tech
December 25, 2025
Cracker jokes and custard chemistry: ways to smuggle science into Christmas
Researchers share the easy ways to uncover moments of festive discovery, proving you don’t need a lab coat to experiment this Christmas
TL;DR
- Flavour perception is largely dependent on smell, not just taste, as demonstrated by experiments with sweets and onions.
- Laughter is primarily a social phenomenon, amplified by company and social connection, rather than solely a response to humour.
- Examining the bones of a roast turkey or chicken can provide insights into biomechanics and the principles of flight.
- An ice cream can be made using crushed ice and salt due to the principle of freezing point depression, where salt lowers the freezing point of water.
- Buffon's Needle experiment, adapted as 'Buffon's Pine Needles,' can be used to approximate the mathematical constant pi using pine needles and ruled paper.
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