Liquid Rules Quotes

“Amylase is one of the most important; it breaks down starch and turns it into simple sugars, which is why bread tastes sweeter the longer you chew it. The amylase continues to break down the carbohydrates long after you’ve swallowed, and it continues picking apart whatever small fragments remain in your mouth or got stuck between your teeth.”
― Mark Miodownik, Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives

“An adhesive popular for a thousand years, gum arabic, comes from the acacia gum tree. The resin of trees of the genus Boswellia is a particularly nice-smelling glue called frankincense. Myrrh, another aromatic resin, comes from a thorny tree of the genus Commiphora. Resins were often used in medicines as well as in perfumes, perhaps because their active chemical components, like phenols, had potent antibacterial properties. Frankincense and myrrh were so highly valued in antiquity that they were given as presents to queens, kings, and emperors, which is why their presence in the Christian nativity story is so significant.”
― Mark Miodownik, Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives

“Caffeine’s bitterness is a biological signal from our mouth, warning us that we are about to drink something that may be toxic—”
― Mark Miodownik, Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives

“One of the physiological effects of alcohol on the body is to inhibit the secretion of hormones that tell your kidneys to conserve water.”
― Mark Miodownik, Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives

“Studies show that flavor is constructed in the brain, which takes inputs not just from the taste buds in the mouth and the sensors in the nose, but also from your brain’s expectation of what things should taste like.”
― Mark Miodownik, Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives

“When blood circulates to your lungs to pick up oxygen from your breath, some of the alcohol jumps across the membranes along with the carbon dioxide being expelled from your blood. As you breathe out, the alcohol vapor becomes part of your exhale, which is why you can smell it when someone’s been drinking.”
― Mark Miodownik, Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives

“The liver’s job is to get rid of the toxin, but it can metabolize ethanol at a rate of only about one glass of wine per hour (depending on your size). If you drink faster than this, ethanol will enter your bloodstream at a greater rate than it can be processed, and so will be able to infiltrate the rest of your organs, exerting its powers throughout your body.”
― Mark Miodownik, Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives

“Approximately 20 percent of the ethanol you imbibe when you drink wine goes through your stomach wall and directly into your bloodstream, which is why you can feel the effects of alcohol almost immediately after drinking it.”
― Mark Miodownik, Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives

“intoxicating. That’s where the word comes from. The toxins in alcohol suppress the nervous system, causing a loss of cognitive functions, loss of motor functions, and loss of control. It”
― Mark Miodownik, Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives

“There are three sorts of tears: basal tears, reflex tears, and psychic tears.”
― Mark Miodownik, Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives

“(oil painting could more accurately be referred to as plastic painting);”
― Mark Miodownik, Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives

“Cyanoacrylate glue is best known as superglue, and it is a very odd liquid. On its own, the liquid is an oil, and behaves like one. But if exposed to water, the H2O molecules react with the cyanoacrylate.”
― Mark Miodownik, Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives

“Indeed, most people who work in furniture restoration use animal glues precisely because they can be easily unstuck by using heat.”
― Mark Miodownik, Liquid Rules: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives