Science and Nature

Reactions

Reactions is a show that uncovers the chemistry all around us. We answer the burning questions you’ve always wanted to ask, blending the worlds of science and every-day life.

Everyone is Wrong About Mexican Coke (Even Johnny Harris)

9m 36s

Mexican Coke tastes different than American Coke; after all, it’s sweetened using cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup. That, at least, was the conventional wisdom until 2011, when a paper published in the journal Obesity found that Mexican Coke contained no cane sugar. Instead, the authors found plenty of glucose and fructose, which are the main ingredients in high-fructose corn syrup.

Episodes

  • Everyone is Wrong About Mexican Coke (Even Johnny Harris): asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Everyone is Wrong About Mexican Coke (Even Johnny Harris)

    S10 E16 - 9m 36s

    Mexican Coke tastes different than American Coke; after all, it’s sweetened using cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup. That, at least, was the conventional wisdom until 2011, when a paper published in the journal Obesity found that Mexican Coke contained no cane sugar. Instead, the authors found plenty of glucose and fructose, which are the main ingredients in high-fructose corn syrup.

  • Why is the US buying Canada's trash for $30,000 per gram?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Why is the US buying Canada's trash for $30,000 per gram?

    S10 E12 - 12m 7s

    Companies around the world are fighting to buy a rare radioactive substance, despite its $30,000-per-gram price tag. This substance powers emergency exit signs that can stay bright for two decades without power, glow-in-the-dark keychains, and might one day unlock the holy grail of clean energy. What is this mystery substance?

  • Did fraud lead us to an Alzheimer's breakthrough?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Did fraud lead us to an Alzheimer's breakthrough?

    S10 E11 - 9m 53s

    In 2022, news broke that a critical, groundbreaking Alzheimer's research paper had allegedly been a fraud. Did fabricated scientific results accidentally set us on the right path towards a breakthrough?

  • Don't Drink Raw Milk. But What About Raw Milk Cheese?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Don't Drink Raw Milk. But What About Raw Milk Cheese?

    S10 E10 - 12m 54s

    A lot of people on the internet have been telling our host Alex to drink raw milk. This is a bad idea —, a particularly bad one actually. So she wanted to make a video about why it’s such a bad idea to consume raw milk, then she realized she’s been eating raw milk without even knowing it via cheese. That’s when things got complicated.

  • This Video is About Electroadhesion: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    This Video is About Electroadhesion

    S10 E9 - 14m 4s

    How would you stick a slice of banana to a sheet of copper? Until a few months ago, you couldn’t. But a new discovery called “hard-soft electroadhesion” enables chemists to stick almost any hydrogel to almost any metal.

  • Chirality is Just Turtles All the Way Down: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Chirality is Just Turtles All the Way Down

    S10 E8 - 12m 2s

    L-DOPA is the best drug we have for Parkinson’s disease. If you take L-DOPA and reflect it in a mirror, you get a different molecule: D-DOPA, which does absolutely nothing for Parkinson’s and causes potentially deadly side effects. Making just L-DOPA without D-DOPA is surprisingly hard – so hard that the person who finally figured out how to do it won the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

  • Science Doesn't Understand How Ice Forms: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Science Doesn't Understand How Ice Forms

    S10 E6 - 10m 31s

    This video contains incredible macro footage of supercooled water droplets nucleating ice. All George wanted to do was make a crystal-clear ice cube. Instead, he ended up rediscovering dendritic crystal growth, a beautiful phenomenon first described in the 17th century. You’ll never look at your freezer the same way again.

  • Is There a Quick Fix for Ocean Acidification?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Is There a Quick Fix for Ocean Acidification?

    S10 E5 - 13m 12s

    The ocean is getting more and more acidic. Can we solve it by emptying a giant bottle of antacid into the ocean? No… but the idea of lowering the ocean’s acidity in order to decrease global carbon dioxide levels isn’t all bad. Let’s dive into the science behind ocean alkalinization, and how it could be one part of a larger solution to our global climate crisis.

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