Culinary

Christopher Damman, University of Washington - People have been using salt since the dawn of civilization to process, preserve and enhance foods. In ancient Rome, salt was so central to commerce that soldiers were paid their “salarium,” or salaries, in salt, for instance. Salt’s value was in part as a food preservative, keeping unwanted microbes at bay while allowing desired ones to grow. It was this remarkable ability to regulate bacterial growth that likely helped spark the development of fermented foods ranging from sauerkraut to salami, olives to bread, cheese to kimchi. Today, salt has become ubiquitous and highly concentrated in increasingly processed diets. The evidence has mounted that too much salt – specifically the sodium chloride added to preserve and...

With each bite you take in a new place, you enter a story shaped by climate, migration and local resources that define regional cooking. You will notice how staple ingredients-rice in Asia, maize in the Americas, wheat in the Mediterranean-anchor daily meals and how preservation methods like drying, fermenting and smoking reflect both necessity...

Equipment defines how efficiently you cook and how much you enjoy time in the kitchen. Whether you are just starting or refining your technique, a smart selection of tools helps you master fundamentals, expand recipes, and speed up prep without cluttering your counters. You should start with knives and boards. A good chef's knife and a paring knife cover most cutting tasks; a serrated knife helps with bread and tomatoes. Pair them with a sturdy cutting board-wood for gentler knife edges, plastic for easy sanitizing-and a honing steel to keep edges aligned between sharpenings. Cookware and bakeware form the backbone of meals. A heavy-bottomed skillet (10-12 inch), a medium saucepan, and a large pot let you pan-sear, simmer, and boil with confidence. Add a rimmed baking sheet and a 9x13-inch baking...

Jacobo García Queiruga, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela and Verónica Noya Padín, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela Nowadays you can buy a cheap pair of sunglasses just about anywhere – from supermarkets and petrol stations to corner shops and online fashion retailers, but such ubiquity may prompt doubts as to the protection they can offer. While their lenses usually meet certain minimum UV protection requirements, their quality in other respects, such as visual clarity, is dismal. Opticians, however, are governed by national health regulations, meaning that they have to meet higher standards such as the CE and UKCA marks. Professional opticians are therefore much better equipped to help customers find sunglasses...

Allan Steigleman, University of Florida and Elizabeth M. Hofmeister, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Cataract surgery is one of the most popular and commonly performed procedures in the world. The vast majority of patients have excellent outcomes with few complications. Here are the numbers: By age 80, over half of all Americans have cataracts. Close to 4 million cataract surgeries are performed in the U.S. every year. Over 90% of patients have 20/20 vision with glasses after surgery, although those with other eye conditions may not do as well, including those with glaucoma, a progressive disease typically associated with elevated pressure within the eye; diabetic retinopathy, which ultimately can cause leakage in the retinal tissues; and macular degeneration, a disease that is typically related to age. The rate of post-surgery infection from endophthalmitis...

Jacobo García Queiruga, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela and Verónica Noya Padín, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela Nowadays you can buy a cheap pair of sunglasses just about anywhere – from supermarkets and petrol stations to corner shops and online fashion retailers, but such ubiquity may prompt doubts as to the protection they can offer. While their lenses usually meet certain minimum UV protection requirements, their quality in other respects, such as visual clarity, is dismal. Opticians, however, are governed by national health regulations, meaning that they have to meet higher standards such as the CE and UKCA marks. Professional opticians are therefore much better equipped to help customers find sunglasses...

With each bite you take in a new place,...

EU researchers are coming up with advanced technologies to...

Culinary foundations give you the language and confidence to...

It's in the small choices you make on the...