science wire

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Quick zaps of ultraviolet light can boost the vitamin D levels in mushrooms in seconds, turning the fungi into an even healthier food, according to Penn State food scientists.

New University of Minnesota research shows reallocating croplands away from fuels and animal feed could boost food available for people by 70 percent without clearing more land MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (08/01/2013) —The world's croplands could feed 4 billion more people than they do now just by shifting from producing animal feed and biofuels to producing exclusively food for human consumption, according to new research from the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota.

Creative use of information networks can help bridge gaps between developed and developing countries, a group of librarians and information specialists were told at an international gathering in Mann Library July 23.

Yale researcher Marlene Schwartz will be the next director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale.

If you skip breakfast, don't worry about overeating at lunch or the rest of the day, report Cornell nutritional scientists July 2 in the journal Physiology and Behavior.

UAlberta researcher cautions against too much weight early into pregnancy, which leads to larger, chubbier babies.

Minnesota growers need to monitor maturing crops closely MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (07/16/2013) —University of Minnesota and Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) Entomologists Mark Asp

Although recommended in the Coalition's Direct Action Plan and the Carbon Farming Initiative, offsetting greenhouse gas emissions by increasing carbon storage in Australian agricultural soils is not likely to be effective, say experts from the University of Melbourne.

More than one in six children in Sweden who are obese also have pre-diabetes. This has been demonstrated in a large study of more than 35,000 children from Sweden and Germany conducted at Karolinska Institutet and published in the scientific journal International Journal of Obesity. The study, which is based on a collaboration between the national childhood obesity registry in Sweden, BORIS, and its German counterpart APV, reveals that the incidence of pre-diabetes is three times higher in children in Sweden than in Germany.

Women who do not eat fish during pregnancy are more likely to experience high levels of anxiety at that time. Researchers from Children of the 90s at the University of Bristol and the Federal University of Rio de Janiero, Brazil, have found a link between the types of diet eaten, particularly whether this includes fish, and anxiety in pregnancy.

Whether farmers believe in climate change or not - 66 percent do - their actions show that they are adapting to global warming, according to panelists at a July 8 discussion on campus.

Rocky shorelines teeming with lobster and dense pine and spruce forests often come to mind when thinking of Maine, yet the state is full of other natural resources of great value to those who live there.

For a grain, red fife wheat has a colorful history. Famed for its flavor, it is believed to have crossed several continents and the Atlantic before arriving in 1842 in Canada, where it gained a foothold and spawned many modern varieties.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Many parents have a difficult time persuading their preschool-aged children to try vegetables, let alone eat them regularly.

A new crop is brewing at Cornell's New York State Agricultural Experiment Station (NYSAES) in Geneva.

Despite food company pledges to advertise only healthier foods to children, a Yale Rudd Center study finds that companies place billions of ads for unhealthy foods and beverages on children's websites. The study is the first to evaluate banner and other display advertising on websites that are popular with children, such as Nick.com and CartoonNetwork.com.

A policy known as sustainable intensification could help meet the challenges of increasing demands for food from a growing global population, argues a team of scientists in an article in the journal Science .

Zurich/Wädenswil, 02. The fruit disease, fireblight, continues to be a big problem for apple and pear producers.

For farmers, a warming climate challenges fundamental decisions they have always made based on the certainty of the weather - such as when to plant various crops, which varieties to choose or what investments in cooling or irrigation infrastructure would make the most economic sense.

A multidisciplinary team of researchers from UCLA and India has found that a new type of intervention program, in which lay women in the rural Indian province of Andra Pradesh were trained as social

New University of Minnesota research shows current growth in global crop yields will be insufficient to feed the world in 2050 and identifies focus areas for closing the gap.

Given all the attention attracted recently by Barbara Kingsolver, Michael Pollan and other authors of memoirs about eating locally grown food, the nation's relationship with agriculture may seem like a new preoccupation for American writers.

UAlberta professor leads international research review showing how early development can put people at lifelong risk.

A new study calls for governments and farmers to adapt to climate shifts, despite uncertainties about what growing conditions will look like decades from now.

14 June 2013 Satellites are being used to promote agriculture in one of the world's poorest countries.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. A few cups of hot cocoa may not only fight off the chill of a winter's day, but they could also help obese people better control inflammation-related diseases, such as diabetes, according to Penn State researchers. Mice that were fed cocoa with a high-fat diet experienced less obesity-related inflammation than mice fed the same high-fat diet without the supplement, said Joshua Lambert , associate professor of food science.

The number of children admitted to hospital for problems related to obesity in England and Wales quadrupled between 2000 and 2009, a study has found.

The risk of preterm delivery increases with maternal overweight and obesity, according to a new Swedish study published in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

While some cancer survivors feel distressed about diet and body weight, exercise helps them feel they are taking back control of their health, Cornell researchers report in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior (May/June issue).

Media Releases Energy and Environment The life cycle inventory database ecoinvent forms the basis for life cycle assessment projects, eco-design, and product environmental information.

On today's farms, plastic is as ubiquitous as dirt. From plastic film that wraps silage to leftover pesticide containers to the thin trays that hold seedlings, plastic plays an important role.

This joint initiative from the MRC and Wellcome Trust will provide exciting new opportunities to better understand the fundamental causes of disease such as obesity and diabetes and translate that knowledge into improved therapies Professor Stephen O'Rahilly The Medical Research Council (MRC) and Wellcome Trust are to invest £24m into obesity research led by the Wellcome Trust-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science (IMS).

The likelihood of adults developing obesity, asthma, allergies, cardiovascular disease and many more conditions may well be determined in the womb, according to the findings of a new Report by the Br

Posted under: For UW Employees , Health and Medicine , News Releases , Research , Science , UW and the Community A clinical trial at the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System and the Univer

Swedish scientists have mapped the gene sequence of Norway spruce (the Christmas tree) - a species with huge economic and ecological importance - and that is the largest genome to have ever been mapped. The genome is complex and seven times larger than that of humans. This major research project has been led by Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC) in Umeå and the Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab) in Stockholm.

In a talk on Monday (20 May 2013) Dr Simon Nightingale will explore how painterly interpretations of the countryside were embedded into the literature of agricultural improvement in a way that might surprise modern readers.

Andong He saw a phenomenon at work in his breakfast bowl that he couldn't explain. It prompted this question: How does cereal shape influence the way cereals floating in the milk join?

Schools that implement strong nutrition standards for snacks sold at school increase student meal participation and school revenue, according to a study by the Yale Rudd Center and the Harvard School of Public Health.

"Nutritional ecology is so central to every aspect of life that it should be considered a foundational part of biology in the same way evolution is.

Research by the University of Leeds has shown that very young children appear to reject story book characters who are overweight, but not those who are disabled. Led by Professor Andrew Hill from the Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, the research investigated young children’s ratings of, and choices between, story characters drawn as overweight, normal weight, or disabled.

With unpredictable annual rainfall and drought once every five years, climate change presents challenges to feeding Ethiopia.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Consumption of whole walnuts or their extracted oil can reduce cardiovascular risk through a mechanism other than simply lowering cholesterol, according to a team of Penn State, Tufts University and University of Pennsylvania researchers. "We already know that eating walnuts in a heart-healthy diet can lower blood cholesterol levels," said Penny Kris-Etherton , Distinguished Professor of Nutrition, Penn State.

In the quest to decrease the world's greenhouse gases, Cornell scientists have discovered that biochar - a charcoal-like substance - reduces the nemesis nitrous oxide from agricultural soil on average by about 55 percent and stanches emissions into the atmosphere. The research is reported in the new journal from Nature, Scientific Reports, April 25.

African smallholder farmers can increase food production and reduce poverty without harming the environment, says a new briefing paper launched today.

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (04/15/2013) —Disease-resistant wheat developed over the past half century helped ensure steady world food supplies, but a global team led by researchers from the

Psychologists at the University of Birmingham suggest that 'attentive eating' affects how much people choose to eat.