science wire

Gene related to fat preferences in humans found
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - A preference for fatty foods has a genetic basis, according to researchers, who discovered that people with certain forms of the CD36 gene may like high-fat foods more than those who have other forms of this gene. The results help explain why some people struggle when placed on a low-fat diet and may one day assist people in selecting diets that are easier for them to follow.

Straight from the gut: Microbes can cause obesity
Obesity and chronic liver disease can be triggered by a family of proteins that alter populations of microbes in the stomach, a discovery that suggests the condition may be infectious, Yale scientists report. The study, in the advance online publication of Nature , expands on earlier Yale research that showed how similar microbial imbalances caused by the same family of proteins increases the risk of intestinal diseases such as colitis.

Four Breast Cancer-Related Studies Seeking Participants
UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center researchers examine role of diet and exercise An active lifestyle and a healthy diet can help you feel more energetic, control your weight, help you sleep better, and reduce your risk of many diseases.

The History Channel will feature Penn State research on farm fields
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - A Penn State Extension field demonstration of technology designed to reduce odors and nutrient losses from agricultural fields will be a featured segment on the History Channel's "Modern Marvels" program.

Disease-causing fungi prevalent in sink drains, study finds
University pledges continued cooperation with NCAA inquiry Hotels to support RAINN over commencement weekend A message from President Rodney Erickson As lawmakers review child abuse laws, Erickson expresses support Blue out, canning efforts raise $47,000 to fight child abuse, rape UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.

Teens more likely to eat breakfast if visited by virtual ’pets’
A fake Fido can motivate your child to eat breakfast, reports a new study. In a Cornell experiment, researchers found that teens who received feedback from virtual pets on a smartphone about their morning food choices were twice as likely to eat breakfast. The study - one of the first to test efficacy of mobile technologies to motivate adolescents to make healthy nutritional choices - was published Nov.

Least Nutritious Cereals Served Most Often in Minority Homes with Children
In the first study to examine cereal-buying patterns in homes in the United States, researchers at the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity found that minority families with children are most likely to buy the least nutritious cereals that are advertised directly to children. The study appears online in the journal Public Health Nutrition.

First Professional Science Master’s graduates are finding jobs

Researchers: Mapping underground water sources for drip irrigation could transform African village life
Investments in small-scale irrigation and geophysical mapping will help relieve food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa, Stanford researchers say.

Boyce Thompson joins forces with other plant nonprofits to benefit humanity
Boyce Thompson joins forces with other plant nonprofits to benefit humanity The Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (BTI) at Cornell has joined forces with three other U.S. nonprofit plant science research institutions to form the Association of Independent Plant Research Institutes (AIPI) in an effort to target research to meet the profound challenges facing society in a more coordinated and rapid fashion.

First new dining facility in 20 years celebrates its first quarter
The Arrillaga Family Dining Commons serves up to 1,300 meals a shift, with food also available as part of a pilot project between traditional meal times.

Food served in children’s hospitals rated largely unhealthy
Given the obesity epidemic among the nation's young, one might hope that children's hospitals would serve as a role model for healthy eating.

$7 million grant to help boost Uganda’s banana production
Pests and diseases that attack the Matoke banana, one of Uganda's primary food staples, is the focus of a $7.07 million grant awarded to Cornell by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Obesity as a Vicious Circle
Berkeley, CA, Nov. 23, 2011 - America's waistline has been expanding at an accelerating rate, prompting both concern about the nation's health and puzzlement over the cause. Now a researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has come up with some intriguing new data and a provocative hypothesis: that obesity itself makes people much more susceptible to risk factors that promote weight gain in the first place.

National hunger 'events' highlight difficulties of living on less
President gives thanks for Penn State community's support A Message from President Rodney Erickson: Moving Forward Penn State Shenango to hold vigil for victims of child abuse Nov.

New projection shows global food demand doubling by 2050
Increasing yield in poor countries could lower environmental impact Media Note: Embargoed until 2 p.m. Nov. 21 MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (11/21/2011) —Global food demand could double by 2050, according to a new projection by David Tilman, Regents Professor of Ecology in the University of Minnesota's College of Biological Sciences, and colleagues, including Jason Hill, assistant professor in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.

Female athletes with low iron levels face a competitive disadvantage
Female athletes with low levels of iron in their bodies, yet who are not anemic, may be at a disadvantage even before their competitive season starts, according to a new Cornell study. These athletes could benefit from early screening and monitoring for anemia and low iron reserves at the beginning of the training season, the authors found.

Pesticide-resistant weeds closing in on Pennsylvania
Town Hall Forum video posted Board executive committee reaffirms, ratifies earlier decisions Students host fundraiser to benefit abused children Penn State, PA Coalition Against Rape join to

Report predicts impacts of climate change on New York
In 2080, will New York City residents take a submarine to work instead of the subway‘ Will vast irrigation networks be as commonplace in western New York as they are in the western United States?

Big portions, cheap food and other factors make us fat
To eat or not to eat - that would seem to be the question for people who want to lose weight. But a dieter's decision to eat is often determined by powerful environmental cues that he or she is probably not even aware of.

Gifted 14-year-old scientist conducts research at Cornell
Could your discarded jack-o'-lantern be repurposed... as a water purifier? That's what one young scientist has come to Cornell to find out.

California making headway in battle against childhood obesity, but successes are uneven
A new study released today offers hope that California may finally be getting a handle on its 30-year battle with childhood obesity, but it also showcases a patchwork of progress that leaves the majority of the state's counties still registering increases in obesity rates among school-age children.

U of M scientists, Master Gardeners part of team to analyze biofuel production and land use
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (11/07/2011) —Can a single biofuel production system reduce water and nutrient runoff from farm fields, cut down on soil erosion and turn a profit for the farmers who grow it?

Scientists hone the power of grass fuel -- with help from New York school district
It takes 70 million years to grow a crop of fossil fuel but just 70 days to grow a crop of grass pellet fuel.

Scientists tackle threat to New York’s garlic industry
Cornell nematologist George S. Abawi, Ph.D. '70, is on a mission to help save one of New York's burgeoning agricultural commodities: garlic.

Microbes and toxins might be making you fat or diabetic
Could persistent pollutants like DDT and PCBs or chemicals found in plastics be making you fat or diabetic? The answer may depend on what sort of bacteria you have churning around in your gut, according to Cornell scientists.

Obesity: Genes are the loaded gun, ’but environment pulls the trigger’
Universities need to work with industry to develop realistic solutions to harmonize food systems with human health, according to panelists at a Morrison Hall symposium on Oct.

Crowdsourcing nutrition in a snap
Counting calories in photos, PlateMate proves the wisdom of the (well-managed) crowd Americans spend upwards of $40 billion a year on dieting advice and self-help books, but the first step in any healthy eating strategy is basic awareness - what's on the plate. If keeping a food diary seems like too much effort, despair not: computer scientists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have devised a tool that lets you snap a photo of your meal and let the crowd do the rest.

Penn State receives $2.3 million organic-agriculture research grant
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences have been awarded a $2.3 million grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate how certain cover crops and rotations can improve production of organic commodities.

Despite industry promises, Yale study finds unprecedented marketing of sugary drinks to youth
Young people are being exposed to a massive amount of marketing for sugary drinks, such as full-calorie soda, sports drinks, energy drinks, and fruit drinks, according to a new study from the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity.

USDA funds $2.3M study of organically growing spelt, emmer, einkorn
To enhance the market value of such organically grown grains such as heritage wheat, emmer, spelt and einkorn, Cornell has received $2.3 million over four years from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Movember is coming
November is around the corner, but have you heard about Movember ? Movember —the “mo” stands for moustache—is an international month-long event aimed at increasing awareness of the cancers that men face.

Native bees are better pollinators, more plentiful than honeybees, finds entomologist
The honeybee has hogged the pollination spotlight for centuries, but native bees are now getting their fair share of buzz: They are two to three times better pollinators than honeybees, are more plen

Testing to begin on U of M, Twin Cities' Campus Wide Emergency Alert System Oct. 24
Activation and testing work will begin on Monday, Oct. 24 on the university's new Campus Wide Emergency Alert System.

Researchers attack a stinker of a pest; iPhone users can help track the invader
A new hobo pest - the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) - is pigging out on many of North America's most important crops, posing an unprecedented threat to U.S. agriculture, say experts. "There's been nothing like this in several decades," says Peter Jentsch, a researcher at Cornell's Hudson Valley Laboratory and one of 10 Cornell scientists and 70 others, including some as far afield as Oregon and Florida, looking for ways the curb the pest, which caused catastrophic damage in 2010.

Organic farming thought leader Fred Kirschenmann to speak at U of M Nov. 10 on "Water and the Challenges Facing U.S. and World Agriculture in the 21st Century"
Organic farming thought leader Fred Kirschenmann to speak at U of M Nov. 10 on "Water and the Challenges Facing U.S. and World Agriculture in the 21st Century" Organic farming thought leader Fred Kirschenmann to speak at U of M Nov.

Study with Dr. Oz: Peer mentors help improve diets in at-risk high schools
A Cornell economist in collaboration with Oz of TV fame finds that using peer mentors in high schools is an effective way to get teens to make better food choices and get more exercise. The study's most striking finding: The mentoring program prompted high school students to cut their consumption of soda pop by 13 percent - 26 percent among girls.

Researchers awarded $4.5M for next generation grapes
Got Concord in the refrigerator, Pinot in the wine rack, or Thompson Seedless in the fruit bowl? These familiar grape varieties will be making room for the next generation of improved grapes, with a boost from two grants totaling $4.5 million.

Expect some fizz in pop tax debate
Mention the idea of a government-imposed pop tax at your next dinner party and there's a good chance you'll spark a lively debate.

International team crafts plan to feed world and protect planet
U of M-led researchers create a recipe for globally sustainable agriculture MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (10/12/2011) —Can we feed the more than 9 billion people anticipated to live on this planet in 2050 without destroying Earth's life support systems?

Feeding the world while protecting the planet
International team of researchers designs global plan for sustainable agriculture The problem is stark: One billion people on earth don't have enough food right now.

Decade of effort yields diabetes susceptibility gene
Ten years of meticulous mouse breeding, screening and record-keeping have finally paid off for Alan Attie and his lab members. The University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers' efforts, published today (Oct. 6) at in the journal PLoS Genetics , pinpointed a gene that confers diabetes susceptibility in obese mice.

Over-the-counter dietary supplement may lower risk of diabetes, metabolic syndrome
UCLA researchers have demonstrated that an over-the-counter dietary supplement may help inhibit insulin resistance and glucose intolerance, conditions that are involved in the development of Type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, which affect millions worldwide.

Pinstrup-Andersen co-pens new book on food policy
Despite technological advances in agriculture, nearly a billion people around the world still suffer from hunger and poor nutrition.

Getting kids to eat whole grains: What will it take U of M researchers may have some answers
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (09/20/2011) —Children and adolescents aren't eating enough whole grains, but new research from the University of Minnesota offers some insight into how parents and school lunch professionals can improve kids' whole grain intake. Fewer than 1 percent of Americans between the ages of 9 and 18 currently eat the recommended daily 3 to 5 servings of whole grains.

Plop, plop, fizz, fizz: Alka-Seltzer found to help wine industry, with potential for construction industry, too
Plop, plop, fizz, fizz: Alka-Seltzer found to help wine industry, with potential for construction industry, too Alka-Seltzer has been soothing human indigestion and heartburn for years. Now, it's helping out the wine industry. Elemental sulfur is wine's "frenemy" - it effectively keeps the ubiquitous powdery mildew disease in vineyards at bay, but excessive residues carried over into wine can result in a rotten egg aroma.

Cornell raspberry variety extends harvest into November
Cornell's new raspberry variety, Crimson Giant, is fashionably late.

Book gives the skinny on wide-ranging obesity research
Along with a sharp rise in recent decades in worldwide obesity rates has come a flood of research on the subject - more than 66,000 papers in the past 10 years, according to one estimate.

Largest rice genetics study finds vast differences between Asian rice subpopulations
The largest publicly available genomewide association mapping study in rice to date has found that although the five subpopulations of Asian rice - indica, aus, temperate japonica, aromatic and tropical japonica - all belong to one species ( Oryza sativa ), their genetic structures are so different that, genetically speaking, they are almost like different species.

University of Minnesota study highlights the potential for boosting global biofuels crop production
Researchers spotlight potential for biofuels production on existing croplands, underscores the importance of “sustainable intensification” MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (09/13/2011) —New research published online this week in the journal Environmental Research Letters by a team from the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin shows that closing agricultural “yield gaps” around the world could lead to more efficient agricultural production – and thus more biofuels – without the need to clear more land globally.

Workshops teach caregivers, those with chronic disease to ’Live Well’
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Living with a chronic disease, or being a caretaker for a loved one in failing health, can be frustrating as well as emotionally and physically draining.

Gov. Dayton declares September 'Farm to School Month'
U of M Extension efforts support farmers, schools, students MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (09/02/2011) —Gov.

CALS International Programs is on the ground in Bangladesh
Cornell collaborations in Bangladesh are helping the South Asian republic combat climate change and develop a strong, self-sufficient agricultural sector, according to the country's prime minister.

Sunday is Maroon and Gold Day at the State Fair
U president Kaler, athletic director Maturi and Marching Band to headline State Fair parade An annual highlight for fairgoers takes place this Sunday, Aug.

Irrigation impacts on global carbon uptake
Globally, irrigation increases agricultural productivity by an amount roughly equivalent to the entire agricultural output of the U.S., according to a new University of Wisconsin-Madison study. That adds up to a sizeable impact on carbon uptake from the atmosphere. It also means that water shortages — already forecasted to be a big problem as the world warms — could contribute to yet more warming through a positive feedback loop.

Simply eating a lighter lunch can prompt weight loss
Losing weight without dieting, going hungry or using an expensive high-protein liquid diet can be as simple as eating a smaller lunch, reports a new Cornell study that is online and will be published in the journal Appetite in October.