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