Entries tagged with 'science'
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Researchers may have come up with a way to quickly beat jet lag—don't eat for 16 hours. Fasting seems to reset brain cells that influence the circadian rhythms of mice. That's the catch. The technique works with rodents, but the researchers at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston speculate that it will work with humans, too. What the heck—it's not going to hurt too much to experiment on yourself, right? [via Lifehacker]...
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But..what does it smell like? Photograph from Leslie Duss on Flickr Reaffirm your belief in science by reading NCBI ROFL, a blog dedicated to rounding up funny-sounding, but serious papers from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Some food-related examples: using a human taste panel to optimize the "sensory characteristics and acceptance of canned cat food"; reviewing the odor of fresh squeezed orange juice; finding out whether pizza causes cancer; and testing the spermicidal potency of cola drinks. [via Metafilter]...
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This Flash application from the University of Oslo figures out the optimal time to cook a hard-boiled egg based on four factors: the egg's circumference, the level of doneness you want the egg to be, the start temperature of the egg, and the elevation you're cooking at. Now every egg you cook will be perfect—as long as you measure its circumference and temperature, and know how many meters above sea level you are. (And to think all this time I was just boiling my eggs for seven minutes, give or take a few seconds.) The website is in Norwegian, but for a scientific explanation of cooking hard-boiled eggs in English go to khymos.org. [via Lifehacker] Related: Nick Kindelsperger on...
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Scientists trying to crack the Colony Collapse Syndrome (CCD) mystery that's killed millions of beehives worldwide, may be onto something, according to Scientific American: The growing consensus among researchers is that multiple factors such as poor nutrition and exposure to pesticides can interact to weaken colonies and make them susceptible to a virus-mediated collapse. In the case of our experiments in greenhouses, the stress of being confined to a relatively small space could have been enough to make colonies succumb to IAPV and die with CCD-like symptoms. More recent results from long-term monitoring have identified other unexpected factors for increased colony loss, including the fungicide chlorothalonil. Research is now focused on understanding how these factors relate to colony collapse....
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Sooner or later, somebody had to figure out that clean, renewable energy can be made from powdered sugar donuts and tea—Tazo tea, specifically, in the "Passion" flavor, since it contains anthrocyanins, or organic dyes that react well with TiO2 cells. TiO2 sounds kind of poisonous, but it's lurking inside those seemingly harmless powdered sugar donuts. If this hasn't already ruined donuts and tea for you forever, watch the video, after the jump....
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100 - [10L - 7F + C(k - C) + T(m - T)]/(S - E) A lot of heavy lifting for a pile of butter sponges and syrup pools, but that's what a "maths teacher" in the UK says is the key to pancake greatness. L = number of lumps in the batter C = consistency F = flipping score k = ideal consistency T = temperature of the pan m = ideal temperature of pan S = length of time the batter stands before cooking E = time the cooked pancake sits before being eaten A commenter on Buzz Feed, though, discovered that setting "S" to ten years would yield near-perfect results. So maybe just go back to...
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Examples of occlupanids from HORG. HORG, or the Holotypic Occlupanid Research Group, has spent years researching the Taxonomic Data of the Breadties of the World. These occlupanids are not just mere plastic clips that prevent loaves of bread from escaping their plastic covering—oh no. HORG explains: Occlupanids are generally found as parasitoids on bagged pastries in supermarket biomes, although a few species are found on vegetables and bulk grains, and one notable species (Uniporus) is found exclusively on vent tubing bags. Their fascinating and complex life cycle is unfortunately severely under-researched. What is known is that they take nourishment from the plastic sacs that surround the bagged product, not the product itself, as was previously thought. HORG describes five...
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Photograph from malias on Flickr A recent study proved that eating too many eggs doesn't necessarily cause high blood cholesterol and heart disease. BBC News reports that the antiquated misconception that too many eggs are bad for you can finally go away. Egg lovers everywhere rejoice! In light of this new evidence, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) dropped its advice to limit egg consumption to three a week. Researcher Bruce Griffin said those on a low-cholesterol diet should be more concerned with cutting back saturated fats from fatty meats, dairy products, and pastries....
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That is, milk from a "pharmed" goat. This is the first pharmaceutical product made from milk of a genetically engineered animal....
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Researchers have uncovered the "Gourmand syndrome": "eating passion associated with right anterior lesions." Next time someone accuses you of gluttony, simply play the "I have a neurological disorder" card. [via Bitten]...
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