When the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, champagne bottles get popped all around the world.

So what is it exactly that sends that cork flying? And what's the best way to pour your bubbly?

Credit: The American Chemical Society

This week, Reactions gives you plenty of champagne facts and tips to impress your fellow partygoers as you ring in the New Year.

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By Jayashri Kulkarni, Monash University

“I will definitely give up smoking – that’s my New Year’s resolution,” she stated emphatically as she thumped her fist on the table to underline her determination. “All very well”, I thought, as I sat opposite her in my medical consulting room in October.

What is it about New Year’s resolutions that we find so compelling?

By David Glance, University of Western Australia

One of the characteristic features of Massive Open Online Courses is the observation that no matter how many students enroll in a course, only between 5 to 10% of them will ever complete it.

Setting aside the argument of whether this actually means that MOOCs are considerably less “massive” than the name suggests, the interesting question is what is behind this high level of drop-outs and why does it seem so consistent?

Binge drinking in young, healthy adults significantly disrupts the immune system, according to a new epidemiology paper.

An increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could initiate a chain reaction between plants and microorganisms that would unsettle one of the largest carbon reservoirs we have; soil.

Citing a new model, researchers say that the carbon in soil, which contains twice the amount of carbon in all plants and Earth's atmosphere combined, could become increasingly volatile as people add more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, largely because of increased plant growth. The researchers developed their computer model to show at a global scale the complex interaction between carbon, plants and soil, which includes numerous bacteria, fungi, minerals and carbon compounds that respond in complex ways to temperature, moisture and the carbon that plants contribute to soil.

By Laurence Totelin, Cardiff University

Slightly over-indulged in wine this festive season?

Suffering from throbbing headache, dry mouth, and nausea after the office Christmas party?

The hair of the dog somehow does not appeal? Are you looking for time-tested cures? Fear not: these Greek and Roman remedies to alleviate a hangover or prevent one will come in handy.

By Richard Gunderman, Indiana University-Purdue University

By Siobhan Weare, Lancaster University

A pleasant or disgusting odor is not always just a preference, in some cases an organism's survival depends on it.

Odors can provide important information about food sources, oviposition sites or suitable mates and can also be signs of lethal hazards.  

Recent results released by the National Institute on Drug Abuse finds that use of cigarettes, alcohol, and abuse of prescription pain relievers among teens declined from 2013 while marijuana use rates were stable. 

These 2014 results are part of an overall two-decade trend among the nation's youth. The survey measures drug use and attitudes among eighth, 10th, and 12th graders, is funded by NIDA, and is conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Studies have found that teens have increased use of nicotine patches, e-cigarettes and energy drinks.