Jessica Wapner speaking at Fox Chase Cancer Center | © Fox Chase Cancer Center[/caption]

Last Tuesday, May 14, to celebrate the launch of her new book The Philadelphia Chromosome, Jessica Wapner spoke at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, the location of the discovery of the Philadelphia chromosome, and the setting of the opening chapter of her book (which you can read here on Scientific American). Continue reading

March marks the start of a new monthly feature on our blog: The Lab Report! In our new podcast we talk with one of our authors about their new book. Up first is Veganissimo A to Z coauthor Reuben Proctor, … Continue reading

Calling all caninophiles! Tomorrow is National Puppy Day, an unofficial (but adorable) holiday dedicated to those furry little balls of awesomeness. As if we needed an actual day to celebrate them, right? Since its inception in 2006, dog-lovers across the … Continue reading

For those who didn’t know, today, March 14—3.14—is Pi Day. And believe it or not, some people take Pi Day very seriously. (It is also, coincidentally, Albert Einstein’s birthday.) If you live in San Francisco, you might already be well … Continue reading

Complete avoidance of animal products can sometimes feel well-nigh impossible for even the most conscientious consumer. For those on the vegan-vegetarian-discerning omnivore spectrum, there may still be products in your everyday life you’re unaware contain or whose production involved animal ingredients.

Since anyone can benefit from being more informed about what they’re consuming, in Veganissimo A to Z, Reuben Proctor and Lars Thomsen offer a comprehensive reference guide to identifying and avoiding ingredients of animal origin, including some things not commonly thought of as not vegan. Here are five of those harder-to-pin-down products:

String Instruments

Photo by Peter Shanks, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Catgut, gut strings from sheep, has been used in surgical sutures and as strings for musical instruments and tennis rackets. There are now synthetic alternatives widely available.

String instruments like the violin and cello still use horsehair in their bows, but there is such a thing as a vegan violin bow. Continue reading

It’s that loving time of year again, but more often than not Valentine’s Day conjures feelings that are anything but. Along with the added pressure that the day can’t be just another Thursday, Time.com reported today that Valentine’s Day comes at a time when we are already emotionally and financially stressed (hello Christmas spending). According to the latest Zagat survey, 53% of couples are planning on having Valentine’s dinner at a restaurant, and they also expect the average bill to be $142.11. You would think that at least the restaurants would be happy for the extra business, especially with January being a slow month for restaurants, but it turns out the extra Valentine’s Day diners cause extra stress and turn the kitchen into a real pressure cooker. So what’s a romantic to do? Continue reading

Football! | © Elvert Barnes

As Sunday’s Super Bowl approaches, so does the Super Bowl party, that ubiquitous annual gathering welcoming everyone on the football enthusiasm spectrum from the oblivious and disinterested (it’s ok, Beyonce is performing!) to diehard fans of the two teams in play, this year the Ravens and 49ers (we were rooting for the Texans and mostly vegan running back Arian Foster, but here’s hoping for next year). Continue reading

Logo Quinua Ingles Final Con FraseIn 2007, Peru exported 1,347 tons of quinoa. By the end of 2011, the country had exported 6,956 tons of the grain, its destination most likely the United States. Quinoa’s meteoric rise in popularity can no doubt be attributed to its high nutritional value and lack of gluten. It’s no wonder, then, that the United Nations officially declared 2013 the International Year of Quinoa. Continue reading

The Experiment's publisher Matthew Lore with Swarthmore extern Annie TvetenstrandHello! I’m Annie, and I’ve just spent a week interning at The Experiment. I’ve had a wonderful time working here. Some of my projects included doing research, proofreading, and editing the coding for eBooks. I was also responsible for the package labels used to mail out the spring 2013 catalog. So if you’re receiving one, that label was all me! Continue reading

With Thanksgiving fast approaching I’m feeling particularly lucky to work in an office with a wall full of mouthwatering vegan cookbooks. For those less fortunate, here’s a menu that is sure to delight omnivorous relatives, foodie friends, veteran vegans, and—most importantly—you.

Thanksgiving can be a difficult holiday for us vegans, whether tempted by dishes dripping with the rich gravy of nostalgia, gastronomically discomfited by surviving on nothing but cranberry relish, or mildly annoyed by a daylong onslaught of well-intentioned dietary questions. However, thanks to The Experiment’s wonderful vegan authors, with a little effort even a novice vegan chef can turn Thursday’s dinner into a celebration of new takes on classic flavors instead of a pale imitation of remembered pleasures. Continue reading