secretions

From cake mixes and candy to cereal and ice cream, artificial flavorings like vanilla, strawberry, and raspberry can be found in a wide range of processed foods.The FDA doesn't require listing all the ingredients in these additives, which leaves a lot open to interpretation and misunderstanding.For example, in recent years, a claim began spreading like wildfire on the internet that artificial vanilla – and to a certain extent raspberry and strawberry – flavorings come from beavers' anal secretions.While shocking and…

Century-old plant exudate samples in amber jars. Researchers mapped the chemistries of these samples using high-energy photons. Scientists can analyze other historical artifact chemistries by applying this technique in the future. Credit: Flinders University, South Australia, Kaurna Country For tens of thousands of years, Aboriginal Australians have created some of the world's most striking artworks. Today their work…