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Category: food – Page 44

Researchers create new method for orchestrating successful collaboration among robots

New research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst shows that programming robots to create their own teams and voluntarily wait for their teammates results in faster task completion, with the potential to improve manufacturing, agriculture and warehouse automation. The study is published in 2024 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).

This research was recognized as a finalist for Best Paper Award on Multi-Robot Systems at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2024.

“There’s a long history of debate on whether we want to build a single, powerful humanoid robot that can do all the jobs, or we have a team of robots that can collaborate,” says one of the study authors, Hao Zhang, associate professor at the UMass Amherst Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences and director of the Human-Centered Robotics Lab.

Fasting-Style Diet Seems to Result in Dynamic Changes to Human Brains

Scientists looking to tackle our ongoing obesity crisis have made an important discovery: Intermittent calorie restriction leads to significant changes both in the gut and the brain, which may open up new options for maintaining a healthy weight.

Researchers from China studied 25 volunteers classed as obese over a period of 62 days, during which they took part in an intermittent energy restriction (IER) program – a regime that involves careful control of calorie intake and relative fasting on some days.

Not only did the participants in the study lose weight – 7.6 kilograms (16.8 pounds) or 7.8 percent of their body weight on average – there was also evidence of shifts in the activity of obesity-related regions of the brain, and in the make-up of gut bacteria.

“Missing Link” Uncovered: The Secret History of Corn Revealed Through RNA

Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have traced the domestication of maize back to its origins 9,000 years ago, highlighting its crossbreeding with teosinte mexicana for cold adaptability.

The discovery of a genetic mechanism known as Teosinte Pollen Drive by Professor Rob Martienssen provides a critical link in understanding maize’s rapid adaptation and distribution across America, shedding light on evolutionary processes and potential agricultural applications.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) scientists have begun to unravel a mystery millennia in the making. Our story begins 9,000 years ago. It was then that maize was first domesticated in the Mexican lowlands. Some 5,000 years later, the crop crossed with a species from the Mexican highlands called teosinte mexicana. This resulted in cold adaptability. From here, corn spread across the continent, giving rise to the vegetable that is now such a big part of our diets. But how did it adapt so quickly? What biological mechanisms allowed the highland crop’s traits to take hold? Today, a potential answer emerges.

Regular aspirin use may help lower risk of colorectal cancer, study finds, especially for those with unhealthy lifestyles

(CNN) — Regular aspirin use may keep the oncologist away, at least when it comes to colorectal cancer, according to a new study, and people with unhealthy lifestyles seemed to see the greatest benefit.

Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death worldwide, predicted to cause more than 52,500 deaths in the US alone in 2023. About 153,020 people in the US were diagnosed with the condition in 2023, and it’s become much more prevalent among people under 55, with numbers more than doubling in this group from a decade ago, studies show.

The causes of colorectal cancer can be genetic, but certain lifestyle factors also seem to raise risk, including eating an unhealthy diet, not getting enough exercise, drinking alcohol, smoking and having a high body mass index.

Study identifies protein that affects health of gut microbiota and response to bacterial infection

Future studies can now be designed to understand the discovery in greater depth and use it to develop treatments. “The essential next step is to investigate the efficacy of IL-22BP inhibitors in animal models and possibly in clinical trials to treat severe intestinal infections,” Fachi said. Another possibility will be to explore how different types and quantities of food fiber affect short-chain fatty acid production. “The composition of gut microbiota in the absence of IL-22BP can provide valuable information,” he added.

Gut microbiota modulation may benefit other intestinal inflammatory conditions, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, as well as infections caused by other pathogens.

“Finding out how IL-22 interacts with other molecules and immune system cells in the absence of IL-22BP will help us better understand its function in intestinal immunity. Future studies could transform our understanding of the role of these proteins in intestinal health and lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies to prevent and treat intestinal infections,” Vinolo said.