Science Friday potpourri - just some neato stuff
Lots of assorted fun this week. First, some popcorn. I’m kinda spoiled: MrsDoF is an artist with the lightest, tastiest theater-style popcorn imaginable. (It’s better than anything I’ve ever had in a theater) Yet most people seem satisfied to toss a bag into a box and push a button. I can’t stand the stench of microwave popcorn and now I know why – that stuff will kill you. Don’t believe me? Check out The Pump Handle on “Does Orville Redenbacher know if popping popcorn at home is dangerous?” It turns out the artificial buttery flavor isn’t something you really want to be breathing. Nor, it turns out, are the emissions from the packaging all that great either; the PFOA flourotelomer coating degrades into some nasty carcinogenic stuff.
(And yet The Onion reports that Buttery goodness is now America’s top domestic product.) 
I do love a good graphic representation of statistical reality. How about all the plastic bottles the US uses in five minutes? Or thirty seconds worth of aluminum pop cans, arranged as a classic pointillist painting? Check out the awesome gallery in Running The Numbers; an American self-portrait. (From The World’s Fair)
And finally, it is true that evolutionary concepts can be taxing for some. Would an explanatory visit from God Almighty be too much to ask? In web-comic form, perhaps? Asked and answered: Genesis 2, by Dan Beeston Actually it IS a no-foolin’ high-quality exposition of evolutionary selective forces acting on species. In comic form. No word if Dan Beeston really got a visit from God but I won’t be looking for this in the next RSV bible. (from Evolving Thoughts)
Microwave popcorn is not good for you? Thanks a lot- you just ruined my life.