(quinndombrowski/Flickr)

That char that you love so much on your grilled steak? It’s actually full of carcinogens called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PHAs. But there may be an unexpected solution to your cancer-and-charcoal conundrum: marinating your meat in beer. In particular, dark beer.

As Christopher Intagliata reports on Scientific American’s 60 Second Science:

[Marinating in] dark ale cut PAH levels in half, compared to unmarinated meat. The extra antioxidants in dark beer may be the trick, researchers say.

So beer and barbecue might not only be the perfect summer combo, it might be a relatively healthy one, too. (Okay, I know that’s a stretch.)