Heat up some sugar on the stove, and it sure seems to melt, but if it were just a simple phase change, then melted sugar would be perfectly clear, not brown. Melted sugar would taste simple and sweet, not bitter and complex. Melted sugar would cool into crystals, not glass. None of those things are true because heat doesn't cause sugar to change phases. Heat breaks it down into something new: caramel.

In fact, caramel is so unlike sucrose, C12H22O11, that its nature can't be expressed by a single chemical formula. Instead, it's a mixture of caramelan (C15H18O9), caramelane (C12H9O9), caramelen (C36H48O24), caramelene (C36H25O25), caramelin (C24H26O13), and over a thousand other compounds "whose names," one scholar lamented in 1894, "science seems to have invented in a fit of despair.

"Realizing that caramel contained more permutations of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen than their cutesy naming scheme could accommodate, scientists gave up on trying to define it. They even gave up on nailing down a definitive melting point for sucrose. Unlike ice, or even coconut oil, sugar refused to liquefy at a single, consistent, scientifically reproducible temperature. The point of caramelization proved even trickier to isolate, in some experiments occurring at a mere 340°F and in others holding out past 360°F.

If you think that's confusing, you're not alone. Scientists have a better grasp of quantum mechanics than of caramel, which is still poorly understood. But in 2011, a team of researchers finally established that caramelization is a product of thermal decomposition, not melting (you can read the paper here). Not only that, they determined that it's technologically impossible to document the melting of sucrose independent of caramelization.

How to Make Rich, Flavorful Caramel Without Melting Sugar

While Republican state leaders have complained about being "bullied" by the federal government over House Bill 2, lobbyists in Raleigh tell WRAL News they and the businesses they represent are being bullied by state lawmakers seeking to silence business opposition to the new law.

Lobbyists say they've been told – either directly by legislative leaders or by lawmakers' staff – that, if they or the businesses they represent speak out publicly against House Bill 2, they can expect retribution from House and Senate leaders.

Legislation they want won't move, and other bills could actually target them.

WRAL News spoke with 11 lobbyists who have experienced or are aware of such actions, but none would speak on the record for fear they would lose business or be targeted for retribution. One has already lost business.

WRAL.com

A recent study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that delinquent, non-Hispanic whites are more likely to abuse "hard drugs," such as cocaine or opiates, than their black counterparts, which might be news for some Americans. But for many blacks across the nation, the study confirms what was already known. The study, which took place over 12 years, found that the rates of hard drug abuse was "highest among non-Hispanic whites, followed by Hispanics then African-Americans."

The research found that whites were more than 30 times likely to have cocaine-use disorder, 50 times more likely to develop opiate-use disorder, and 18 times more likely have PCP-use disorder than blacks.

Yahoo

Dark Buddhism is an integration of Zen Buddhism and Ayn Rand's Objectivism, with the psychology of self-esteem being the glue which binds the two together into a cohesive whole.

Dark Buddhism

This Twitter bot replaces every instance of “God” in Joel Osteen’s tweets with “Your Dick”.

etc

This video of the first ever public performance of Purple Rain is pretty great.

What makes it special is that it's the actual basis for the studio track. They took that live performance, cut a verse and chorus, added strings and sweetened it up overall. But the core of it is that live track. You can hear noises and voices in the official release that turn out to be crowd noises. You can seem him figuring out that classic closing guitar solo, etc.. Pretty wild.

Human beings exist largely to create and consume derp.

Doug!