The Distended Belly of Government

Low fat religion spawned legions of processed foods, products with ramped up levels of sugar, and equally dubious sweet substitutes, to compensate for the inevitable loss of taste when fat is removed. The anti-saturated fat dogma gave manufacturers the perfect excuse to wean us off real foods that had sustained us for centuries, now portrayed … Read more

Microbial Armies Battle Infection

At almost any supermarket, you can pick up both antibacterial soap and probiotic yogurt during the same shopping trip. In a recent study, published on March 12 in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, researchers found that beneficial gut bacteria were necessary for the development of innate immune cells—specialized types of white blood cells that … Read more

Food Connections

Growing Food Connections Launches a Website to Train Communities in Food Systems Planning. With information on continuing education, doctoral programs in food systems planning and policy at Ohio State University and University at Buffalo and student internship opportunities, the website also supports Growing Food Connections’ goal to develop an educational framework for the next generation … Read more

DIY Seed Starting Kits

Learn how to make biodegradable seed starting kits out of newspaper. Consider the Source  Consider the First Source! In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole … Read more

Food Fraud – 101

On the issue of pink slime, it’s not as if the food industry saw the light, they just felt the heat! The main supplier of ammoniated pink slime, Beef Products, Inc., has been spiraling down. But now there’s a good chance you are eating some of the other unappetizing ingredients that simply don’t belong in … Read more

Obesity

Obesity and diabetes are epidemic, and yet the only relevant fact on which relatively unambiguous data exist to support a consensus is that most of us are surely eating too much of something. In 1960, fewer than 13 percent of Americans were obese, and diabetes had been diagnosed in 1 percent. Today, the percentage of … Read more

Net-Neutrality = Press Freedom

Net-Neutrality is the principle that data packets on the Internet should be moved impartially, without regard to content, destination or source. Throughout the history of the United States “Freedom of the Press” has been touted as a fundamental right when, in fact, such freedom has truly existed only for the one who owns the press. … Read more

Three Models of Microfinancing

The Disruptive Influence of Microfinancing Ten percent of the world has access to traditional banking. And traditional banks often refuse to finance low-income or unemployed entrepreneurs, no matter how viable their ideas are. Now, enabled by the spread of mobile technology and wireless internet access, microfinancing organizations are attempting to eradicate this problem through small … Read more

3d Printing with Carbon Fiber

Material scientists are now using the technology to create new super strong materials that may be used one day in building lightweight, yet powerful, structures. MarkForged announced that it had created a carbon fiber 3D printer. Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology revealed that is has invented a new material that’s lighter than water, yet stronger … Read more