Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: food – Page 3

Magnetic nanoparticles remove forever chemicals from water

PFAS, otherwise known as forever chemicals, have become commonplace in numerous everyday and industrial products. At the same time, they are some of the most problematic pollutants of our times: They are extremely durable, accumulate in the environment and in organisms and can only be removed from water with difficulty.

A team of researchers from FAU, Uniklinikum Erlangen and the Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority led by Prof. Dr. Marcus Halik from the Chair of Polymer Materials at FAU have developed a procedure to efficiently remove a wide range of different PFAS from water using functionalized magnetic nanoparticles. They have published their findings in the journal Materials Today.

Johannes Voß and Linda Rockmann from Halik’s team developed functionalized iron oxide nanoparticles with unique magnetic properties, whose surface was specifically adapted to bind to various PFAS. Once they are attached to the iron oxide, i.e. rust particles, the PFAS can simply be removed from the water using a magnet.

Reducing protein intake could support healthy aging by reshaping metabolism

Protein-fortified foods are popping up everywhere, from cereal and coffee to even protein water. But a new review covering more than 350 papers on protein restriction and aging—published July 31 in the journal Cell Press Blue—suggests that consuming less protein could have greater health benefits and could, in some cases, extend lifespan. The authors describe how protein restriction slows aging by improving metabolism, changing how cells respond to nutrients, reducing cellular damage and preserving healthy cell function.

Consuming less protein could have greater health benefits and extend lifespan

Protein-fortified foods are popping up everywhere, from cereal and coffee to even protein water. But a new review covering over 350 papers on protein restriction and aging-publishing July 31 in the Cell Press journal Cell Press Blue-suggests that consuming less protein could have greater health benefits and could, in some cases, extend lifespan. The authors describe how protein restriction slows aging by improving metabolism, changing how cells respond to nutrients, reducing cellular damage, and preserving healthy cell function.

“It’s absolutely crystal clear that there are benefits of protein to muscle growth and exercise response of active individuals,” says Dudley Lamming, the paper’s corresponding author, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “But because most people are relatively sedentary, many people are likely consuming more protein than they actually need, which probably has negative health consequences.”

For decades, scientists have known that eating less calories can extend lifespan in many organisms and reduce the risk of age-related diseases like cancer. But maintaining a calorie-restricted diet is difficult for most people.

This amino acid may help the body fight tumors and viral infections

The amino acid arginine helps keep the human body humming, most notably by synthesizing proteins that carry out a range of cellular processes. It’s produced by our bodies and found in common high-protein foods. Low levels of arginine are associated with a number of diseases, including colon cancer.

Sohail Tavazoie, head of Rockefeller University’s Elizabeth and Vincent Meyer Laboratory of Systems Cancer Biology, has been investigating that connection for years. In 2023, Tavazoie’s team found that starving colon cancer cells of arginine increases the number of mutations they accumulate. Now they’ve discovered that an arginine-deficient diet also affects the immune system by stalling the production of the MHC-I protein, which alerts the immune system to dangers such as a mutating cell or an invading virus.

Intriguingly, they also found that a moderate dose of arginine—about as much as is found in a couple of over-the-counter tablets—could potentially restore expression of the genes responsible for MHC-I production. They published the results in the journal Cell.

Scientists find a simple routine linked to less pain and depression

Keeping a regular daily schedule may help reduce pain and depression, especially among older adults with insomnia. Researchers found that consistent times for waking, eating, socializing, and sleeping were linked to better well-being regardless of sleep quality. These routines may strengthen the body’s internal clock and limit the disruptive effects of “social jet lag.”

A Rare Bird Species Returns to Indian Forest After 60 Years: What Its Comeback Means

About 40 birds were released in phases between 2021 and 2023, and scientists now say the population is showing signs of becoming self-sustaining. The milestone represents far more than the return of a single species. Unlike many birds that adapt to fragmented landscapes, hornbills are exceptionally choosy about where they live.

They need mature forests with giant native trees, tree cavities large enough for nesting, fruiting trees that provide food across seasons and forests that have remained connected over large areas. Without these resources, the birds struggle, which is why scientists describe them as an indicator species, as their presence signals that a forest still has the structure and diversity to support a wide range of wildlife.

According to experts hornbills are also known as the “farmers of the forest.” Most species in the area feed on fruits, mainly figs and berries, and many of those seeds are too large for smaller birds to disperse. After feeding, hornbills can fly several miles before dropping or regurgitating the seeds far from the parent tree, giving new saplings a better chance to grow.

Plant polymer lignin shows promise for future bone regeneration

A new study reveals that lignin — a natural plant polymer — can be transformed into a bioactive material that promotes the formation of bone-like minerals while supporting the growth of bone-forming cells. Inspired by the natural partnership between lignin and silica in plants, the research offers a promising step toward sustainable, plant-based materials for future bone regeneration therapies.

A naturally abundant plant material best known for giving trees and crops their strength may one day help repair broken bones, according to a new study led by postdoctoral researcher Dr. Srinath Palakurthy and Prof. Rivka Elbaum of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The research demonstrates that lignin — a major structural component of plants — can be engineered into a bioactive material that encourages the formation of hydroxyapatite, the mineral that gives human bones and teeth their strength.

Published in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, the study offers a promising step toward more sustainable, plant-based alternatives to current bone graft materials, many of which are derived from animals or synthetic sources. Such materials are increasingly sought after as researchers work to develop safer, more environmentally friendly solutions for repairing damaged bone.

Insect-inspired electronic nose: Turning semiconductor chips into olfactory sensors

Bioengineers at the University of California San Diego integrated the olfactory receptor of an insect called a jumping bristletail into semiconductor chips made of graphene, creating an electronic nose capable of sniffing out a wide variety of small organic compounds. This biomimetic bioelectronic sensor can detect and distinguish between molecules that are difficult for conventional electronic sensors to differentiate. This work opens the door to building semiconductor-based chemical sensing systems inspired by nature for applications in health care, environmental monitoring, food quality, agriculture and biodefense.

In a paper published in Advanced Materials, researchers led by bioengineers at UC San Diego describe a method for manufacturing the MhOR5 odorant receptor from the insect Machilis hrabei at scale and chemically attaching the purified MhOR5 protein to high-performance graphene field effect transistors (gFETs). gFETs are semiconductor devices that rely on graphene instead of silicon as the conductive material, resulting in exceptional sensitivity to molecular changes.

The researchers tested their MhOR5-functionalized gFETs against 16 chemically diverse compounds, including DEET, hexanol and eugenol, at different concentrations. The sensor produced a concentration-dependent electrical response for each of the 16 compounds.

AI finds tiny gene editor changes that reduce unintended DNA edits

Gene editing is a highly precise and powerful technology that allows scientists to insert, delete, modify or replace DNA bases in living organisms. It has a variety of uses, including correcting disease-causing mutations and improving crops. Tools like CRISPR act as molecular scissors that target specific places in a genome to make these changes. But the technology is not perfect and can accidentally edit the wrong pieces of DNA or RNA.

In research published in Nature, scientists describe a new framework that uses AI to make these tools more accurate. Hoi Yee Chu and Alan S.L. Wong of the University of Hong Kong published a News and Views piece in the same journal on the significance of this research.

Primate study reveals molecular basis of red-green color vision

Human color vision depends on three types of cone cells in the retina. Although all three contain the same light-absorbing molecule, 11-cis-retinal, differences in the surrounding protein determine sensitivity to red, green, or blue light. Understanding how these subtle protein differences produce such precise color discrimination has been difficult because cone pigments are highly unstable and structurally challenging to study.

Now, researchers led by Associate Professor Kota Katayama from Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan, have examined red and green cone pigments from the crab-eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis), whose color vision system closely resembles that of humans, and found that just three amino acid substitutions account for nearly the entire 30 nm difference in light absorption between the two pigments.

The research team included Massimo Olivucci from the University of Siena and Bowling Green State University, Hideaki Kato from The University of Tokyo, and Hideki Kandori from Nagoya Institute of Technology. This study was published in Science in Volume 392, Issue 6,805 on June 25, 2026.

/* */