Science Friday for Foodies: Garlic, Jellyfish and Chips, and Seals

On the last day of Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, you may be looking forward to Biorhythm, or our one-day game design marathon on June 19th.

Tonight though, we've got Tapas at the Gallery, and this weekend is the Taste of Dublin, so we've some foodie science for ya!

Garlic and onion sauce science

Fancy yourself handy in the kitchen? Do you really know what's going on with your veggies and herbs? Lifehacker have a run down on the science behind strong flavours like garlic and onions.  It all depends on how you cook, cut or age them. More sulfurous compounds anyone?

Jellyfish and chips

Remember the jellyfish burger we mentioned back in February? It was a visualisation of what 'future foods' we may be eating after we've depleted wild stocks of cod/salmon/hake/monkfish/seabass, etc.  Heston Blumenthal, who will be at the Cheltenham Science Festival (9-13 June), says that he too thinks we may be eating jellyfish and chips by 2050. (via @arthurpdent42)

Smell something fishy? It's all in the whiskers

Who couldn't love a face like this?

We're not the only fish-eaters out there, of coure.  Turns out seals can "sense faraway fish" with their whiskers, according to scientists.  Not interested in their whisker-sense, but still think they're adorable? Get some hands-on experience: the Irish Seal Sanctuary is looking for volunteers.

Milking the award

Closer to home, some Irish scientists from UCC and Teagasc have won the International Dairy Federation's Elie Metchnikoff Prize in Microbiology.

High security frankenpotatoes

Behind a fence...

Somewhere in Norfolk...

GM potatoes are growing...  (controversy ensues)

Not food, but still good

Lastly, because it's a bit too silly to miss, the Guardian reports that some French Scientists have applied science to art (not the Monet or Rembrandt paintings from last week). In fact, the journal Psychiatry Research will be publishing "Is Anakin Skywalker suffering from borderline personality disorder?" The real tragedy is that the whole first trilogy might have been avoided if Darth Vader had just seen a counselor.