Chemicals keep your food fresh

Something interesting is happening in the food industry. Panera, Subway, and Taco Bell have all promised to get rid of artificial ingredients including colorings and flavorings from some or all of their foods. Nestlé (at least for its few chocolate candies) and Kraft (for its mac and cheese) have said the same.

I suppose the seeds for that development were planted 50 or 60 years ago, when companies began using a cornucopia of synthetic chemicals to color, flavor, preserve, and texturize their foods. Hello Cheez Whiz, Taco Flavored Doritos, and Trix cereal.

The labels of some foods have so many chemical names that you need a dictionary to decipher them -- that is, after you find a magnifying glass to see the squished together fine print.

Many of the foods we eat are full of chemicals. From emulsifiers to dough conditioners, a processed food item's ingredients label can reveal a mind-boggling gamut of long scientific names you probably didn't even see in chemistry class.

One of the most common kinds of additive in our food is a preservative (or several), which helps to keep it fresh. Today we're demystifying what those are, and helping you understand what exactly they do.

There are three varieties of preservatives: antimicrobials, which stop bacteria, yeasts, and molds from growing; antioxidants, which slow the oxidation of fats, which can turn food rancid; and compounds that inhibit rot in produce.

A whole host of preservatives fall into these categories: sulfites, propionates, benzoates, nitrates, chelates.... These have all been approved for use by the FDA, and are generally considered to be safe. Still, calcium disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid isn't exactly the most appetizing-sounding addition to your diet.

Many of these chemicals are synthesized in a lab, and basically look like white powders before they're added to your food. There are of course plenty of other ways to preserve food without the use of chemicals -- canning or salting, for example -- but you can't exactly stick a loaf of Wonder Bread in a can.

The next time you check the ingredients listed on a product at the store, make a note of what preservatives are there, if any. If you're concerned, there are thankfully plenty of preservative-free items out there. They might spoil a little bit quicker, but at least you won't be eating any calcium disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid.

References :

http://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/axing-additives-a-good-st_b_8209784

http://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/these-chemicals-are-keepi_b_5766548

7 of the World's Strangest Plants

Weird, peculiar, wonderful, strange & bizarre are the kind of words that can be used to describe these plants. They are unique & fascinating and make us wonder if they really exist.

1. Welwitschia mirabilis:World's Most Resistant Plant

It is one of the few things on Earth that can truly claim to be one of a kind. There really is nothing like it.

This plant is a gymnosperm and is found in Namib desert of South Africa. It is commonly called as "Onion of desert" as it can be baked or eaten raw. It has a lifespan of about 1500 years and can survive without rain for 5 years. Welwitschia has only two leaves in its entire lifespan and is a beautiful example of parental care as its offspring grow near to it and are taken care of. This gives an appearance as if the plant has many leaves.

2. Desmodium gyrans: the Dancing Plant

Commonly known as the "Telegraph plant", Desmodium is also called as the dancing plant as it is capable of rapid movement. The common name is due to the rotation of the leaflets with a period of about three to five minutes. This plant also has a legend behind it which is quiet interesting.

3. Euphorbia obesa: the Baseball Plant

Euphorbia Obesa, also known as the Baseball Plant, is endemic to the Great Karoo region of South Africa. This plant is endangered because of over-collection. It has become very common in cultivation. By growing large numbers of Euphorbia obesa, nurseries and botanical gardens have been working to ensure that specimens being traded and sold among plant collectors are not obtained from the wild.

4. Amorphophallus titanum: the Corpse Flower

It is a flower taller than man and has deep burgundy colour that mimics rotting flesh. It is called as "Corpse flower" due to its odour which is like the smell of a rotting animal. This Indonesian plant has the world's biggest inflorescence.

5. Adansonia: the Bottle Tree

Baobab is the common name for each of the nine species of tree in the genus Adansonia. They are native to Madagascar. They not only look like bottle but store water in their trunk in the trunk (up to 100,000 litres or 26,000 US gallons) to endure harsh drought conditions.

6. Tacca integrifolia: the Bat flower

The White Bat Plant is one of the world’s largest and most unusual flowers. It’s strange little black flowers come in clusters of twenty to forty and resemble bats’ faces, while the white bracts above resemble bats’ ears. The Bat Plant can grow to anywhere between 60 and 90 centimeters tall and comes in both a black version and a white version. The whiskers of the flower will also grow quite long, sometimes reaching all the way to the ground. An interesting fact about this weird wonder is that despite it’s resemblance to the lily it is actually a member of the yam family!

7. Antirrhinum majus: Snap dragon

If you’ve ever had any doubt as to whether or not a flower is a living creature, here’s the proof! Many gardeners and horticulturists are fond of Snapdragons for their bright colors and fragrance—not to mention if you squeeze the sides of a Snapdragon flower it looks like a dragon’s mouth opening and closing— but not so many gardeners and horticulturists know about the dragon skulls that are left once the Snapdragon has gone to seed! Interestingly enough, in ancient times people believed Snapdragons held mystical powers, and that and that growing them in one’s garden would protect one’s home from curses and evil. These tiny, perfect little skulls are quite a reminder of the circle of life, wouldn’t you say?

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welwitschia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codariocalyx_motorius

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia_obesa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorphophallus_titanum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adansonia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacca_integrifolia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antirrhinum_majus

Noctiluca - The Sea Sparkle

Have you ever seen a field full of flickering fireflies? What about a video of glowing jellyfish or anglerfish in the deep sea? These animals aren’t the only glow-in-the-dark creatures on Earth. The most common ones, though, are much, much smaller.

Some plankton can glow in the dark. The word for this is “bioluminescence,” which comes from “bio,” meaning life, and “lumin,” meaning light. Most of these plankton glow blue, but a few can glow green, red, or orange.

Bioluminescent plankton don’t glow all of the time. It takes energy to make the chemicals that allow them to glow. It would be a waste of that energy to glow during the daytime, just like you would be wasting batteries if you used a flashlight on a sunny day.

One example of bioluminescent algae is a dinoflagellate called Noctiluca, or sea sparkle. Noctiluca are so small that thousands of them can fit in a single drop of water. 

The glow produced by N. scintillans organisms can be perceived by humans as ghostly colored glow or bloom in the water, which appears when the water is disturbed. This gives N. scintillans the popular names "sea ghost" or "fire of sea".

In places like Bio-luminescent Bay in Puerto Rico, an island in the Caribbean, sea sparkle are so abundant that the water sparkles neon blue at night when you run your hand or a kayak paddle through it!

Scientists think that Noctiluca flashes to startle or scare away its predators. The bio-luminescence might also attract bigger predators to eat Noctiluca’s predators, just like a burglar alarm that alerts the police to come to someone’s house to catch a robber.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctiluca_scintillans

http://eol.org/pages/901153/details

When we think of a polluted site, we can only think of removing the pollutants by some mechanical method. But do you know that living organisms can remove pollutants? Yes, bioremediation is the process that uses organisms to remove or neutralize pollutants.

 According to the United States EPA, bioremediation is a “treatment that uses naturally occurring organisms to break down hazardous substances into less toxic or non toxic substances”. The contaminated material can be treated on the site (in situ) or can be taken elsewhere for its treatment (ex situ).

But microorganisms are not capable of removing all kinds of contaminants. Few heavy metals such as Cadmium & lead are not absorbed by microorganisms. The assimilation of metals such as mercury into the food chain causes mercury poisoning. Phytoremediation is useful in these circumstances because natural plants or transgenic plants are able to bioaccumulate these toxins in their above-ground parts, which are then harvested for removal. A recent experiment, suggests that the removals of pollutants (nitrate, silicate, chromium and sulphide) from tannery wastewater were studied in batch experiments using marine microalgae. The heavy metals in the harvested biomass may be further concentrated by incineration or even recycled for industrial use.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can be used to assist phytoremediation of soil hydrocarbon contaminants (Rajtor M, Piotrowska-Seget Z; July 2016). Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) form mutualistic associations with the roots of 80-90% of vascular plant species and may constitute up to 50% of the total soil microbial biomass. AMF have been considered to be a tool to enhance phytoremediation, as their mycelium create a widespread underground network that acts as a bridge between plant roots, soil and rhizosphere microorganisms. Abundant extramatrical hyphae extend the rhizosphere thus creating the hyphosphere, which significantly increases the area of a plant's access to nutrients and contaminants. They focused on

 (1) an impact of hydrocarbons on arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis, 

(2) a potential of AMF to enhance phytoremediation, 

(3) determinants that influence effectiveness of hydrocarbon removal from contaminated soils. 

This knowledge may be useful for selection of proper plant and fungal symbionts and crucial to optimize environmental conditions for effective AMF-mediated phytoremediation. It has been concluded that three-component phytoremediation systems based on synergistic interactions between plant roots, AMF and hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms demonstrated high effectiveness in dissipation of organic pollutants in soil.

Heavy metals can be removed from wastewater by aquatic plants (Rezania S, Taib SM, Md Din MF, Dahalan FA, Kamyab H ; July 2016) . Environmental pollution specifically water pollution is alarming both in the developed and developing countries. Heavy metal contamination of water resources is a critical issue which adversely affects humans, plants and animals. Phytoremediation is a cost-effective remediation technology which able to treat heavy metal polluted sites. This environmental friendly method has been successfully implemented in constructed wetland (CWs) which is able to restore the aquatic biosystem naturally. Nowadays, many aquatic plant species are being investigated to determine their potential and effectiveness for phytoremediation application, especially high growth rate plants i.e. macrophytes. Based on the findings, phytofiltration (rhizofiltration) is the sole method which defined as heavy metals removal from water by aquatic plants. Due to specific morphology and higher growth rate, free-floating plants were more efficient to uptake heavy metals in comparison with submerged and emergent. The following four well known species (hyper-accumulators) were investigated:

1)Pistia stratiotes

 2)Eicchornia spp., 

3) Lemna spp. 

 4) Salvinia spp. 

Limited research is done on bioremediation of heavy metals by plants. Though few species of plants have been identified which can take up heavy metals but it is not mentioned clearly that in which part of the plant the heavy metals will be accumulated, how to harvest those parts & how these metals can be extracted for industrial purpose. Also more terrestrial plant species need to be identified that can take up heavy metals. There is definitely scope for more research in this field.

References:

 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioremediation

2. Heavy metals removal by diverse aquatic plants species from wastewater 

    Rezania S, Taib SM, Md Din MF, Dahalan FA, Kamyab H  (July 2016)

      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed

3. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) assist phytoremediation of soil hydrocarbon         contaminants.

   Rajtor M, Piotrowska-Seget Z (July 2016)

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed