Tag: Food

Deciding on a foreign university is easier with first-hand information. Those wishing to practise a sustainable lifestyle away from home, however, often spend a long time looking for the right shops and restaurants. Now a Munich-based startup is making the process easier thanks to its new digital platform. It contains an index of firms and businesses that offer sustainable...

Waste from breweries is a breeding ground for sustainable livestock feed. But the methane produced by these animals during the digestive process has a significant impact on the environment. For a female-led startup in Hawaii, however, the solution lies in a particular species of red algae called Asparagopsis taxiformis (instead of kangaroo babies). According to tests conducted on livestock,...

Image analysis can find hidden ruins or save elephants’ lives. But that’s just the start. A female-led startup in Nairobi is using satellite images and artificial intelligence to strengthen the continent’s agriculture industry. After all, around 60% of sub-saharan Africa’s jobs are dependent on it - most of them smallholders significantly impacted by climate change. The machine-based image analysis...

Seaweed can be used as a fire retardant. In Berlin, meanwhile, a female designer has developed a thin algae-based film and coated it with a natural dye. The aim? To stop still edible food being wasted. Her film changes colour according to the pH value of what it’s covering, reacting upon contact with gases like ammonia, produced when fish...

Banana paper can protect potato seeds from pathogens. But soil bacteria provide vital nutrients for plants’ healthy growth. Making them a good replacement for chemical fertilisers. If only they were less sensitive to heat, humidity and freeze-drying... Now, thanks to a US-based research team, the bacteria can be given a protective coating. It’s made by mixing metal ions -...

Skin cancer can be treated with a special soap. Peanut allergies are a serious business, too, and a New York-based researcher has been investigating how the body’s tolerance of the snack can be improved. The key, it seems, resides in toothpaste with peanut protein as it can be delivered in controlled doses through the mucous membrane. In a recent...

Curcumin is just as effective as chemical agents against stomach acid and heartburn. That plant-based substances have anti-inflammatory properties is well known. According to a Japanese research team, however, there’s a lot more besides. Over a period of 12 weeks, a group of adults with psychological disorders and memory problems received tablets containing 0.8mg 6-MSITC - a bioactive compound...

Protein-rich gorse could feed the whole of Scotland. Fish and chips is not just popular in the UK, of course. Still, manufacturing vegetable oil from oil palms or soya beans is accelerating the deforestation of rainforests. Which explains why a California-based startup has developed an alternative cooking oil from sugarcane. Raw sugar from the regrowing plant ferments in tanks...