Researchers unearth 4,300-year-old chimpanzee technology
...ge for humans to use easily and they also have the starch residue from several nuts known to be staples in the chimpanzee diet, but not the human diet. Using so-called "percussive technology" to free the edible parts of nuts is more complicated than it sounds. "We know that modern chimpanzee behaviour reg......zee stone tools. Also, they found several types of starch grains on the stones; part of the residue derived from cracking local nuts. The tools are 4300 years old, which, in human terms, corresponds to the Later Stone Age (PNAS, February 2007). Before this study, chimpanzees were first observed using sto...Smithsonian scientists report ancient chili pepper history
...me areas of the Americas. The researchers analyzed starch grains to trace the history of chili peppers in th...overcame this obstacle by identifying chili pepper starch grains. The starch microfossils were found at seven sites dating from 6,000 years ago to European co...Red hot chili pepper research spices up historical record
...stication and spread of chili peppers by analysing starch microfossils recovered from grinding stones, sedim...ven sites throughout the Americas where they found starch grains from chili peppers, the oldest being from sites in Ecuador that date back 6,100 years. These...Practice of farming reaches back farther than thought
...nt of archaeology, has used a new technique called starch grain analysis to recover microscopic residues of ... especially when it comes to foodstuffs. But with starch grain analysis, researchers are able to isolate residue from microcrevices in both ground stone and ...NSF funds new Rutgers plant biomaterials initiative
...ning naturally occurring plant substances, such as starch from corn or potatoes, with synthetic degradable polymer biomaterials. This initiative can yield cost-effective, bio-based materials to replace petroleum-derived plastics while creating new economic opportunities for American farmers now threatene...ConocoPhillips establishes $22.5M biofuels research program at Iowa State
...ional biorenewable fuels include ethanol from corn starch and biodiesel from soybean oil. Advanced biofuels are expected to be made from fibrous biomass such as the stalks and leaves from corn plants and switchgrass. "I'm pleased Iowa State University and ConocoPhillips will partner to research and develo...Researchers 'look into' plant cells to increase ethanol yields
... almost all industrial ethanol derives from either starch found in corn grain or from sugar cane. This limits U.S. ethanol production, which is almost entirely from corn grain, to a grain supply that already is in demand for a variety of uses. "Cellulosic ethanol would allow industry to expand beyond the ...New knowledge improves rice quality
... The role of important substances such as starch and amylose in cooking rice and how they are measured. "IRRI is very fortunate to have a strong foundation of previous rice quality research to build on," Dr. Fitzgerald said. "We needed that to ensure we made the right decisions as we move int...Novel sugar-to-hydrogen technology promises transportation fuel independence
... Science (www.plosone.org). Polysaccharides like starch and cellulose are used by plants for energy storag...posed to enzymes. Just add enzymes to a mixture of starch and water and "the enzymes use the energy in the starch to break up water into only carbon dioxide a...American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- May 30, 2007
...lly touchy Progress toward a healthier form of starch for processed foods Direct interconnections be...ATE RELEASE Progress toward a healthier form of starch for processed foods Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry Scientists in Indiana are reportin......for petroleum-based chemicals. Glucose, in plant starch and cellulose, is natures most abundant sugar. But getting a commercially viable yield of HMF from glucose has been very challenging, Zhang said. In addition to low yield until now, we always generate many different byproducts, including levulinic ac...... found that tortillas made from blue corn had less starch and a lower glycmic index than their white counter parts. They also found that the blue tortillas had 20% more protein than white (Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, DOI 10.1002/jsfa.3008). The glycmic index (GI) ranks carbohydrates ac......apital and operating costs of generating fuel from starch and cellulose-containing materials. They showed that the capital costs for 150 million gallon gasoline equivalent capacity range from around $111 million for a conventional grain ethanol plant to $854 million for an advanced (Fischer Tropsch) plant...