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Category: food – Page 231

CRISPR plants: new non-GMO method to edit plants

An NC State researcher has developed a new way to get CRISPR/Cas9 into plant cells without inserting foreign DNA. This allows for precise genetic deletions or replacements, without inserting foreign DNA. Therefore, the end product is not a genetically modified organism, or GMO.

CRISPR/Cas9 is a tool that can be used to precisely cut and remove or replace a specific genetic sequence. The Cas9 serves as a pair of molecular scissors, guided to the specific genetic target by an easily swapped RNA guide. Basically, it seeks out a specific genetic sequence and, when it finds that sequence, cuts it out. Once the target DNA is snipped, it can be deleted or replaced.

The CRISPR/Cas9 system has tremendous potential for improving crops by changing their genetic code. That does not necessarily mean inserting foreign DNA, but the systems used to deliver CRISPR/Cas9 into a plant’s cells often do, which means the relevant crop is a GMOs undergo through a rigorous evaluation process and many consumers prefer non-GMO products.

Hungry monkeys brawl over food as coronavirus hits tourism in Thailand

A large crowd of monkeys has been filmed brawling over a pot of yoghurt in a street in Thailand. A fall in tourist numbers amid the Covid-19 outbreak has resulted in far fewer people offering them food. The video was filmed in Lopburi, a city north-east of Bangkok that is famed for its monkey population

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Chinese Kennel Owner Caught Stealing Electricity to Power Underground Bitcoin Mining Farm

The largest oil field in the People’s Republic of China has been a target for individuals and organizations attempting to mine bitcoins with free electricity. After a bunch of mining farm operators allegedly got caught last summer, a dog kennel owner was recently busted for running cable lines in order to siphon free electricity from China’s Daqing Oil Field. The mining farm owner was arrested, as police found 54 ASIC miners stored in an underground bunker with dog kennels on top making it seem like a legitimate operation.

Electrical costs in China are cheaper than most places around the world, and that is why there is a high concentration of China-based bitcoin mining operations. To this day, it is estimated that more than 60% of today’s bitcoin miners operate in China. On April 26, the regional publication dbw.cn/heilongjiang published a report that explained a bitcoin miner was just arrested for allegedly stealing free electricity from the Daqing Oil Field. The report notes that the mining farm operator got away with the free electricity for months in order to power 54 mining rigs underground.

Further investigation shows that the mining farm owner also operated a K-9 kennel housed with dogs above the bunker. The cover made it seem like he was operating a legitimate business, while he had long cables running into China’s largest oil field. The oil field in Daqing is located between the Songhua river and Nen River. Estimates show that Daqing Oil Field has produced well over 10 billion barrels since the operation started. The man who was busted running cable lines into the oil field is not the only entrepreneur who has tried that specific method. Daqing Oil Field has been a target for many bitcoin mining operators who have attempted to run cables into the plant.

Paradoxes of Probability & Statistical Strangeness

Statistics is a useful tool for understanding the patterns in the world around us. But our intuition often lets us down when it comes to interpreting those patterns. In this series we look at some of the common mistakes we make and how to avoid them when thinking about statistics, probability and risk.

You don’t have to wait long to see a headline proclaiming that some food or behavior is associated with either an increased or a decreased health risk, or often both. How can it be that seemingly rigorous scientific studies can produce opposite conclusions?

Nowadays, researchers can access a wealth of software packages that can readily analyze data and output the results of complex statistical tests. While these are powerful resources, they also open the door to people without a full statistical understanding to misunderstand some of the subtleties within a dataset and to draw wildly incorrect conclusions.

Inspired by ‘Back to the Future,’ this machine turns food waste into energy

Many people in the Northwest separate out their table scraps, wilted leaves and old fruit, carting them off eventually to a compost bin or joining their grass clippings and pruning remains in the green waste bin. In the City of Seattle, food waste is required to be separated from garbage.

But most of our actions still revolve around a simple concept: Collect your household waste, sit it on the curb, and somebody will come and pick it up. Businesses do the same thing, just on a larger scale. We have applied industrial-age logic to waste: create a production line that starts at a home or business, automate as many of the tasks as possible, and coordinate through centrally managed processes and destinations.

This centralized approach to waste collection is labor and energy intensive, and it doesn’t give back much.

Technology and Operations Management

#Circa2018

The world’s largest meat processing company begins experimenting with machine learning in their plants. Developing and implementing these smart machines, capable of performing skilled and dexterous tasks, is pushing the current boundaries of automation.

JBS is the world’s largest meat processing company. With revenues of over $51 billion, it operates over 300 production units worldwide specializing in the processing of pork, beef, poultry, and lamb [1]. As meat and protein remain a mostly commoditized industry, JBS continually strives to maximize efficiency in all aspects of the value chain. To increase its processing efficiencies and worker safety, JBS bought a controlling share of New Zealand based Scott Technology, an automation and robotics company in late 2015 [2]. This move accelerated the implementation of machine learning in meat processing plants.

Scientists Find Bacteria That Eats Plastic

German researchers have identified a strain of bacterium that not only breaks down toxic plastic, but also uses it as food to fuel the process, according to The Guardian.

The scientists discovered the strain of bacteria, known as pseudomonas bacteria, at a dump site loaded with plastic waste, where they noticed that it was attacking polyurethane. Polyurethane’s are ubiquitous in plastic products because they are pliable and durable. However, when they reach the end of their usefulness and end up in landfills, they decompose slowly and slowly release toxic chemicals into the soil as they degrade. They are also notoriously difficult to recycle, according to Courthouse News.

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