Graphene: The Next Big Tech Revolution | Design. Gluten-free diet: Distinguishing celiac disease, wheat allergy, and gluten intolerance. Photo by Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images. Gluten is the spongy complex of proteins found in wheat, barley, and rye that allows dough to rise. As yeast ferments sugar and releases carbon dioxide, gluten inflates like a hot air balloon, giving breads and cakes their delectable texture. According to USA Today, up to one-quarter of all consumers now want gluten-free food, even though only one person in 100 has celiac disease, the autoimmune disorder worsened by gluten ingestion. Going gluten-free seems somewhat faddish. The roster of celebrities who’ve gone temporarily or permanently off it includes Chelsea Clinton, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Drew Brees, and Oprah Winfrey, among many others. If only a small fraction of people have celiac disease, why do so many think they need gluten-free foods? It’s tempting to dismiss the phenomenon as the latest hysteria around an over-diagnosed problem.
The second kind of problem that can be caused by gluten is wheat allergy. When Science Meets Fiction | Cocktail Party Physics. This weekend I’ll be at Science Online 2013 in North Carolina, moderating a panel with io9′s Annalee Newitz on science and science fiction. It’s a topic near and dear to both our hearts, and Annalee kicked off a pre-discussion last week with her post exploring the evolutionary biology of Star Trek. I’d like to do the same by talking a bit about the history of how science has fed into popular culture over the years — especially science fiction.
The prevailing scientific worldview of a given era has always been reflected in the art and literature of the time — not to mention the theology. This was certainly the case in the 1500s, when the ancient Ptolemaic worldview still prevailed, with the Earth nestled at the center of the solar system, and the moon, Sun and known planets at the time revolving around it in perfect circular orbits. Illustration from Jules Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon" By the time Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon (1865) and H.G.
Meet The Food Detectives. Consumers in the United States and Europe were alarmed to hear two stories about mislabeled food last week. In Ireland and the United Kingdom, an Irish government investigation found high levels of horsemeat and pork in ground beef at the Tesco supermarket chain. Meanwhile, in the United States, This American Life ran an urban legend-esque segment claiming that “imitation calamari” is really made from pig rectum. So how do regulators and consumer groups figure out what is really being sold at restaurants and markets? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States, a host of local regulatory agencies, corporations, and consumer advocates all rely on a small subculture of food forensic scientists: Researchers who use investigative tools to determine that “organic"-labeled fruits are really organic, that your ground beef is really ground beef, and that high-end olive oils isn't being adulterated with cheap soybean oil.
For food scientists, this means careful analysis. IBM Creates Weapon to Destroy Drug-Resistant Bacteria. Biofilms — groups of microorganisms that adhere to a surface — can be a real problem. When bacteria form a biofilm, it's difficult to treat since the cells are so densely packed. But now IBM has created a new substance that can break through biofilms such as plaque and drug-resistant bacteria, killing them while not harming humans. IBM Research and the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology created a antimicrobial hydrogel — a highly absorbent substance made from synthetic polymers — that annihilates bacterial biofilms on contact. IBM claims the hydrogel is 100% efficient in destroying biofilms.
The gel forms spontaneously when heated to body temperature. The image below demonstrates the gel's effectiveness. The hydrogel has clear applications in medicine, and IBM says it could be a tool hospital workers use to reduce health hazards. Hospitals are notorious for being breeding grounds for infection, and biofilms are a contributing factor. 10 TED Talks to help you better understand cancer. When you hear the word “cancer,” what do you think about? And how do you know what you think you know? Do you think of cancer as a disease of the old or as something that can affect anyone, as a death sentence or as a surmountable twist of fate? When you picture someone with cancer, who are they and where do they live? Today is World Cancer Day, an annual campaign organized by the Union for International Cancer Control to raise awareness about cancer-related issues.
The organization has put forth four major myths: that cancer is just a health issue, that it affects only the elderly and those in rich and developed countries, that it is a death sentence, and that it is fate. But, on a more positive note: advances in medical science mean that people are surviving cancers that were once thought untreatable, and preventative steps — from education on healthy lifestyles to new vaccines for certain cancers — are further reducing cancer-related deaths. William Li: Can we eat to starve cancer?