Nutrition Trends: 2014-2020

A team of scientists has forecast the direction of nutrition research. The panel identified the following ten areas of research which they believe will be the focus of nutritional scientists in the next six years: (1) Global Food Security: The scientists predict that global food security, food safety, and sustainability will occupy the spotlight by … Read more

Cultured Dairy Can Be Moo Free

“Petri dish milk will mirror the formula of the real thing — the yeast cultures will be churning out real milk proteins — it will retain the taste and nutritional benefits of cow milk,” says Perumal Gandhi, a co-founder of the synthetic dairy start-up Muufri (pronounced Moo-free) in San Francisco, California. “That will distinguish it … Read more

Retrain the Brain

A small study using brain scans suggests the addictive power of unhealthy, high-calorie food can be reduced and the brain retrained to prefer healthy, lower calorie foods. Participants who followed a 6-month behavioral weight-loss program showed significant changes in the way the reward centers in their brains responded to the two types of food. The … Read more

Mashup in Potato Park

Parque de la Papa farmers began to stir in their seats, waiting for an opportunity to share their stories. Others came from as far as Bhutan and China. They discovered that their cultures were more similar than they had expected, and that one concern had been troubling all of them: Climate change was making it … Read more

A Cheaper Way to Make Solar Cells

“The way solar is progressing it will just be a matter of time before it becomes competitive with fossil fuels and eventually replace them.” So says Dr Jon Major who led a team at Liverpool University that has found a way of replacing one toxic element, used in the process of manufacturing solar cells, with … Read more

Biomass Fuels Breakthrough

Ethanol is but one of the products the bacterium can be taught to produce. Others include butanol and isobutanol (transportation fuels comparable to ethanol), as well as other fuels and chemicals-using biomass as an alternative to petroleum. Janet Westpheling, a professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of genetics, and her team … Read more

The Small Footprint Kitchen

This is the Ecooking unit that Italian manufacturer Clei showed in Milan at the 2014 Salone del Mobile furniture fair. The Ecooking kitchen’s moving parts rotate around a central pivot that also serves as the exhaust pipe for the sink and dishwasher — and as the conduit for the plumbing and electricity. The tower can … Read more

Two U.S. Counties Make Planting GMOs Illegal

“Citizens not only reject unregulated and hazardous GMOs, but are willing to defy the indentured politicians who pass laws that take away county rights to ban GMOs and obliterate a 100-year tradition of home rule and balance of powers between counties and the state.” So said Ronnie Cummins, national director of the Organic Consumers Association … Read more

A Battery That Lasts Forever

If it lives up to its billing, it will help accelerate the big green future. Companies and homeowners could pull the plug on their local utility by banking electricity from solar arrays and wind farms for use when the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing. A 250-kilowatt battery system installed in … Read more

Biomass Conversion to Jet Fuel

Lignocellulose, a raw material in biomass, can be converted to biofuels and is often considered a long-term alternative to the diminishing supply of fossil fuels. The conversion process involves biomass pretreatment, hydrolysis of constituent carbohydrates and catalytic conversion of platform chemicals. Proposed strategies to convert lignocellulose to aviation fuels have underused components, preventing their commercialization. … Read more