Nik Sharma toggle caption Nik Sharma Brown sugar granules under a microscope, taken at the Biological Imaging Facility at the University of California, Berkeley. Nik Sharma For cookbook author and recipe developer Nik Sharma, flavor is a full-body experience — beyond aroma and taste. His new cookbook, Drawing upon his background in molecular biology, Nik brings scientific inquiry to his cooking. As he develops recipes, he consults research papers and maintains a "notebook of hypotheses" for tracking his ideas. Naturally, we had to ask him to come on our show. In today's episode, Short Wave reporter Emily Kwong and Short Wave producer Rebecca Ramirez cook two recipes from Nik's book and explore the scientific principles at work.