As proficient as I most certainly am in a lab setting -- handling substances of various viscosities, manipulating fine scientific instruments -- you think I'd be a whiz in the kitchen. Not so. I just don't have the patience to cook food carefully and lovingly. Besides, I still have the Star Trek replicator I reverse-engineered for my seventh grade science fair, which spits out everything from ham sandwiches to blowfish sashimi in an instant. Though it does little justice to Klingon war grog.

An interesting roundup in this month's Popular Science might just change my ways. Evidently, those dishes prepared by the super high-end gourmand establishments rely quite a bit on bleeding-edge technology and appliances. It's called molecular gastronomy (really), and it's all about bringing serious science to bear on food preparation.

Most of these gadgets could double in a science lab (some do) and virtually all are prohibitively priced. But they sure are cool. Consider the PacoJet ($3,450), a super-Cuisinart with a titanium-coated, 4.2-inch blade. Deep-chill your ingredients in the built-in freezer, then can run it through the slicer, turning at 2,000 rpm. What comes out the other end is a stacked, sorbet-like substance with layers less than two microns thick. The PopSci guys made a frozen lobster bisque using the entire lobster, shells and all.

Then there's the Anti-Griddle ($1,060) -- looks like a griddle, but removes heat rapidly, giving liquids of creams a frozen crust in seconds. The Gastrovac ($3,800; pictured) creates a low-pressure environment which literally sucks all the air out whatever's placed inside. Drop that vacuum-packed item into your broth and restore the pressure: You've got a chicken-noodle infused grapefruit, or whatever.

The list goes on. Pretty fascinating, really. No wonder these maestro chefs are so serious all the time -- they're like competing research scientists. And with all those knives around, could get ugly.

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