The Brewspaper

 “The Road Not Taken” Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.   » Robert Frost (1915)

Can you tickle yourself? Most people can't — and neuroscientists argue that this should be studied more. On top of this, children are more ticklish than adults, as are people with autism spectrum disorder. But even adults are more susceptible to being tickled by certain people, depending on their relationship. To try and understand what makes tickles tickle, researchers from The Netherlands have set up a “tickle lab”, which they say will lead to better understanding of child development and how our brains work.  Read more: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/05/250527124227.htm The recently launched World Diet Initiative aims to study & document “heritage diets” across the globe. Researchers believe that traditional diets may hold clues for better health.  Read more: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20260715/New-project-documents-vanishing-heritage-diets-for-future-health-benefits.aspx

Absence from those we love is self from self —a deadly banishment. — Shakespeare Short absence quickens love; long absence kills it. — Mirabeau Love reckons hours for months, and days for years; and every little absence is an age. — Dryden Absence in love is like water upon fire; a little quickens, but much extinguishes it. — Hannah More The absent are like children, helpless to defend themselves. — Charles Reade Absence makes the heart grow fonder. — Thomas Haynes Bayly Distance of time and place generally cure what they seem to aggravate; and taking leave of our friends resembles taking leave of the world, of which it has been said, that it is not death, but dying, which is terrible. — Fielding Absence, like death, sets a seal on the image of those we love: we cannot realise the intervening changes which time may have effected. — Goldsmith The absent are never without fault, nor the present without excuse. — Benjamin Franklin The joy of meeting pays the pangs of absence; else who cou...

Every day it seems like AI (artificial intelligence) has a new capability. First it could write intelligible sentences, then write entire essays, then generate images and now even write music. As a result, every business and their dog are jumping on this opportunity; trying to increase outputs while laying off the staff who used to perform these tasks. AI has become so good at mimicking human writing styles that it is sometimes hard to tell whether something was written by a human or ChatGPT. And there is a lot of AI generated text that is starting to get around.  Hence you may be wondering, dear reader — is The Brewspaper AI? The answer is a resounding “No!” Each of these articles, in fact each of these words, has been pounded out on my keyboard along with the accompanying blood, sweat and tears that crown any meaningful endeavour.  You see, I believe there is still value in the human touch of writing; rather than the predictable output of an AI model. Even the occasional fl...

 “A Noiseless Patient Spider” A noiseless patient spider, I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated, Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding, It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself, Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them. And you O my soul where you stand, Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space, Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them, Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold, Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.   » Walt Whitman (1891)

Prehistoric Cash One of the largest and best-preserved T-Rex fossils recently sold at auction for $72 million! The skeleton stands about 4 m tall and is 61% complete. The fossil, named “Gus”, was sold to an anonymous buyer.  Just a Fun Guy Have you heard of the fungus Spongiforma squarepantsii ? It has an orange, spongy appearance with a musk odour and was first found in Malaysia in 2011. And when you look at it under a microscope, it looks like an ocean seafloor covered in tube sponges! This led the research team to name it after the famous cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants.  Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-13874049

Voyaging across the seas on a merchant ship was not the only way that coffee made its way to Europe. It also came as spoils of war! In 1683, the city of Vienna (in Austria) was besieged by 100,000 Ottoman soldiers for over two months. On the 12th September, just as the city’s defenses were on the brink of collapse, aid arrived in the form of a coalition of Holy Roman Empire and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth forces. Led by the famous charge of the Polish Winged Hussars — spearheading the largest cavalry charge recorded in history — the Ottoman force was routed.  In their haste to retreat, the Ottoman soldiers left sacks of mysterious beans behind. According to local legend, a Polish spy named Jerzy Kulczycki recognised them as coffee beans and used them to open the first café in the city. However, historians believe that while the beans left from the siege may have accelerated the popularity of coffee, it was an Armenian businessman called Johannes Theodat who started Vienna's firs...