How to deep freeze an entire organ —and bring it back to life
MINNEAPOLIS—
The rat kidney on the operating table in front of Joseph Sushil Rao looked like it had been through hell. Which it had—a very cold one.
Normally a deep pink, this thumbnail-size organ was blanched a corpselike gray. In the past 6 hours, it had been plucked from the abdomen of a white lab rat, pumped full of a black fluid, stuck in a freezer cooled to –150°C, and zapped by a powerful magnet.
Now, in a cramped, windowless room on the 11th floor of the University of Minnesota’s (UMN’s) Malcolm Moos Health Sciences Tower, Rao lifted the kidney from a small plastic box and gently laid it...
Source: ScienceNOW - June 21, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
7 Myths About Cholesterol, Debunked
You may not recall every lab value from your last physical, but you probably remember one: Your cholesterol level.
If it’s higher than ideal, you’re not alone. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2015 and 2018, almost 12% of U.S. adults ages 20 and up had high total cholesterol, defined as above 240 mg/dL. The type that physicians mostly worry about is LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol, which is one component of that total.
Why do doctors care so much about cholesterol? First, “it predicts risk,” says Dr. Jeffrey Berger, a cardiologist and director of the C...
Source: TIME: Health - June 19, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Katherine Hobson Tags: Uncategorized freelance healthscienceclimate heart health Source Type: news
Did this tomato travel the Underground Railroad?
It could have been a gift from a runaway enslaved person. Maybe it wasn ’tThe oral history of Aunt Lou ’s Underground Railroad tomato could easily fit on an index card, with room to spare. As the story goes, a Black man entered Ohio from bordering Kentucky. No details about when he made this journey are available, but it may have been during slavery or well after emancipation. His travels took him to Ripley, a town that slavery’s proponents characterized as infested with that most odious species: abolitionists. While there, he gave tomato seeds he’d been carrying to a white woman. Years later, her great-nephew, Fra...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - June 19, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Cynthia R Greenlee Tags: Agriculture Slavery Food History Ohio Kentucky Source Type: news
No drugs, no surgery! Try these natural ways to lose fat
Obesity rates in India have been rapidly increasing, posing significant health risks for individuals and the nation. Traditional diets rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains have been replaced by processed and high-calorie foods, contributing to obesity. Here are some of the ways in which people can reduce weight without using any drugs or forming surgery. (Source: The Economic Times)
Source: The Economic Times - June 16, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
How Inflation Hit Grocery Prices in May
Prices for dozens of grocery staples, including fresh fruits and vegetables, rose in May, adding pressure to household budgets just when shoppers were hoping for a break. (Source: Reuters: Health)
Source: Reuters: Health - June 13, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
As We Age, Multivitamins May Fill Nutrient Gaps
Eating fruits and vegetables might not be enough to fill nutrition needs in older adults. (Source: WebMD Health)
Source: WebMD Health - June 12, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
What Are Some High or Low FODMAPs Foods?
Discussion
FODMAPs is an acronym standing for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols. It is a diet strategy which has shown improvement for some adult patients with functional abdominal pain including some with irritable bowel syndrome. The evidence in pediatrics is murky and more well-designed studies are needed; however such studies are difficult to complete. In general, there are 3 phases to this dietary strategy:
Avoidance of all high FODMAP foods for 2-6 weeks. In some adult studies there has been improvement in 1 week. Especially in the pediatric age group, some people will only res...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - June 12, 2023 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Pediatric Education Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news
Destruction of Ukrainian dam threatens nature reserves, rare species
As emergency managers in southern Ukraine evacuate people there from disastrous flooding caused by this week’s mysterious breach of a major dam, conservation scientists are pondering the effects on the region’s plants and animals. The collapse of a section of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam has released a torrent that is only beginning to subside, leaving downstream nature reserves underwater and vast mudflats emerging from an emptying reservoir.
The dam has been occupied by Russian troops since soon after President Vladimir Putin launched the Ukraine invasion last year. On 6 June, in the middle of the night, Ukra...
Source: ScienceNOW - June 9, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
Crops grown without sunlight could help feed astronauts bound for Mars
Riverside, California—
For the first astronauts to visit Mars, what to eat on their 3-year mission will be one of the most critical questions. It’s not just a matter of taste. According to one recent estimate, a crew of six would require an estimated 10,000 kilograms of food for the trip. NASA—which plans to send people to Mars within 2 decades—could stuff a spacecraft with prepackaged meals and launch additional supplies to the Red Planet in advance for the voyage home. But even that wouldn’t completely solve the problem.
Micronutrients, including many vitamins, break down over months and will need to...
Source: ScienceNOW - June 8, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
EPA decision to tighten oversight of gene-edited crops draws mixed response
When the CRISPR gene editor landed in U.S. plant science labs a decade ago, allowing researchers to tweak a crop’s own DNA instead of pasting in foreign genes, hopes rose that it would pave the way for looser regulation of genetically modified crops. Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) gave plant scientists much of their wish, exempting certain gene-edited changes to plants. But the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking a tougher stance.
In a final rule published last week, EPA said that like USDA,
it will exempt gene-edited plants from an in-depth review process
if the change c...
Source: ScienceNOW - June 2, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
Climate Change Is Threatening Ketchup. AI Could Help Save It
Hold on to your Heinz. The latest looming food shortage is likely to include ketchup, coming hard on the heels of last year’s potato chip crisis and runs on mustard (in France, at least). Three summers’ worth of unprecedented high heat in the world’s key tomato-producing regions—Australia, Spain, and California’s central valley—have led to a precipitous decline in tomato paste stocks, the key ingredient for ketchup and other condiments. California, which produces a quarter of the world’s tomatoes, and 95% of the tomatoes used in U.S. canned goods, delivered nearly 5% less than the ...
Source: TIME: Science - May 31, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Aryn Baker Tags: Uncategorized climate climate change Climate Is Everything healthscienceclimate Source Type: news
Can humans ever understand how animals think?
A flood of new research is overturning old assumptions about what animal minds are and aren ’t capable of – and changing how we think about our own speciesGiraffes will eat courgettes if they have to, but they really prefer carrots. A team ofresearchers from Spain and Germany recently took advantage of this preference to investigate whether the animals are capable of statistical reasoning. In the experiment, a giraffe was shown two transparent containers holding a mixture of carrot and courgette slices. One container held mostly carrots, the other mostly courgettes. A researcher then took one slice from each container ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - May 30, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Adam Kirsch Tags: Animals Philosophy Environment Science and nature books Science and scepticism Source Type: news
Why Adults Are Snapping Up a Stuffed Toy Originally for Babies
They’re fruits and vegetables, coffee cups, school supplies and sports gear—with grinning humanlike faces and, often, dangly limbs. (Source: Reuters: Health)
Source: Reuters: Health - May 28, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Broccoli ‘super soup’ may help keep type 2 diabetes at bay
Smarter Food ramps up production of its GRextra plant strain that helps lower elevated blood glucose levelsImagine eating a bowl of soup once a week that could help bring down your blood sugar levels and so reduce your risk of developing type 2diabetes.This may sound like wishful thinking or the latest fad, but Smarter Food says this is already a reality for its customers.Continue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - May 27, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Joanna Partridge Tags: Food & drink industry Vegetables NHS Diabetes Health Society Business Source Type: news
What ’s the use of $800m, Bryan Johnson, if you dine on baby food? | Emma Brockes
There is nothing quite like the spectacle of a tech bro with vast financial resources failing to grapple with his own mortalityThere are a lot of details to enjoy in the story of Bryan Johnson, the middle-aged almost-billionaire spending $2m ( £1.6m) a year pursuing eternal youth. Asdescribedin the Times this week, Johnson hasreceived“plasma infusions” from his 17-year-old son, had “33,537 images of his bowels” taken, and tried experimental treatments previously only tested on mice. But the one I like best, I think, revolves around his meal plan. As a man who made $800m (£646m) from the sale of his company to eBa...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - May 25, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Emma Brockes Tags: US news Technology Health Ageing Science Society Source Type: news
