Phenotype, genotype, genetic crosses, controlled pollination. These might not be the first terms that come to mind when browsing through the beer store, but the genetic background of the hop varieties used in your favorite beers could be a useful tool when trying to pick up a six-pack for the weekend. Ever since hops were first used in beer making, brewers have been combining different varieties and exploring new ways to impart hop flavors and aromas into the finished product. To keep up with this voracious appetite for experimentation, hop farmers have put down their shovels and put on lab coats, using genetics to introduce new flavors and aromas to the brewer’s palette.
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There are always new studies coming out about why people eat junk food. Or rather, the studies tend to be about the effects high-fat foods have on other creatures, like rats and mice; from these effects, we try to extrapolate possible causes of human predilections for junk food. The most recent of these, as reported in the 