alcohol

Cheers! Booze can 'induce' superconductivity

'Tis the season to be pickling your liver in alcohol. And, it turns out, soaking stuff in booze has a salubrious effect besides making people happy. Apparently, it can make materials superconductive.

Research in Japan shows that a soaking in commercial alcohol can turn down the dial on at least one material's electrical conductivity to zero. Yoshihiko Takano and colleagues at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) outside Tokyo published research describing how booze can induce superconductivity in an iron-tellurium-based substance.

The material isn't normally superconductive, but can be after immersion in an alcoholic beverage heated to about 70 Celsius (158 Fahrenheit). The team then compared the effectiveness of various drinks, including red wine, sake, beer, and shochu (a distilled beverage), and found that red wine was best in inducing superconductivity.

The bizarre result followed experiments by Takano and colleagues in which accidental exposure of the iron compound to air turned it into a superconductor. Other experiments found that soaking the material in water did the trick.

When a fellow superconductivity researcher visited for a lecture, Takano organized a party and wondered whether the sake and beer they were knocking back might also work.… Read more

Cheers! Scottish team concocts whiskey car fuel

Alcohol has no place behind the wheel of a car, but a team of Scottish scientists believe it might be perfect for the fuel tank: Researchers at Edinburgh Napier University's Biofuel Research Center, according to a report in Sky News, say they have successfully used whiskey by-products to form a butanol biofuel.

Lovers of fine scotch and bourbon may rest assured that this fuel is made from by-products, not the whiskey itself, so that no potable spirits are being put to waste.

The researchers' formula combines pot ale, which is a fluid coming from distillery equipment, with the grains … Read more

Crave 12: Evil creepy Casper baby (podcast)

Dong Ngo pays a visit to Crave this week and brings with him a handy little gadget that justifies his drinking on the job. Also, we let a conversation on 3D camcorders descend into porn talk (naturally), and Eric scares the bejesus out of Jasmine with a creepy, limbless robot baby...or at least the thought of one. Finally, Donald whets our appetites with some Star Wars-themed kitchen toys that are bound to make your cookies and sandwiches more tempting, if not actually more tasty.

Subscribe in iTunes SD Video | Subscribe in RSS SD Video… Read more

Stupid frat prank becomes runaway Web phenom

It might be the new Rickroll. It might not. But a new Internet meme has popped up that could be worth a second look: "icing," an unusually inane and relatively harmless fraternity drinking game centered on the consumption of Smirnoff Ice, the sugary bottled malt beverage that's become classified as the ultimate "girly drink."

"The rules are simple: hand a Smirnoff Ice (the warmer/more disgusting the flavor, the better) to a friend (your "bro"), and he must get down on one knee and chug the malt beverage, regardless of location and … Read more

Buzz Out Loud Podcast 1138: Good luck with that, Bono

So, Bono has been listening to his manager and soaking up the idea that the Internet needs to be locked down before it ruins the video industry. This selfless act of Cassandra-like prophesying involves talking about how great the U.S. is at stopping child porn and how great the Chinese are at stopping anything they don't like. We point out a few holes in the theory there. Also, Google is doing everything. Seriously, if you even think fleetingly that Google might do something, well, apparently it already is.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) … Read more

Last call for i-Booze delivery service

I wouldn't for a moment think that anyone working late on something frightfully significant in Redmond would conceive of alcohol as a means to help them through their engineer's block.

But just in case there is one tortured soul who might be tempted to have a six-pack delivered to his cubicle, I have some difficult news.

i-Booze, the Seattle-based folks to whom you used to be able to turn online for a swift delivery of soothing liquids, seems to have fallen on difficult times.

For Techflash has delivered the information that not only has i-Booze failed to secure … Read more

Signs of recovery? Here be dragons, and alcohol

Eric Schmidt, I blame you.

Right as you announce that you're holding your third-quarter earnings call from atop a treasure chest made of sustainably-harvested teak filled with $22 billion in gold doubloons (okay, so maybe I'm being a bit imaginative there), a smattering of prominent folks in the dot-com industry start coming out of the woodwork with ideas that would've sounded absolutely ludicrous a few months ago. Namely, they're getting into the booze business.

Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams are launching a wine label for charity, it was revealed on Thursday. Then, on Friday, … Read more

A four-legged gadget with a very special purpose

In my line of work, I run across a ton of gadgets that are the appliance equivalents of one-hit wonders. Some serve unique purposes that are necessary for accomplishing very specific tasks, and some are just plain ridiculous. A few, although not necessary, are pretty enough to warrant owning, even if you can only use them on rare occasions.

A perfect example of the latter is this Brütül Lagerhead Black & Tan Turtle, featured in Popular Mechanic's "Top 10 Wild Kitchen Gadgets You'll Use Only Once." The sentiment written at the top … Read more

Bartend like a pro

Here's a good way to become the most popular person at a party or bar--suggest and mix interesting cocktails. But if you're only interested in the most common drinks of our day, you may want to wait for version 2, which will feature more shots and modern drinks; this set will make the classics new again.

Regardless, Drinks for iPhone and iPod Touch is still one of the better bartending applications in its category, featuring great navigation to quickly get you to your favorites, the entire drinks library, or a search by mixers, liquor type, or garnish (in … Read more

Google adds booze ads--with limits

As part of an effort to wring more money out of its online activities, Google has begun permitting text advertisements for some hard liquor in the United States.

"This fall, we changed our policy around beer, for the first time allowing advertisements of its sale in the U.S. via AdWords. And starting today, in response to advertiser feedback we've received over the years, we'll permit the advertisement of hard alcohol and liqueurs that target the U.S.," said Amanda Kelly of Google's AdWords team in a blog post Monday.

Google started permitting ads for beer, wine, and champagne … Read more