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Climate change might hit us in the most vital place of all — the dinner plate Why do we care about climate change? Obviously we worry about what warming temperatures might do to the geography of the planet — particularly melting polar ice and raising global sea levels. We fear the impact that climate change could have on endangered species, as warming temperatures speed the already rapid pace of extinction for wildlife that have been pushed to the edge by habitat loss and hunting. We focus on the changing risk of extreme weather, of more powerful storms causing billions of dollars of damage in richer nations — and taking thousands of lives in poorer ones. Sometimes we're simply uneasy with idea that our actions are altering the Earth, changing the rhythms of the seasons, shifting weather patterns we've been accustomed to for as long as human beings can remember.

All of that is important — but not as important as the impact that climate change might have on the most vital function of any species: feeding itself. The human population broke the 7 billion mark late last year, and the reason that happened — and the reason we can and will keep growing, barring major changes — is that we've become amazing proficient at raising food. Our distribution is far from perfect — which is the reason the world is simultaneously home to 1 billion hungry and more than 300 million obese people — and the side effects of large-scale farming can damage the environment. But food production still remains humanity's most amazing accomplishment.

Source: TIME

Fun food science experiments are a staple of childhood. We all remember the “vinegar and baking soda volcano”, but there are others that one can do with simple kitchen products.

The Bouncy Egg

Take a hard-boiled egg, put it in a jar and fill the jar completely with vinegar . Let it sit for a week. After the first day, the egg should start “bubbling.” At the end of the week, the egg should be rubbery and able to be bounced on the floor.

The vinegar eats away at the eggshell, taking the shell’s calcium and releasing carbon dioxide. All you have left is the egg’s membrane, with the protein and yolk inside. Because there is more water in the vinegar than in the egg ( vinegar is 95% water and 5% acid), the water swells up the egg until the percentage of water inside and outside is balanced....

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“Agriculture worldwide is being impacted by climate change and in less than 15 years global population will rise by one billion people,” said Sir John Beddington, lead author of the article ‘What Next for Agriculture After Durban?’ “Policy makers and scientists need to work together, quickly, to chart a course toward a sustainable global food system.” “Many agricultural practices show promise for lowering risks to food production and greenhouse gas emissions while protecting forests and other natural resources at the same time,” said Prof Tekalign Mamo of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture, who spoke at several official events at the Durban gathering. “But existing policies do not sufficiently encourage these sustainable approaches or prepare the global agriculture sector for climate change.” Beddington and his co-authors noted that the run-up to the December 2011 meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) featured a...

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