We haven't had many ethanol posts recently, here's one.
From Reason'a
Hit&Run blog:
Here at
Reason, we have
talked some smack about the experiments being conducted at the
International Space Station and on the U.S. Shuttles. (See Robert
Zubrin on the deaths in the Columbia, "a flight devoted to
ant farms, recycled-urine-based finger paints, and other science
fair experiments.") But here's a worthy mission, sent up on a
Russian cargo rocket: a two-year long experiment devoted to the
study of terpenes and other molecules in near-zero gravity.
Terpenes, eh? Wonder what those do...
NanoRacks LLC, the US company behind the research, has said
understanding the influence of gravity could help a number of
industries, including the whisky industry, to develop new products
in the future....
Compounds of unmatured malt were sent to the station in an
unmanned cargo spacecraft in October last year, along with
particles of charred oak.
Space-aged whiskey!
The researchers are also measuring the molecules' interaction at
normal gravity on Earth so they can compare the way the particles
mature.
Via Rand
Simberg.
