Sunday, April 14, 2019

Mother of the Sea

Happy birthday Kathleen Mary Drew-Baker

I named one of my modular keyboards "nori". I did some googling and found a fascinating story. The modern Japanese nori industry venerates a British scientist for her discovery about the life cycle of a specific algae. The Japanese applied this knowledge to greatly improve the farming of algae that becomes nori.

Having eaten nori in some form or another most of my life, this story surprised me.

If you are in the UK, the BBC broadcast a program about the relationship the Japanese have with her.

Ars Technica published an article about "How an unpaid UK researcher saved the Japanese seaweed industry".

Musubi with green soldermask 'nori'.