#Oceans hidden waves show their power: Origins of giant underwater waves explainedlarge-scale tests in the lab and the South china sea reveal the origins of underwater waves that can tower hundreds of feet.
Internal waves can bring nutrients up from ocean depths Peacock says. Matthew Alford an associate professor of oceanography at the University of Washington who was involved in the related field studies for this project says The strong forcing
They analyzed soil from a primary forest a pasture established in 2004 and a secondary forest that resulted from the abandonment of a pasture in 1999.
The team used DNA analysis specifically the nifh gene that is characteristic of diazotrophs to measure the communities in the samples.
Rodrigues said researchers were surprised to find a tenfold increase in the number of diazotrophic microorganisms in the pasture established in 2004
They theorize the pasture ecosystems rely on the diazotrophs more for nitrogen because of the continuous grazing from cattle requiring constant regrowth of grasses.
We observed a complete shift in the diazotrophic microbial community composition in response to the Amazon rain forest conversion to a pasture Mirza said.
because we did see partial recovery of diazotroph community composition in the secondary forest which have more plant species as compared to pasture.
After pastures were abandoned and a secondary forest grew partial restoration of the original diazotrophic communities was achieved researchers said.
Growth of secondary forest is ongoing for about 50 percent of the abandoned pastures in the Amazon
and food we are subsidizing ravens and providing them with the opportunities and advantages they need to excel in areas that they didn't before said lead author Kristy Howe.
Along with the eggs and nestlings of greater sage grouse ravens also prey on the federally endangered Desert tortoise the endangered San Clemente Loggerhead shrike and the California Least Tern.
which eggs and young are consumed by ravens. WCS Northern Rockies Program Coordinator Jeff Burrell said Sagebrush steppe is one of the most important and most threatened habitats in the western U s. Healthy sagebrush steppe provides crucial cover
and food resources for a wealth of species including sage-grouse pronghorn and mule deer. Poor livestock grazing management invasive species such as cheatgrass transmission lines energy development and subdivisions are all contributing to the loss of this vital resource.
& Technology (ES&T) uses local census weather and other data--37 variables in total--to approximate greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the energy transportation food goods
while in other locations it might be electricity food or goods and services. California for example has relatively low emissions associated with household electricity but large emissions from transportation.
The researchers had noted previously changes in the skin blood flow in the eyelid and nose in response to basic sweet umami (pleasant savoury) and bitter tastes.
and the subjective palatability of different complex tastes such as the sweet and sour taste of orange juice.
They studied the responses of 15 test subjects to the taste of sweet chilli sauce orange juice bitter tea coffee and soup and a water control.
when changes induced by chilli sauce were excluded there was a significant correlation between the palatability ratings the test subjects gave
These results suggest that the facial circulatory response reflects the degree of palatability of a foodstuff conclude the researchers.
Since smell also contributes to the palatability of food it will be interesting to study further the study to consider the influence of different smells on skin blood flow.
and one for the intensity with respect to each of the five tastes sweet sour salty bitter and spicy.
Results and suggestionsci in the eyelid increased significantly in response to chilli sauce orange juice and soup while CIS in the forehead nose
and cheek decreased in response to bitter tea. There was a significant correlation between the palatability scores
and CI values in the eyelid when changes induced by chilli sauce were excluded. These results suggest that the facial circulatory response reflects the degree of palatability of a foodstuff.
The conductance index in the nose was not found to be related to palatability scores however bitter tea caused vasoconstriction in the nose.
Similar vasoconstriction in the nose has been observed in response to the discomfort of electrical stimulation of a finger or teeth.
Temperature decreases have also been noted around the noses of rhesus monkeys in response to negative emotions
and are likely the cause of the observed vasoconstriction in the nose in response to bitter tea.
In the current study orange juice was found to significantly increase skin blood flow in the cheek
In contrast skin blood flow in the forehead was not found to increase at the taste of orange juice
Their efforts are part of a study to assess what effect a carotenoid rich fresh fruit drink could have on our skin and perceived attractiveness.
The research by the Schools of Psychology and Biosciences at The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) is comparing two different health drinks.
One group of students is drinking a smoothie made from carrots and a selection of underutilized Malaysian fruits while the control group received mineral water.
The aim of his latest research project is to study what effect a drink made from carrots
The students enjoyed either a smoothie a day or the equivalent volume of mineral water for a duration of six weeks.
Each juice contained local Malaysian fruit such as Chiku Kedondong Pulasan Dragon fruit and Star fruit. After creating 30 different recipes seven smoothies were chosen for the study each containing up to 50 per cent underutilised fruit. 80 volunteers were recruited by Phd student Tan Kok Wei who is running the study
Dr Brigitte A Graf a nutrition scientist and an expert in bio-availability of active food ingredients has designed the intervention product--the smoothies.
because nutrition has a lot to do with psychology. My role is to monitor all the nutritional aspects of this study.
It is important that bioactive food ingredients--in this case carotenoids--are absorbed from the food into the body.
Together with Dr Soma Mitra we also assessed the background diet of all the participants before they were allowed to join the study.
study suggeststhe Western diet probably has more to do with the asthma epidemic than has been assumed so far
fruit and vegetables are playing an ever smaller role in people's diets. Now new results suggest that these two developments are not merely simultaneous they are linked also causally.
A team of researchers led by Benjamin Marsland from Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) has shown in experiments with mice that the lack of fermentable fibers in people's diet paves the way for allergic inflammatory reactions in the lungs.
either put mice on a standard diet with four percent fermentable fibers or gave them low-fiber food with merely 0. 3 percent fermentable fibers.
This low-fiber food is largely comparable to the Western diet which contains no more than 0. 6 percent fibers on average.
When the researchers exposed the mice to an extract of house dust mites the mice with the low-fiber food developed a stronger allergic reaction with much more mucus in the lungs than the mice with the standard diet.
Conversely a comparison between mice on a standard diet and mice who received food enriched with fermentable fibers likewise showed that these dietary fibers have a protective influence.
These acids then enter the bloodstream and influence the development of immune cells in the bone marrow.
because the share of plant fibers in Western diets is comparable to the low-fiber food of the mice
We plan to conduct clinical studies to find out how a diet enriched with fermentable fibers affects allergies and inflammations.
Now a new study appearing in Annals of the Entomological Society of America called Effect of Egg Rearing Temperature and Storage Time on the Biological Characteristics of the Predatory Stink Bug Podisus
The successful storage of eggs at a low temperature is important for the use of natural enemies in pest control programs as it allows greater flexibility in the mass-rearing process.
The researchers found that the optimum temperature for P. nigrispinus eggs to be stored is 15 degrees celsius
and that the eggs could be stored for up to 17 days without significantly affecting most of the biological characteristics analyzed in the study.
Our results suggest that low temperatures can be used to store eggs for mass rearing of this potential biological control agent the authors write.
when flowering plants were changing the face of the Earth forever adding beauty biodiversity and food.
This sets the stage for fertilization of the egg and would begin the process of seed formation--had the reproductive act been completed.
Can't have your cake and eat it tooto make matters worse this particular mutation has become rather common in Nordic Red cattle
The conclusions of this work have been published in the journal Food Research International. In the study researchers applied electronic tongues developed in his lab to measure the maturity of eight different types of grapes (Macabeo Chardonnay Pinot noir Cabernet sauvignon Shyrah Merlot
and Bobal) in several locations of vineyards of Utiel and Requena (Valencia) and observed a good correlation between the response of the tongue
the acidity of the fruit and its amount of sugar. The results confirm the usefulness of these devices for controlling grape maturity
The products are designed specially for people with allergies to cow's milk lactose or gluten intolerance as well as children and pregnant women.
From the laboratories at the Institute of Food engineering for Development the team has worked with almonds oats
and hazelnuts and soon will evaluate the use of walnuts and chestnuts as raw material for these new products.
The Institute of Agrochemistry and Food technology (IATA-CSIC) and the University college of Dublin (Ireland) have taken also part in the study.
which could alleviate allergic reactions caused by food and increase the bioavailability of iron. The caseins of cow's milk as well as being on the list of allergens components hinder the absorption of iron.
and grains represent an alternative to animal milks and soy milk. They also have components of great nutritional value that can provide numerous health benefits for both consumer groups with specific problems (lactose intolerance allergic to cow's milk vegetarian...
as for the general population. These plant milks are characterized by a profile of healthy fatty acids
and very low in sodium so these drinks help maintain a healthy balance of electrolytes.
This last property together with the absence of lactose milk protein and gluten are what make these drinks good substitutes for cow's milk concludes Chelo Gonzã¡
lez. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Asociaciã n RUVID. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length i
Research uncovers diets of middle, lower class in Pompeiiuniversity of Cincinnati archaeologists are turning up discoveries in the famed Roman city of Pompeii that are wiping out the historic perceptions of how the Romans dined with the rich enjoying delicacies such as flamingos
and the poor scrounging for soup or gruel. Steven Ellis a University of Cincinnati associate professor of classics will present these discoveries on Jan 4 at the joint annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and American Philological Association (APA) in Chicago.
UC teams of archaeologists have spent more than a decade at two city blocks within a non-elite district in the Roman city of Pompeii
of which served food and drink. The waste that was examined included collections from drains as well as 10 latrines and cesspits
and charred food waste coming from kitchens and excrement. Ellis says among the discoveries in the drains was an abundance of the remains of fully-processed foods especially grains.
The material from the drains revealed a range and quantity of materials to suggest a rather clear socioeconomic distinction between the activities
and consumption habits of each property which were otherwise indistinguishable hospitality businesses says Ellis. Findings revealed foods that would have been inexpensive and widely available such as grains fruits nuts olives lentils local
fish and chicken eggs as well as minimal cuts of more expensive meat and salted fish from Spain.
Waste from neighboring drains would also turn up less of a variety of foods revealing a socioeconomic distinction between neighbors.
A drain from a central property revealed a richer variety of foods as well as imports from outside Italy such as shellfish sea urchin
and even delicacies including the butchered leg joint of a giraffe. That the bone represents the height of exotic food is underscored by the fact that this is thought to be the only giraffe bone ever recorded from an archaeological excavation in Roman Italy says Ellis. How part of the animal butchered came to be a kitchen scrap in a seemingly standard Pompeian restaurant not only speaks to long-distance trade in exotic
and wild animals but also something of the richness variety and range of a non-elite diet.
Deposits also included exotic and imported spices some from as far away as Indonesia. Ellis adds that one of the deposits dates as far back as the 4th century
and the infrastructure of food consumption and food ways says Ellis. He adds that as a result of the discoveries The traditional vision of some mass of hapless lemmings--scrounging for whatever they can pinch from the side of a street
or huddled around a bowl of gruel--needs to be replaced by a higher fare and standard of living at least for the urbanites in Pompeii.
We feast to celebrate that our ancestors had enough food to survive their first winter,
acknowledging that once upon a time food was something to be grateful for. Â Then the next day, we throw half of it away.
meaning larger turkeys at meals and more opportunity for waste. But food waste isn't just a problem at Thanksgiving.
In fact, the U s. has a $165 billion food waste problem. This Thanksgiving, Be More Grateful than Wasteful NRDC Switchboard Photo:
Flickr/Pink Sherbet Photography
10 ways to get ready for the end of oillast week a reader wrote to me:
So just finished your population story and I know it's long view stuff--2050,2080,
and provide for your own food and energy, is the best course of action. I'm not suggesting that anyone become the doomer variety of prepper.
Forget about guns and ammo; unless you live in a very rural area, they won't get you very far (a few days or weeks, at most),
Grow some of your own food. It's generally accepted that every kilocalorie of food that makes it to our tables requires 10 kilocalories of oil
and natural gas to grow, process and transport. The whole food distribution chain in the United states is on average 1, 500 miles long,
and three days wide at most. It â¢s highly vulnerable to fuel shortages and cost spikes,
food supply will be at risk. But you don't want to wait until that happens before you start gaining some competency in food production and preservation.
Any farmer or gardener will tell you that there's a lot of failure on the road to success. So the sooner you start building your agricultural skills, the better.
food that you grow yourself comes with a great deal of joy hidden inside of it. As the song goes,
If you're growing some food, then the next obvious skills you need are in food preservation:
pickling, canning, drying, fermenting, curing and smoking. Again, it's work, but it's also fun, especially as a family activity.
Cooking from scratch--especially vegetarian dishes, since we all know that the commercial meat industry is massively reliant on petroleum and natural gas.
Of course, raising animals for meat is another matter, and if you're going to go there,
you probably better reconcile yourself to learning butchering as well.)Learning how to cut and season wood,
home repairs, cooking, and every other imaginable sort of how-to books. Good tools and books are hard to find,
like hand-cranked kitchen tools and screwdrivers. Or consider other interesting inventions, like this pedal-powered universal appliance for the home.
and the land that grows your food. It's not easy, and it may take a long time,
and happily, without oil or gas, without food from the supermarket...even without grid power.
building owners will be able to go to what he calls the energy cafe and select different kinds of energy to use--rather than a building being forced to use just one thing.
The cafe just means that there will be a number of different energy sources available over the grid.
They don't need really to worry in developed countries about getting water to drink. But  there are certain areas where you have the opportunity to use water more mindfully.
Why would you conserve water in the urban environment when the farmers are flooding the fields?
it's raising food prices. They're desperately trying to lower the cost of their input to make that food.
You can force them to do it, but you need to think of their economic model. Smartplanet:
formerly of Apple and Pepsico, who met Vu at a dinner and received an impromptu product demonstration.
A year after Fukushima, how life in Japan has told changedas to Laura Shin by Yuki Kokubo Yuki Kokubo is based a Brooklyn filmmaker who focuses on social and environmental issues.
and contaminated vegetables were going into school lunches. They were also really angry that the Japanese government covered up the fact that they knew how high radiation levels were in places like Tokyo.
Low levels of radiation spread to such a wide area throughout Japan. In some places, they have scraped off the top layer of playgrounds and schools,
but there were food and gasoline shortages and the trains weren't running to Kasama. Radiation levels were said to be high in the area
and many people were buying imported bottled water to drink. My father wanted to go see the disaster zone.
I was really careful about food, and I bought bottled water  because my parents drink well water
That reduces the amount of food they have to buy whether it's from Japan or shipped from the U s. My parents don't have a lot of things.
Yuki and her parents eating breakfast. Bottom: Yuki Kokubo. Courtesy of Yuki Kokubo) More from the Collateral Damage series:
and PIE Studio founder Bannavis Andrew Sribyatta barely knew what Šsustainable  meant when he started using natural materials to make high-end furniture.
It takes away the nutrients from the fish and blocks the whole ecosystem in the river.
like when a waiter asks you if you â¢re done with your meal. There are so many things we think we â¢re done with that we can reuse.
We â¢ve used plastic bags from the grocery store, dry cleaner hangers. You have to be a little crafty.
AECOM designs stunning urban food junglethere are plenty of ways cities use food as destination spots:
restaurants, cafes, grocery stores. But usually the food's already on the table or plucked from the vine.
A new design could create a place to grow food in cities and a place for people to visit.
AECOM, a global  technical and management support services firm, designed an impressive concept for an urban food jungle.
The focus of the design is, of course, on growing fresh food. Large towers that use  aquaponic growing systems--I'm imagining a larger version of this already functional aeroponic garden at O'hare airport in Chicago--grow food in various micro-climates at different
heights on the towers. AECOM explains their inspiration for the design on issuu: In a rapidly urbanizing world,
we are faced with a very real challenge supporting a larger population with fewer resources. AECOM â¢s Urban Food Jungle is conceptual design that responds to the threat of diminishing food security by bringing together sustainable food production, entertainment, education and culinary delight.
From the looks of it, It could be a like a mini amusement park for foodies.
food harvested from the Urban Food Jungle can be used to supply local restaurants. At least in the concept images, this seems like a large space to just use for growing food.
Space is maximized by using towers, so I think it's smart that the area is designed for multiple uses.
Their idea for a juice bar is a good one, but I think that taking it a step further and building restaurants around the towers
or creating a market could attract more people to the site to make it an economically productive urban use.
who notes that the craze for eating locally grown food emits tons more CO2 (that infamous instigator of climate change)
(although he does slag off green-urbanist food ideology in general). He points out that the freight trains
and so-called locavorism (eating locally grown food) is zany. Ecology think tank The Breakthrough Institute republished his article after the Observer ran it.
and pitchfork in defense of their city cilantro. It seems to me that the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Whole Foods store will grow veggies on its rooftop farm Rooftop farms budding in Beijing, Hong kong London's answer to NY's High Line-a subterranean low line for mushrooms,
and officials at Chicago O â¢Hare are currently contemplating the use of goats to cut down on weeds.
The Chicago Department of Aviation recently put out a bid calling for someone to supply goats to eat up some weeds surrounding O â¢Hare
supply local markets and restaurants with fresh produce; attract tourists from all over the world; and--most important of all--stimulate development around the edges as the local land market tilts from stultifying abundance to something more like scarcity
An old Chicago slaughterhouse turned vertical farmin a neighborhood with close ties to the American industrial food system, an old Chicago meat-packing plant could become the symbol of the new urban
food system. The Plant is a three-story aquaponic farm in Chicago's Back of the Yards Park,
a neighborhood that inspired Upton Sinclair's critical look at the meat-packing industry (among other things) in  The Jungle.
as an exciting new project is transforming a former meat-packing plant into a producer of fresh produce and new businesses.
Growing food will only be one part of the 93 000 square foot building. The vertical farm will only take up about one-third of the building space.
The rest will be an incubator for sustainable food businesses, offering low rent, low energy costs,
There will also be called a brewery New Chicago Brewery, a company that makes kombucha tea, an artisanal bakery, a mushroom farm,
and two aquaponics companies--Skyygreens Aquaponics (which will run the vertical farm) and 312 Aquaponics
(which will develop aquaponics technologies). All of these projects will help make The Plant a net-zero  operation.
I then had lunch with him and was impressed very with his modest, low-key style for someone who I had been dying to meet given his tremendous accomplishments in China.
Another cure for whisky's carbon hangoverthe stink of methane is not what comes to mind
sweet smells of a whisky distillery. But Scotland's Bruichladdich Distillery is hot on the scent of a whisky industry with a cleaner finish.
The company says its operations on the Isle of Islay now run 100 percent on methane produced on its seaside grounds.
Until recently, the 130-year-old distillery had fed its spent barley (draff), which is grown locally, to the island's cattle.
But they threw their pot ale (the leftover swill of dead yeast and water) into the ocean.
Transporting the pot ale to a different stretch of coast where a pipe would expel it into the Sound of Islay was pricey.
But now that pot ale helps with the electricity bills, as feedstock for the distillery's new anaerobic digester.
Under oxygen-free conditions, microorganisms within the digester break down the organic waste product and convert it to methane,
Back to the Scotch. Bruichladdich makes around 46,000 cases of single malt whisky annually. With that comes thousands of tons of pot ale.
The company customized its digester The Independent reports, by breeding microbes to specifically handle the pot ale from this distillery.
In addition to their previous transportation costs, their new disposal strategy reportedly saves the distillery almost $250, 000 a year on electricity.
Installing the device came in at around $450, 000. The Independent quotes Bruichladdich's owner Mark Reynier:
Our farting microbes are farting methane to power our generator which in turn feeds into the distillery's electrical distribution network this also fuels Reynier's electric car.
I'm no eco-warrior. There are so many hare-brain environmental schemes out there and in the whisky industry that just don't work
or are simply PR exercises. This, though, was a very interesting concept that made good business sense.
No numbers were given on just how high the emissions for the $6. 5 billion whisky industry are.
In somewhat similar ventures as Bruichladdich's, Helius Energy recently announced plans to build a 7. 2-megawatt power plant in Speyside that will burn whiskey waste and woodchips, providing about 9, 000 homes
Beverage giant Diageo is also currently constructing a $150-million bioenergy plant in Fife to capitalize on their whiskey waste
A Scottish university has entertained even the possibility for whisky-powered cars by converting pot ale and draff to a butanol additive for gasoline.
Drinking tastes, however, don't always coincide with one's zeal for clean energy. If you prefer American whiskey,
you can drown your carbon sorrows in the knowledge that those bottles travel fewer miles to get to your stateside liver.
Further, brewing beer is reportedly less energy-intensive than distilling whisky, but ounce for ounce beer drinkers tend to imbibe more.
So pick your poison. Related on Smartplanet: Scots to blend whiskey with tidal power In Scotland,
a greener whisky rebellion Human waste now heats British homes Image: Wikipedia Commons and Flickr/Joshua Rappeneker
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