/oss/taxonomy/term/3290/all en /oss/article/nutrition-general-science/king-fruits-needs-deodorant <p>“Your breath will smell as if you’d been French-kissing your dead grandmother.” Anthony Bourdain, chef, journalist, travel documentarian certainly had a way with words. Here he was describing the consequences of partaking of the flesh of the durian, known in Asia as “The King of Fruits.” The problem, as Bourdain discovered, is that the king needs a deodorant. I once had the pleasure of getting close up and personal with a durian, and never having French kissed a corpse of any sort, I would describe the fragrance as a blend of locker room aroma and car-squashed skunk.</p> Fri, 21 May 2021 19:37:16 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8741 at /oss /oss/article/technology-history/most-important-industrial-chemical-worldand-lesson-learned <p><span>The thick liquid used to be called "oil of vitriol," since it was originally made by the distillation of "green vitriol," or iron sulfate as we know it today.  It was so corrosive and nasty that the term "vitriolic" entered our vocabulary to describe language that was particularly disagreeable.</span></p> Tue, 03 Jul 2018 21:35:40 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7156 at /oss