomophobia, the fear of being without your cell phone.

How the most famous Ebola book, The Hot Zone, which sold 3.5 million copies and was translated into 30 languages, got aspects of the disease so wrong.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

A pickleball's loud 'pop' sound can reach 120 decibels, which is equivalent to a hammer hitting a nail

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Crows are believed to have intelligence on par with a seven-year-old child and demonstrate complex behaviors, from problem-solving with tools to recognizing human faces.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

One disco producer saw 'Star Wars' four times on its opening weekend and was so inspired that he recorded the album 'Star Wars and Other Intergalactic Funk,' which produced a chart-topping single.