Alcohol, features and articles | Educational Science

Apr 7, 2017

The Secret to Cubans' Homemade Wine: Condoms

Cubans have found a homemade solution to making wine without high-tech fermentation tools: They use condoms. Homemade wine is an affordable spirit for Cubans, where a bottle of imported wine in state-run liquor stores sells for at least half of the average person's monthly salary of $25, reported Associated Press....

Apr 21, 2017

Heavy Drinkers May Not Handle Alcohol As Well As They Think

Young adults who are heavy social drinkers may think they have a tolerance that lets them drink alcohol without it impairing their coordination, but a new study shows otherwise. The researchers found that after people who had been heavy drinkers for years consumed a high dose of alcohol, they fared...

May 6, 2017

Booze snooze: Why does alcohol make you sleepy, then alert?

Beer, wine and other alcoholic beverages have somewhat of a split personality in how they affect people's brains. At first, the drinks tend to make people feel super sleepy, but they then jolt those same people wide awake and make them jittery just a few hours later. What's behind this...

May 9, 2017

Gin Recall: What Does Drinking 77 Percent Alcohol Do to You?

If you're a gin drinker in Canada, imbibe cautiously. Canadian liquor authorities are recallingBombay Sapphire London Dry Gin after it was found that the bottles may contain almost twice as much alcohol as claimed on the label. Although all affected bottles have since been removed from store shelves, some of...

May 9, 2017

Brad Pitt Goes Sober: Why It's So Tough to Quit Alcohol

For more than three decades, actor Brad Pitt was boozing too much, and his drinking became a problem. But the actor has been sober for the last six months, he revealed in an interview appearing in the summer issue of the magazine GQ Style. I can't remember a day since...

May 11, 2017

How Many US High Schoolers Binge Drink?

Teen drinking has dropped in recent decades, but still about one-third of U.S. high schoolers say they drink alcohol, and one in six say they binge drink, according to a new report. The study, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, analyzed information from a yearly survey of high...

May 17, 2017

'Extreme' Binge Drinking Is on the Rise in the US

Millions of Americans say they engage in extreme binge drinking — or downing at least eight to 10 drinks containing alcohol on a single occasion — and the behavior appears to be on the rise in the U.S., according to a new report. The findings are concerning because this high...

May 23, 2017

How Alcohol & Gut Fungus Team Up to Damage Your Liver

Heavy drinking can lead to liver disease, but a new study suggests that it's not just the alcohol that damages the liver — fungi that commonly live in the human gut appear to contribute to the disease as well. The study, which involved experiments in both mice and a small...

Jul 27, 2017

Would You Drink This Mummified-Toe Cocktail?

The notorious Sourtoe Cocktail — a shot of alcohol containing a dehydrated human toe — is a bizarre tradition at the Downtown Hotel's Sourdough Saloon, in Dawson City, Yukon Territory. The cocktail craze kicked off in 1973, after riverboat Capt. Dick Stevenson found a preserved toe in an abandoned Yukon...

Jul 27, 2017

Does Moderate Drinking Lower Your Risk of Diabetes?

Is alcohol good or bad for your health? With no shortage of contradictory findings, it's understandable if you're left feeling like you've had a little too much to drink. Now, new research from Denmark suggests that moderate levels of alcohol drinking — not binge drinking — may be linked to...

Aug 8, 2017

Shot in the Dark: College Students Don't Know How Strong Their Drinks Are

WASHINGTON — Do you know how much alcohol is in your drink? If you're making a judgment based on taste and smell alone, you may miss the mark, a new study from England finds. Young people, in particular, are really bad at detecting how much alcohol there is in a...

Aug 8, 2017

Why Your Moscow Mule Drink May Be Hazardous

Your Moscow mule cocktail may look pretty in a copper mug, but officials in Iowa say that using copper containers for this beverage, and similar drinks, could be hazardous for your health. Recently, Iowa's Alcoholic Beverages Division issued an advisory stating that pure copper mugs should not be used to...

Aug 11, 2017

Beyoncé Backlash: Is Drinking While Breast-Feeding OK?

A photo posted by on Can Beyoncé ever catch a break? The singer and mom to 2-month-old twins Sir and Rumi Carter posted photos to her Instagram account last weekend that showed her and her husband, rapper Jay-Z, sipping on what looks like wine or liquor. The photos prompted cries...

Aug 17, 2017

Why Whiskey Tastes Better with Water

Whiskey connoisseurs have long thought that mixing a few drops of water with the drink could enhance its flavor. Now, a new study reveals a scientific explanation for why that may be true. This finding could also help improve the effectiveness of medicines that include alcohol in their ingredients, such...

Sep 1, 2017

Well-Aged: Oldest Traces of Italian Wine Discovered

The oldest traces of Italian wine have been discovered in a cave in Sicily, researchers announced. Wine residues were found on a large ceramic jar that was stored nearly 6,000 years ago in the caverns of a cult site known as Monte Kronio. Archaeologists can use chemical analysis on seemingly...