Some news stories really need no commentary:

The Atomic Energy Commission decided to search for an answer by setting up bottles of beer and soda cans at varying distances around the Nevada desert and then exploding two atomic bombs nearby to see what would happen next. The drinks were set up as close as a quarter mile from ground zero and up to two miles away. Wellerstein notes that "even the bottles pretty near the test had a fairly high survival rate," providing plenty of test subjects. How they found subjects to do the taste tests that followed is less clear.

In that most wonderful of situations since blogging began, the news item I am talking about is drawn from a blog post. Turns out there were a whole bunch of nuclear blasts in 1955 to determine what would happen to consumer products if they were subjected to a whole bunch of nuclear blasts in 1955. Operation Teapot, it was called. You know, not many things make the MAD policy seem relatively reasonable. Beer was part of Project 32.2a of Operation Here Is My Handle Here Is My Spout. Conclusions included "...taste tests which indicated that the beverages, both beer and soft drinks, were still of commercial quality, although there was evidence of a slight flavor change..." Which means (in a post nuclear holocaust situation when everyone around you smiles... because their lips, among other things, are things of the past...) that when you hit the bottle there will be only a slight flavour change.

Which is great. Which is a reason to thank science, right?