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Category: food – Page 2

Fighting poverty may require cultural wisdom, not just cash

Most poverty-fighting efforts focus on meeting basic material needs, such as food and shelter. But this overlooks the psychological and cultural factors that shape how people take action in their lives.

University of Michigan researchers found that psychosocial programs designed to support women’s agency in Niger, West Africa, were effective in promoting women’s economic empowerment when grounded in local values—such as social harmony, respectfulness and collective progress—but not a Western-style program grounded in individual ambition.

The new study highlights how culturally attuned approaches to empowerment can offer a powerful pathway for reducing . The research, published in the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, introduces a “culturally wise” approach: psychosocial programs that honor diverse worldviews and community values.

New lightweight polymer film can prevent corrosion

MIT researchers have developed a lightweight polymer film that is nearly impenetrable to gas molecules, raising the possibility that it could be used as a protective coating to prevent solar cells and other infrastructure from corrosion, and to slow the aging of packaged food and medicines.

The polymer, which can be applied as a film mere nanometers thick, completely repels nitrogen and other gases, as far as can be detected by laboratory equipment, the researchers found. That degree of impermeability has never been seen before in any polymer, and rivals the impermeability of molecularly-thin crystalline materials such as graphene.

“Our polymer is quite unusual. It’s obviously produced from a solution-phase polymerization reaction, but the product behaves like graphene, which is gas-impermeable because it’s a perfect crystal. However, when you examine this material, one would never confuse it with a perfect crystal,” says Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT.

Vagus nerve’s right branch plays a key role in digestive signaling

After years of work, cognition and neuroscience doctoral student Hailey Welch is—for the first time—the lead author of a study published in an academic journal, a paper appearing in Cell Reports, which examined the role of the vagus nerve’s branches in digestive signaling.

The goal of Welch’s research is to learn more about the ’s role in the forming of dietary habits. The vagus nerve includes left and right branches. Earlier research in the Motor and Habit Learning Lab of Dr. Catherine Thorn, associate professor of neuroscience in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and the corresponding author of the Cell Reports study, indicates that those two sides have different functions.

“We know that the vagus nerve transmits information about the nutritional and reward aspects of food from the gut to the brain,” Welch said. “What we are discovering is that such reward signaling is lateralized—mainly right-sided.”

New ‘IndonesianFoods’ worm floods npm with 100,000 packages

A self-spreading package published on npm spams the registry by spawning new packages every every seven seconds, creating large volumes of junk.

The worm, dubbed ‘IndonesianFoods,’ due to its distinctive package naming scheme that picks random Indonesian names and food terms, has published over 100,000 packages according to Sonatype, and the number is growing exponentially.

Although the packages do not have a malicious component for developers (e.g., stealing data, backdooring hosts), this could change with an update that introduces a dangerous payload.

Shared gut microbe imbalances found across autism, ADHD, and anorexia nervosa

A new study has identified distinct patterns in the gut bacteria of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and anorexia nervosa. Published in the journal Neuroscience, the research also reveals altered levels of hormones that regulate appetite, suggesting a complex interplay between gut microbes, eating behaviors, and brain health in these conditions.

The human digestive tract is home to a bustling community of trillions of microorganisms, collectively known as the gut microbiota. This internal ecosystem communicates with the brain through a complex network of signals, often called the gut-brain axis. Researchers are increasingly recognizing that an imbalance in this microbial community, sometimes referred to as dysbiosis, may be associated with a range of health conditions, including those affecting the brain.

Neurodevelopmental disorders like autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), along with the psychiatric disorder anorexia nervosa (AN), are frequently accompanied by gastrointestinal issues and atypical eating patterns.

Saturday Citations: Black hole flare unprecedented; the strength of memories; bugs on the menu

This week, researchers reported finding a spider megacity in a sulfur cave on the Albania-Greece border, and experts say that you, personally, have to go live there. Economists are growing nervous about the collapse of the trillion-dollar AI bubble. And a new study links physical activity levels with the risk of digestive system cancers.

Additionally, astronomers reported the most massive and distant black hole flare ever observed; researchers determined why are more vivid; and the scientists are once again exploring farmed insects as a food source—this time, for lengthy interplanetary missions:

Is fungi our secret tool against antibiotic resistance?

face_with_colon_three fungi is even better than current medicines and frankly better for you. We can also ingest fungi that can help be a natural food medicine to help prevent worse diseases.

While all attention is on the pandemic right now, the SARS-CoV-2 virus isn’t the only microbial threat we face.

While we’re all rightly focused on the COVID-19 pandemic at the moment, the SARS-CoV-2 virus isn’t the only microbial threat we face.

Back in 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that within a decade, antibiotic-resistant bacteria could make routine surgery, organ transplantation and cancer treatment life-threateningly risky — and spell the end of modern medicine as we know it.

United Nations General Assembly’s AUDACITY 100 Disruptors Summit

face_with_colon_three Fungi can save all life on earth. This lecture teaches that mushrooms are outperforming even age old medicines.

Watch my 15 minute speech at the United Nations General Assembly’s AUDACITY 100 Disruptors Summit was a powerful reminder of how interconnected we all are.

I spoke about how fungal mycelium can help heal ecosystems, strengthen food systems, and strengthens the health.
of the residents of the planet. Mycelium supports our collective immunity.

When Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World was published in 2005, it foretold the mycelial revolution that continues to sweep the planet. This book is as relevant today as it was then. What has happened since? The scientific community continues to verify that mycelium is essential for our collective health, whether as nutritional supplements, or as the core fabric of our food webs.

Precision medicine intervention found to ease symptoms of a depression biotype

Depression is one of the most widespread mental health disorders worldwide, characterized by persistent feelings of sadness, a loss of interest in everyday activities, dysregulated sleep or eating patterns and other impairments. Some individuals diagnosed with depression also report being unable to pay attention during specific tasks, while also experiencing difficulties in planning and making decisions.

Recent studies have uncovered different biotypes of depression, subgroups of patients diagnosed with the condition that exhibit similar neural circuit patterns and behaviors. One of these subtypes is the so-called “cognitive biotype,” which is linked to a reduced ability to focus attention and inhibit distractions or unhelpful thinking patterns.

Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine and the VA Palo Alto Health Care System recently carried out a study assessing the potential of guanfacine immediate release (GIR), a medication targeting known to be impaired in people with the cognitive biotype of depression.

Bisphenol A causes sex-specific changes in metabolism and the immune system, study reveals

Even small amounts of bisphenol A can lead to long-term health effects. When researchers studied adult rats exposed in the fetal stage, they found that females had developed a more masculine and males a more feminine gene expression pattern. This led to females progressing towards a cancer-like state, while males progressed towards metabolic syndrome, which can increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Bisphenol A is a synthetic chemical with estrogen-like properties that is commonly used in food packaging materials. The substance is banned in many products, but is still present in some packaging. Levels of bisphenol A in people’s bodies are often above levels considered safe, with previous research showing that the substance can cause adverse health effects.

Females masculinized and males feminized In the current study, published in Communications Medicine, researchers investigated how bisphenol A affects the body during the fetal stage.

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