Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: food – Page 8

Bacteria modify their ribosomes when exposed to widely used antibiotics, according to research published in Nature Communications. The subtle changes might be enough to alter the binding site of drug targets and constitute a possible new mechanism of antibiotic resistance.

Escherichia coli is a common bacterium which is often harmless but can cause serious infections. The researchers exposed E. coli to streptomycin and kasugamycin, two drugs which treat bacterial infections. Streptomycin has been a staple in treating tuberculosis and other infections since the 1940s, while kasugamycin is less known but crucial in agricultural settings to prevent bacterial diseases in crops.

Both antibiotics tamper with bacteria’s ability to make new proteins by specifically targeting their ribosomes. These molecular structures create proteins and are themselves made of proteins and ribosomal RNA. Ribosomal RNA is often modified with chemical tags that can alter the shape and function of the . Cells use these tags to fine tune protein production.

Read more | >

Pesticides can be made more effective and environmentally friendly by improving how they stick to plant surfaces, thanks to new research led by Dr. Mustafa Akbulut, professor of chemical engineering at Texas A&M University.

Akbulut and his research group have developed an innovative pesticide delivery system called nanopesticides. These tiny technologies, developed through a collaboration between Texas A&M University’s engineering and agricultural colleges, Dr. Luis Cisneros-Zevallo, professor of Horticultural Science and Dr. Younjin Min, professor of Chemical Environ Engineering at University of California, Riverside, could change how we use pesticides.

“The U.S. is a world leader in , feeding not just our nation but much of the world. Yet we are using pesticides in a way that is simply not sustainable—with a substantial fraction not reaching its intended target,” said Akbulut. “Our research shows that by optimizing the surface chemistry of pesticide carriers, we can make these essential crop protection tools more efficient.”

Read more | >

Recent research reveals that the immune system interacts with the body’s internal clock, influencing both fat storage and temperature regulation.

The discovery hints at why shift workers and others with irregular work, eating, or sleep patterns driven by the demands of modern life fall out of metabolic sync, and may hold potential for developing therapies to address obesity and prevent wasting.

The key finding—that an immune molecule within adipose (fat) tissue, known as interleukin-17A (IL-17A), plays a regulatory role in fat storage—holds significant therapeutic potential for addressing obesity, preventing wasting, and mitigating other metabolic disorders. By targeting this molecule, drug developers may gain a valuable new pathway for creating treatments aimed at these conditions.

Read more | >

The ability of plants to convert sunlight into food is an enviable superpower. Now, researchers have shown they can get animal cells to do the same thing.

Photosynthesis in plants and algae is performed by tiny organelles known as chloroplasts, which convert sunlight into oxygen and chemical energy. While the origins of these structures are hazy, scientists believe they may have been photosynthetic bacteria absorbed by primordial cells.

Our ancestors weren’t so lucky, but now researchers from the University of Tokyo have managed to rewrite evolutionary history. In a recent paper, the team reported they had successfully implanted chloroplasts into hamster cells where they generated energy for at least two days via the photosynthetic electron transport process.

Read more | >

The Expedition 72 crew studied micro-algae and DNA-like nanomaterials on Tuesday to improve health in space and on Earth. The orbital residents also worked on cargo transfers and lab maintenance aboard the International Space Station.

NASA Flight Engineer Nick Hague began his day processing radiation-resistant samples of Arthrospira C micro-algae and stowing them in an incubator for analysis. The samples will be exposed to different light intensities to observe how they affect the micro-algae’s cell growth and oxygen production. Results may advance the development of spacecraft life support systems and fresh food production in space.

Afterward, Hague joined Commander Suni Williams of NASA for a different research session mixing water with samples of messenger RNA, or mRNA, and protein to create DNA-like nanomaterial products inside the Kibo laboratory module’s Life Science Glovebox. Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore then transferred the samples, exposed them to ultrasonic waves, and imaged them with a spectrophotometer to measure the intensity of light at different wavelengths and evaluate the quality of the nanomaterials. The samples will also be returned to Earth for further evaluation. Results may lead to improved therapies for Earth and space health conditions as well as advance the space economy.

Read more | >

When water freezes slowly, the location where water turns into ice—known as the freezing front—forms a straight line. Researchers from the University of Twente showed how droplets that interact with such a freezing front cause surprising deformations of this front. These new insights were published in Physical Review Letters and show potential for applications in cryopreservation and food engineering techniques.

When water freezes, it is often thought of as a predictable, solid block forming layer by layer. But what happens if the progressing freezing front encounters or ? Researchers from the University of Twente have explored this question, discovering that droplets can cause surprising deformations in the way ice forms.

Read more | >

Insecticides have been used for centuries to counteract widespread pest damage to valuable food crops. Eventually, over time, beetles, moths, flies and other insects develop genetic mutations that render the insecticide chemicals ineffective.

Escalating resistance by these mutants forces farmers and vector control specialists to ramp up use of poisonous compounds at increasing frequencies and concentrations, posing risks to human health and damage to the environment since most insecticides kill both ecologically important insects as well as pests.

To help counter these problems, researchers recently developed powerful technologies that genetically remove insecticide-resistant variant genes and replace them with genes that are susceptible to pesticides. These gene-drive technologies, based on CRISPR gene editing, have the potential to protect valuable crops and vastly reduce the amount of chemical pesticides required to eliminate pests.

Read more | >

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.

Read more | >

A study found that male worms’ brains can activate conflicting memories, but behavior is driven by the more beneficial one. This research sheds light on how brains prioritize information, offering insights into conditions like PTSD.

A new study by UCL researchers reveals that two conflicting memories can simultaneously be activated in a worm’s brain, even though only one memory directly influences the animal’s behavior.

In the paper published in Current Biology, the researchers showed how an animal’s sex drive can at times outweigh the need to eat when determining behavior, as they investigated what happens when a worm smells an odor that has been linked to both good experiences (mating) and bad experiences (starvation).

Read more | >