Feb 2019
Livelier flies could land on more food, leaving Campylobacter behind in their tiny footsteps
Climate change could increase foodborne illness by energizing flies
Jul 2022
Widespread milk consumption might not have been the force behind an ability to digest dairy.
Famine and disease may have driven ancient Europeans’ lactose tolerance
Jul 2022
Research on food’s impact on cognitive decline is mired in complexity.
How scientists are shifting their search for links between diet and dementia
Aug 2022
New research aims to help people get past the ick of eating insects
A new seasoning smells like meat thanks to sugar — and mealworms
Jan 2019
The industry accounts for 74 percent of the region’s soil loss every year
Prosecco production takes a toll on northeast Italy’s environment
Apr 2024
Counter to traditional ideas about how agriculture started, they never grew the plants they ate
These Stone Age humans were more gatherer than hunter
Feb 2019
Milk proteins preserved in tartar show that ancient Mongolians drank cow, yak and sheep milk
Tooth plaque shows drinking milk goes back 3,000 years in Mongolia
Jan 2016
Cafestol, C20H28O3, is a compound, specifically a diterpene alcohol, found in coffee beans. It is extracted during the coffee-brewing process and may be present in coffee beverages, depending on the preparation method. Consumption of cafestol in coffee has been shown to produce both positive and negative health effects. See also: Coffee; Terpene
Cafestol and health effects
Oct 2021
In the future, will global demand for coffee outstrip supply? The International Coffee Organization thinks so, based on droughts in Central America, crop-destroying freezing weather in Brazil, and global climate change. In general, coffee is a very temperature- and drought-sensitive crop. Coffee is also susceptible to more than 350 known diseases. Add in the growing popularity of coffee—currently the second most consumed beverage worldwide (excluding water), after tea—and a potential coffee shortage looms. Because the coffee plant grows best high up in tropical mountain forests, cultivating more coffee plants through deforestation is not a sustainable option. To sustainably shore up the coffee supply, researchers at the Technical Research Center (VTT) in Finland have developed a process for producing coffee in the laboratory by growing the product in bioreactors. The ultimate question that the researchers had to answer was, “How does lab-grown coffee taste?” The short answer is that it tastes and smells just like natural coffee. See also: Coffee; Bioreactor; Deforestation; Extreme weather events; Global climate change; Sustainability
Lab-grown coffee
Jan 2015
The olive tree (Olea europaea) is an ancient cultivated plant that was originally domesticated by early civilizations in the eastern Mediterranean regions. Today, the major olive-producing countries are Spain, Italy, Greece, and Turkey, which provide about 60–70% of the world's olives. However, the olive trees of Italy are being threatened by the spread of a deadly bacterial pathogen, Xylella fastidiosa, which causes olive leaf scorch. Specifically, the bacterium prevents water movement (via the xylem transport system) in infected trees, causing the leaves of the olive tree to turn yellow and brown, and then fall off. The loss of leaves is in turn followed by a withering of the branches, and the tree eventually collapses and dies. So far, the bacterium is decimating the olive groves located in the Apulia region of southern Italy. The pathologic condition, termed olive quick decline syndrome (OQDS), is a serious one, and it is feared that it will spread to other olive-growing areas of Europe. It is also possible that the bacterium may infect other fruiting trees and plants, including plum, almond, and citrus fruit trees, as well as grapevines. See also: Domestication (anthropology); Fruit; Fruit, tree; Horticultural crops; Lamiales; Olive; Plant pathology; Plant-water relations; Xylem
Olive trees in danger