though some strict quarantine efforts have proven effective at minimizing the spread of the fungus.
The USAID-Texas A&m program is just one part of the federal government's Feed the Future initiative an international anti-hunger
The findings may explain why the Mediterranean diet which is high in both olive oil and vegetables appears to lower blood pressure
and were given olive oil omega-6 fatty acids along with sodium nitrite to mimic components of a Mediterranean diet for five days.
The results showed that the diet increased the level of nitro fatty acids in mice and lowered their blood pressure.
despite having had the same diet according to the study. The Mediterranean diet includes unsaturated fats found in olive oil fish
which means they eat only meat. In the wild jaguars will use their speed and stealth to take down deer peccary monkeys birds frogs fish alligators and small rodents.
In fact in the zoo bones are part of a jaguars'regular diet. Jaguars typically live in forests
The egg of a parasite that still infects people today was found in the burial plot of a child who lived 6200 years ago in an ancient farming community.
The oldest Schistosoma egg found previously in Egyptian mummies was dated to 5200 years ago. The parasite egg hails from the Fertile Crescent a region around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the middle East where some of the first irrigation techniques were invented about 7500 years ago.
That suggests that advances in farming technologies caused the rise of human infections with the waterborne worm Mitchell told Live Science. 7 Stunning Archaeological Sites in Syria Bloody worms Schistosoma parasites live in freshwater snails
The parasite can spread when eggs are shed in the feces or urine of infected people.
Agricultural technologies are tied to the parasite's prevalence experts say. Studies in Africa in modern times have shown that farming irrigation
Ancient site The egg was uncovered in a cemetery with 26 skeletons at a site called Tell Zeidan in Syria.
which served as a control (eggs found there would suggest the soil at the site was contaminated with the parasite more recently).
The researchers sifted through the soil looking for particles that were the right size to be the parasite's egg just 0. 003 inches (0. 1 millimeter) in diameter Mitchell said.
The researchers found one egg in the soil around the abdomen and pelvis of a child's skeleton.
When the rivers overflowed their banks water would have spread across the adjacent plains and inhabitants may have built little mud retaining walls to keep the water on the fields for longer.
The finding suggests the reptiles prefer to play it safe rather than conserve energy researchers say.
Varner is studying pikas in Oregon's Columbia river Gorge where this rabbit relative munches on moss instead of grass and flowers.
I had watched them construct their little food caches and the caches were just a pile of ashes.
The mammal's body is shaped like a ball to help conserve heat. Furry Bundles: The World's 5 Smallest Mammals Because of their temperature sensitivity pikas are bellwethers of climate change.
Test Reveals Hidden Coffee Ingredients Cream and sugar may not be the only additives in your morning cup of coffee.
Tough growing conditions and rising demand are leading some coffee producers to mix in wheat soybean brown sugar rye barley acai seeds corn twigs and even dirt.
Nixdorf said it is common for Brazilian growers to produce very dark roasts so the filler ingredients blend in better.
The filler ingredients have different sugar levels than the natural compounds in coffee and they leave behind distinct stains.
Regardless the FWS is again considering delisting the roughly 700 bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem contending they are supplementing their diet with more meat.
#Do Your Kids'Brown-Bag Lunches Have Enough Calcium? There are many benefits of packing a lunch for your child.
In most cases you save money and gain the peace of mind of knowing that your kids aren't left to their own devices in the lunch line (french fries and apple pie anyone?).
But are you giving your kids the best meal they could eat? It turns out that the brown-bag lunches we make may be less nutritious than we think they are according to a study published last month in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
The study showed that most home-packed lunches flunked when they were graded based on the criteria set by the National School Lunch Program.
This organization requires that school lunches contain servings from all five major food groups: fruit veggies grains protein and dairy.
But when researchers studied lunches from over 600 third and fourth graders the results showed that none of the home-packed lunches contained servings from all of the food groups.
None. 10 Ways to Promote Kids Healthy Eating Habits In fact only 27 percent of the lunches contained three or more food groups.
The typical lunch contained a sandwich chips and water. Sugar-sweetened beverages were a close second beverage choice.
Milk an excellent source of calcium was missing from most lunches. It could be an oversight personal preference
or lactose intolerance that is causing this issue but milk seems to be an unpopular choice.
Here are some great non-milk sources of calcium that may work well in those brown-bag lunches:
Kale chips: Baked kale chips are an amazing replacement for those greasy potato chips. Not only is kale a calcium-rich food
but it's also a great source of many other vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin a iron and potassium.
For a calcium boost include oranges in a lunch along with another item on this list.
Sunflower seeds: Sunflower seeds can be fun for kids to open and eat as long as they are old enough to handle the task
and one cup contains 109 milligrams of calcium. They are also quite filling with 12 grams of fiber.
These grasses combined to give the bread wheat we know today. The trouble is that this giant genome makes bread wheat genetically very different to its wild relatives
Plant scientists at the National Institute of Agricultural Botany in the UK are trying to create synthetic#wheat by breeding bread wheat with the ancient grasses it is related to.
which plants convert the sun s energy into sugars for growth and storage. In wheat like in other crops this process results in more energy-rich grains.
They spread their famous hoods which are made of flaps of skin attached to long ribs when feeling angry or threatened.
7 Shocking Snake Stories Cobras reproduce by laying eggs. Females typically lay 20 to 40 eggs at a time
which incubate between 60 and 80 days. Cobras will stay near the eggs and defend them until they hatch.
Wild boars and mongooses are known to steal cobra eggs. The mongoose is the best-known enemy of the cobra.
Mongooses have thick fur to protect against cobra fangs and often defeat cobras in fights using their speed and agility.
Often they eat birds small mammals lizards eggs carrion and other snakes They slither through the wilderness silently following their prey until they are ready to attack.
#Coloring Easter eggs with Natural Dyes Fun Science Experiments Easter is the time of year when many of us do something special with our breakfast food.
In this experiment we are going to use science to color eggs using natural dyes. While using natural dyes is a bit more time consuming than those little tablets you buy at the store gathering
and preparing them can be an interesting alternative. Begin by looking through your kitchen for brightly colored materials that stain
Coffee tea grape juice and red wine make interesting egg dyes. Plant materials from fruits vegetables and kitchen spices can also be used to make interesting dyes.
To get different colors use these materials: Other materials that you can try include spices like cayenne pepper dill seed and turmeric.
You could also try grated orange or lemon peels. It is helpful to chop or grate the plant materials into small pieces as you prepare your dye.
You also may want to add white vinegar to your dye. With liquids use 1 part vinegar to 3 parts dye.
With vegetables and fruits use 1 cup of water and 2 or 3 teaspoons of vinegar for every handful of plant material.
The vinegar acts as a mordant. A mordant is a substance that reacts with the dye changing its chemical bonds
so that the dye attaches to the object being dyed. A mordant may change the color of the dye so don t be surprised
Experiment with leaving the eggs in the dye for different amounts of time. Put the mixture of plant material water
and vinegar into a saucepan and bring it to a gentle boil for at least 5 minutes then strain out the plant material
and allow the dye to cool before submerging your eggs. You may want to hard-boil the eggs first
and then submerge them in your chosen dye overnight. Alternatively you may want to try cooking the eggs by boiling them in your chosen dye.
You get richer colors when you allow the eggs to remain in the dye overnight.
If experimenting with your Easter eggs was interesting you may also want to experiment with using natural dyes to color cloth.
Use small test squares of white cotton or wool and experiment with different plant materials or even colored soils like yellow ochre or red clay.
University of Idaho biologist John Byersreports on a few field studies that show that play can be risky including observations of young lambs falling to their death while playing.
when the egg is released most women have ovulated within three days after the temperature spike. Basal body temperature can be affected by alcohol consumption cigarettes not enough sleep
and can fertilize the egg at any point during this time. Though a special diet is required not to get pregnant it can certainly help a woman's chances.
Certain nutrients can help ready your body for pregnancy while other foods and drink can lower your chances of getting pregnant.
Caffeine has not been proven to affect a woman's ability to get pregnant but it still should be consumed in moderation.
which are key nutrients for pregnant women. Before pregnancy the menstrual cycle can strip the body of iron as well so it's important for women trying to get pregnant to load up on iron either through meat or multivitamins.
Refined carbs should be avoided. When carbs are processed key nutrients are stripped from the grain including antioxidants B vitamins and iron all of
which boost fertility. Whole grains are much more conducive to helping the body get ready to conceive as they contain many more nutrients than refined carbs such as white bread white rice and pasta.
Try whole grain bread and cereal instead and try other grains like wild rice and quinoa.
Consuming fresh vegetables and fruits can help boost a woman's chances of getting pregnant.
Tips for Men Seafood and fish have gotten a bad rap with mercury counts but the high levels of omega-3 fatty acids can help boost the body's optimal fertility.
Seafood is the best source for these kinds of essential fats and there are many seafood types that do not contain a lot of mercury.
The FDA recommends that women trying to conceive can eat up to 12 ounces a week of low-mercury seafood like shrimp salmon or tilapia.
Avoid tuna swordfish mackerel or shark k
#7 Things You Need To Know About Cancer This article was published originally at The Conversation.
Some good news many cancers can be prevented. 30%of cancers are preventable through not using tobacco having a healthy diet being physically active limiting alcohol use
#Pork Producers Prohibit Painful Pig Pens (Op-Ed) Matthew Prescott is food policy director for The Humane Society of the United states. He contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices:
and other pork-production stakeholders who oppose enclosing animals to such an extreme degree. We believe it is the right thing to do for the long term future of pork production in the U s
. and our customers agree with us and support our decision said Mike Luker president of Cargill Pork.
Luker is right. Putting aside for a moment the animal-welfare implications of locking animals in cages
and about 60 others have announced they intend to drop from their supply chains pork producers that use gestation crates.
Jeff Worstell vice president of livestock production for Cargill Pork put it best: If you want to be a viable supplier you respond to the signals your customers send.
Temple Grandin a well-known and highly regarded pork-industry animal welfare expert believes the crates have got to Go in Improving Animal Welfare:
For example when the Prairie Swine Center a prestigious pork industry research firm compared animal housing systems that confine pigs in gestation crates with group housing
#Science plus consumer support have motivated some major pork producers to move toward group housing. In 2007 Smithfield foods the world's largest pork producer announced that it would eliminate gestation crates from all company-owned barns;
earlier this year it extended that commitment to affect all the contractors producing piglets for the company.
In 2012 Hormel foods the maker of SPAM followed suit. And last January Tyson foods announced it had advised the farmers in its system that future sow housing should allow animals to turn around
Others in the pork industry still resist what their customers demand. So our animals can t turn around for the 2. 5 years that they are in the stalls producing piglets Dave Warner spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council once remarked in a National Journal interview.
I don t know who asked the sow if she wanted to turn around. Warner's and the Pork Council's callous statements about how animals should be treated are out of step with both what mainstream Americans want for animals and
what 21st-century science tells us animals need. Cargill's announcement is one more blow to the pork industry s most extreme form of routine abuse.
Now industry holdouts like Seaboard Foods The National Pork Producers Council and the National Pork Board have a choice:
They can continue to defend outdated practices and risk turning away even more customers or join the momentum and switch to group housing.
and water as well as from the weathering effects of salt and frost. However lead author of the new study Jiå#Ã Bruthans a geologist at Charles University in Prague
We need to feed more people with limited agricultural land and resources. We need to make better use of land light and logistics for an increasingly urban population.
but the benefits of a richer diet appear to be worth the perils. Important interspecific interactions between sloths their moths and algae-#seem to be reinforcing
because plant matter contains few digestible nutrients. Sloths known in Spanish as los perezosos (the lazies) have evolved adaptations to the constraints of life in the trees.
and consume a varied diet of animal matter fruit and leaves. By contrast three-toed sloths have limited much more ranges
When the sloths relieve themselves their insect tenants lay eggs in the dung which later hatch
Or the moths may be directly transferring nutrients from the sloth dung to their fur where algae can grow.
Eat Less Beef (Op-Ed) Elliott Negin is the director of news and commentary at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS.
Eat less beef. That's right. If we all ate less beef we would not only lose weight save money
and improve our health we also would significantly cut the pollution that causes global warming.
What may come as a surprise though is that red meat beef pork and lamb may be a key culprit making us fat.
A June 2005 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition for example followed some 55000 healthy middle-aged Swedish women.
but avoided red meat had a lower risk of being overweight or obese than their more carnivorous counterparts.
and total meat red meat poultry and processed meat consumption found that a subject increasing his
or her meat intake by 9 ounces a day the equivalent of one steak at 450 calories would lead to a weight gain of nearly 4 and a half pounds over a five-year period.
So if you want to shed some pounds you should cut back on beef as well as pork and lamb.
Spend Less Save More Eating less meat especially the more expensive grades of beef will fatten your wallet.
The most recent available government data peg the average cost of a pound of ground beef at $3. 88 roast beef at $4. 88 and steak at $6. 33.
If you want to splurge the top of the line sirloin USDA Choice boneless will set you back $6. 80 a pound.
Meanwhile ham excluding canned and luncheon slices costs only $2. 80 a pound and a whole chicken $1. 52 a pound.
Even boneless chicken breasts are only $3. 45 a pound still less than ground beef. Eating pasta or beans at least once a week instead of meat would stretch your dollars further.
For example if a family of four substituted a meatless spaghetti dinner ($1. 29 a pound) for roast beef ($7. 32 for one
and a half pounds) they would save around $6. That's an annual savings of $312.
Resolution: Stay Fit and Healthy If you want to stay fit exercise regularly. If you want to stay healthy and live longer eat less red meat
which has been linked to cancers cardiovascular disease and diabetes. In March 2009 a 10-year National Cancer Institute review of studies that followed half a million Americans found that those who ate 4 ounces of red meat
or more daily increased their overall risk of premature death 30 percent compared with those who consumed less.
Sausage luncheon meats and other processed meats also increased the risk. Those who ate mostly poultry or fish had a lower risk of premature death.
It found that people who ate a serving of beef pork or lamb every day had a 13 percent increased risk of premature death compared with those who ate little or no red meat.
Daily helpings of processed meat such as two slices of bacon or one hot dog increased the risk of premature death 20 percent.
The Harvard review also found that replacing one serving of red meat with fish poultry nuts legumes low-fat diary
or grains was associated with a 7 percent to 19 percent lower mortality risk. The researchers estimated that 9. 3 percent of male deaths
if study participants had consumed less than half a serving of red meat per day. This study provides clear evidence that regular consumption of red meat especially processed meat contributes substantially to premature death said review co-author Dr. Frank Hu in a press release issued by the Harvard School of Public health.
On the other hand choosing more healthful sources of protein in place of red meat can confer significant health benefits by reducing chronic disease morbidity and mortality.
Resolution: Shrink Your Carbon Footprint When it comes to global warming not all meat is created equal.
The ruminants Americans eat mainly cows pose the biggest threat to the climate according to an article in this month's edition of the journal Nature Climate Change.
which are associated mostly with beef production could make a big contribution to preventing the worst impacts of global warming said Doug Boucher director of climate research
If you want to reduce the emissions associated with the food you eat the most important step is to reduce your consumption of beef Boucher wrote in a recent blog.
The question of what you replace it with pork poultry or plants only is much less important.
If you don't have the stomach to cut out meat entirely switching to poultry or pork would still go a long way to shrink your carbon footprint.
Boucher a biologist pointed out that although the biggest emissions reduction would obviously come from becoming a vegan replacing beef with poultry would get you more than 90 percent of the way there
while switching to pork would achieve at least 80 percent of the methane abatement you would get from only eating plants.
The good news is Americans have been eating less meat including beef over the last decade.
Annual U s. beef consumption dropped from its high point of 97 pounds per person in 2002 to 81 pounds in 2011 according to U s. Department of agriculture data.
But that is still more than consumers in every other country besides Argentina Brazil and Uruguay translating into 1850 to 2600 pounds of annual carbon emissions per person.
The fact that Americans are now eating more chicken than beef for the first time in 100 years demonstrates that change is said possible Boucher.
In order to make agricultural waste into a suitable fuel for jet engines manufacturers would first need to break it down into sugars mixed with yeast
See Photos of the Discoveries at Giza Pyramids The other thing that is just amazing is almost all the cattle are under 10 months of age#they are eating veal said Richard Redding the chief research officer of Ancient Egypt Research
Located near a basin that may be part of a larger harbor this building complex is flanked by long bakeries
It probably administered provisions and produced bread and other offerings. The complex dates to a bit after the Giza Pyramids were built
#The Amount of Hidden Sugar in Your Diet Might Shock You (Op-Ed) This article was published originally at The Conversation.
Added sugar in our diet is a very recent phenomenon and only occurred when sugar obtained from sugar cane beet
While it may not be surprising that a can of Coca cola has a staggering nine teaspoons of sugar (35g) similar amounts can be found in the most unlikely of foods including flavoured water (Volvic Touch of Fruit Lemon/Lime 27
. 5g per 500ml) yogurts (Yeo Valley Family Farm 0%Fat Vanilla Yogurt 20. 9g per 150g pot) canned soup (Heinz Classic Tomato
Soup 14. 9g per 300g portion) ready meals (Pot Noodle Curry King Pot 7. 6g per portion) and even bread (Hovis Soft White bread
but what if it also comes with five teaspoons of sugar? Or how about these:
It s clear this sugar plays a part in soaring levels of obesity and diabetes.
and to unmask hidden sugar so consumers can make informed decisions about what they eat and drink.
It follows a similar model to salt reduction pioneered by Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH)
and manufacturers to add less salt to products over a period of time by setting targets for the food industry and mobilising public information.
A similar programme of gradually reducing the amount of added sugar in food and drink products with no substitution in food could prove to be an equally effective and practical way of reducing added sugar in the UK diet.
As with salt a 20-30%reduction in sugar added to food and soft drinks could be achieved over the course of five years
and result in a reduced calorie intake of approximately 100kcal a day going some way to help reverse obesity rates.
There are several parallels between salt and sugar. Like salt most of the sugar we consume is hidden in processed food and soft drinks.
There are also specific taste receptors for sugar which if sugar intake is reduced gradually become more sensitive.
So over time we don t notice that sugar levels have gone down. If we can persuade the Department of health that this programme is very likely to help considerably with the obesity epidemic
and in particular to reduce childhood obesity while also reducing the incidence of dental disease and (very likely) the number of people developing Type 2 diabetes it should have a good chance of success. Graham Macgregor set up
and is Chairman of both Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) and World Action on Salt and Health (WASH).
He is also chairs the Blood pressure Association sits on the board for the World Hypertension League
and recently served as President of The british Hypertension Society Sonia Pombo is a member of Consensus Action on Salt & Health (CASH).
Increased banditry illegal logging in national parks and nature reserves and a sharp increase in the hunting of lemurs as bush meat#has left them facing extinction.
After mating females lay between 6 to 25 eggs in a damp warm burrow. The female then leaves her eggs
and never sees them again. Babies hatch about three months later and are born measuring between 16 and 24 inches.
and colleagues assembled most of the sequence from part of a single pine nut#a haploid part of the seed with just one set of chromosomes to piece together.
The new research showed that the loblolly genome is bloated with repetitive DNA. In fact 82 percent of the genome repeats itself the researchers say.
For their next project the researchers are eyeing the sugar pine a tree with 35 billion base pairs.
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