Maybe they just enjoy the drink after, but scientists are increasingly interested in beer

[View this email in your browser]( [Open Ars Technica in your browser]( Ars isn't the kind of place where you'll read about tubas ([regularly]() or about [beer brewed with pizza,]( but we're right at the start of Oktoberfest. And it's hard not to notice beer has increasingly become a focal point in the scientific and archaeological communities in recent years. A lot of that interest comes down to the drink's chemical complexities and the diverse array of social rituals involving beer throughout history. These days, researchers are looking into [thiols,]( applying [NMR spectroscopy and liquid chromatography]( to sours, or putting [ancient grains under microscopes]( to detect signs of malting. So for this week's Orbital Transmission, we're raising our glasses to the intrepid researchers who have been doing the same... 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In 2021, his team analyzed over 400 commercial beers from 40 countries, and the scientists identified at least 7,700 different chemical formulas and tens of thousands of unique molecules. And they did so by relying on two complementary mass spectrometry techniques—one focused on metabolite ions, the second on molecular structure. [Read Full Story »]( [(image) ]( In ancient times, death was cause for a pint [Read Full Story »]( In ancient times, death was cause for a pint At a 9,000-year-old burial site in China called Qiaotou, archaeologists recently unearthed a number of ceramic vessels, some of which were shaped like the long-necked, round-bellied bronze pots that people used for alcoholic drinks millennia later. That made Dartmouth College anthropologist Jiajing Wang and his colleagues wonder whether these earlier clay versions might have once held beer, too. Bits of the residue analyzed, starch molecules in the residue showing signs of being heated and fermented, and evidence of yeast and mold led to an easy conclusion: “Our results revealed that the pottery vessels were used to hold beer, in the most general sense—a fermented beverage made of rice, a grain called Job’s tears, and unidentified tubers.” [Read Full Story »]( [(image) ]( If you must flip your beer coaster, know it'll flip 0.45 seconds into flight [Read Full Story »]( If you must flip your beer coaster, know it'll flip 0.45 seconds into flight Many a pub crawler has engaged in the time-honored tradition of throwing beer mats—those round cardboard coasters that are ubiquitous in bars—as if the mats were frisbees. But unlike frisbees, beer mats tend to flip in the air and fly with a backspin. So this year, physicists at the University of Bonn came up with a theoretical model to explain the phenomenon. Every good theoretical prediction must be experimentally tested, of course, so Ostmeyer and his team even built their own makeshift beer-mat launcher out of two electric motor-powered treadmills. [Read Full Story »]( [(image) ]( If beer's not your thing, have you considered brewing medieval bochet? [Read Full Story »]( If beer's not your thing, have you considered brewing medieval bochet? Homebrewers and Beowulf enthusiasts love mead, that honey alcoholic beverage you may have seen at your local Renaissance Faire. But one particular type of mead has been especially interesting in 2021: bochet. The only known detailed recipe for bochet dates back to the late 14th century, and it was lost for centuries until being rediscovered around 2009. This year brewer Gemma Tarlach set out to make a batch of her own in as historically accurate a way as possible, down to the honey extraction techniques (crushing combs), historical yeast (which required a variety of experiments), and caramelization process. Scalding risks, be damned. [Read Full Story »]( [Condé Nast Spotlight | The breaking news and top stories everyone is talking about. All in one place. The most popular stories from Vogue, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired, Architectural Digest and more. STAY INFORMED]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2021 Condé Nast, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Condé Nast One World Trade Center New York, NY 10007 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences](newsletter=ars) or [unsubscribe from this list](newsletter=ars).