Inverse - 🍽 The most divisive holiday dish ever

Thursday

Nov 03 2022

Hot take: the best dish at any Thanksgiving table is the candied yams.

This may seem like a weird choice compared to other options like turkey, mashed potatoes, or pie, but a bit of history reveals that candied yams are as American as, well, apple pie.

The recipe was first invented back in 1917 to help sell marshmallows (fun fact: marshmallows were actually invented by the ancient Egyptians some time around 2000 B.C.E.). Scientists also say that eating candied yams (or anything else sweet) will give you “positive, warm feelings,” which could be just what you need to get through a long meal with your extended family.

Learn more about candied yams (and also the latest from the worlds of tech, science, and entertainment) in today’s issue of Inverse Daily.

What's New

TASTE OF THE HOLIDAYS

Science

105 years ago, a savvy candy company created the most divisive holiday dish ever

The most divisive dish at my holiday table isn’t the Brussels sprouts or the green beans — it is the candied sweet potato casserole.

Some might say that melted marshmallows have no place in the main course, particularly not on top of a vegetable. Others might say candy improves everything it touches. What both sides of this debate miss is that the roots of the culinary tradition lie in a rather unassuming weed that grows on the edge of salt marshes and perhaps the first celebrity food influencer ever.

Reviews

Gear

Surface Pro 9 review: Still the best 2-in-1 laptop replacement

Microsoft celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Surface by keeping things largely the same.

The Surface Pro 9 looks a lot like the Surface Pro 8, which isn't a bad thing in my opinion. If anything, the last decade of Surface devices has proven Microsoft largely got it right the first time and has been polishing a good idea ever since. Even Apple’s iPad looks a fair bit like the Surface these days.

Big picture, the Surface Pro 9 remains a winning product, but if you’ll allow me to nitpick, here’s what works and doesn’t about Microsoft’s latest 2-in-1.

Bones

Mind and Body

Giving birth permanently alters your bones — fossil records reveal

Depending on whom you ask, giving birth can be a miraculous, horrifying, incredible, painful, or primal experience. In most cases, it transforms one’s life — and body — at the very least.

One of these transformative changes occurs in the skeleton — not merely in the shape of the pelvis but in the mineral composition of the bones themselves. A team of researchers from New York University, Brown University, and Texas State University performed an exploratory investigation of adult macaque bone growth and composition to see what life story the skeleton told. They found a surprising indicator of gestation and parenthood.

The researchers published their work this week in the journal PLOS ONE. The study details how evidence of giving birth and lactation are visible in a fossil record.

HI-RES

Science

27 years ago, Hubble took one of the most iconic space images ever

Our night sky is a canvas awash with spectacular viewing opportunities. If somehow humanity curated its celestial artwork into a museum exhibit, you’d probably find the Pillars of Creation on the brochure cover. What is so extraordinary about this scene, located 6,500 light-years away in a pocket of the Milky Way, a galaxy that’s also full of supernovas, solar flares, and planetary rings?

The Pillars of Creation was an image special enough to be featured on a U.S. postage stamp to commemorate the Hubble Space Telescope and its namesake, astrophysicist Rogier Windhorst tells Inverse.

Here's our guide to the stunning Pillars of Creation and why one space telescope veteran stands by the scene’s remarkability.

Learn more

Television

Apple TV+

Severance Season 2 teases more workplace revolts

Unless you severed the part of your brain that watched Severance Season 1, there’s a good chance you have fond memories of Apple’s breakout sci-fi show.

While the Season 1 finale left us with more questions than answers, we at least feel like we have a handle on the story of Lumon, a mysterious company that forces some employees to completely separate their work and home lives through a surgical procedure called Severance.

But the latest Severance Season 2 updates could turn this entire world upside down. Here’s why.

Inverse - 🍽 The most divisive holiday dish ever

Key phrases

Older messages

🦠 Scientists create a potent flu vaccine that could last years

💥 The oral history of 'X-Men: The Animated Series’ risky debut

🎃 Why do we eat candy on Halloween?

🧠 Let’s talk about pumpkin seeds

🌐 The best of both (virtual) worlds

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