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Study: hot coffee is better for you than cold brew
The long-raging debate over hot coffee versus iced coffee may soon be settled with this news.

- Hot coffee is found to have high-levels of antioxidants, unlike cold brew.
- Coffee consumption means a decreased risk of liver disease, amongst others.
- Why this is remains somewhat unclear, but the data is piling up.
It's the kind of news that makes you want to listen to "The Java Jive" by Ink Spots once again: a study has been published in Nature noting that hot coffee has been found to have higher levels of antioxidants than cold brew coffee.
Antioxidants are compounds that prevent oxidation. When cells become exposed to oxygen, it can induce a chemical reaction that create molecules called "free radicals," molecules which are highly chemically reactive. A 'free radical' is a lot of things, sometimes positive (it's necessary for life, for one), but — in the specific context of this study — it is an unstable compound that can potentially have a cascading effect on someone's health, be it in the form of cancer, Parkinson's, or other items of concern.
This is why a study like this is quietly encouraging: while coffee has "long been associated with indigestion, heartburn, and other gastrointestinal symptoms," as the study notes, a review of numerous studies found "coffee consumption to be associated with decreased risk of liver, metabolic, and neurologic diseases," amongst other decreases in cardiovascular disease and stroke.
The reason why this is — the reason why the antioxidants in coffee take the pathways that they take to subsequently produce a decrease in these particular risks — remains somewhat unclear. One suggestion put forward by the study is that "the compounds present in hot brew coffee but absent from cold brew coffee may be larger molecules with temperature-dependent solubilities" and that — in addition to the hot water extracting new compounds out of the coffee — "there may be additional compounds responsible" for the difference between hot coffee and a cold brew.
Coffee and fluid transfers
Coffee extraction kinetics in a well mixed system
Part of what makes coffee a little bit more difficult than you would expect to study is the fact that there is space in-between the beans or grounds and there is a porousness to the grounds itself. Different kinds of water can produce different kinds of coffee irregardless of the temperature. (And then you have to consider the temperature.) Coffee beans have a shelf life in relation to their preparation and eventual use. And, what's more, a variety of acids are produced in a cup of coffee that 'detach from the coffee matrix' and diffuse throughout the water as the cup cools. Coffee remains 'coffee,' but there is a swirl of chemical activity happening in every cup that makes the matter difficult to delineate into easily classifiable chunks.
That being said: the study suggests that there might be one potential culprit that drives the health benefits of hot coffee: the compound melanoidin, a compound "known to have antiradical properties" and which "accounts for upwards of 25% of coffee's dry matter."
But further investigation is warranted — perhaps over a cup of Ethiopia-Yirgz, which was found to have the highest antioxidant activity examined by the study.
- Health benefits of coffee: when is the best time for coffee? - Big Think ›
- Scientists discover coffee pulp’s amazing properties - Big Think ›
What early US presidents looked like, according to AI-generated images
"Deepfakes" and "cheap fakes" are becoming strikingly convincing — even ones generated on freely available apps.
Abraham Lincoln, George Washington
- A writer named Magdalene Visaggio recently used FaceApp and Airbrush to generate convincing portraits of early U.S. presidents.
- "Deepfake" technology has improved drastically in recent years, and some countries are already experiencing how it can weaponized for political purposes.
- It's currently unknown whether it'll be possible to develop technology that can quickly and accurately determine whether a given video is real or fake.
The future of deepfakes
<p>In 2018, Gabon's president Ali Bongo had been out of the country for months receiving medical treatment. After Bongo hadn't been seen in public for months, rumors began swirling about his condition. Some suggested Bongo might even be dead. In response, Bongo's administration released a video that seemed to show the president addressing the nation.</p><p>But the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=324528215059254" target="_blank">video</a> is strange, appearing choppy and blurry in parts. After political opponents declared the video to be a deepfake, Gabon's military attempted an unsuccessful coup. What's striking about the story is that, to this day, experts in the field of deepfakes can't conclusively verify whether the video was real. </p><p>The uncertainty and confusion generated by deepfakes poses a "global problem," according to a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/is-seeing-still-believing-the-deepfake-challenge-to-truth-in-politics/#cancel" target="_blank">2020 report from The Brookings Institution</a>. In 2018, the U.S. Department of Defense released some of the first tools able to successfully detect deepfake videos. The problem, however, is that deepfake technology keeps improving, meaning forensic approaches may forever be one step behind the most sophisticated forms of deepfakes. </p><p>As the 2020 report noted, even if the private sector or governments create technology to identify deepfakes, they will:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"...operate more slowly than the generation of these fakes, allowing false representations to dominate the media landscape for days or even weeks. "A lie can go halfway around the world before the truth can get its shoes on," warns David Doermann, the director of the Artificial Intelligence Institute at the University of Buffalo. And if defensive methods yield results short of certainty, as many will, technology companies will be hesitant to label the likely misrepresentations as fakes."</p>The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a number of new behaviours into daily routines, like physical distancing, mask-wearing and hand sanitizing. Meanwhile, many old behaviours such as attending events, eating out and seeing friends have been put on hold.
VR experiments manipulate how people feel about coffee
A new study looks at how images of coffee's origins affect the perception of its premiumness and quality.
Expert drinking coffee while wearing a VR headset.
- Images can affect how people perceive the quality of a product.
- In a new study, researchers show using virtual reality that images of farms positively influence the subjects' experience of coffee.
- The results provide insights on the psychology and power of marketing.
Is empathy always good?
Research has shown how important empathy is to relationships, but there are limits to its power.
