Epic Quest Bio The case files
Case No. 43 · have you seen this molecule?

6-Gingerol

the heat in fresh ginger

File sealed

The detectives are still writing this one up. The poster and the facts are below; the film and the interrogation room open soon.

Booking photographs

6-Gingerol, front view, against a height chart in nanometers
FRONT
6-Gingerol, side view
SIDE · CID 442793

The suspect, from its real atomic coordinates. Drag to turn it. Height chart in nanometers, ruled every 0.1 nm. A one-inch slice of ginger root is about fourteen million times wider.

Rap sheet

Answers to
6-Gingerol. Head of the gingerol family.
Height
1.8 nm, tail and all.
Weight
0.49 zeptograms
Build
Capsaicin’s look-alike: same vanillyl head, long greasy tail.
Habits
Trips the same heat sensor as chili peppers.
Associates
Capsaicin, at least twenty times stronger at the same sensor.
Smell
None to speak of. Ginger’s smell is other molecules.
Weakness
Heat. Drying turns it into shogaol; cooking breaks off mild zingerone.
Hours
Four months on the counter and shogaol moves in.
Last seen
A 5 mL tube marked GINGER in the fridge at HQ.
17,000,000,000,000,000,000

of them in a tablespoon of grated fresh ginger, give or take.
Roots vary. You’ve never seen one.

The poster on the street

The wanted poster for 6-Gingerol

This is the photocopied wanted poster for 6-Gingerol, No. 43. They were made for noticeboards around Boston, Cambridge and the rest of the east coast.

Found one? Scan its QR code with your phone. If you're a signed-in player, the sighting goes on your record with +1 XP.

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