#Planting trees in the Mongolian Desert to fight dangerous dust storms in Seoul A nomadic family outside their ger (yurt) in the Gobi desert near Choir, Mongolia.
It s not quite the proverbial butterfly flapping its wings creating a hurricane across the world,
but desertification in Mongolia is generating dangerous dust storms thousands of miles away. Former South korean Ambassador to China Kwon Byong Hyon made the connection more than a decade ago,
and has helped spearhead an effort since then to plant trees in Mongolia, hoping to improve both the lives of nomadic desert herders there
and the air quality his own children are exposed to back home in Seoul Dust storms More Frequent,
and scouting for food. When a colony of bees outgrows its living quarters, the hive divides
These bees, called nest scouts, are on average 3. 4 times more likely than their peers to also become food scouts, the researchers found.
#Frugal food: 10 DIY tips to save money while eating better and healthier Here s some great money saving tips.
Pretty much all of us are fond of all things handmade, and of clever ways to stretch one s household budget.
As the cost of staple foods and happy indulgences like coffee continue to rise, now is a good time to explore ways to save money on food with DIY smarts.
Here s a list of 10 proven ways I ve managed to cut my household budget#eel free to share more of your own in the comments.
Cats 1) Drink water instead of soda. And drink tap water, not bottled water. Soft drinks don t contribute much to your body beyond chemicals and empty calories,
and there is growing evidence that both the sugary-sweet and sugar-free varieties are associated with a variety of elevated health risks.
Water is essential to human life. Your body needs it. And why waste money on bottled water that sits around in questionable plastics,
possibly transported from the other side of the world with a ginormous carbon footprint, when the stuff that comes out of your tap is safe and healthy?(
or in developing countries without potable tap water, I m not talking to you.)Sink-mounted water filters or filtering pitchers are an economical option
They re nutritionally dense and an excellent use of your food budget. Growers near where you live who sell in-season produce are your best friend.
what s looking good each week. 3) Prepare food at home and bring it to work instead of eating lunch out.
I guarantee you ll save money. It s also easier to maintain a healthy, nutritious,
And I always found that preparing lunch at home was a more efficient use of my time than waiting in line with a bunch of other wage slaves during lunch rush hour. 4) Font-free foods are the best.
So many processed foods aren t really food, but nutritionally lacking food-like products#engineered to stimulate us to eat more, buy more,
and ensure that big food conglomerates turn a profit. 5) Can you make it yourself? If so, you ll save money and gain flavor.
Salad dressings are just one example: they re overpriced and underwhelming when prepackaged at the grocery,
but so simple to whip up at home. Even a basic vinegar and oil dressing will bottled kick dressing s butt
if you re using quality ingredients. Feeling more ambitious? Things you enjoy making and eating#or some, baked goods or slow-cooked soup, for others,
more exotic hobbies like home pickling#an become a pleasurable and money-saving habit. Another simple example:
those single-serving containers of flavored yogurt? Not very economical. Compare the cost per serving
(and the amount of sweeteners and other garbage they usually contain) with buying a large tub of plain yogurt and mixing in honey, nuts, preserves,
If you eat meat, consider reducing your intake of meat. Try integrating more plant-based proteins into your diet.
If this sounds crazy to you, start with just one meal a week. Tofu and beans generally cost less, ounce to ounce,
than chicken, beef, pork, lamb, or fish. And they need not be boring. If you re new to plant-based cooking
the web is full of wonderful vegan/vegetarian blogs and free recipe sites that can help you learn how to include these foods in your diet.
You don t have to become a vegetarian to enjoy them, though you may decide you want to
because they are yummy, satisfying, and nutritionally rich. 7) If you drink coffee, brew it yourself.
Buy freshly roasted whole-bean coffee, and grind it and brew it at home. You don t need a thousand-dollar espresso machine to enjoy good coffee, either:
espresso drinks aren t inherently superior to a well-done cup of drip. And a cup brewed at home (perhaps packed in a thermos to carry to work) is cheaper
(and IMHO tastier) to that $5 crappucino you buy every day from Starbucks. 8) Start a garden.
If you re new to gardening, start small, with things you know you ll actually eat.
Even if you re in the city without a yard, things like herbs, tomatoes, and lettuces can be grown in containers. 9) Buy in bulk,
but only when it makes sense. This is a good way to save money on staples like legumes
nuts, flours, and grains in stores that offer bulk bins. And Amazon and big-box stores like Costco are established well sources of savings
We throw away a ridiculous amount of food. Ridiculous! According to the EPA, in 2010, more than 34 million tons of food waste was generated in America.
That s more than any other waste category but paper. Food waste represents 14 percent of the total municipal solid waste stream,
making it the single largest component of trash we throw away from our homes. Take a look in your kitchen trash can:
how much of that is food? Can you do more to reduce the amount of usable food you throw out, with better meal planning and less impulsive eating out?
Think of your frugal ancestors and how little they likely wasted compared to us today. What would your great-grandmother do?
But for now, users of the robo-bunny need to be wired up to biometric sensors for the rabbit to sense the user s emotional state
when you scratch it too hard rolls over and purrs. The one thing a robot can do that s different from an animal is truly be in the service of its owner
if your food is spoiled Sensors pick up the change when a fruit ripens or rots. have taken you ever a big gulp of milk only to find out then that the milk is sour.?
A new technology will let you simply wave your phone over itor any foodto get a verdict on whether it s still edible.
And soon you might be finding it in your food. Scientists at Tufts University have engineered now the multitalented material into fully chewable food sensors.
Pasted onto eggs, stamped onto fruit or floating in milk, they can warn you when your fruit is ripe,
or when your milk has gone sour. We see a huge market for food,#Hu Tiger#Tao,
a postdoc at Tufts University told Co. Exist. People are always looking forward to some kind of sensor that s easy to use
The gold bits are as thin as gold leaf found on some extra-fancy desserts. The silk substratemade of pure proteinis easily digestible.
The whole sensor is flexible, and can curve according to the shape of the fruit it s being stuck on.
The sensor is pasted then directly onto the food that needs tracking, eliminating the need for an additional glue to keep it clinging on.
eggs, apples, cheese, and milk, and published the results in Advanced Materials. When a fruit ripens or rots,
but a silk-based approach like those employed on food sensors could also work, says Tao.
#New legless amphibian found in India An adult Chikilidae, a new species of legless amphibian known as a caecilian, with eggs and hatchlings.
#Egg clutch His first effort in conserving the chikilidae was to give it a scientific name mirroring
A chikilidae egg is shown in the soils of northeast India. Within the chikilidae family, the team has identified already three species
So far, Biju s team has determined that an adult chikilidae will remain with its eggs until they hatch,
forgoing food for some 50 days. When the eggs hatch, the young emerge as tiny adults and squirm away.
They grow to about 4 inches (10 centimeters), and can ram their hard skulls through some of the region s tougher soils,
and chikilidae lay eggs in waterlogged soils. Gripping garden spades with blistered hands the researchers along with locals they hired spent about 2,
but what they have in common is their search for ways to get something extra out of the biochemical process that uses sunlight to turn carbon dioxide and water into sugar and oxygen.
She s studying ways to use biological nanowires to transfer the extra energy from the light-harvesting cell into another cell that s genetically engineered to produce fuel or food.
Griffiths said the next generation will need more food as well as more fuel. He referred to the green revolution#that has transformed global agriculture over the past half-century
director of the Technology Strategy Board s sustainable agriculture and food projects, said, Addressing animal health and welfare challenges and improving animal performance monitoring are vital pieces of the food security jigsaw.
The technologies developed through this project have the potential to benefit farming communities in the UK
and the need for sustainable food sources grow, solutions involving technology and urban farming become more prevalent.
The attractive color in our face is affected by our health especially by the amount of colourful antioxidant carotenoid pigments we get from fruit and vegetables in our diet.
but our research shows that eating lots of fruit and vegetables is actually more effective. He added:
We know that you can achieve a more healthy looking skin color by eating more fruit and vegetables,
#The top ten instant noodles in the world Not all instant noodles are the same.
The noodle is a type of food, made from any of a variety of dough,
which is rolled flat and cut into long thin ribbons, strips, waves, helices, tubes, strings, shells, or other various shapes, sometimes folded.
noodles may be dried or refrigerated before cooking. The top ten list is after the jump..10.
Koka Instant Non-Fried Noodles, Spicy Black pepper Flavour#Singapore This stuff is amazing; it contains a block of instant noodles that are exceedingly light
and very low in fat. This doesn t end up with low in taste though, especially with its garnish pack s mention that the veggies vary depending on the season of production!
It has a nice peppery taste and a little heat, but not overwhelmingly so. Perfect complement:
Goes great with Eggs. 9. Doll Instant Noodle, Artificial Chicken Flavour#Hong kong Yeah I know chicken instant noodles.
How boring! Not this one the broth is very good it warms one s innards on a cold day like nothing else.
This is especially good with an egg or two added with about 45 seconds remaining as it cooks in the pot#making the broth even heartier.
A very relaxing bowl of noodles. Perfect complement: Eggs added during cooking. 8. Sapporo Ichiban Shio Ramen,
Japanese Style Noodles#Japan This is a very recent addition to the Top Ten list. Having tried Shio instant noodle varieties in the past,
I had a feeling this would be a good one, and it truly was. The noodles were very hearty
and the broth had an almost buttery flavor. Comes with a little packet of sesame seeds!
Perfect complement: Some baked chicken, green onions and hard boiled egg. 7. Nong Shim Shin Ramyun Black#Korea Twenty years after the introduction of the well-known Shin Ramyun, Nong Shim
brought out Shin Ramyun Black. A huge block of noodles, a veggie packet that also has freeze dried beef, red spicy seasoning,
and onion and oxtail soup packets, make this a culinary onslaught of epic proportion. Perfect complement:
Using a recipe from Eat Your Kimchi, add an egg, bok choy and a single slice of processed cheese. 6. Myojo Hyoubanya no Chukasoba Japanese Style Noodles, Oriental Flavor#Japan A very good, very traditional instant noodle from Japan.
Noodles are a little chewy and the broth has hints of seafood. Perfect complement: A couple of eggs cooked with the noodles,
and a little baked chicken with salt and pepper. 5. Mie Sedaap Instant Kari Spesial Bumbu Kari Kental#Indonesia Like spicy?
Like curry? This one from Indonesia fills both criteria and then some. The noodles are good,
but the real star here is the broth a bit greasy and so flavorful. Not only a hot curry taste,
but had sweetness as well. Perfect complement: Fried eggs. 4. Sapporo Ichiban, Japanese Style Noodles Chow mein#Japan This stuff is great.
It s cooked with a small amount of water as the noodles gobble it all up.
The flavor is sweet and salty and purely enjoyable. What s more is a packet of ground seaweed is included,
which makes it all the more enjoyable. Perfect complement: A bit of roast beef and some chopped onions. 3. Nissin Yakisoba with Mayonnaise/Mustard Packet#Japan Yakisoba is a very commonly enjoyed dish in Japan
and this variety puts a unique twist on it. You fill the box with boiling water
and then afterwards, there s a little drain spout to get rid of excess water. Add the flavoring
and stir then comes the fun as there s a little packet that dispenses mayonnaise out of one reservoir and mustard out of the other!
This is quite good especially the vegetables. Perfect complement: Nothing#enjoy in its native state! 2. Indomie Mi Goreng Rasa Ayam Panggang Jumbo, Barbecue Chicken Flavour#Indonesia First off, it s a jumbo pack,
which is helpful as this is such a great tasting package of instant noodles. Second, it comes with a whopping five seasonings from sweet soy sauce to spicy chili sauce.
The noodles are served drained without a broth. Perfect Complement: The flavorings in concert with a couple fried eggs, some pickled ginger and fried shallots make this one not to miss. 1. Indomie Special Quality, Special Fried Curly Noodles#Indonesia Truly the best instant noodles
I ve ever had. I love these the noodles are flat and very tasty. The seasonings provide a broad range of flavors.
Spicy, sweet, full of good flavor. Perfect complement: Some turkey, fried eggs, pickled ginger, fried shallot and Sriracha.
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#NASA issues call for new space taxis to fly to International Space station NASA hopes to be able to fly its astronauts on commercial carriers by about 2017.
Program managers from NASA said they are looking for at least two U s. firms to design
and build space taxis to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space station. NASA plans to invest $300 million to $500 million in each of the firms selected under new 21-month partnership agreements, Ed Mango,
manager of NASA s Commercial Crew program, said at an industry briefing at the Kennedy space center prior to the release of a solicitation on Tuesday.
The new program aims to build upon previous NASA investments in companies designing commercial passenger spaceships.
With the retirement of the U s. space shuttles last year, Russia has a monopoly on flying crews to the station,
a $100 billion orbiting laboratory for medical, materials science and other research. China, the only other country that has flown people in orbit,
is not a partner in the project. Russia charges NASA about $60 million per person for rides to the station,
which flies about 240 miles above Earth and is staffed by rotating crews of six astronauts from the United states, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.
Winning firms would have until May 2014 to complete their integrated designs with the intention,
if funding allows, to test fly their spaceships in orbit by the middle of the decade,
Mango said. Goals of the demonstration flight include reaching an altitude of at least 230 miles,
Once again Nut butter produces organic products in upstate New york#t s a pretty successful company as far as organic food goes,
considering you can find it in just about any natural foods store around. But Once again is concerned growing increasingly not only for its own future as an organic company,
and public health, including the Safe Water Drinking Act, Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act.
However, Orr noted, Once again Nut butter, we re lucky. If there was a water contamination issue in Nunda,
or consumer for that matter, who wants to ensure their food is grown in places unaffected by chemicals that for the most part are kept secret.
as Jill Wiener, an upstate cut-flower grower, told The Valley Table, You can buy from an organic farmer who s never going to lease their gas rights,
the future of food in upstate New york#nd any state where gas companies are fracking#s alarmingly uncertain.
#Urban Cultivator compact garden Fresh herbs taste better than their dried counterparts, and there is no denying that garden-fresh veggies are preferable to ones that have spent the past several days in a truck or on a supermarket shelf.
the Urban Cultivator is enclosed an hydroponic system designed for continuously growing herbs and smaller vegetables indoors.
that can serve as food preparation areas. Prices for the consumer model start at US$2,
It is already in use at several restaurants in and around the manufacturer s home city of Vancouver, Canada.
#Road Runoff Spurring Spotted salamander Evolution A female spotted salamander gravid with eggs in route to her breeding pool.
There she will lay a cluster of approximately 100 eggs. Eight to ten weeks later, those eggs will hatch as larvae.
In late summer, if the pool has dried not already, larvae will metamorphose into juveniles that migrate to the adjacent upland habitat.
Chief among these is sodium chloride from road salt, which reaches average concentrations of 70 times higher in roadside ponds compared to woodland ponds located several hundred feet from the road.
These animals are growing up in harsh environments where they face a cocktail of contaminants,
In roadside ponds, only 56 percent of salamander eggs survive the first 10 weeks of development,
#Researchers say sugar should be regulated as a toxin Sugar and other sweeteners are so toxic to the human body that they should be regulated as strictly as alcohol by governments worldwide, according to researchers.
A spoonful of sugar might make the medicine go down. But it also makes blood pressure and cholesterol go up,
along with your risk for liver failure, obesity, heart disease and diabetes. Sugar and other sweeteners are, in fact,
so toxic to the human body that they should be regulated as strictly as alcohol by governments worldwide, according to a commentary in the current issue of the journal Nature by researchers at the University of California,
San francisco (UCSF. The researchers propose regulations such as taxing all foods and drinks that include added sugar,
banning sales in or near schools and placing age limits on purchases. Although the commentary might seem straight out of the Journal of Ideas That Will Never Fly,
the researchers cite numerous studies and statistics to make their case that added sugar#or, more specifically, sucrose,
an even mix of glucose and fructose found in high-fructose corn syrup and in table sugar made from sugar cane
and sugar beets#has been as detrimental to society as alcohol and tobacco. Sour words about sugar The background is well-known:
In the United states, more than two-thirds of the population is overweight, and half of them are obese.
About 80 percent of those who are obese will have diabetes or metabolic disorders and will have shortened lives,
And chronic diseases related to diet such as heart diseases diabetes and some cancers#for the first time in human history#kill more people than infectious diseases, according to the United nations. Less known,
and still debated, is sugar s role in the obesity and chronic disease pandemic. From an evolutionary perceptive, sugar in the form of fruit was available only a few months of the year, at harvest time,
not a dietary staple. 6 Easy Ways to Eat More Fruits & Veggies Today, added sugar,
as opposed to natural sugars found in fruits, is added often in foods ranging from soup to soda.
Americans consume on average more than 600 calories per day from added sugar, equivalent to a whopping 40 teaspoons.
Nature made sugar hard to get; man made it easy, #the researchers write. Many researchers are seeing sugar as not just empty calories,
#but rather a chemical that becomes toxic in excess. At issue is the fact that glucose from complex carbohydrates,
such as whole grains, is metabolized safely by cells throughout the body, but the fructose element of sugar is metabolized primarily by the liver.
This is where the trouble can begin#taxing the liver, causing fatty liver disease, and ultimately leading to insulin resistance, the underlying causes of obesity and diabetes.
Added sugar, more so than the fructose in fiber-rich fruit hits the liver more directly and can cause more damage#in laboratory rodents, anyway.
Some researchers, however, remained unconvinced of the evidence of sugar s toxic effect on the human body at current consumption levels,
as high as they are. Economists to the rescue Lustig, a medical doctor in UCSF s Department of Pediatrics, compares added sugar to tobacco
and alcohol (coincidentally made from sugar) in that it is addictive, toxic and has a negative impact on society,
thus meeting established public health criteria for regulation. Lustig advocates a consumer tax on any product with added sugar.
Among Lustig s more radical proposals are to ban the sale of sugary drinks to children under age 17
and to tighten zoning laws for the sale of sugary beverages and snacks around schools and in low-income areas plagued by obesity, analogous to alcoholism and alcohol regulation.
Economists, however, debate as to whether a consumer tax#such as a soda tax proposed in many U s. states#is the most effective means of curbing sugar consumption.
Economists at Iowa State university led by John Beghin suggest taxing the sweetener itself at the manufacturer level,
not the end product containing sugar. This concept, published last year in the journal Contemporary Economic policy, would give companies an incentive to add less sweetener to their products.
After all high-fructose corn syrup is ubiquitous in food in part because it is so cheap
and serves as a convenient substitute for more high-quality ingredients, such as fresher vegetables in processed foods.
Some researchers argue that saturated fat, not sugar, is the root cause of obesity and chronic disease.
Others argue that it is processed highly foods with simple carbohydrates. Still others argue that it is a lack of physical exercise.
It could, of course, be a matter of all these issues. Photo credit: NY Times Via Yahoo Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorati o
#Food crops harmed by air pollution crossing continents: study Ozone pollution generated in each of the Northern hemisphere s major industrialized regions damages six important agricultural crops.
Europe loses 1. 2 million tons of wheat a year due to man-made pollution from North america,
an new study has found. The research, led by the University of Leeds and co-authored by the University of York,
shows for the first time the extent of the Northern hemisphere s intercontinental crop losses caused by ozone a chemical partly produced by fossil fuels.
The findings have important implications for international strategies to tackle global food shortages as well as global climate and human health strategies.
This is the biggest intercontinental ozone-related impact on any food crop. The scale of the impact of North american pollution on European wheat has previously been unknown.
he and the research team were able to predict impacts on staple food crops, each with their own unique sensitivity to ozone pollution.
This study highlights the need for air pollution impacts on crops to be taken more seriously as a threat to food security;
coupled with the challenges facing our ability to be food secure in the coming decades further coordinated international efforts should be targeted at reducing emissions of ozone forming gases across the globe.#
It is really only a matter of time before our food crisis becomes crippling. In the past few days a number of interesting articles have been circulating,
all discussing genetically modified crops and starkly different versions of the future of food. One one hand we have the state of affairs in the US.
and health food instead of industrial commodities. This new GM corn variety is a joint project between Dow and Monsanto
Such spread has been documented for a while, but this latest is some pretty stark detail: Throughout North dakota, little yellow flowers dot thousands of miles of roadsides.
and just as-productive vision supported explicitly by food activists, and less-vocally but essentially by the UN as well.
as well as genuine concern about corporate control of food through that technology. by Mat Mcdermott via Treehugger Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorati R
which grow plants using nutrients without soil. Electric pumps send water up the stands based on a timing system that can be customized for each pod.
Plus, there s the added benefit of growing herbs, vegetables and even fruit at your desk or in your city apartment.
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