Pictures showing the structure of matter and the organization of subatomic particles in different categories abound. Indeed, cataloging and classifying entities subject of study is a powerful means of grasping their essence and infer their properties. The most striking example I can offer is the Mendeleev table of elements (which allowed its creator to spectacularly deduce the existence of elements not yet discovered); but there are many others, like the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of star classification, or the one for galaxies, or the cataloging of animal species...

• The problem – How to tell if a banana is senescent (old).
• The solution – Apply fractal Fourier analysis to the banana spots.

The computational method was jointly developed by the Department of Science and Food Technology, Universidad de Los Lagos, Chile, along with the Department of Chemical Engineering and Bioprocesses, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and the Departamento de Graduados e Investigación en Alimentos, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico.

More than 80 genetic 'spelling mistakes' can increase the risk of breast, prostate and ovarian cancer, according to a large, international research study.

The researchers say they also have a relatively clear picture of the total number of genetic alterations that can be linked to these cancers. Ultimately, they hope to be able to calculate the individual risk of cancer, to better understand how these cancers develop and to be able to generate new treatments. 

In five Collaborative Oncological Gene-environment Study (COGS) studies 100,000 patients with breast, ovarian or prostate cancer and 100,000 healthy individuals from the general population were included.

If you're not a researcher, you probably don't use Mendeley a lot, I don't have an account there even though I have written lots of pieces about their stuff.  But it's popular among researchers and in the early days of Science 2.0, when I had the Science 2.0 name itself reserved for a collaboration tool, I always assumed we would buy something like Mendeley or something like Mendeley would buy us, depending on who got biggest first. Other than a few emails with the CEO when he had something interesting to share, I have no involvement with the company.

In the great debate over genetically modified organisms - GMOs - few institutional nods have been sought so keenly as that of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

A “no” from the influential organization’s food policy committee would strike a blow at Big Gene’s attempt to cow the regulatory system and institutionalize today’s GMO-oriented commodity farming.  A “yes” by the committee would speed Monsanto’s progress and stymie attempts to limit GMO foods.

Hunter-gatherers living in ice age conditions cooked fish, according to the findings of a team from the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden and Japan, who carried out chemical analysis of food residues in pottery up to 15,000 years old from the late glacial period, the oldest pottery so far investigated. 

The research team was able to determine the use of a range of hunter-gatherer "Jōmon" ceramic vessels through chemical analysis of organic compounds extracted from charred surface deposits. The samples analyzed are some of the earliest found in Japan, one of the first centers for ceramic innovation, and date to the end of the Late Pleistocene - a time when humans were adjusting to changing climates and new environments.

Recently, there was found in Spain a shelled Pre-Cambrian Critter which showed distinct evidence of a gut.  This got me thinking about the distinction between the deuterostomes and protostomes, interest in which was sparked again by the even more recent article from National Geographic:

Why can you not stop eating until you scarf down a whole bag of Doritos?  Is it a special gene? Epigenetics, like your mom ate one when she was pregnant with you, or is Frito-Lay just fiendishly clever?

Ban-happy critics blame fat and carbohydrate content but a new study found that was not the case. If it were, we could just add ingredients to unpopular foods like Brussels sprouts and affect the rewards center in the brain positively so people eat more of those. 

NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center is the official U.S Government source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings. NASA and NOAA,as well as the US Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) and others, keep a constant watch on the sun to monitor for space weather effects such as geomagnetic storms, the idea being that with advance notification many satellites, spacecraft and technologies can be protected from the worst effects.
 

A component of egg whites, already a popular whole egg substitute among cholesterol-conscious consumers concerned, may have another beneficial effect - reducing blood pressure, according to a study presented earlier this week at the American Chemical Society (ACS) meeting. 

The researchers used a peptide called RVPSL. Scientists previously discovered that the substance, like the family of medications that includes Captopril, Vasotec and Monopril, was an angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitor. It has the ability to inhibit or block the action of ACE, a substance produced in the body that raises blood pressure.