Shots of Science – Plate Up for Food Psychology

NASA tackles climate change

NASA scientists have said that by 2040 the hole in the ozone layer, now 12 million square miles wide, will have shrunk by another 4 million square miles. By the end of the 21st century the hole should have disappeared altogether we just have to wait another 85 years. This study is only one of NASA’s investigations and uses of its technology to investigate climate change that were recently under attack in the United States Congress by climate change deniers.

Under the sea cables

Microsoft is collaborating with telecom companies to lay new undersea cables across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The America Europe Connect will deliver high speed connections and large amounts of data to and from America and Europe, first stop Killala bay on Ireland’s West coast. Of course Ireland is no stranger to transatlantic cables. The first transatlantic cable was laid in the 1850s and connected Valencia Island and Newfoundland and carried a telegram between Queen Victoria and President Buchanan of the United States. It stopped working shortly thereafter but many more followed.

Plate up

Instagram fanatics know that food should be positioned just right to look good in a photo. Now Oxford food psychology researchers at the Crossmodal laboratory have demonstrated that rotating your plate can make food taste better. Over 12,000 people participated in a study conducted as part of the Cravings Exhibition at the London Science Museum. The results showed that people believed food was more appealing and even tasted better if it was orientated in a particular way. It even revealed that people are prepared to pay more money if the food is presented in the right way. Those of us who have taken a peak at Dublin Michelin star restaurants think this may not be new information but now we have the satisfaction of knowing that it is scientifically verified and still tastes delicious.