Whenever I do something, I go balls to the walls with it and that rings true for making ice cream.  My thinking is that if I understand it's science, how it's made and what role each ingredient plays I should more easily be able to make my own.  Knowledge allows me to experiment a bit without blowing up the kitchen too badly.  I guess my thirst for knowledge is also partly due to the fact that I'm a huge nerd.  And, not the type with the bandaid on my glasses so much as the type that makes every effort possible to be a walking encyclopedia.

So, exactly what is the science behind ice cream?

Sometimes people don't realize that you are more likely to cut yourself with a dull knife than with a sharp one.  If you need to use a sawing motion to get through a tomato skin; if a vein is popping out in your head while you're trimming chicken; if you need to start with a shoulder level swing to make it all the way through a carrot then it's time to sharpen your knives.

When you're struggling you have less control over the knife, you're more likely to slip, cut yourself and mangle your tomato.  When your knife slides easily through the food that you're preparing you have a much lower risk of cutting yourself.  If your knife is sharp enough then the weight of the knife with slight pressure should slice right through the that pesky tomato skin.