What is Buratta?

"I make a pizza and apply buratta afterwards" - but what is buratta? Buratta is an Italian cheese (typical of the Puglia region of Italy) made from mozzarella and cream. It is made from cow's milk and occasionally buffalo milk. Once served it is best eaten within 24 hours.

Orange Oil - What it is, What it is Used For

Orange oil is used to lift mood and reduce stress as well as add a fresh aroma to a room. It also has antibacterial properties. Some citrus essential oils, including but to a low extent orange oil, are phototoxic, in that they can cause a painful reaction if applied prior to going out in the sun.

All About Coal

How is coal produced? Coal comes from peat, made from partly decayed plant and mineral matter. This gets compressed and otherwise transformed to form coal - a process known as "coalification".

The Most Interesting House in London

The most interesting house in London was, according to the mathematically educated novelist Sir Walter Besant (who studied at Christ's College Cambridge, and published several books on London), a medieval palace called Baynard's Castle. The house became the London base of the House of York during the Wars of the Roses. It was reconstructed by Henry VII as a royal palace.

James Webb Space Telescope Historic Launch

Not since Hubble has a space telescope created so much excitement. The James Webb space telescope went up into space on 25 December 2021 carried by an Ariane 5 rocket in Kourou, French Guiana (a land almost 99% covered in rainforest. and at 83.534 square kilometres, is the largest outermost region of the EU). The strategy to build a space base in French Guiana was the idea of Charles de Gaulle, President of France from 1959 to 1969, partly to stimulate economic growth in the region.

What is a dichroic material?

 A dichroic material causes visible light to be split up into different wavelengths, that manifest as colours.

Bill Gilbert on Magnetism (De Magnete)

William Gilbert was an English physicist and physician (for a few years he was the physician of Elizabeth I) and also a natural philosopher.  In 1600 he published a book on magnets called De Magnete. He was born in the historic English market town of Colchester in Essex and studied medicine at St John's College, Cambridge.  His experiments concluded that the Earth is magnetic and this was the reason compasses point North and he further argued that iron was at the centre of the Earth. Francis Bacon, philosopher and former Lord Chancellor, attacked Gilbert's conclusions on magnets arguing he had "built a ship out of a shell".