WE ARE HIRING!! Official posting coming soon for a tenure track assistant professor job in Psychology at George Mason University. Focus on Computational Cognitive Neuroscience and AI. I’m chairing the search committee, so DMs and emails welcome.
James Beard winning WaPo columnist writing about food & science, author of TO BOLDLY GROW, gentleman oyster farmer.
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WE ARE HIRING!! Official posting coming soon for a tenure track assistant professor job in Psychology at George Mason University. Focus on Computational Cognitive Neuroscience and AI. I’m chairing the search committee, so DMs and emails welcome.
I have, as we speak, a half-dozen almost-ripe avocados in a bag with a bunch of bananas in a last-ditch attempt to make passable guacamole for my guests who are arriving in (checks watch) an hour.
Part of a broader movement within trash papers -- fast analyses from available datasets. We've made it so easy to write a real-but-bad paper that they're outcompeting industrial fraud production. However, they still leave great big obvious clues...
"Willpower alone is unlikely to defeat perfectly tuned distraction machines." There's an exact parallel with food. We can't put down our phones or our Doritos. Both are designed to overwhelm ordinary human willpower. www.economist.com/finance-and-...
We are HIRING! Researchers & analysts Come and join us shipping code, papers and tools like OpenSAFELY and OpenPrescribing www.bennett.ox.ac.uk/blog/2025/09...
No those can't be actual plants
It is the aptly named string of pearls plant
Any houseplant people out there? What is this strange plant?
Busby knew you have to have the tail ends away from the heat
Bluefish update
Kevin does a small pile of charcoal with soaked hickory chips on top right in the middle of the grill, and then puts an aluminum lasagna pan with holes poked in it over the charcoal. We put the fat part of the fish toward the middle. Temp stays below 250. These took about 1 hr. 10 min.
excellent point - if only the word could make the doctrine go away
Maybe I'm the only one, but I think "enshittification" has run its course.
Yesterday's bluefish, brined and peppered. We'll let them dry, and then smoke them in a kettle grill.
When we catch bluefish, dinner is usually blackened bluefish sandwiches with sauteed onions and tartar sauce. And today, caprese salad with late season tomatoes and basil from the garden. The rest of the bluefish are in brine, to be smoked tomorrow.
The @nytimes.com has rarely felt as hopelessly out of its depth as in the past two days or so. There is still much I admire, many journalists I respect and trust, but on the Charlie Kirk assassination it simply hasn’t been very informative - not to mention some atrocious opinion “journalism”.
Excellent list of food & nutrition people.
We also hunt for the freezer. I don't actually enjoy shooting deer (although I take great satisfaction in doing it well), but I think an overpopulated ruminant is the most responsible meat you can eat. Our deer aren't as dependable as your dad's, but we're hoping for success this season.
I think we all need to watch a cockatoo playing fetch with a puppy.
You are correct! This is an entirely different property - it's a patch of New Hampshire woods we bought expressly for hunting deer.
PS - I know all y'all who have deer going through your yard and eating your landscaping every day are thoroughly unimpressed by this. These are the unsuburbanized kind of deer, and relatively elusive. At least to me!
Three, count 'em, three!
I like to try to make one straightforward point at a time.
If you're not worried about calories, full-fat dairy is fine! And very tasty. But any positive effect on blood lipids is minimal. If you *are* worried about calories, low-fat or nonfat is probably the better choice. Thanks for listening.
As here, where full-fat dairy group gained 1 kg, low-fat dairy group gained .3 kg, and limited dairy group lost .4 kg. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33184632/ And here, where the skim milk group ate 2107 cals/day and the whole milk group ate 2452 cals/day. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The problem with full-fat milk isn't saturated fat. It's the damn CALORIES. Sat fat in milk, yogurt, and some cheese (but not butter) doesn't raises LDL the way sat fat in meat does. But in trials that pit low-fat against full-fat milk, people gain weight on full-fat. www.npr.org/sections/sho...
Sure, but then that alfalfa has to be grown somewhere else, so you have the same problem.
It's not a crop I know much about - seed yields seem to run lower than, say, nut tree yields, but I know there are other uses for the rest of the plant.
Well I guess that's better than just not including that it's an environmental disaster, which is what most Kernza articles do.
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Look who came a-calling at our camp ..
I don't think there's a shred of evidence that 100K acres will teach us more than 10K acres. I suspect ... hear me out ... that you just made that up.
There's always something that's a worse problem than [whatever problem you want to dismiss as too small to pay attention to].
Absolutely. I'm a huge fan of the Land Institute. But Kernza is not a viable crop right now, and trying to get more acres planted with it is a GHG loser.
Kernza does have gluten, and it is an interesting plant. The people at the Land Institute are working hard to develop commercially viable perennial grains, and I'm a big fan of their work. But Kernza is not ready.
CNN Digital is hiring a climate and weather editor (five locations, US). buff.ly/1YoQC3a
For every acre of wheat converted to Kernza, 2/3 of an acre of wheat has to be grown somewhere else to make up for the lost yield. Land-use changes are the single biggest driver factor in ag's impact on climate, so this is a non-starter. Kernza will improve! And then we'll talk.
Once more, with feeling. Using Kernza, a perennial grain with 1/3 the yield of wheat, to make crackers and beer for rich people is NOT a climate solution. Only at the end does this piece quote @mikegrunwald.bsky.social on Kernza's yield problem. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/b...
What was your opinion before, and what led you to change your mind?
In which @sophieehill.bsky.social rips apart yet another bad study on artificial sweeteners, so I don't have to. She won't make any assertions about the authors' intent, but I will. They *want* to show that diet soda is bad, like so many researchers before them. But it isn't. It just isn't.
Read James Hamblins book CLEAN. You'll shower as infrequently as possible.
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Sure but that has nothing to do with methane. It's the *methane* argument I'm taking issue with. As another replier pointed out, there are other arguments for ruminants (and wildfire can certainly have C impact).
Thanks - I think I understand your case now. Appreciate the link.
So your claim is that grazing by cows is actively preventing fires?
I don't understand your argument. I'm not talking about emissions gains. I'm talking about cutting emissions. There is no reason that historical methane emissions should be maintained - we have to cut emissions both historical and modern.
But what does that have to do with cows today? Just because we used to have other methane-emitting ruminants, we should maintain modern methane-emitting ruminants?
Amen on the Dutch. Still weird though.
Wouldn't feedstocks have to be processed? Are they doing that on-site? Elliot, this is weird. I'm 100% pro-cultivated meat but this is weird.
Finally someone did the cows vs. bison math, and we have WAY more cows. But the "we've always had bison" is a weird argument anyway. So what? The fact that some other ruminant emitted historical methane has no bearing on cows today.
This seems odd to me. Why would you incorporate cultivated meat into farms? They're totally different businesses, yes? Involving completely different skills/equipment/processes?
Anyone who feels better cutting carbs should cut carbs. Anyone who doesn't, shouldn't. Food is like that. And, yeah, we don't have evidence for specific diets, which is why I use a different heuristic: www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/fo...
We know the basics of a healthful diet, although there's plenty of disagreement at the edges. Eat a wide variety of whole-ish foods you enjoy in quantities consistent with the weight you want to be. That solves the problem, but people can't do it with the deck stacked relentlessly against them.
Diet-related chronic disease is a HUGE problem. But we're not sick because we don't *understand* the problem. We're sick because, in a food environment designed to get us to overeat crappy foods, most people can't *implement* the solution. Which is eating a healthful diet.
Hello. The MEP is hiring an intern (a paid one, not an 'ooh ooh think of the experience' one) retractionwatch.com/job-opportun... Feel free to direct this to anyone interested. I think it will fill quickly so pitter patter.
Evolution is just wild and amazing, Exhibit 62627272
We're hiring a new lecturer @stsucl.bsky.social. We're looking for someone with particular interests in the environment. Please share widely www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Study Finds Ultra-Processed Foods Make Up Over 50% Of Americans’ Thoughts https://theonion.com/study-finds-ultra-processed-foods-make-up-over-50-of-americans-thoughts/
Oh yes. We have a brush hog and front end loader and a couple other things but Kevin lusts after a backhoe
We bought a hunting camp in New Hampshire and I swear Kevin just wanted an excuse to buy a tractor.
Wow. What a win
After years of work with @juliabelluz.bsky.social, it's hard to believe that our book FOOD INTELLIGENCE will be published this month! @barnesandnoble.com has 25% off pre-orders placed on Sept 3-5. www.barnesandnoble.com/w/food-intel...
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Group that voted for tariffs up in arms about tariffs. www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/...
Might have gone with MacHopper.
Sure, electric cars save money and they're better for the climate. But why don't we talk more about how incredibly fast they are? We bought a Polestar a few months back and it has carnival-ride acceleration. These cars are FUN.
Louisiana is excluding soda from SNAP. But only if it's made with corn syrup or artificial sweeteners. Cane & beet sugar? AOK. @marionnestle.bsky.social reports www.foodpolitics.com/2025/08/nutr...
They're all issues! My point is that they're all true of all proprietary seed (most of which isn't GM). So none are an objection to GMOs, they're just general objections to industrialized ag.
SPD motto: Don't be a hero
That's the usual list and I gotta say I'm getting tired of it. None of those are unique to genetically modified crops, but folks consistently roll them out when they just don't like gmos.
I don't get that - pollution itself isn't a cause of death. It causes things that cause death, like some of the other things on that list, like cancer and respiratory diseases.
PS - Yes! Fertilizers and pesticides have caused environmental problems, sometimes very big ones. But the answer to the excesses of industrial ag isn't non-industrial ag. It's better industrial ag.
Even in the face of climate change, staple crops yields continue to grow. Why? Better seeds, plus better inputs. Opposition to genetic modification is nuts, when we need all the tools we have to make crops more resilient and productive. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Good question Toad
This is a 7-minute video of a parrotfish taking a nap. It's like those yule log screen savers. Sleep well, Ramon.
One thing about ultra-processed foods - they sure are keeping epidemiologists employed. www.thelancet.com/journals/ecl...
A friend told me his grandfather left Spain because of Franco & his grandmother left Italy because of Mussolini. They went to Argentina. His parents left Argentina because of Peron, went to Venezuela. He left Venezuela because of Chavez, came to the US. And now he's wondering where his kids go.
OK I'm going to push back a bit here. This trial was 6 years, and was, as you say, intensive. Participants lost only 7 pounds in that time & diabetes risk was 9.5%, compared to 12% in the control group. Those results seem pretty meh for 6 years of intensive intervention. I can't call it a success.
Rock Looked Way Cooler Wet
Missing piece of info here: the MED diet + exercise group also restricted calories. The MED diet alone group was ad libitum. So, yeah, when calories are restricted people lose more weight.
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I, too, like to focus on evidence. But one of the ways I try to do that is to remind myself, constantly, that humans - ALL humans - suck at evaluating evidence. Like everyone, I have priors and biases. I actively look for ways to do better, and that's one way.
Unnerving: The USDA has been seriously concerned about the devastating animal parasite New World screwworm crossing into the US from Mexico/Central America. Now there has been a *human* case, in MD. Farm Policy News aggregates several stories: farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2025/08/huma...
I'm talking specifically about the rejection of science and scientists. Yes, the right is trying to dismantle systems, but the left has also tried to force their read of science into our regulatory apparatus (see: GMOs). It's not the same scale! But it's the same idea.
The only issue with soda is sugar. Anything that doesn't have it is a better choice, unless you're actively trying to get more calories. Tea's great! But people like sweet things.
Rejecting evidence and discrediting the scientists who generate it is not solely the province of the right. The left has rejected evidence on the safety of GMOs, nuclear power, and some pesticides. Today's danger comes from the right, but confirmation bias rules the human psyche, left and right.
I am wildly in favor of these low-calorie sodas, because 3 grams of sugar and 6 grams of fiber is WAY better than 39 grams of sugar, even though the "pre-biotic" claim is pretty much nonsense. It's diet soda and it's totally fine.
Do we really need a study to tell us that a soda with 3 grams of sugar will raise blood glucose less than a soda with 39 grams of sugar? PS Funded by the makers of the 3-gram soda, marketed as "pre-biotic" because it also has fiber. www.medrxiv.org/content/medr...
It came out great. We'll make it when you're here!
Roasted pepper and anchovy pizza, step one
Certainly, lack of access will have an impact on everything obesity affects, including death. But without the profit motive that undergirds the patent system, we might not have the drugs at all.
I get that, but there are things about here that also drive reasonable people away. Different things, of course.
I'm disappointed that the 2 platforms are ideologically segregated. Why couldn't all the reasonable people just pick one, and the jerks pick the other??
*more* feasible argh
I think I've had a better experience than a lot of people. I've been muting for incivility for years, and I think it's helped me get a feed that's not as bad, and made interaction for feasible.
I agree about debating - but for me the value is both finding people with similar interests & views and listening to people with very different interests & views. That's why I'm still on Twitter.
Sure, people who need it most should get it while supplies are limited. And some people don't want it and are fine with being fat. But most people who are fat would prefer not to be, and globally we manufacture lots of drugs in essentially unrestricted quantities.
People keep saying that, but I think it actually is a silver bullet. No, not everyone can tolerate it, but in trials something like 80% can, and do, and are delighted with the weight loss. Lots of drugs are lifetime commitments, and nobody objects when it's, say, statins. Just GLP-1s.
I think the cost/benefit is pretty well known at this point (although there will always be unknowns). And yes, some people can't/won't tolerate side effects, but for many the drugs are little short of miraculous. And lots of companies are working on formulations that minimize side effects.