Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: food – Page 19

A team of computer scientists and roboticists with members from Texas A&M University in the U.S., and the Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence in Abu Dhabi, working with a colleague from Boston Dynamics, has configured a robot made by Boston Dynamics to seek out and stun weeds using a small blowtorch. The team has posted a paper describing their efforts to the arXiv preprint server.

Boston Dynamics, maker of the well-known quadruped Big Dog, has been working on technology to improve both the ’s agility and processing ability. Its latest quadruped is Spot, a robot with increased agility, highly accurate sensors and a brain that includes AI capabilities. In this new effort, the research team used some of Spot’s abilities to tame weeds growing on cropland.

The researchers trained Spot to recognize weeds among a field of regular crops. They also strapped a small tank filled with propane to its back that is used to fuel a small blow torch held by the robot’s arm. The idea is for Spot to wander around cropland looking for weeds and upon finding them, stun them by blasting their central parts with burning gas. The blowtorch is not used to incinerate the weed, but to heat its core to such an extent that the growth of the weed is stunted for several weeks.

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A new study shows that suppressing a protein turns ordinary fat into a calorie burner and may explain why drug trials attempting the feat haven’t been successful.

Researchers at UC San Francisco have figured out how to turn ordinary white fat cells, which store calories, into beige fat cells that burn calories to maintain body temperature.

The discovery could open the door to developing a new class of weight-loss drugs and may explain why clinical trials of related therapies have not been successful.

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Ancient Chinese society was dominated by feudalism. The economy was dominated by agriculture, and the development of science and technology was slow or even suppressed. The main achievements of this era were the four major inventions of China: papermaking, gunpowder, the compass, and printing. Why was this so? For an ancient civilization with a history of several thousand years, why was the development of science and technology so backward? The fundamental reason was the idea of imperial power. Ancient China was centered on the emperor, and everything on the Chinese land was owned by the emperor, including the farmers on that land. The emperor was afraid of a peasant revolution and was afraid that others would take the emperor’s place, and as a result successive emperors would use the policy of fools. Instead of allowing farmers to read books, the emperors just wanted the farmers to plant the land every day, like slaves, so that the farmers would have no ability to overthrow the rulers. This idea of imperial power had greatly suppressed the development of science and technology.

In 1949, Mao Zedong established the first democratic, self-improving, unified China in Chinese history: The People’s Republic of China, a stable country; a country without feudal ideas; and a country that serves the people. Only then did China begin to truly develop its own education, technology, and industry. It was aimed for ordinary people to have food to eat, houses to live in, and books to read, and it was also intended for them to be more involved in technology and democracy. However, Chinese politics had hindered the development of science and technology (superhuman science), such as the Great Leap Forward, which severely reduced China’s productivity and starved many people; the Cultural Revolution had destroyed China’s economic development, education, and technology, bringing China back to pre-liberation overnight. These events were relatively unfortunate. Political struggles have severely hindered the development of science and technology (superhuman science) in China.

In 1978, China began reform and opening up. This phase of reform and opening up was China’s greatest era. China has changed from a closed country to an open country. Deng Xiaoping formulated a basic national policy centered on economic construction, which has enabled China’s economy to develop rapidly. At this time, China attaches great importance to the development of education, science and technology, and the economy. At the same time, special attention is also paid to foreign exchanges, and advanced education and technology have been introduced from abroad. In education, a large number of international students are sent to study in developed countries such as the United States, which has cultivated a large number of scientific and technological talents for China; economically, a large number of foreign companies have been introduced to optimize state-owned enterprises and support for private enterprises, so China’s economy has developed rapidly.

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Acetic acid, also known as acetate, and other products that can be developed from acetic acid are used in a variety of industries, from food production to medicine to agriculture. Currently, acetate production uses a significant amount of energy and results in harmful waste products. The efficient and sustainable production of acetate is an important target for researchers interested in improving industrial sustainability.

A paper published in Carbon Future (“CO 2 electroreduction to acetate by enhanced tandem effects of surface intermediate over Co 3 O 4 supported polyaniline catalyst”) outlines a method using a polyaniline catalyst with cobalt oxide nanoparticles to produce acetate through carbon dioxide electroreduction.

This image shows a polyaniline catalyst coated in cobalt oxide nanoparticles and demonstrates how the catalyst facilitates the conversion of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide to acetate. (Image: Carbon Future)

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Chip design can rapidly and efficiently test for multiple pathogens simultaneously, potentially reducing foodborne illness. Researchers have developed a new method for detecting foodborne pathogens that is faster, cheaper, and more effective than existing methods. Their microfluidic chip uses light to detect multiple types of pathogens simultaneously and is created using 3D printing, making it easy to fabricate in large amounts and modify to target specific pathogens. The researchers hope their technique can improve screening processes and keep contaminated food out of the hands of consumers.

Every so often, a food product is recalled because of some sort of contamination. For consumers of such products, a recall can trigger doubt in the safety and reliability of what they eat and drink. In many cases, a recall will come too late to keep some people from getting ill.

In spite of the food industry’s efforts to fight pathogens, products are still contaminated and people still get sick. Much of the problem stems from the tools available to screen for harmful pathogens, which are often not effective enough at protecting the public.

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Researchers from the Complexity Science Hub and the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna have dissected the complex interactions involved in zoonoses, which annually affect over two billion people worldwide. They introduce the concept of a “zoonotic web,” a detailed network representation of the relationships between zoonotic agents, their hosts, vectors, food sources, and the environment.

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We get healthy dietary fiber from consuming fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. But why is fiber so good for us? A team of researchers has discovered that dietary fiber plays a crucial role in determining the balance between the production of healthy and harmful substances by influencing the behavior of bacteria in the colon.

Dietary fiber benefits our health, and scientists from DTU National Food Institute and the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at the University of Copenhagen have now uncovered an essential part of why this is the case. Different types of bacteria inside our colon compete to utilize an essential amino acid called tryptophan. This competition may lead to either good or bad outcomes for our health.

The research, published in the journal Nature Microbiology, reveals that when we eat a lot of dietary fiber, gut bacteria help turn tryptophan into healthy substances. But if we don’t eat enough fiber, tryptophan can be converted into harmful compounds by our gut bacteria.

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