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Archive for the ‘food’ category: Page 209

Oct 24, 2019

Poor toilet hygiene behind E. coli superbug spread

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food

People not washing their hands after going to the toilet, rather than undercooked meat, is behind the spread of a key strain of E. coli.

Experts looked at thousands of blood, faecal and food samples.

They found human-to-human transmission was responsible — “faecal particles from one person reaching the mouth of another”.

Oct 23, 2019

Lab-grown meat just took a huge step toward feeling like real meat

Posted by in categories: food, innovation

Lab-grown meat is coming to your plate, and thanks to a new breakthrough in its development, it may feel like traditional meat.

Researchers at Harvard University have discovered a way to use edible gelatin scaffolds to mimic real meat’s texture and consistency. The team used cow and rabbit muscle cells on the scaffolds to recreate the long, thin fibers that give meat its distinctive feel.

The research was published Monday in the journal NPJ Science of Food. Kit Parker, senior author of the study, said in a statement that he first started thinking about the idea after being a judge on the Food Network.

Oct 22, 2019

Study details diet that fuels anti-inflammatory gut bacteria

Posted by in categories: energy, food

A new study out of the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands details the type of diet that was found to fuel the growth of healthy gut bacteria, particularly strains that have anti-inflammatory effects in the body. The results aren’t terribly surprising — that is to say, you’ll have to eat a healthy diet if you want a healthy gut. Among other things, the study found that high amounts of sugar and meat make things worse.

Oct 21, 2019

Gravity crystals: A new method for exploring the physics of white dwarf stars

Posted by in categories: food, particle physics, space

Grab a mixing bowl from your kitchen, throw in a handful of aluminum balls, apply some high voltage, and watch an elegant dance unfold where particles re-arrange themselves into a distinct “crystal” pattern. This curious behavior belongs to the phenomenon known as Wigner crystallization, where particles with the same electrical charge repel one another to form an ordered structure.

Wigner crystallization has been observed in variety of systems, ranging from particulates the size of sand grains suspended in small clouds of electrons and ions (called a dusty plasma) to the dense interiors of planet-sized , known as white dwarfs. Professor Alex Bataller of North Carolina State University has recently discovered that Wigner crystallization inside can be studied in the lab using a new class of classical systems, called gravity crystals.

For the curious behavior of Wigner crystallization to occur, there must be a system composed of charged particles that are both free to move about (plasma), that strongly interact with each other (strongly coupled particles), and has the presence of a confining force to keep the plasma particles from repulsively exploding away from each other.

Oct 20, 2019

What to know about fasting, aging, the ‘longevity diet’ and when you should eat

Posted by in categories: food, life extension

University of Southern California scientist Valter Longo talks in this Q&A about fasting and the adoption of a “longevity diet.” A researcher focusing on intermittent fasting and aging, Longo advocates a plant-based diet and smart, strategic caloric restriction for a longer, healthier life.

Oct 20, 2019

Predicting fruit harvest with drones and artificial intelligence

Posted by in categories: drones, food, robotics/AI, sustainability

Outfield Technologies is a Cambridge-based agri-tech start-up company which uses drones and artificial intelligence, to help fruit growers maximise their harvest from orchard crops.

Outfield Technologies’ founders Jim McDougall and Oli Hilbourne have been working with Ph.D. student Tom Roddick from the Department’s Machine Intelligence Laboratory to develop their technology capabilities to be able to count the blossoms and apples on a tree via drones surveying enormous orchards.

Continue reading “Predicting fruit harvest with drones and artificial intelligence” »

Oct 20, 2019

Tennessee researchers join call for responsible development of synthetic biology

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, food, genetics, policy

Engineering biology is already transforming technology and science, and a consortium of researchers across many disciplines in the international Genome Project-write is calling for more discussion among scientists, policy makers and the general public to shepherd future development. In a policy forum article published in the October 18 issue of Science, the authors outline the technological advances needed to secure the transformative future of synthetic biology and express their concerns that the implementation of the relatively new discipline remains safe and responsible.

Two researchers with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture are co-authors on the piece titled “Technological challenges and milestones for writing genomes: requires improved technologies.” Neal Stewart and Scott Lenaghan with the UTIA departments of Plant Sciences and Food Science, respectively, join Nili Ostrov, a Ph.D. research fellow in genetics at Harvard Medical School, and 18 other leading scientists from a number of institutions and disciplines, in outlining a potential timeline for the development of what they call transformative advances to and society.

Stewart and Lenaghan are the co-directors of the UT Center for Agricultural Synthetic Biology (CASB). Formed in 2018, Stewart says CASB is the first synthetic center in the world aimed specifically at improved agriculture. A professor of plant sciences in the UT Herbert College of Agriculture, Stewart also holds the endowed Racheff Chair of Excellence in Plant Molecular Genetics. Lenaghan is an assistant professor in the Department of Food Science who also holds an adjunct position in the UT Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering (MABE) Department.

Oct 19, 2019

Those Probiotics May Actually Be Hurting Your ‘Gut Health’

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food, health

The newly fashionable pills and foods meant to increase the variety of healthy bacteria in our bodies can actually have the opposite effect.

Oct 18, 2019

How Randomness Can Arise From Determinism

Posted by in category: food

Playing with a simple bean machine illustrates how deterministic laws can produce probabilistic, random-seeming behavior.

Oct 17, 2019

The Top 10 Companies Working to Increase Longevity

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, business, food, genetics, life extension, neuroscience, Peter Diamandis, satellites

The core of what we do at Nanalyze is to tell our readers all they need to know about investing in emerging technologies. Sometimes that story is much, much bigger, and what we’re really talking about is investing in emerging industries. NewSpace is one example, launching about 15 years ago with the emergence of companies like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. It’s probably only within the last five years that the NewSpace industry has achieved real liftoff, with dozens of startups doing everything from offering launch services to building satellites to developing business analytics from space-based imagery. While we may one day end up living on Mars, we’re more interested in living a long and fruitful life right here on Mother Earth, despite the specter of cancer and dementia. An entire industry is coalescing around human longevity, promising to beat these age-related diseases and extend our lives to biblical proportions.

We’ve been covering the topic of life extension for more than five years, beginning with a profile on an anti-aging company called Human Longevity Inc, whose founders include billionaire serial entrepreneur Peter Diamandis and J. Craig Venter, a leading genomics expert. More recently, we introduced you to nine companies developing products in regenerative medicine, a broad category that refers to restoring the structure and function of damaged tissues or organs. We also tackled the more controversial topic of young blood transfusions earlier this year, as well as covered the 2019 IPO of Precision BioSciences (DTIL), a gene-editing company that wants to fight disease and re-engineer food.