White bread, like vanilla, is one of those foods that's become a metaphor for blandness. But it wasn't always that way.
Aaron Bobrow-Strain, professor of food politics at Whitman College, tells Weekend Edition's Rachel Martin that white bread was a deeply contentious food — ever since the early 1900s' ideas of "racial purity" up to the cultural revolution of the 1960s. He documents that cultural legacy in his new book, White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf.
We're going to venture that just by nature of the fact that you're reading this blog, you count yourself as a member of the social mediarati.
If so, you, and a lot of other people, may sooner turn to Epicurious or Facebook to plan your next meal than your grandmother's recipe box or the Nestlé Toll House bag of chocolate chips in the cupboard. That's the word from the Hartman Group, a consumer research firm, and Publicis Consultants USA, a marketing agency.
Kristin Chenoweth talks to Jacki Lyden on today's Weekends on All Things Considered, and if the only thing you got from the interview was Chenoweth warbling a bit of the first solo she ever did in church, it would be well worth it.
The Emmy-winning actress stars on ABC's new GCB, a sort of Desperate-Housewives-ish dishy, soapy comedy-drama premiering Sunday night at 10. She's come quite a long way since, as she explains, her father negotiated her first contract.
An unusually warm winter has caused many flowers and trees to begin blooming early in the northeast.
Credit Jim Cole / AP
The Old Farmer's Almanac was first published in 1792 in Dublin, N.H. With a unique blend of historical information, astronomical data and folksy wisdom, it has remained popular for centuries.
There's been something wacky with the weather this winter, and many forecasters never saw it coming.
Among them was the Old Farmer's Almanac, the quirky, centuries-old mix of historical data, prognostications and folk wisdom. Millions of people consult the quirky, centuries-old almanac, which uses a secret formula to come up with its annual, year-long weather forecasts, even though meteorologists say it has a dubious track record.
Proteus Biomedical has developed chip-in-a-pill technology that transmits patient data directly to a smartphone. Novartis has partnered with Proteus to investigate applications of this technology. C&EN senior editor Rick Mullin discusses how the nontraditional partnership is part of a larger trend.
In his book The Hockey Stick And The Climate Wars, Michael Mann discusses what he calls a well-funded campaign to discredit climate change. He describes efforts by opponents with ties to the fossil fuel industry to harass climate scientists and create doubt about climate change.
F. Murray Abraham stars in a new off-Broadway production of Bertolt Brecht's classic "Galileo." Brian Kulick, artistic director of the Classic Stage Company and the director of the play, discusses Galileo, (the scientist and the play) and tells why he thinks the themes in the work are still relevant today.
In Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson writes of how space exploration--especially human voyages--can profoundly inspire scientists and technologists of the future, and charts the path for missions to Mars and beyond.
