Symbiont could enable microfactories to produce biochemicals for food, farming and drugs.
Category: food – Page 81
Classic Drama Movie: A Boy and His Dog — A young man and his telepathic dog wander through a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
A Boy and His Dog (1975)
Director: L.Q. Jones.
Writers: L.Q. Jones(screenplay), Harlan Ellison(novella), Wayne Cruseturner(uncredited)
Stars: Don Johnson, Jason Robards, Susanne Benton.
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller.
Country: United States.
Language: English.
Release Date: March 1975 (USA)
Duration: 86 min.
Filming locations: Coyote Dry Lake, California, USA
Storyline:
A post-apocalyptic tale based on a novella by Harlan Ellison. A boy communicates telepathically with his dog as they scavenge for food and sex, and they stumble into an underground society where the old society is preserved. The daughter of one of the leaders of the community seduces and lures him below, where the citizens have become unable to reproduce because of being underground so long. They use him for impregnation purposes, and then plan to be rid of him.
Reviews:
“A frank tale about a recklessly horny boy and his calculative dog sums up this strange, very strange Sci-fi post-apocalyptic wasteland adventure yarn. It’s a unique product of the 70s, as it’s ambitious, daring and warped in its mind-set that makes this considerably low-budget effort a hypnotic cult item that nothing else would even come close to it. Based upon a novel by Harlan Ellison, the premise follows that of a young loner Vic (splendidly performed by Don Johnson) and his telepathic pooch Blood (exceptionally voiced by Tim McIntire) travelling the desert landscapes caused by the after-effects of WWIV in the search of food, shelter and women.
What goes on to make this film is the biting conversations and budding rapport and dependable friendship between Vic and Blood. It ranged from hysterical to moving, and surprisingly done in a believable manner. The satirical edge to the script is innovatively penned and to the point with its drama, frictions and kinky fixations. Sometimes quite unpleasant in the details where a quirky side is etched and the humour is engraved with a morbid sense of curiosity. While slow-grinding, the pace breezes by and the impulsively random nature helps a lot with a shock ending (twisted but still quite touching though) that comes from nowhere. Director LQ Jones’ economical touch makes the most of it limited resources and manages to get plenty out of it despite the minor feel. His use of the camera provocatively achieved and the humming electronic score and playful acoustic cues cement an atmosphere and grow upon the imagination. Mainly consisting in the underground scenes, than on the openly isolated and dusty desert backdrop.
The support cast are picture-perfect in their roles. Susanne Benton shines and likes of Jason Robards, Charles McGraw and Alvy Moore were good fun.
Plants could be grown in Moon soil, a new study shows. The findings on plant stress responses have the potential to help develop drought-resistant crops.
In a recent study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, researchers assessed the impact of consuming unprocessed, minimally processed (UMP), and ultra-processed foods (UPFs) on diet quality.
Study: Intakes of unprocessed and minimally processed and ultra-processed food are associated with diet-quality in female and male health professionals in the United States: a prospective analysis.Image Credit: Parilov/Shutterstock.com
Here’s a list of 10 visionary synbio company founders – who happen to be women – harnessing the power of biology to transform everything from health to human and animal nutrition, agriculture, haircare, bioremediation, and mining.
An oil tanker abandoned and anchored in the Red Sea could produce an oil spill that would spread over the southern half of the body of water and block ports, close desalination plants, and produce a food and water crisis for the people of Yemen.
A UN rescue plan for the rusting tanker off Yemen’s coast has ballooned in cost to $129 million. So far money raised is $34 million short.
March 24, 2023 – At least half a million urinary tract infections are caused by eating meat contaminated with E.coli bacteria, a new study reports.
E.coli is the most common bacteria to cause urinary tract infections, and it usually lives harmlessly in the human intestinal tract, although it is well-known to be a source of food poisoning.
“Most people understand that eating uncooked meat, or accidentally ingesting bacteria from meat, can cause you to have an upset stomach,” said researcher Lance B. Price, a professor at George Washington University, according to The Washington Post. “But now we also know that specific varieties of E. coli, coming from raw meat, are also causing hundreds of thousands of UTIs.”
More magnesium in our daily diet leads to better brain health as we age, according to scientists from the Neuroimaging and Brain Lab at The Australian National University (ANU).
The researchers say increased intake of magnesium-rich foods such as spinach and nuts could also help reduce the risk of dementia, which is the second leading cause of death in Australia and the seventh biggest killer globally.
The study of more than 6,000 cognitively healthy participants in the United Kingdom aged 40 to 73 found people who consume more than 550 milligrams of magnesium each day have a brain age that is approximately one year younger by the time they reach 55 compared with someone with a normal magnesium intake of about 350 milligrams a day.
Genetic Engineering extends far beyond the controversial news headlines that obsess over ‘designer babies’. In the science community, gene-editing tools like CRISPR and PRIME editing will do nothing less than save the planet.
The Rise Of Genetic Engineering (2022)
Writers: Kyle McCabe, Christopher Webb Young.
Stars: Rodolphe Barrangou, George Church, Mary Beth Dallas.
Genre: Documentary.
Country: United States.
Language: English.
Release Date: August 24, 2022 (United States)
Synopsis:
Genetic Engineering extends far beyond the controversial news headlines that obsess over ‘designer babies’. In the science community, gene-editing tools like CRISPR and PRIME editing will do nothing less than save the planet.
Methods like this allow scientists to alter and ‘re-program’ the genetics of living organisms.
This episode shows scientists at large using gene-editing technologies to revolutionize the food supply chain, bolstering food crops to prevent famines, and even speed up reforestation efforts that will reverse global warming. Genetic Engineering in farm animals is helping scientists to ‘select’ desirable traits, like physical features and gender. Incredibly, one scientist is using gene-editing technologies to resurrect the DNA of extinct species, like the Wooly Mammoth!
Despite some public concern, gene-editing is definitely a cause for hope in the fight against genetic disorders in humans. It’s already reversing a type of congenital blindness in children. And with the hyper-precision afforded by PRIME editing being prepared for clinical trials, a much more hopeful world will be revealed for families in the future.
Growing brains can be a tricky process, but growing ones that can make muscles move? That’s an incredible feat. Here’s how scientists did it.
How Close Are We to Farming Human Body Parts? — https://youtu.be/oRHxX9OW9ow.
Cerebral organoids at the air-liquid interface generate nerve tracts with functional output.
https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/cerebral-organoids-at-the-air…al-output/
“The capacity for this model to be used to investigate the way in which neurons connect up within the brain and with the spinal cord could have important implications for our understanding of a range of diseases. In particular defects in neuronal connectivity are thought to underlie various psychiatric illnesses, including schizophrenia, autism, and depression. ”
Cerebral organoids at the air–liquid interface generate diverse nerve tracts with functional output.
https://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1038/s41593-019-0350-2
“Finally, through electrophysiological and co-culture studies, we demonstrate functionality of these tracts, which are even capable of eliciting coordinated muscle contractions in co-cultured mouse spinal cord–muscle explants. This approach is likely to be a useful new tool, not only because of its ease, but also due to its util-ity in studying axon guidance, tract formation, and connectivity in a human system”
What’s Wrong With Growing Blobs of Brain Tissue?
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/04/what-hap…ns/558881/
“The stuff we really care about in the brain, like consciousness, are emergent phenomena—they arise from the collective workings of individual neurons, which create a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts. The problem is that we don’t know at what level these phenomena emerge. A neuron is not conscious. A person is. What about all the steps in the middle? What about 2 million neurons? 20 million? 200 million?”
Elements is more than just a science show. It’s your science-loving best friend, tasked with keeping you updated and interested on all the compelling, innovative and groundbreaking science happening all around us. Join our passionate hosts as they help break down and present fascinating science, from quarks to quantum theory and beyond.