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Archive for the ‘food’ category: Page 214

Jan 30, 2019

This Fungus Eats Polyurethane

Posted by in category: food

A mysterious strain of fungus that scientists found in a garbage dump in Pakistan eats plastic.

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Jan 30, 2019

Pet food manufacturers are experimenting with insects instead of meat

Posted by in category: food

Pet food manufacturers are turning to edible insects as the main ingredient in their products. Read on to find out all the benefits!

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Jan 30, 2019

How Do Plants Grow in Space?

Posted by in categories: food, space

For humans to survive off Earth, we’ll need vegetables to eat and flowers to admire.

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Jan 30, 2019

Industrial chemicals pass from mother to fetus throughout pregnancy

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

In a study published in Environment International researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden show how PFAS industrial chemicals, which are used in many consumer products, pass through the placenta throughout pregnancy to accumulate in fetal tissue. Further research is now needed to ascertain the effect that highly persistent PFAS chemicals have on the fetus.

The PFAS () group comprises thousands of human-made chemicals, which, thanks to their water- and grease-resistant properties, are used in everything from frying pans and food packaging to clothes, cleaning agents and firefighting foams.

“We’ve focused on six of these PFAS substances and found that all appear to the same extent in as in the placenta,” says Richelle Duque Björvang, doctoral student at the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet. “So when the baby is born, it already has a build-up of these chemicals in the lungs, liver, brain, and elsewhere in the body.”

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Jan 28, 2019

Stress and dream sleep are linked to pathways of brain cell death and survival

Posted by in categories: food, neuroscience

Monitoring their sleeping patterns, researchers identified an increase in the duration and continuity of REM sleep and specific brain oscillations characteristic of REM sleep, whereas ‘deep’ sleep, or non-REM sleep, did not change. The changes in REM sleep were very tightly linked to deficiency in the regulation of the stress hormone corticosterone. Mild stress also caused changes in gene expression in the brain.


The first and most distinct consequence of daily mild stress is an increase in rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, a new study in the journal PNAS reports. The research also demonstrated that this increase is associated with genes involved in cell death and survival.

REM sleep, also known as paradoxical sleep, is the sleep state during which we have most of our dreams and is involved in the regulation of emotions and memory consolidation. REM sleep disturbances are common in mood disorders, such as depression. However, little was known about how sleep changes are linked to molecular changes in the brain.

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Jan 25, 2019

DIY CRISPR: Genetic Engineering at Home

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

You can now perform CRISPR gene-editing in your kitchen!

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Jan 25, 2019

Aleph Farms

Posted by in categories: food, sustainability

Better for people, better for the world.

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Jan 23, 2019

Common Food Additives May Promote Anxiety-Related Behavior In Mice

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

Food additives known as dietary emulsifiers, commonly found in processed foods to improve texture and extend shelf life, may adversely affect anxiety-related and social behaviors in mice, Georgia State researchers have found.

The scientists also observed sex differences in the mice’s behavioral patterns, suggesting that emulsifiers affect the brain via distinct mechanisms in males and females.

The study, published in Scientific Reports, was led by Geert de Vries, professor of neuroscience and associate vice president for research at Georgia State, and Benoit Chassaing, assistant professor of neuroscience. Andrew T. Gewirtz, professor in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences, also contributed.

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Jan 23, 2019

This high-tech LED lighting could grow veggies in space

Posted by in categories: food, space

OSRAM, a high-tech global lighting company, is developing better ways to grow vegetables both on Earth and in outer space. Here’s a peek at their CES offerings.

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Jan 22, 2019

Study describes metabolism of intestinal microbiota in babies for the first time

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

A research team with the participation of the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio) of the University of Valencia, together with FISABIO and CIBERESP, has carried out the first metatranscriptomic study of the gut microbiota of babies, which has allowed to unveil the metabolism of the intestinal bacterial community during the first year of life, with a level of detail unknown until now.

This work has also involved researchers from the Joint Unit in Genomics and Health of the Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research of the Valencian Community (FISABIO) and the Biomedical Research Consortium in Epidemiology and Public Health Network (CIBERESP), dependent on the Carlos III Health Institute.

The environment is very important in the first years of life, both for the baby and for the bacteria of its gut microbiota. Bacteria and humans coexist in a harmonious symbiosis: people share with them the food they eat, which helps them to metabolise (10% of the energy obtained from food is as a consequence of bacterial action). In addition, bacteria influence the development of the immune and nervous systems.

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