Stronger Plants, Stronger Science, and Stronger Communication
The review article Transgenic strategies for the nutritional enhancement of plants (to be published in vol 12, issue 12 of Trends in Plant Science) discusses each of the methods used to improve nutrition for human populations that depend on one grain as their primary food source (the conclusions of the paper are after the cut)….
Nanobots and nanodevices are fully formed in concept, but some of the pieces are harder than others to actualize. “One of the major limitations in making implantable, nanomedical devices is providing power to them,” said Travis, … of Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine. [In Tethered To Chip, Energy Supply That Drives Sperm Could Power ‘Nanobot’…
New research from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign shows that pre-cooked entrees can be better preserved with grape-seed extract, as discussed in the SD article Natural Ingredient Preserves Meat Quality In Precooked Supermarket Offerings. The effect is attributed to phenolic compounds produced during fermentation. “I really think grape-seed extract is a viable, natural way…
Fried foods to become healthier: Proteins extracted from discarded fish muscle can create a protective barrier between food and oil. The food retains moisture, but doesn’t absorb the fat. From SD, Food Chemist Develops Protein-based Batter for Healthier Frying (click the link to see a video about the story). Going to the Proteus Institute website,…
Read More “Fish protein – ideal candidate for genetic engineering?” »
“Genetically engineered corn could harm aquatic ecosystems.” Catchy title, right? In summary, the scientists found that caddisflies, a common prey of freshwater fish, can be killed when they eat parts of transgenic corn plants that are expressing the BT toxin. This is certainly a problem, but one that has solutions. First of all, the actual…
Where a transgene incorporates into a plant’s chromosomes can not be controlled. So, scientists have to transform many plants, and hope that at least one individual didn’t have the transgene interrupt a native gene. One solution to this problem is called a mini-chromosome. This technique uses the natural centromere sequence of an organism to build…
Poplar trees genetically engineered to remove carcinogens from groundwater. The trees have been genetically engineered with a gene for an enzyme that breaks down contaminants in groundwater. The gene is actually from rabbits, where the enzyme breaks down toxins in the rabbit’s liver. The next step of the project is to find an applicable gene…
Read More “News: GMO poplar trees, recycling, stress reduction” »
Vaclav Havel, of Prague, wrote an intriguing editorial about global warming in the NY Times title “Our Moral Footprint.” With my recent trip to Prague, I was intrigued to see how someone from the Czech Republic might feel about the subject, and it turns out to be very similar to how I feel about the…
Read More “News: ‘Moral Footprint’, ‘Crossroads’, ‘mobile slaughter units’” »
Teosinte is a so-called primitive version of corn. Basically it’s corn’s version of our monkey, but corn and teosinte can still interbreed. To a corn breeder, teosinte is a puzzle box of genes that have been lost from maize cultivars. What secrets wait for us to discover? We could find disease resistance, drought resistance, improved…
Chickens fed an enzyme have less phosphorus in their waste. Animals can not digest most of the phosphorus in their grain based feed because of the way it is tied up in the molecules phytate and phytic acid (which occur naturally in the grains fed to the chickens). The enzyme phytase lets the phosphorous molecules…
Read More “News: chicken feed, stress tolerant rice, shark overfishing” »