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Education
The Skinny on Chicken, Foaming at the Mouth, Atms for Drugs, Undercover Professor
by Linda Wang
September 12, 2005
| A version of this story appeared in
Volume 83, Issue 37
The skinny on chicken
In the poultry world, dark meat is about to lose some fat. Daniel L. Fletcher, a poultry science professor at the University of Georgia, has a recipe for turning dark meat into white.
Americans have a strong preference for white meat, and most dark meat produced in the U.S. is exported to Russia and the Middle East, according to an article in the Aug. 29 issue of Express, the Washington Post's free commuter daily. Dark meat's bad rap comes from its color and fat content. It's also more difficult to mold into shapes than white meat.
Fletcher's recipe for white meat involves adding water to ground-up dark meat and then spinning the mixture in a centrifuge, which separates the protein from the fat. The extracted meat can then be molded into breastlike patties of all-white meat.
Fletcher says his leaner meat could be used as a filler to add protein and amino acids to such items as chicken nuggets.
Foaming at the mouth
Several restaurants are luring customers with their chemical know-how, according to Reuters and an article in the Aug. 15 issue of American Way.
In Spain, chef Ferran Adria of El Bulli restaurant loads pureed food into nitrous oxide canisters and sprays out creations such as potato-and-lobster foam.
In New York City, chef Wylie Dufresne of wd-50 makes fried mayonnaise by creating a milk-and-oil emulsion and adding gellan gum, a polysaccharide thickening agent, before frying.
And in Boston, chef Pino Maffeo of Restaurant L meets weekly with an organic chemist to discuss new culinary experiments. When pairing different foods, it's not unusual for Maffeo to analyze the ingredients using nuclear magnetic resonance.
His signature dish, seared foie gras with a 24-carat golden egg, is prepared using a syringe and liquid nitrogen. But the creativity doesn't come cheap: Dinner for two at Restaurant L averages $130.
ATMs for drugs
Forget the lines. soon, getting a prescription filled could be as simple as going to the ATM. Two companies have begun installing automated drug-dispensing machines in several stores in California, according to an article in the Aug. 23 issue of Express.
To fill a prescription, customers enter their information on a touch screen and swipe their credit cards; the medication then slides down a chute. Current machines can only dispense refills, but if the service is successful, the machines could become commonplace. Critics, however, argue that the machines would decrease patient-pharmacist interaction.
Undercover professor
Cathy A. Small, a professor of anthropology at Northern Arizona University, felt disconnected with her students. Fewer and fewer participated in class discussions, did the assigned reading, or came to talk with her during office hours.
So Small did what any anthropologist would do to study her subjects--she lived among them. In 2002, the 50-something professor took a sabbatical and enrolled as a freshman at the school where she taught for more than 15 years.
The book "My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student" chronicles Small's observations of student culture as she made her way though school. Under the pseudonym Rebekah Nathan, Small moved into the dorms and took a full course load. She even ate in the student cafeteria and joined student clubs.
Over the year, Small gained some important insights. She found that today's students face new challenges that academic institutions have not adapted to. But perhaps the most important thing Small learned was that being a student is hard work.
This week's column was written by
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