If you want to keep something safe, build a mountain fortress above the Arctic Circle. That’s the thinking behind the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Almost every nation keeps collections of native seeds so local crops can be replanted in case of an agricultural disaster. The Global Seed Vault, opened in 2008 on the far-northern Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, is a backup for the backups. It’s badly needed as many as half the seed banks in developing countries are at risk from natural disasters or general instability. The vault can hold up to 4.5 million samples, which will be kept dry at about 0°F (-18°C). Even if the facility loses power, the Arctic climate should keep the seeds viable for thousands of years.
What is Juice From Concentrate?
Most of juice is water. Water is a heavy, bulky substance that is expensive to ship. So most juices are concentrated by evaporating most of the water and leaving behind a thick liquid. Then the concentrate is shipped to wherever it needs to go, and a local bottling plant adds the right amount of water to the concentrate to produce juice again. Juices not from concentrate are more expensive (all that water was shipped the entire distance), but they’re usually said to taste a little better and the concentrating process risks losing very fragile components.
Cutting A Fat Person in Half
This MRI scan shows the difference between a healthy (120 pound) and obese (250 pound) woman. You can see where the strain is put on an obese body. Excess fat not only encases the woman’s waistline but also wraps around her heart, liver, lungs and tissues.
Does Salt Melt on Food?
No. Unlike sugar that will melt at 366 °F (186 °C), salt remains in a solid state during the cooking process. Salt's melting point is 1545 °F (841 °C) which is significantly higher than the melting point of an aluminum frying pan. The reason that salt seems to disappear after you sprinkle it in a pan is that when salt comes into contact with water, the H2O will pull apart the sodium chloride on a molecular scale appearing to dissolve it. The salt, however, will remain intact, once the water is removed.
Note: The header image is table salt (sodium chloride) at 150x magnification.
The Art of Lettuce
Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886 – January 1, 1958) was a 20th century American photographer. He has been called one of the most innovative and influential American photographers and one of the masters of 20th century photography. Weston is known for his richly detailed and precisely composed black-and-white images of semi-abstract nudes, landscapes, and organic forms including close-up studies of shells, vegetables, and rocks.
In 1937 Weston was the first photographer to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship, and over the next two years he produced nearly 1,400 negatives using his 8 × 10 view camera. Some of his most famous photographs were taken of the trees and rocks at Point Lobos, California, near where he lived for many years. In 1947 Weston was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and he stopped photographing soon thereafter. He spent the remaining ten years of his life overseeing the printing of more than 1,000 of his most famous images.