User login
Sticking it to the (junk-food) man
Fight the power – the power, in this case, being Ronald McDonald and his brethren.
In a new effort to convince teens to reject junk food and make healthier choices, researchers found that one surefire way to achieve this was to play on the natural teen desire to reject authority and rebel. Parents of teens across the country don’t know whether to rejoice or groan.
The study, published this week, found that an effective way to combat junk food marketing was to frame companies as corporate overlords and figures of authority who take advantage of vulnerable populations (so, the truth). The teens, who value social justice and autonomy from adults, responded well to this reframing. Instead of snacking on Doritos at lunch, the study subjects chose to really stick it to the man and make healthy food choices instead.
Researchers reported that boys in particular responded positively to the idea of rejecting authority. Which will surprise no one who has ever known a teenage boy.
I heart 3-D printing
Fifty-two years ago, a South African surgeon named Dr. Christiaan Barnard took a heart from one (deceased) human and successfully transplanted it into another (live) human. Now, Israeli researchers could relegate Dr. Barnard’s recycled-cardiac-parts approach to the medical history museum’s hall of obsolete approaches, next to the leeches and the wax barber-surgeon.
In a claimed first, Tel Aviv University scientists have “printed” a fully vascularized, engineered human heart. The organ is crafted from a cellular slurry of a patient’s own fat cells turned into pluripotent stem cells. With collagen and glycoproteins as structural printing “ink,” the researchers mixed in the stem cells and printed their 3-D heart. The cells differentiated into cardiac and endothelial cells, complete with a medical first: vascularized and perfusable heart tissue.
Unlike Barnard’s allogeneic approach, building from a patient’s own cellular material can eliminate the risk of organ rejection, the heart’s creators say.
Next on the heart-printers’ punch list: getting the cells to contract in unison to form a pumping unit. Then testing it in animals. Oh, and creating something a bit larger than their initial rabbit-sized heart.
And then? Who knows? Perhaps even Dorothy’s friend the Tin Man can finally get an autologous, printed replacement for that allogeneic, heart-shaped clock.
Larger portions of food for thought
In the world of nutrition science, there’s a concept known as self-regulation, which suggests that people have an innate ability to consume only as many calories as they need. Studies have shown that, in adults anyway, self-regulation can be circumvented by something known as the portion-size effect, which is the tendency to eat more when larger portions are served.
But is the same thing true for small children? Let’s find out.
Researchers provided a group of 3- to 5-year-old children with all their meals and snacks for two 5-day periods. During one of the periods, the portions were 50% larger than the other period. The children were allowed to eat as much of each meal/snack as they wanted, and any leftovers were weighed to determine actual calorie intake.
The data showed that the children ate 16% more food and consumed 18% more calories when they were given the larger portions.
So, we already knew that if you give adults more food, they’ll eat more. And now we know that if you give children more food, they’ll eat more. Could this be the end of self-regulation?
Maybe it would work if you gave the little tykes something besides food. Maybe you could give them … money. Round up a few hundred children, put them together in a big room, and throw money at them.
Oh, right, that experiment is already underway. It’s called Congress.
It’s the end of the world as we ... zzzzz
Of all the countries to take refuge in during an apocalypse, Switzerland has to be at the top of the list. Its mountainous terrain is a natural barrier to any zombie horde that’s heard that Swiss brains are as delicious as their chocolate. Not only that, the Swiss government stockpiles essential resources to sustain its people during times of war or emergency.
All in all, it’s a pretty good deal.
Well, it’s a good deal so long as you don’t require a morning cup of coffee to stay fresh as you fight off armies of the undead, as the Swiss government has decreed that coffee is nonessential for life and will stop stockpiling it.
According to the Federal Office for National Economic Supply, “Coffee is not vital. ... that is, coffee contains almost no calories and therefore does not make any contribution to food security from a nutritional point of view.” Harsh words for a beverage that the Swiss consume at a rate of 9 kg per year, three times more than the British and twice that of Americans.
If the recommendation passes, the 3-month emergency supply, an amount topping 15,000 tons, would be returned to the corresponding manufacturers, who would pass the corresponding savings back to the consumer.
So, there’s some good news as the zombies breach your defenses because your guards fell asleep: At least the coffee was cheaper before the world ended.
Sticking it to the (junk-food) man
Fight the power – the power, in this case, being Ronald McDonald and his brethren.
In a new effort to convince teens to reject junk food and make healthier choices, researchers found that one surefire way to achieve this was to play on the natural teen desire to reject authority and rebel. Parents of teens across the country don’t know whether to rejoice or groan.
The study, published this week, found that an effective way to combat junk food marketing was to frame companies as corporate overlords and figures of authority who take advantage of vulnerable populations (so, the truth). The teens, who value social justice and autonomy from adults, responded well to this reframing. Instead of snacking on Doritos at lunch, the study subjects chose to really stick it to the man and make healthy food choices instead.
Researchers reported that boys in particular responded positively to the idea of rejecting authority. Which will surprise no one who has ever known a teenage boy.
I heart 3-D printing
Fifty-two years ago, a South African surgeon named Dr. Christiaan Barnard took a heart from one (deceased) human and successfully transplanted it into another (live) human. Now, Israeli researchers could relegate Dr. Barnard’s recycled-cardiac-parts approach to the medical history museum’s hall of obsolete approaches, next to the leeches and the wax barber-surgeon.
In a claimed first, Tel Aviv University scientists have “printed” a fully vascularized, engineered human heart. The organ is crafted from a cellular slurry of a patient’s own fat cells turned into pluripotent stem cells. With collagen and glycoproteins as structural printing “ink,” the researchers mixed in the stem cells and printed their 3-D heart. The cells differentiated into cardiac and endothelial cells, complete with a medical first: vascularized and perfusable heart tissue.
Unlike Barnard’s allogeneic approach, building from a patient’s own cellular material can eliminate the risk of organ rejection, the heart’s creators say.
Next on the heart-printers’ punch list: getting the cells to contract in unison to form a pumping unit. Then testing it in animals. Oh, and creating something a bit larger than their initial rabbit-sized heart.
And then? Who knows? Perhaps even Dorothy’s friend the Tin Man can finally get an autologous, printed replacement for that allogeneic, heart-shaped clock.
Larger portions of food for thought
In the world of nutrition science, there’s a concept known as self-regulation, which suggests that people have an innate ability to consume only as many calories as they need. Studies have shown that, in adults anyway, self-regulation can be circumvented by something known as the portion-size effect, which is the tendency to eat more when larger portions are served.
But is the same thing true for small children? Let’s find out.
Researchers provided a group of 3- to 5-year-old children with all their meals and snacks for two 5-day periods. During one of the periods, the portions were 50% larger than the other period. The children were allowed to eat as much of each meal/snack as they wanted, and any leftovers were weighed to determine actual calorie intake.
The data showed that the children ate 16% more food and consumed 18% more calories when they were given the larger portions.
So, we already knew that if you give adults more food, they’ll eat more. And now we know that if you give children more food, they’ll eat more. Could this be the end of self-regulation?
Maybe it would work if you gave the little tykes something besides food. Maybe you could give them … money. Round up a few hundred children, put them together in a big room, and throw money at them.
Oh, right, that experiment is already underway. It’s called Congress.
It’s the end of the world as we ... zzzzz
Of all the countries to take refuge in during an apocalypse, Switzerland has to be at the top of the list. Its mountainous terrain is a natural barrier to any zombie horde that’s heard that Swiss brains are as delicious as their chocolate. Not only that, the Swiss government stockpiles essential resources to sustain its people during times of war or emergency.
All in all, it’s a pretty good deal.
Well, it’s a good deal so long as you don’t require a morning cup of coffee to stay fresh as you fight off armies of the undead, as the Swiss government has decreed that coffee is nonessential for life and will stop stockpiling it.
According to the Federal Office for National Economic Supply, “Coffee is not vital. ... that is, coffee contains almost no calories and therefore does not make any contribution to food security from a nutritional point of view.” Harsh words for a beverage that the Swiss consume at a rate of 9 kg per year, three times more than the British and twice that of Americans.
If the recommendation passes, the 3-month emergency supply, an amount topping 15,000 tons, would be returned to the corresponding manufacturers, who would pass the corresponding savings back to the consumer.
So, there’s some good news as the zombies breach your defenses because your guards fell asleep: At least the coffee was cheaper before the world ended.
Sticking it to the (junk-food) man
Fight the power – the power, in this case, being Ronald McDonald and his brethren.
In a new effort to convince teens to reject junk food and make healthier choices, researchers found that one surefire way to achieve this was to play on the natural teen desire to reject authority and rebel. Parents of teens across the country don’t know whether to rejoice or groan.
The study, published this week, found that an effective way to combat junk food marketing was to frame companies as corporate overlords and figures of authority who take advantage of vulnerable populations (so, the truth). The teens, who value social justice and autonomy from adults, responded well to this reframing. Instead of snacking on Doritos at lunch, the study subjects chose to really stick it to the man and make healthy food choices instead.
Researchers reported that boys in particular responded positively to the idea of rejecting authority. Which will surprise no one who has ever known a teenage boy.
I heart 3-D printing
Fifty-two years ago, a South African surgeon named Dr. Christiaan Barnard took a heart from one (deceased) human and successfully transplanted it into another (live) human. Now, Israeli researchers could relegate Dr. Barnard’s recycled-cardiac-parts approach to the medical history museum’s hall of obsolete approaches, next to the leeches and the wax barber-surgeon.
In a claimed first, Tel Aviv University scientists have “printed” a fully vascularized, engineered human heart. The organ is crafted from a cellular slurry of a patient’s own fat cells turned into pluripotent stem cells. With collagen and glycoproteins as structural printing “ink,” the researchers mixed in the stem cells and printed their 3-D heart. The cells differentiated into cardiac and endothelial cells, complete with a medical first: vascularized and perfusable heart tissue.
Unlike Barnard’s allogeneic approach, building from a patient’s own cellular material can eliminate the risk of organ rejection, the heart’s creators say.
Next on the heart-printers’ punch list: getting the cells to contract in unison to form a pumping unit. Then testing it in animals. Oh, and creating something a bit larger than their initial rabbit-sized heart.
And then? Who knows? Perhaps even Dorothy’s friend the Tin Man can finally get an autologous, printed replacement for that allogeneic, heart-shaped clock.
Larger portions of food for thought
In the world of nutrition science, there’s a concept known as self-regulation, which suggests that people have an innate ability to consume only as many calories as they need. Studies have shown that, in adults anyway, self-regulation can be circumvented by something known as the portion-size effect, which is the tendency to eat more when larger portions are served.
But is the same thing true for small children? Let’s find out.
Researchers provided a group of 3- to 5-year-old children with all their meals and snacks for two 5-day periods. During one of the periods, the portions were 50% larger than the other period. The children were allowed to eat as much of each meal/snack as they wanted, and any leftovers were weighed to determine actual calorie intake.
The data showed that the children ate 16% more food and consumed 18% more calories when they were given the larger portions.
So, we already knew that if you give adults more food, they’ll eat more. And now we know that if you give children more food, they’ll eat more. Could this be the end of self-regulation?
Maybe it would work if you gave the little tykes something besides food. Maybe you could give them … money. Round up a few hundred children, put them together in a big room, and throw money at them.
Oh, right, that experiment is already underway. It’s called Congress.
It’s the end of the world as we ... zzzzz
Of all the countries to take refuge in during an apocalypse, Switzerland has to be at the top of the list. Its mountainous terrain is a natural barrier to any zombie horde that’s heard that Swiss brains are as delicious as their chocolate. Not only that, the Swiss government stockpiles essential resources to sustain its people during times of war or emergency.
All in all, it’s a pretty good deal.
Well, it’s a good deal so long as you don’t require a morning cup of coffee to stay fresh as you fight off armies of the undead, as the Swiss government has decreed that coffee is nonessential for life and will stop stockpiling it.
According to the Federal Office for National Economic Supply, “Coffee is not vital. ... that is, coffee contains almost no calories and therefore does not make any contribution to food security from a nutritional point of view.” Harsh words for a beverage that the Swiss consume at a rate of 9 kg per year, three times more than the British and twice that of Americans.
If the recommendation passes, the 3-month emergency supply, an amount topping 15,000 tons, would be returned to the corresponding manufacturers, who would pass the corresponding savings back to the consumer.
So, there’s some good news as the zombies breach your defenses because your guards fell asleep: At least the coffee was cheaper before the world ended.