USDA scientists Mark Ehlenfeldt and James Polashock ranked blueberry cultivars for mummy berry resistance, using blighting data from 125 cultivars and fruit-infection data from 110, and describe the fungus blighting new shoots before shriveling berries that overwinter on the ground.
Section archive
Page 3 of 4
Sci-Tech
Science and technology from food, agriculture and nutrition research.
- All desks
- Abortion
- Accutane
- Acetaminophen
- Acid Reflux
- Acidic Foods
- Acne
- Acrylamide
- Acupuncture
- Additives
- ADHD
- Adiposity
- Advisories
- Aerobic Exercise
- Aflatoxin
- Agave
- Agent Orange
- Aging
- Agriculture
- AIDS
- Air Pollution
- Airline Passengers
- Airport
- ALA
- Alcohol
- Alcoholic Beverage
- Alerts
- Allergy
- Alli
- Aloe Vera
- ALS
- Alternative Medicine
- Aluminum
- Alzheimer's
- Amalgam
- AMD
- Ampyra
- Amygdala
- Anal Cancer
- And
- Anemia
- Angiogenesis
- Animal Protein
- Animals
- Anorexia
- Anthocyanins
- Anthrax
- Anti-Angiogenesis
- Anti-Obesity
- Antibacterial
- Antibiotic
Sci-Tech
Alternatives Eyed for Methyl Bromide
USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists in Fort Pierce, Florida grew bell peppers and eggplant to test composted broiler litter, molasses and anaerobic soil disinfestation as a replacement for methyl bromide, the ozone-depleting fumigant growers must phase out.
Sci-Tech
Sci-fi food storage paper fights bacteria
Israeli and Russian researchers coated paper with silver nanoparticles that killed both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and stayed effective after six months at room temperature, pointing to food preservation uses. Large-scale production is not practical yet.
Sci-Tech
ARS: Food and Nutrition Research Briefs - October 2010
A roundup of ARS food and nutrition research briefs, led by work showing that six plant compounds, among them luteolin and quercetin, all target the enzyme TBK1 and blunt a signal that would otherwise trigger inflammation.
Sci-Tech
Nanoparticles may cause skin cancer - report
A Friends of the Earth report says nanoscale zinc and titanium oxides are not necessarily the safest sunscreen choice, citing six recent studies in which zinc oxide nanoparticles penetrated skin into blood and urine, killed mouse brain stem cells and destroyed colon cells at low concentrations.
Sci-Tech
Sweet News from Mars (Inc)
Mars released a preliminary genome sequence for the cacao tree with IBM, the USDA, Clemson and Indiana University. Researchers say it could cut breeding time from ten years to 36 months and help farmers spot disease-resistant trees, without genetic engineering.
Sci-Tech
Will Migraine Gene Discovery Provide Pain Relief?
Comparing the genomes of more than 3,000 Europeans who get migraines with 10,000 who do not, researchers report in Nature Genetics that a variant on chromosome 8, between genes that help control the brain chemical glutamate, is significantly more common in migraine sufferers.
Sci-Tech
Researchers Study Cinnamon Extracts
Over 12 weeks, 22 obese volunteers with prediabetes took either 250 mg of a dried water-soluble cinnamon extract twice daily or a placebo. The extract improved several antioxidant measures by 13 to 23 percent, and that improvement tracked with falling fasting glucose.
Sci-Tech
Potential Indicators of Type 2 Diabetes Investigated
ARS physiologist Sean Adams is hunting early biomarkers of type 2 diabetes. In blood from diabetic and nondiabetic African-American volunteers, some fatty acylcarnitines ran almost 300 percent higher in the diabetic women, which he attributes to incomplete or inefficient fat oxidation.
Sci-Tech
Vocal Profiling Leads to Early Autism Diagnosis
A wearable recorder captured 3.1 million utterances from 232 children at home, and automated analysis of 12 acoustic parameters flagged autism spectrum disorders with 86% accuracy. Researchers say it could push diagnosis below the current average age of 5.7 years.
Sci-Tech
Model Predicts Individual's Vitamin D Needs
ARS physiologist Charles Stephensen and colleagues built a preliminary model predicting an individual's vitamin D needs, working with 72 young adults who logged what they ate and wore photosensitive badges for seven to eight weeks to measure sun exposure.
Sci-Tech
New Vaccines May Help Thwart E. coliO157:H7
Agricultural Research Service microbiologists developed two experimental vaccines built from E. coli O157:H7 strains missing the hha gene, or hha plus sepB. In preliminary tests, immunized Holstein calves shed reduced amounts of the bacteria after being dosed with it.
Sci-Tech
Keeping Cattle Cool and Stress-Free is Goal of ARS Study
ARS scientists in Clay Center, Nebraska are building risk-assessment tools for cattle heat stress, which can cut appetite, slow growth, weaken disease resistance and in extreme cases kill. One study identified 11 factors in susceptibility, including coat color and temperament.
Sci-Tech
Tryptophan-enriched Diet Reduces Pig Aggression
ARS scientists fed young female pigs 2.5 times the usual amount of tryptophan for a week and recorded less aggression and lower overall activity, with the calming effect strongest in 3-month-olds, whose blood tryptophan rose 180 percent.
Sci-Tech
New Lentil Being Readied for Market
ARS scientists released Essex, a lentil developed by George Vandemark's group that averaged 1,220 pounds of seed per acre in trials, about 21 percent more than Eston and 22 percent more than Athena. Its seeds run 20 to 30 percent protein and it hosts nitrogen-fixing Rhizobium bacteria.
Sci-Tech
Inventing New Oat and Barley Breads
ARS researchers in Albany, California are baking all-oat and all-barley breads using HPMC, a plant-derived carbohydrate, in place of gluten to trap the yeast bubbles that lift dough. Hamsters fed a high-fat diet plus the HPMC breads showed cholesterol-lowering effects.
Sci-Tech
Growing Meat Without Animals ... Would You Eat It?
Scientists have grown small nuggets of meat in the lab and say vat-grown steaks may one day be possible, sidestepping contamination and the environmental toll of industrial livestock. Mercola responds that meat suits some people and not others, and that protein types who avoid it can get sick.
Sci-Tech
Watermelon: Fruit on the Fast Track
ARS scientists sampled watermelon tissue at three stages of growth and ripening and built a library of expressed sequence tags, in what they report as the first large-scale study identifying genes that regulate the fruit's development. The genes acted in metabolism, cell growth and plant defense.
71 stories