Craft Beer Radio

I don't want to come off as a science-nazi, but I feel as if I have some comments to add to a few science related discussions in the pre-show and regular show for episode 100.

First off, Greg laughed at the idea of magnetic monopoles during the regular show. There is a new article in the journal Nature that discusses the possibility of monopoles occurring in very-low energy condensed matter. That is, roughly translated based on my flimsy understanding of the topic, a group of particles in very specific constraints may behave as if they were a magnetic monopole. Here is a link to the abstract from the article.

This is very much a theory and not firm proof of the existence of monopoles, however it was worthy enough for my physics professor to mention and he seemed impressed with the study. However, it is exciting as the idea that they do exist, even as a state for a group of particles, could re-write the text books.

Second, there is no change in frequency of light in a medium. The frequency stays the same while both the speed and wavelength may change. The wavelength does indeed decrease in a medium, but when leaving the medium (i.e. back into the air to then be observed by Jeff or Greg's eye), the wavelength returns to what it was prior to entering. Therefore any "near-red" light entering the beer is going to be the same shade of near-red leaving as it was before entering the beer. That is, it remains the same neglecting any velocity differences between the beer and Jeff or Greg as well as neglecting the expansion of the universe between the observer and the beer.

Third, citrus is great in baking! Greg commented that oranges wouldn't work in a bread, but high-acid citrus is used all the time. In fact, acid + baking soda is the chemical leg of the tri-pod (chemical, mechanical, and biological) of leavening agents. A quick Google search for orange bread returns a bunch of results, and lemon-poppyseed muffins and lemon cake are a couple of my favorite desserts. Also, as an (very) amateur home-brewer I do know that acid levels are important in brewing, but I don't think a mildly acidic pH will completely stop yeast activity. I actually added an acid blend to some mead I made a few months ago before fermentation. I may not have fully understood your comments Greg, but I wanted to post about the other science related topics and therefore ran with this topic as well.

And finally, a quick disclaimer: Science is my profession I suppose (I am a graduate student in physics), but that certainly doesn't mean I am an expert in any of these topics. If being a graduate student has taught me anything it is that there is so much depth to knowledge and it takes very dedicated and narrowly focused study to truly get a grasp of a topic. Also, I love the science talk intermingled in the show and I certainly don't want that to end, just trying to add to the dialog!

Hmm, maybe I should have spent that hour on my own research...