Headlines & features

One hundred years ago in the NY TImes , "all the news that's fit to print" included consumer tips on using salt. Current tips online . NOTE: the article was published May 30, 1909. Our software doesn't believe it and cannot accept a date that old so I'm putting the posting date.

This just in from Junk Food Science ; Sandy Szwarc's review of the actual data as opposed to the popular "spin."

This should have been the lead:

The long-awaited research on the effects of calorie restriction on aging in rhesus monkeys from the University of Wisconsin and Wisconsin National Primate Research Center have just been released. It found no statistically significant difference in the number of deaths among the monkeys who’ve been eating a calorie-restrictive diet for more than 20 years compared to the monkeys who’ve been allowed to eat ad lib all day as much as 20% over their normal calories.

But that’s not what made the news, of course. Instead, we’ve been bombarded with a thousand news stories all reporting in lockstep that low-calorie diets have been proven to add years to our lives.

Ms. Seay surveys many snowfighter agencies and concludes that road salt prices will be lower this year than last.

The virtues -- and ease -- of storing essential foods is a particularly important and timely consideration in this time of economic uncertainty. Washington Post writer Lois M. Baron explains how it's done and includes a timeless reminder that each family should be storing eight pounds of salt for each family member.

With all the bad news in real estate over the past couple years, a June story in the Real Estate section of the Wall Street Journal is, far and away, the best news we've had about housing in a long time. In "Palace of the ‘Salt Queen’ ", WSJ reporter Sara Lin describes the new $1.5 million Manhattan apartment of Bettina Werner, almost certainly the world's foremost creator using the medium of sodium chloride. Lin describes the scene:

“Salt is like a fifth element, it’s so important to life,” says Ms. Werner, a 42-year-old who speaks in a thick Italian accent. “We can’t be alive if we don’t have salt in our bodies.”

Salt is also the star of Ms. Werner’s highly minimalist 2,000-square-foot one-bedroom apartment on the 21st floor of a high-rise building in the financial district. The vast 50-foot-long living room is nearly bare, save for a 10-foot long plexiglass-framed table whose large columns are filled with sparkling crystals and whose top holds another thick layer of salt more than three inches deep.

A life-sized, salt-coated sculpture of a woman stands mutely on a piece of white shag rug near the middle of the loft. The only color emanates from the large wood-framed canvasses all deeply encrusted with salt imported from Sicily and dyed shades of dark red, lime green and aquamarine blue (the red salt painting, called “I swear love,” is on sale for $40,000). Two “dominoes,” ottoman-sized plexiglass cubes decorated with red dots and filled with salt, are off to one side.

Ms. Werner first started experimenting with salt in her art in the 1980s when she studied painting at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, Italy. After moving to New York in 1989, she got her big break a year later when she signed a five-year exclusive contract with a Manhattan gallery. French actress Fanny Ardent and Massimo Ferragamo, chairman of design house Ferragamo USA, are among her collectors.

In these recessionary times, she's tried to hold the line on the price of her artworks. "Art watchers also note that most of Ms. Werner’s works sell for less than $50,000, a price point where collectors are still comfortable buying."

How much a ton is that???? See the short WSJ slideshow .

We're fans, and not just of her Facebook page .

Timed perhaps for Independence Day grilling, the New York Times just ran a story about the uniquely American quest to build the "perfect burger." As their promotion makes clear, the bar's been raised in recent years:

The modern ascent of the burger can be traced to Daniel Boulud eight years ago at DB Bistro Moderne in New York City. Since that momentous event, chefs have learned many secrets to a tasty gourmet burger. Fat and salt are key, and a warm crispy bun can make the entree. (emphasis added)

Medical News Today summarizes important research from government scientists at the Sandia Lab in New Mexico. Dr. Nathan Moore and colleagues have discovered that salt crystals can become a super plastic in the world of nanoscience and describe their findings in an article in the June issue of American Chemical Society's Nano Letters entitled: "Superplastic Nanowires Pulled from the Surface of Common Salt ."

Water rights are a life-and-death issue in much of the American West and one of the current hot spots is California where legislation pits human uses of available water against growers of avocados and strawberries. Thus describes The Signal in an editorial June 20, "Finicky fruits and cubby-holed bureaucrats ."

"(H)otel restaurateurs, banquet managers and others don’t foresee major upheavals in their kitchens," explains Caryn Eve Murray in a review article posted June 29 on HotelInteractive.com . Murray suggests that "NYC hoteliers (are) taking this new policy with a grain of salt." The article explains how food service professionals value and depend upon salt to deliver meals their patrons enjoy.

E-magazine examines those among us who "are so fixated on purifying their bodies that they make themselves sick in the process. It’s a condition known as orthorexia nervosa."