Lifeboat Foundation

Using Olympics for pushing food agenda, I wonder how that food will influence sport results?

With 60% of the food served to the public being meat-free and 80% sourced locally, the Paris Olympic Games are setting a new standard for environmental sustainability.

Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) is a state-of-the-art technique that captures and processes information across a given electromagnetic spectrum. Unlike traditional imaging techniques that capture light intensity at specific wavelengths, HSI collects a full spectrum at each pixel in an image. This rich spectral data enables the distinction between different materials and substances based on their unique spectral signatures.

Near-infrared hyperspectral imaging (NIR-HSI) has attracted significant attention in the food and industrial fields as a non-destructive technique for analyzing the composition of objects. A notable aspect of NIR-HSI is over-thousand-nanometer (OTN) spectroscopy, which can be used for the identification of organic substances, their concentration estimation, and 2D map creation. Additionally, NIR-HSI can be used to acquire information deep into the body, making it useful for the visualization of lesions hidden in normal tissues.

Various types of HSI devices have been developed to suit different imaging targets and situations, such as for imaging under a microscope or portable imaging and imaging in confined spaces. However, for OTN wavelengths, ordinary visible cameras lose sensitivity and only a few commercially available lenses exist that can correct chromatic aberration. Moreover, it is necessary to construct cameras, optical systems, and illumination systems for portable NRI-HSI devices, but no device that can acquire NIR-HSI with a rigid scope, crucial for portability, has been reported yet.

Scientific and technical research in the United States has led to decades of progress in energy efficiency, as we have seen on previous occasions. However, we have just learned of a breakthrough that was only theorized until now, finally, it has been put into operation. This is the first-ever reverse microwave, which cools food instead of heating it. Could you simply imagine that?

A reverse microwave is an innovative appliance that rapidly cools food and drinks without using electricity. Unlike a traditional microwave oven which uses microwave radiation to heat items, a reverse microwave utilizes thermoelectric cooling.

This technology allows the reverse microwave to draw heat away from the contents inside, lowering their temperature in just minutes. The concept behind reverse microwaves has existed for decades, but the technology is only now becoming available for home use in the United States.

The hypertension drug rilmenidine has been shown to slow down aging in worms, an effect that in humans could hypothetically help us live longer and keep us healthier in our latter years.

Previous research has shown rilmenidine mimics the effects of caloric restriction on a cellular level. Reducing available energy while maintaining nutrition within the body has been shown to extend lifespans in several animal models.

Whether this translates to human biology, or is a potential risk to our health, is a topic of ongoing debate. Finding ways to achieve the same benefits without the costs of extreme calorie cutting could lead to new ways to improve health in old age.

Medically, AI is helping us with everything from identifying abnormal heart rhythms before they happen to spotting skin cancer. But do we really need it to get involved with our genome? Protein-design company Profluent believes we do.

Founded in 2022 in Berkeley, California, Profluent has been exploring ways to use AI to study and generate new proteins that aren’t found in nature. This week, the team trumpeted a major success with the release of an AI-derived protein termed OpenCRISPR-1.

The protein is meant to work in the CRISPR gene-editing system, a process in which a protein cuts open a piece of DNA and repairs or replaces a gene. CRISPR has been actively in use for about 15 years, with its creators bagging the Nobel prize in chemistry in 2020. It has shown promise as a biomedical tool that can do everything from restoring vision to combating rare diseases; as an agricultural tool that can improve the vitamin D content of tomatoes, and slash the flowering time of trees from decades to months; and much more.

Goldman Sachs said in a report late Thursday that Indian food delivery giant Zomato’s quick commerce arm Blinkit is now more valuable than its core food delivery business, as per the bank’s sum-of-the-parts analysis.

The investment bank estimates Blinkit’s implied value at 119 Indian rupees per share ($1.43) or about $13 billion, while Zomato’s food delivery business is valued at Rs 98 per share. Goldman previously pegged Blinkit’s valuation at $2 billion in March 2023.

Blinkit’s valuation surge is driven by its strong growth potential in India’s fast-growing quick commerce market. Goldman Sachs forecasts Blinkit’s gross order value (GOV) to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 53% between the financial years 2024 and 2027, outpacing the overall online grocery market’s projected CAGR of 38% during the same period.

The recent collaboration between Kaffa Roastery and Elev highlights the potential of AI in food science, particularly in creating personalized taste experiences.

Taste Buds Meet TechnologyThe recent collaboration between Kaffa Roastery and Elev, a Finnish AI consultancy, has shed light on the potential of artificial intelligence in the world of food science. By leveraging AI models to create a unique coffee blend tailored to enthusiasts’ tastes, this partnership has opened up a new realm of possibilities for personalized food experiences. But what if AI could go beyond just coffee blends? Imagine a future where AI can help individuals discover their unique taste profiles and create recipes specifically designed for their palates. This new approach to cooking could transform the way we think about food and our relationship with it.

Bacterium could head off food versus fuel dilemma by producing chemicals from agricultural waste.

Granular materials, those made up of individual pieces, whether grains of sand or coffee beans or pebbles, are the most abundant form of solid matter on Earth. The way these materials move and react to external forces can determine when landslides or earthquakes happen, as well as more mundane events such as how cereal gets clogged coming out of the box.

Yet, analyzing the way these flow events take place and what determines their outcomes has been a real challenge, and most research has been confined to two-dimensional experiments that don’t reveal the full picture of how these materials behave.

Now, researchers at MIT have developed a method that allows for detailed 3D experiments that can reveal exactly how forces are transmitted through granular materials, and how the shapes of the grains can dramatically change the outcomes. The new work may lead to better ways of understanding how landslides are triggered, as well as how to control the flow of granular materials in industrial processes. The findings are described in the journal PNAS in a paper by MIT professor of civil and environmental engineering Ruben Juanes and Wei Li SM ’14, PhD ’19, who is now on the faculty at Stony Brook University.