An F1 Racing Barbecue Grill for No Reason Other Than Being Amazing [Desired]

By Kyle Wagner Oct 14, 2011 7:20 PM 14,439 7

I can't think of a single thing I'd rather F1 engineers doing with their downtime than building grills designed with F1 dynamics in mind. They only thing that could make Brennwagen grills more desirable would be guns to shoot your meat while you cook it.

Former F1 engineers Florian Wagner and Daniel Ernst got together to create these wonderful meat-burning machines. They've got "low profile tires, drop-center rims, center nuts [and] safety brakes," and the top-of-the-line GTX 1500 looks a smidge roomier than my first car. The smallest grill, the GTC 500, is diminutive enough to pass as a piece of carry-on luggage, and would probably be enough to give your local TSA agent a mild stroke.

Brennwagen's site isn't super-clear about the prices, but they do offer this lovely illustration of how they think trucks deliver will the grills. [Brennwagen via Core77]

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

How to Look Amazing* in Pictures: Secret Tips From a Supermodel [How To]

You know who doesn't look good in pictures? You, probably. Me. Most of us. Sure, sometimes you're Gerard Butler, but most of the time you're Gerard Depardieu. You know who does know how to look good? Supermodel Shalom Harlow.

She hooked us up with some exclusive tips on looking as good as possible when the cameras come out. Now if only someone would actually take your picture...

Whether we have to pose for some work photo, or we're just out with a group of friends, most of us aren't comfortable in front of the camera, and even if we are, the results often don't turn out like we want them to. There has to be a hack. Right? There have to be some secret rules that the majority of us—you know, non-supermodels—just don't know. Well, who better to ask than someone who looks really good in photos for a living?

Shalom Harlow has graced the cover of damn near every fashion magazine you can name (and many you can't). She's been the face of everything from Coco Chanel and Ralph Lauren to Tiffany & Co and a gagillion others. It's tough to find a model that's more super, basically. These are her five real-world tips that anybody—like us!—can use.

If you are being shot without a flash, know where the main light source is and turn toward it. Embrace it. Light hitting you at side-angles will create shadows on your face, making your features look harsher and more severe. Fine for film noir or Instagram photos, but not the best for day-to-day stuff. Shadows will also emphasize lines in your face and bags under your eyes, making you look older, more tired, and possibly more drunk. Go toward the light, my child.

Photos are about the memory of a moment. The moment you're trying to capture is not "that time you gawked at a camera." If it isn't happening organically, Shalom will create a more fun, interesting moment before the camera clicks. She'll pinch the other people she's posing with (watch out with this one), or if she's alone, she's been known to do a pratt-fall or crack a joke to try to make the photog break (even for "serious" photos). Unexpected things like that break people out of their heads and pave the way for a more natural, spontaneous moment. It makes people seem like real people in a real moment—which is exactly what you're trying to capture.

As awkward as it sounds, spend some time making faces in the mirror. Seriously, do it. Every face is different, and as such, every face looks good doing different things. Find your angles. Do you look better straight on, or turned just a few degrees to the side? Do you look better with a full-toothed smile, or with a smug little smirk? Practice and get comfortable making these faces. Learn how they feel to your face, and then your muscle memory will help you recreate them. Think Blue Steel from Zoolander.

Side note: I recently read about a guy who thought he looked good in the mirror when he put his hair to one side, but he never got much attention. Then one day, he realized that people were seeing the reverse of that, so he tried switching sides. It looked weird to him but suddenly everyone was telling him how great he looked. So, maybe consider mugging in front of a digital camera instead.

Looking into a camera lens is weird. It's like a giant, vacuous, dead eye. It's like trying to see into HAL's soul. Trying to connect with that is a losing battle unless you've got a robot's soul, and it'll make you feel stiff and awkward. Instead, engage in a real conversation with the photographer. Talk about something other than being photographed. Look at the photographer's eyes while you converse, and then "transfer" his/her eyes to the camera lens. (With your gaze, weirdo.) Continue the conversation as if you're still looking into his/her eyes, but you just happen to be looking at the lens itself. Go back and forth when you need to. To people who view the picture, it will seem that you're looking at them, engaged in a relationship, and not just staring in their direction, like one of those creepy paintings where the eyes follow you everywhere.

Some people absolutely hate being photographed. It can be a very uncomfortable, unpleasant experience for some, like being in the middle seat on airplane between Rosie O'Donnell and a wheel of cheese, and if that's how you're feeling, it'll show in the photos. The photographer won't always be able to help you through that. Instead, you can trick your body into relaxing by pulling from your personal collection of good memories. Think about that time you and your husband (or wife) swam with dolphins in the Caribbean as the sun was setting. Really try to go there in your mind. Focus on the individual things your senses perceived. What did it sound like? What did the water taste like? What did the air smell like? Silly as it sounds, this can trick your body into thinking it's in a safe, comfortable place and it will relax your fight or flight mechanism.

So, now you've got the secrets of the pros, so get out there and be really, really, really, ridiculously good looking. Just don't get into any gasoline fight accidents.

*YMMV

Image credit: Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin

You can keep up with Brent Rose, the author of this post, on Google+ or Twitter. Related Stories

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Deadly Progression of ALS Reversed in an Amazing Stem Cell First [Science]

Last May, 39-year-old Ted Herada was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. It's one of the worst diagnoses anyone could get.

He and his doctors expected his health to have severely declined by now. But thanks to an experimental stem cell treatment, he has tossed his cane and is once again playing in the pool with his three kids.

"Every day is a good day for me right now," Herada told me. "I've made some quantum leaps after the surgery and... I'm maintaining the drastic improvements I've made."

The prognosis for ALS is likely death in fewer than three years after gradually losing your ability to move, speak and breathe. Herada got exactly that horrible news after losing strength in his left leg and feeling short of breath after just a few stairs or walking to the mailbox. His hands became too weak to open a Ziploc bag.

Then his neurologist told him about an experiment at Emory University that was recruiting ALS patients to test a stem cell treatment.

The surgeons told Herada that injecting the stem cells into his spine likely would not help him personally, and might even cause harm. But the study would hopefully help scientists find an effective treatment in the future. Herada had nothing to lose and expected nothing - he became study subject number 11 and underwent surgery on March 9.

It's incredibly moving to hear Herada talk about his recovery, which he knows might be temporary.

"I've always been the kind of dad to wrestle on the floor with my kids and tickle them and make them giggle, and that was going away before," Herada told me. "Now when we get in the pool and they want to play Marco Polo, I can do that."

The Emory surgeons injected 1 million neural stem cells into 10 locations in Herada's and 11 other patients' spines. All of the cells came from a single voluntarily aborted and donated two-month-old fetus. Using technology developed by Neuralstem, scientists multiplied the cells and created enough of them to treat all of the patients in this trial and beyond.

"We took one small part of the spinal cord and isolated one million stem cells which are now going to, we hope, treat millions of people around the world," Dr. Carl Johe, chief scientific officer at Neuralstem told me.

Going into the study, expectations were low. As a safety precaution, the FDA forced the researchers to inject only one-quarter the number of stem cells they originally planned to use. The investigators hoped to show the cells were safe to use, but anticipated little more.

Two of the 12 patients died during the trial, one after a heart attack and another because of progress of his ALS. The other eight patients' conditions have remain unchanged.

The researchers hope the Food and Drug Administration will approve the second phase of clinical trials with five more patients and with the goal of proving the treatment works. Neuralstem is also awaiting approval to begin the first phase of a fetal stem cell trial in chronic spinal cord patients.

Unregulated stem cell outlets, such as the one promoted by Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, claim success treating ALS and just about every other disease you can imagine. But they haven't gone through the painstaking methodology required to run an FDA-approved human clinical trial, which demands reams of data with the goal of assuring safety and eventually proving efficacy. Such trials can also help convince insurance agencies to cover the treatments. Otherwise, rogue outlets will continue charge up to 10s of thousands of dollars for treatments.

"We go through the FDA process, which is excruciatingly slow, but we do that because it's what the law says we have to do," Johe said.

You can keep up with our Science Editor, Kristen Philipkoski, on Twitter, Facebook, and occasionally Google+ Related Stories

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

See the Amazing Killifish Jump From Its Mud Puddle Habitat [Science]

The killifish is a weird little critter that lives in muddy puddles that cars and trucks drive right through, and no one knows how they don't get crushed. Some people are completely obsessed with them.

Take Mateuz Herczka, a Swiss artist at the Verbeke Gallery in Antwerp (also home to Eduardo Kac, creator of the controversial glowing GFP bunny). A few years ago, Herczka crossed paths with a retired, killifish-obsessed Dutch couple who spend their free time collecting and tracking the fish in muddy puddles in South America. The encounter inspired Herczka's own obsession. He proceeded to build his own giant, artificial mud puddle killifish habitat in the gallery. It's a huge cube made of glass and metal filled with water. A truck wheel rolls through the middle.

Killifish are known for jumping from puddle to puddle, which seems necessary, as puddles typically don't last forever. Some survive the leap, for others it's a kamikaze endeavor. (But their name, if you're wondering, has nothing to do with the English word "kill." It's derived from the Dutch word "kilde," meaning small creek or puddle.)

Herczka caught some pretty cool stills of the fish jumping (for more of where the above came from, check out this PDF). He also created a digital simulation, showing a tire tearing through a virtual puddle.

But the killifish apparently don't jump out of the way of cars. Herczka reports that they jump in the middle of the night when it's quiet and no one's around. So how they survive remains a mystery. The theories include:

1. The truck tires press the water out of the way and the fish with it
2. The fish are pressed into the soft mud at the bottom and survive
3. Some fish are run over and killed every time a truck drives through, but
enough survive to keep the population growing
4. The fish somehow sense and evade the tires

Since the artist doesn't really say his goal was to solve the mystery, but to examine how "the killifish have infiltrated culture, and are now part of the cultural evolution rather than the biological," I suppose he succeeded. But I want to know how they survive those goddamn truck tires! I guess we'll have to wait for an actual science experiment to figure that one out.

[We Make Money Not Art; Image: Verbeke Gallery]

You can keep up with Kristen Philipkoski, the author of this post, on Twitter, Facebook, and occasionally Google+ Related Stories

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

That Cassini Smartypants Spacecraft Is One Amazing Photographer [Astronomy]

The Cassini spacecraft has been able to capture this stunning image of five Saturn moons in one single frame. From left to right: Janus, Pandora, Enceladus, Mimas and Rhea.

This view looks toward the northern, sunlit side of the rings from just above the ringplane. Rhea is closest to Cassini here. The rings are beyond Rhea and Mimas. Enceladus is beyond the rings.

The image was taken on July 29, 2011, 1.1 million kilometers (684,000 miles) from Rhea, using Cassini's narrow-angle camera. [NASA]

Related Stories

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

The Amazing Story of How Sgt. Dakota Meyer Rescued 36 Soldiers Under Heavy Fire [Military]

That guy having a beer with the President is Dakota Meyer. He works in construction now, but on September 8, 2009, he was a corporal in the US Marines. That day he saved 36 guys under heavy Taliban fire.

His act of selfless heroism has made him the first alive US Marine to receive the Medal of Honor during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

This is the story of that day, as told by President Obama himself on Sept. 15, 2011, during the Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House. It gives me goosebumps.—JD

Let me tell the story. I want you to imagine it's September 8, 2009, just before dawn. A patrol of Afghan forces and their American trainers is on foot, making their way up a narrow valley, heading into a village to meet with elders. And suddenly, all over the village, the lights go out. And that's when it happens. About a mile away, Dakota, who was then a corporal, and Staff Sergeant Juan Rodriguez-Chavez, could hear the ambush over the radio. It was as if the whole valley was exploding. Taliban fighters were unleashing a firestorm from the hills, from the stone houses, even from the local school.

And soon, the patrol was pinned down, taking ferocious fire from three sides. Men were being wounded and killed, and four Americans — Dakota's friends — were surrounded. Four times, Dakota and Juan asked permission to go in; four times they were denied. It was, they were told, too dangerous. But one of the teachers in his high school once said, "When you tell Dakota he can't do something, he's is going to do it." And as Dakota said of his trapped teammates, "Those were my brothers, and I couldn't just sit back and watch."

The story of what Dakota did next will be told for generations. He told Juan they were going in. Juan jumped into a Humvee and took the wheel; Dakota climbed into the turret and manned the gun. They were defying orders, but they were doing what they thought was right. So they drove straight into a killing zone, Dakota's upper body and head exposed to a blizzard of fire from AK-47s and machine guns, from mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

Coming upon wounded Afghan soldiers, Dakota jumped out and loaded each of the wounded into the Humvee, each time exposing himself to all that enemy fire. They turned around and drove those wounded back to safety. Those who were there called it the most intense combat they'd ever seen. Dakota and Juan would have been forgiven for not going back in. But as Dakota says, you don't leave anyone behind.

For a second time, they went back — back into the inferno; Juan at the wheel, swerving to avoid the explosions all around them; Dakota up in the turret — when one gun jammed, grabbing another, going through gun after gun. Again they came across wounded Afghans. Again Dakota jumped out, loaded them up and brought them back to safety.

For a third time, they went back — insurgents running right up to the Humvee, Dakota fighting them off. Up ahead, a group of Americans, some wounded, were desperately trying to escape the bullets raining down. Juan wedged the Humvee right into the line of fire, using the vehicle as a shield. With Dakota on the guns, they helped those Americans back to safety as well.

For a fourth time, they went back. Dakota was now wounded in the arm. Their vehicle was riddled with bullets and shrapnel. Dakota later confessed, "I didn't think I was going to die. I knew I was." But still they pushed on, finding the wounded, delivering them to safety.

And then, for a fifth time, they went back — into the fury of that village, under fire that seemed to come from every window, every doorway, every alley. And when they finally got to those trapped Americans, Dakota jumped out. And he ran toward them. Drawing all those enemy guns on himself. Bullets kicking up the dirt all around him. He kept going until he came upon those four Americans, laying where they fell, together as one team.

Dakota and the others who had joined him knelt down, picked up their comrades and — through all those bullets, all the smoke, all the chaos — carried them out, one by one. Because, as Dakota says, "That's what you do for a brother."

Dakota says he'll accept this medal in their name. So today, we remember the husband who loved the outdoors —Lieutenant Michael Johnson. The husband and father they called "Gunny J" — Gunnery Sergeant Edwin Johnson. The determined Marine who fought to get on that team — Staff Sergeant Aaron Kenefick. The medic who gave his life tending to his teammates — Hospitalman Third Class James Layton. And a soldier wounded in that battle who never recovered — Sergeant First Class Kenneth Westbrook.

Dakota, I know that you've grappled with the grief of that day; that you've said your efforts were somehow a "failure" because your teammates didn't come home. But as your Commander-in-Chief, and on behalf of everyone here today and all Americans, I want you to know it's quite the opposite. You did your duty, above and beyond, and you kept the faith with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps that you love.

Because of your Honor, 36 men are alive today. Because of your Courage, four fallen American heroes came home, and — in the words of James Layton's mom — they could lay their sons to rest with dignity. Because of your Commitment — in the thick of the fight, hour after hour — a former Marine who read about your story said that you showed how "in the most desperate, final hours…our brothers and God will not forsake us." And because of your humble example, our kids — especially back in Columbia, Kentucky, in small towns all across America — they'll know that no matter who you are or where you come from, you can do great things as a citizen and as a member of the American family.

Therein lies the greatest lesson of that day in the valley, and the truth that our men and women in uniform live out every day. "I was part of something bigger," Dakota has said, part of a team "that worked together, lifting each other up and working toward a common goal. Every member of our team was as important as the other." So in keeping with Dakota's wishes for this day, I want to conclude by asking now-Gunnery Sergeant Rodriguez-Chavez and all those who served with Dakota — the Marines, Army, Navy — to stand and accept thanks of a grateful nation.

Every member of our team is as important as the other. That's a lesson that we all have to remember — as citizens, and as a nation — as we meet the tests of our time, here at home and around the world.

To our Marines, to all our men and women in uniform, to our fellow Americans, let us always be faithful. And as we prepare for the reading of the citation, let me say, God bless you, Dakota. God bless our Marines and all who serve. And God bless the United States of America. Semper Fi.

Read the full transcript of the ceremony here.

Official White House photo of President Obama and Sgt Meyer having a beer by Pete Souza.

US Marines photos by Lance Cpl. Daniel Wetzel and Sgt. Jimmy D. Shea.

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

41 Amazing Photos that Capture Day and Night Simultaneously [Shooting Challenge]

Day and night. They're two polar ideas—complete opposites. But the following photos capture day and night simultaneously, two times occurring in the exact same spot. How is this possible? Some say sorcery. Others, simply GIMP.

I finally broke down and spent the money for a DSLR and was really excited to participate in the next photo challenge. I was even more excited when I found out that the subject was day to night because I knew the perfect location for such an endeavor: a restaurant called Cha Cha Coconuts on the roof of The Pier in downtown St Petersburg, FL. They have an amazing view no matter which direction you look and tables set up against the railings that make it the perfect spot for setting up a shot like this one. I went with some family and friends and we ate, drank, and had lots of fun toying around with the shot possibilities. Merging the two photos using gimp was tedious to say the least, but I think the end result was worth it! Canon Rebel T3i, 18-55mm kit lens @ 28mm, ISO 400, f/22, night shutter speed: 20 sec, day shutter speed: 1/400 sec
-Christina Crowner

I've been wanting to take some pictures of this brand new wind farm about a half hour from home and this seemed the perfect opportunity to do something different. I took the day shot around 10:30 AM and returned that night around 8:00 PM. Amazingly this just happened to be the time a storm was passing though about 20 miles to the north and I was lucky enough to capture some nice lightning bolts. They seem to add a nice symmetry with the amazing power of nature on one side and our attempt to harness it on the other. I used a gradient mask in Photoshop to blend the two together and corrected the color of the lightning a little since it tends to be a little too purple. Other than that and a little boost to clarity in Lightroom I didn't have to do any adjustments to the raw files. Day: Pentax K10D, ISO 100, 18mm, f5.6, 1/1500 second exposure Night: Pentax K10D, ISO 100, 18mm, f3.5, 8 second exposure
-Chris DePrisco

I've taken so many pics from my parents' balcony that looks out at the bay. I was a little worried because the amazing sunrises are during the winter and we've had a lot of fog over the past week that is so dense you can barely see the trees. I woke up at sunrise and that was very much a failed attempt. The sky was blah and then the fog rushed in. The sun came out for a couple hours and that's when I got my day time pic. Unfortunately, the sunset left a lot to be desired but night time was actually clear across the bay. It was quite a yo-yo, however I did learn some new things which I'm quite psyched about. Canon T2i, 18-55mm lens, Vanguard tripod, GIMP (mac) for post production
-Wai-ling Quist

Two walks across town, counting pavement stones to shoot from *exactly* the same spot and "hunting" for driving by cars - this was definitely a lot of fun :)!
Pictured: a Renauzda (part Renault, part Mazda) driving out of the night, on "Plac Dabrowskiego" in Lódz. I took over 30 shots at night and 50 shots the next day to be sure that there will be a matching pair of cars. A rear-curtain flash made the back end of the black car visible at the end of the trail of it's lights. Nikon D3100, 1/3 sec @ ISO 800 for the night shot, 1/200 sec @ ISO 100 for the day shot, stitched together in Pixelmator.
-Mark Baczynski

I was on a work trip, sitting out late together with a colleague and a couple of beers at the University of Jyvaskula/Finland, when we looked up at the arcs of the bridge connecting the institutes. Looked like a great shot. So I took a couple, putting the camera on the floor pointing upwards.
Varied F-stop and ISO settings and used mostly autotimer. Chose the position of the camera so that some characteristic stones on the floor were adjacent. Next noon, took the day shots at ISO 400 with autotimer and was worried because no sun came out. Now I think it was great - the grey rainy sky gave this composition its space-station-like look, I liked best. All postprocessing done in GIMP - essentially only shot-matching & transparent gradient overlay. Camera: Canon EOS 400D, Lens: Standard EFS 18-55
-Christoph Baumann

I had spent the better part of an hour trying to decide whether or not to go with a horizontal or a vertical gradient for this shot, when the song "Where Is My Mind" by the Pixies got stuck in my head. "With your feet in the air and your head on the ground..." Those words pretty much describe how I see this picture. Taken from the 20th floor of an apartment building in Crystal City, Virginia, with the help of a new Sigma 10mm Fisheye lens. Day: 1/80 exposure at f/8 and iso 100. Night: 6" exposure at f/4.5 and iso 100.
-Mike Hodges

So let me first start off with…"it's like wicked dahk down there, you can't see a thing - how's it going, Bob?"(Nemo) When I took these photos the other day it was extremely windy!!! Windy like, awesome, sand particles + electronics= Uh oh divided by particles in the eyes with a remainder of "wait that's sand in my mouth"(beach was behind me). Anyways, this is my beautiful home, Chicago. Let's get to photo settings shall we? Everything was shot with a Canon 40D with a mid range 35-155mm Canon lens. The day image was shot at a 1/50 sec, F/22 and ISO of 320. Night shot at 6 sec. exposure, F/22 and ISO at 640. The edit was just a basic overlay, with a vignette and about a +8ish saturation. I hope you enjoy the photo because it was a blast to shoot!
-Nick Duel

The shot is of Canary Wharf from the south side of the docks. This shot is composed of 2 HDR shots, created using 6 individual shots each with one exposure comp stop processed in PhotoMatrix Pro. I then used GIMP to merge the two images to create the day and night shot. This is my first day and night shot. I am old school so I like to do things manually sometimes not out of choice. I rigged up my tri-pod cracked open a couple of beers and let three hours pass and created this beauty. Nikon D3100 , Standard lenses 18-55, Aperture F9, Shutter Speed 1/6
-Navinder Singh Dhaliwal

I can't believe how many of you gave up such a huge chunk of your holiday weekend to participate, but I think the results were more than worth it. Judging this week was nearly impossible, with a lot of great entrants not highlighted. Check out the full gallery below and wallpaper-sized shots on flickr.

Mark Wilson is the founder of Philanthroper, a daily deal site for nonprofits.

Related Stories

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Why Cork Is the Most Amazing Material in the World to Keep Your Wine Tasty [Materialist]

By Rachel Swaby Sep 5, 2011 11:00 AM 12,108 27

There's a reason the screw cap hasn't dominated the wine stopper industry: Cork still kicks the ass of stamped aluminum for the good stuff-and not just for nostalgia's sake. This is what keeps our evening libations from turning sour.

Cork is an unbeatable bottle stopper. It's compressed by machines, jabbed by wine keys, and assaulted by liquids, only to bounce back, close up the gaps, and continue to keep leftover wine at bay.

Cork's been doing the same job well for thousands of years. Ceramics with cork tops were tucked into Egyptian tombs, and the Greeks shoved the spongy wood in containers filled with wine and olive oil. But it wasn't until Dom Pérignon-perhaps you've heard of him-developed the process for Champagne production in the 18th century that the cork stopper got its big boozy break. At the time, French sparkling wines were plugged by plain ol' wooden pegs wrapped with olive oil-soaked hemp. This setup blew. No, really. The gas in wine kept popping the slick stoppers out. Without a proper stopper, wine was losing its sparkle and the appeal of Champagne was falling flat. So as a way to seal his beverage-and ultimately his legacy—Pérignon started a series of experiments to find a better way. When he landed upon cork, it wasn't just the bubbly producers that appreciated a more perfect fitting: The entire wine industry ended up adopting it up as the stopple standard.

Cork performs extremely well under pressure. With some nudging, cork can compress to half its size, without bulging out the other side or increasing its length. Ok, so there are a lot of things that can do that if you push them hard enough, but the key here is cork's resilience. Cork's insides look like a honeycomb filled with gas-89.7 percent gas, in fact-which makes it both light and buoyant. And the cells that make up the honeycomb are insanely stretchy. So the cells can stand to be squeezed tight—like by, say, the skinny neck of a wine bottle.

But cork doesn't collapse under the abuse. Although the gas in the cells is compressed and loses volume, it is always pushing back, which allows it to seal cabernets and champagnes.

While stuck, liquid's constant lapping doesn't cause the cork to flinch. This wine stopping power is due to a coating made of a complex mixture of fatty acids and heavy organic alcohols called suberin inside the cork's cell walls. The suberin, plus tannins and a scarcity of albumenoids, leave it decay resistant and unfazed by moisture. In fact, the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization says that pieces of cork can stay submerged in liquid for centuries without rotting. Taken all together, these things make cork maybe the best seal in existence.

Here's another way cork gives other caps the finger: If you're keeping wine in a cellar for a long time, a little bit of air does a body good. The reason is that wine contains a little bit of sulfur dioxide. But "without oxygen, that sulfur disintegrates and creates a smell like a struck match," says Vance Rose of cork producer Amorim Cork America. You do not want to swirl that around in your cup and sniff it. Cork adds air naturally by releasing a wee bit of its stored gas, maybe 3-4 milligrams. Screw caps are either hermetically sealed, leaving bottles with a potential sulfur problem, or they've been engineered to allow a little outside air in. While that little bit of air is good for the sulfur, but not good if it's sucked from a wet cardboard or musty cellar. Cork's gas release doesn't come from the outside, so it doesn't smell.

This means that when it is time to pop the top, both wine and cork come out unscathed-the wine appropriately aged and the cork looking almost like it always did. Even after years of abuse, "the cork doesn't lose any integrity in its cell structure," explains Rose. "It goes right back to its original form." The cork has always maintained this fine form so your Malbec can, too.

Chris Madden is a New York-based illustrator and designer. You
can see his work here, follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.