Search results
Nov 17, 2021 · Thanksgiving is a time for families to get together… and celebrate science. From kitchen chemistry to afternoon naps, science underlies many of our favorite family traditions. For this holiday season, we’ve gathered five of our favorite science facts to get your whole family learning together. Tryptophan doesn’t really make you sleepy.
- Uncategorized
Log In 2024 Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science...
- Outreach
Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science is supported by...
- Science Stories
Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science is supported by...
- Uncategorized
Nov 22, 2007 · Tiny Technology and Talking Turkey. In this episode, Scientific American's "SA 50" research leader of the year, MIT's Angela Belcher, discusses her work using viruses and other organisms to help ...
- Q: This Time of Year, You Hear A Lot About tryptophan. What Is It?
- Q: Why Are So Many Post-Prandial Thanksgiving Naps Blamed on Tryptophan?
- Q: What Is The Real Story on Tryptophan?
- Q: Really? What Vegetables?
- Q: So, Why Are We So Ready For A Nap After Thanksgiving Dinner?
- Q: So How Did Tryptophan Get This Bad Rap?
- Q: What Other Thanksgiving Food Chemistry Do You Discuss in The Class?
- Q: Yeah! Gravy! Go!
- Q: Sure!
- Q: So Does Your Class Have Its Own Thanksgiving Dinner?
A: Tryptophan is an amino acid. Most of the working functions within our cells is done by proteins. And all proteins are comprised of 20 amino acids—which is pretty cool. And all the work that our cells do to keep us alive is done by these proteins. Tryptophan is just one of those 20 that gets employed in making all these proteins.
A: The big myth about tryptophanis that turkey it has high tryptophan content. And the story goes that you get very tired and sleepy because biochemically tryptophan is kind of a precursor in a pathway that makes serotonin, and ultimately, melatonin. Sometimes people take melatonin at night to help them sleep.
A: You are making serotonin and melatonin from tryptophan. But that's not really the reason that you get tired after a large meal, because for one thing, you aren't overly activating that pathway. Turkey, when it comes to tryptophan content, is pretty much in the middle scale of things. There are vegetables that have more tryptophan than turkey doe...
A: Soybeans have about double the amount of turkey. Parmesan cheese. Even pork has more tryptophan than turkey does. There are a lot of foods higher in tryptophan content than turkey—foods we eat more often than we do turkey.
A: What's actually happening is not that you're eating a lot of tryptophan; it's more that you're eating a lot of food, and specifically carbohydrates. We have mechanisms in our bloodstream that help us detect how many carbohydrates or glucose is in our bloodstream so the cells can respond appropriately. And so once you eat a big starchy meal, with...
A: I think that it is just one of those urban myths that developed because people misunderstood the science. And tryptophan does lead to the production of serotonin and melatonin, which may lead to kind of this kind of drowsiness, so people misappropriated it and they didn't really think about the true biochemical mechanisms behind the whole thing.
A: There's just a lot of cool things that you can think about. For instance, there's light meat versus dark meat of turkey, right? People often have very strong preferences. But the real difference there has to do with biological functionwith implications from chemistry. So if you think about domestic turkeys, they're really big birds, and they don...
A: There's always different arguments about gravy, with people liking either thick or thin gravy. And really the density, or how thick or viscous your gravy is, is dependent on two biomolecules—amylose and amylopectin. They are carbohydrates, basically, and one of them, amylose, is just very linear, whereas amylopectin is branched. So amylopectin i...
A: Cranberries are oftentimes associated with Thanksgiving. And it's really interesting to see the chemical components of that, because a lot of times, cranberries contain compounds that are a lipid that's combined with a sugar which serve as pigments and have biological functions. Because there's so many electrons in these compounds, the way it ab...
A: Yeah, we usually try to have a Thanksgiving feast. What we most often have is Oreos, because that's what people bring in.
Nov 17, 2022 · November 22, 2022. However you celebrate Thanksgiving we hope that your table includes our favorite topic of conversation, NSF science. Science is on our plates, at our tables, and all around us on holidays. Here are some exciting science stories to share at your own celebration this year. Corn, I can't Imagine a more beautiful thing.
- Grace Malato
Check out this video by the American Chemical Society (ACS), called “The Chemistry of Thanksgiving.”. While the video talks about the science behind traditional Thanksgiving foods like turkey and potatoes, it also contains a fascinating discussion about which antacids neutralize the most stomach acid. We’re just sayin’: This might be ...
Nov 24, 2016 · A giant green turtle rests on a coral reef at a diving site near the island of Sipadan in Celebes Sea east of Borneo. Ocean research is field that scientists are grateful for this Thanksgiving ...
Nov 20, 2017 · As you give thanks for the bounty of this meal and the company you share it with, spend some time thinking about some of the scientific facts that made your meal possible. Biology. Chemistry ...
