Menu

Blog

Archive for the ‘food’ category: Page 31

Jan 24, 2024

Aniai is bringing a burger-cooking robot to restaurants with $12M

Posted by in categories: business, food, robotics/AI

Aniai, a startup that has built a burger-grilling robot, Alpha Grill, said today it has raised $12 million, bringing its total raise to $15 million. The money will go toward launching its first manufacturing facility, Factory One, in South Korea. The firm will also be deploying a cloud-based AI software platform for the robot called Alpha Cloud.

Robot adoption in the restaurant business is becoming popular as it can help restaurants address their high pain points like labor shortages, and rising wage issues. Robotics enables restaurants to save 30% to 70% of labor costs, and restaurants could replace more than 80% of restaurant positions with robots, according to a research report.

“Burger chains hire six to eight kitchen staff per shift to grill burgers,” Aniai CEO Gunpil Hwang said. “Alpha Grill enables restaurants to engage only one staff member to grill burgers.”

Jan 23, 2024

Space-Grown Lettuce Faces Food Safety Concerns on the ISS

Posted by in categories: food, space

“We need to be prepared for and reduce risks in space for those living now on the International Space Station and for those who might live there in the future,” said Dr. Kali Kniel. “It is important to better understand how bacterial pathogens react to microgravity in order to develop appropriate mitigation strategies.”


As human spaceflight has advanced, so has the food that astronauts eat during their respective missions. This has evolved from dehydrated food during the Apollo missions to regular food that astronauts can get shipped from Earth. But an astronaut’s diet expanded thanks to a 2020 study published in Frontiers in Plant Science that evaluated space-grown lettuce in the International Space Station (ISS) with promising results. While that study exhibited “negative results” for human pathogens, a recent study published in Scientific Reports has demonstrated that human pathogens could infect space-grown lettuce, specifically leafy green vegetables, that could lead to food safety concerns during spaceflight from the microgravity conditions where the plants are grown.

For the study, the researchers simulated microgravity conditions by rotating plants at 2 rotations per minute (RPM), 4 RPM, and unrotated and with and without S. enterica Typhimurium, which is a known salmonella bacterium, and later with Bacillus subtilis strain UD1022. The team analyzed changes in how much each bacteria invaded the plant’s pores, which function as the primary mechanism during photosynthesis for discharging oxygen and taking in carbon dioxide.

Continue reading “Space-Grown Lettuce Faces Food Safety Concerns on the ISS” »

Jan 23, 2024

Oops! Replacing Workers With AI Is Actually More Expensive, MIT Finds

Posted by in categories: economics, employment, food, robotics/AI

A team of MIT researchers has found that in many instances, replacing human workers with AI is still more expensive than sticking with the people, a conclusion that flies in the face of current fears over the technology taking our jobs.

As detailed in a new paper, the team examined the cost-effectiveness of 1,000 “visual inspection” tasks across 800 occupations, such as inspecting food to see whether it’s gone bad. They discovered that just 23 percent of workers’ total wages “would be attractive to automate,” mainly because of the “large upfront costs of AI systems” — and that’s if the automatable tasks could even “be separated from other parts” of the jobs.

That said, they admit, those economics may well change over time.

Jan 22, 2024

Harvard Scientists Discover Surprising Hidden Catalyst in Human Brain Evolution

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, evolution, food, neuroscience

The study hypothesizes that ‘pre-digested’ foods contributed to the development of larger brains. The large, capable human brain is a marvel of evolution, but how it evolved from a smaller primate brain into the creative, complex organ of today is a mystery. Scientists can pinpoint when our evolutionary ancestors evolved larger brains, which roughly tripled in size as human ancestors evolved from the bipedal primates known as Australopithecines.

Jan 22, 2024

AI robots are making burgers and fries at this new restaurant

Posted by in categories: food, robotics/AI

At a new restaurant, Miso Robotics’ Flippy robot prepares french fries, while its BurgerBot makes burgers from a wagyu blend, grinding the meat for each burger only after an order is placed.⁠


The AI robots making burgers and fries at CaliExpress could help the restaurant industry address its persistent labor shortage.

Jan 20, 2024

Japan Lands on the Moon Peregrine Reenters Earth’s Atmosphere

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

Japan’s Moon Snipper Landed on the Moon making Japan the fifth nation to accomplish a lunar landing and Astrobiotic’s Peregrine lunar lander reenters Earth’s atmosphere.

Outstanding Antioxidant For Your Health: https://shopc60.com/
Use discount code: GreenGregs10 for 10% off.
These statements and products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, prevent, or mitigate any disease.

Continue reading “Japan Lands on the Moon Peregrine Reenters Earth’s Atmosphere” »

Jan 19, 2024

Scientists think this weird-looking, odd-smelling fruit holds the key to fighting world hunger as temperatures rise

Posted by in categories: food, innovation

Innovative! Drought resistant and doesn’t need a lot of fertilizer. And it smells like bread. Especially good for Africa which was mentioned.


This fruit curiously smells like baking bread and tastes like potatoes – and it might also provide a means to help feed communities amid drought and famine.

Breadfruit, despite its name, is not made of bread. It’s a tall tree native to islands in the Pacific that produces a starchy fruit, similar to a jackfruit.

Continue reading “Scientists think this weird-looking, odd-smelling fruit holds the key to fighting world hunger as temperatures rise” »

Jan 19, 2024

“Hard to Imagine a World Without It” — Jeff Desjardin on the Potential of CRISPR Technology

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

Jeff Desjardins, Editor-in-Chief of Visual Capitalist, joins OPTO Sessions to discuss the profound and far-reaching potential of CRISPR and gene editing technology, which he believes could impact fields as diverse as oncology, agriculture and materials science.

On 8 December, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two cell-based gene therapies for the treatment of sickle cell disease. The decision marked a watershed moment in the history of healthcare, being the first time that gene therapies have won FDA approval.

One of the treatments, Casgevy, is the result of a collaboration between CRISPR Therapeutics [CRSP] and Vertex Pharmaceuticals [VRTX]. The other, Lyfgenia, was developed by bluebird bio [BLUE].

Jan 19, 2024

Tragic Incident: Mother of Four Shot to Death at McDonald’s Due to Food Order!

Posted by in categories: food, surveillance

CNS NewsA dispute over a McDonald’s food order in Atlanta, Georgia, escalated to a tragic conclusion when Tamanika Woods, a mother of four, was fatally shot. The incident, which took place two days after Christmas, involved 19-year-old T’Niya Evans, who has since been charged with murder and aggravated assault.

This altercation represents a stark example of how quickly conflicts can escalate to violence. According to reports, the argument began over missing food items from an order placed by Evans and her sister. Woods, who was defending a McDonald’s employee and friend, became inadvertently involved.

The dispute tragically ended when Evans allegedly pulled out a gun and shot Woods at point-blank range inside the restaurant. The event was captured on surveillance video, showing Evans confronting and shooting Woods. In a swift response, another patron apprehended Evans, preventing her escape until police arrived.

Jan 18, 2024

New gut-brain circuits found for sugar and fat cravings

Posted by in categories: chemistry, food, neuroscience

Understanding why we overeat unhealthy foods has been a long-standing mystery. While we know food’s strong power influences our choices, the precise circuitry in our brains behind this is unclear. The vagus nerve sends internal sensory information from the gut to the brain about the nutritional value of food. But, the molecular basis of the reward in the brain associated with what we eat has been incompletely understood.

A study published in Cell Metabolism, by a team from the Monell Chemical Senses Center, unravels the internal neural wiring, revealing separate fat and sugar craving pathways, as well as a concerning result: Combining these pathways overly triggers our desire to eat more than usual.

“Food is nature’s ultimate reinforcer,” said Monell scientist Guillaume de Lartigue, Ph.D., lead author of the study. “But why fats and sugars are particularly appealing has been a puzzle. We’ve now identified in the gut rather than taste cells in the mouth are a key driver. We found that distinct gut– pathways are recruited by fats and sugars, explaining why that donut can be so irresistible.”

Page 31 of 325First2829303132333435Last