K-State professor examines connections between food, culture and psychology in new book
...es. "For example, the lower classes tend to prefer sweet drinks and foods, whereas the upper class prefers dry drinks and food items that tend to be bitter, astringent, or more complex flavors that you have to develop a taste for. It has to do with the self-discipline of food," Rappoport explained. This co...Science picks: Leads, feeds and story seeds for August 2003
...our slow summer stories like a tall, cold glass of sweet tea. This monthly collection of science stories can help you cover ongoing earth and natural science research and investigations at USGS---photos and web links are provided to enhance your story. Leads: ARE STREAMS A DRUG FREE ZONE? Last year, U...Washington University in St. Louis, Monsanto Co., awarded crop protection patent
...al Research Institute to develop a virus-resistant sweet potato. "We are delighted that this technology, as one of the first applications of biotech, is helping to advance science throughout the globe," Fraley said. The technique was conceived, developed and tested in the 1980s when Beachy was professor ...Researchers define molecular basis of human 'sweet tooth'
...ple cannot resist the impulses brought on by their sweet tooth. The researchers created mice with the same ...that receptor molecules on the tongue for both the sweet and "savory" umami tastes are what triggers taste cells on the tongue and palate to transmit taste s...Hot cocoa tops red wine and tea in antioxidants; may be healthier choice
There's sweet news about hot cocoa: Researchers at Cornell University have shown that the popular winter beverage contains more antioxidants per cup than a similar serving of red wine or tea and may be a healthier choice. The study adds to growing evidence of the ...Diet may improve cognition, slow aging, and help protect against cosmic radiation
...ides that regulate appetite and the preference for sweet tastes," she says. Researchers at Mississippi State University have found that early exposure to environmental chemicals that mimic or block the action of the sex hormones estrogen and testosterone may disrupt normal differences in the brain between...A sweet tooth may be a 'marker' for the genetic risk for developing alcoholism
...and monkeys, the preference for and consumption of sweet fluids are strongly correlated with voluntary alco...dy. "It is thus possible to measure the amount of sweet solution that an animal drinks per day and accurately predict how much alcohol it will drink if give......econd between eating something and recognizing its sweet or bitter flavor between detecting a taste and a signal reaching the brain led USC neuroscientist Emily Liman to take a closer look inside the cells in the taste buds. Her findings reveal new details about how the sense of taste works. And ca...Rapidly evolving genes providing new insights in plant evolution
...and corn; major starch plants such as potatoes and sweet potatoes; legumes such as soybeans, beans, and peanuts; all of our fruit crops, spices, and medicinal plants. Also among the approximately 300,000 species of flowering plants are those that provide almost all our lumber (excluding pines). "Scienti...Food tastes stronger when you're hungry
...Just missing breakfast makes you more sensitive to sweet and salty tastes, according to research to be publ...o the different roles that the tastes play: "While sweet and salty tastes are indicators of edible substances and trigger consumption, a bitter taste indicat...... the Blarney Stone bestows the gift of blarney, or sweet flattering talk. USGS geologists will tell you that if you've ever kissed the Blarney Stone, then you've kissed a piece of limestone formed about 300 million years ago during the Carboniferous age, the same period that produced the thick coal beds o...Volcanic soils yield new clues about the emergence of powerful chiefdoms in Hawaii
... the Big Island of Hawaii, the main staple was the sweet potato a more labor-intensive crop planted in rel... Some anthropologists say that, by the late 1700s, sweet potato production had reached its maximum capacity. As a result, the chiefdoms on Maui and Hawaii be...Flies may taste bitter better, first map of insect 'tongue' reveals
...r of lips covered in bristles -- respond to either sweet or bitter flavors, much like cells of the human to...t sugar. The researchers found that the bitter and sweet receptor proteins mapped to distinct classes of neurons, suggesting that separate nerve cells trigge...A fly's taste experience is much like our own
... showed that fruit flies have receptors devoted to sweet and bitter tastes just like humans. While human ta...ther the two sets of taste receptors correspond to sweet and to bitter foods, Scott and her team killed individual taste neurons by inserting genes that prod...Study: Artificial sweetener may disrupt body's ability to count calories
...nd of a bell signaled food, people learn that both sweet tastes and dense, viscous foods signal high calori...rferes with the natural ability of the body to use sweet taste and viscosity to gauge caloric content of foods and beverages. When you substitute artificial ...Restoring sweetgrass to the South Carolina lowcountry
... "muhly" grass is not to be confused with the true sweet grass (Hierochloe odorata) used by Native American basket makers. Although three other plants -- palm, longleaf pine, and black rush -- are also used in South Carolina lowcountry baskets, the primary material is Muhlenbergia filipes. Needed in the gr...A liking for sweets, combined with novelty seeking, may predict alcoholism
...ious research has linked a pleasurable response to sweet taste (sweet liking) with a genetic vulnerability ...holism. New research shows that the combination of sweet liking and novelty seeking may predict alcoholism. Previous research, both animal and human, has sh...Females may be more susceptible to overindulge 'sweet tooth' cravings than males
...er portion of sugar than their normal diet when a sweet diet is freely available, female rats consumed mor... unlike male rats, female rats exercised less when sweet foods were available than when sweet foods were not available. The researchers concluded that femal...