There’s an interesting conversation happening on the blog of Alex Palazzo (a Harvard Medical School postdoc—cell biology) about the similarities between doing experiments and cooking.

He says you can use a lot of the same language (examples he gives: “Do we have any chicken broth.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty concentrated, it’s about a 100X stock.”

“I see that would explain why it’s sold in such small aliquots and why it is gelatinous at four degrees.”)

So it must follow that any good scientist should also be a good cook, right? (or baker, brew-master, etc) Since it’s about following a recipe, and having good intuition and a bit of luck?

But what about chemists and physicists? One commenter said with them, “you are taking your chances.” What do you think? Are physicists good cooks?