Krausen is a joyful moment in brewing and fermenting. When krausen appears, fermentation is under way. When it falls, fermentation is...

Adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, is known as the energy currency of life. Without ATP, essential cellular processes stop. From rhythm of...

Feudalism is a structured system of land ownership and governance in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It includes a...

Glycolysis is a biochemical pathway used by organisms to convert glucose into functional energy. This process happens in single-celled...

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are industrious microbes working to transform ingredients such as milk into cheese and cabbage into sauerkraut...

Pan is the wild rustic god of shepherds, flocks and music. Originating in Arcadia, Greece, Pan embodies the essence of wilderness. He...

Yeast is a unicellular fungus essential in daily life. This gift of nature is used in baking leavened bread and in food fermentation. Its...

Nitrogen fixation is essential for life on Earth. Despite nitrogen being the most abundant gas in our atmosphere, it exists mainly in...

Green algae are simple life forms with amazing impact on the environments of Earth. Algae can be grown at home for microscopy, biology...

Methane (CH4) is a familiar gas emanating from cow dung. Methane's creators are invisible creatures known today as methanaogens,...

Fermentation is used intentionally by c. 8000 BCE to create honey mead , a blend of fermented honey and water. Yeast is crucial to...

Urine has medical and practical applications though history. Renaissance alchemist Hennig Brand discovers phosphorus by boiling his...

Opium poppy (Papaver somnifum) is the common source of opium and derivatives such as morphine or heroin. All poppies produce the narcotic...

Honey bees create honey, beeswax and folklore. First domestication of the honeybee is c. 8000 BCE, in the Neolithic Age. At this time the...

Honey mead is likened to ambrosia , nectar of the Greek Gods, with qualities of immortality and divine transcendence, beloved by bears...

Ninkasi is a goddess of beer and brewing in ancient Mesopotamia. She embodies the pleasant, ambrosial and aphrodisiac effects of beer as...

Pistacia is a shrub or tree prized for food , resin, tannins, oils and natural turpentine for thousands of years in the Mediterranean...

Wheat, barley, millet and rice are four of the ancient grains, going back to the Neolithic agrarian revolution c. 10,000 BCE. Ancient...

Neolithic farmers in Britain and northern Europe are the first to drink milk. Early humans are lactose intolerant but consume dairy...

Broad beans ( Vicia faba ), faba or fava beans are cultivated as a crop from pre-Neolithic times to present day. Among the earliest...