On April 4, 1968, a biomedical researcher wrote a letter that would forever change how America eats. In it, Robert Ho Man Kwok described a strange illness he contracted at Chinese restaurants -- specifically those that cooked with the flavoring MSG.
MSG was popular in the United States at the time. But when Kwok’s letter hit the New England Journal of Medicine, the ingredient's fortunes reversed: Consumers spurned it. Food-makers axed it. Read More...
Federal officials announced last week that lead has been found in containers of ground cinnamon often used in home cooking. Last fall, health authorities also found “extremely high” concentrations of lead in cinnamon-flavored applesauce pouches, prompting a massive recall and international investigation.
Where is this lead coming from? Why is it in our food? And should we stop, or reduce, the amount of cinnamon-flavored food we eat?
We spoke to experts about why heavy metals are sometimes discovered in spices and other foods. Read More...
Close Encounters (of the Cosmic Kind)
Back to The Dating Game Right now, in our atmosphere, there are countless numbers of nitrogen atoms floating high above the Earth's surface. These atoms are, in a sense, vulnerable. Cosmic radiation, in the form of neutrons, zips through the atmosphere at a high rate of speed. Occasionally, and purely by chance, some of these neutrons collide with the nuclei of some of the nitrogen atoms. Read More...