Columbus, OH

Would you eat potatoes grown in human poo? And how would you feel if the marigolds in your local park sprouted from human manure? In the midst of climate crisis, human manure offers significant environmental benefits. But can we overcome the "yuck factor" to embrace this sustainable solution?. The climate...

Human manure or 'nightsoil' makes great crop fertilizer—but attitudes to poo-grown produce differ drastically

Cucumbers are one of the few produces I keep stocked in my kitchen year-round. As a key ingredient in some of my favorite dishes like fattoush, gazpacho, and spicy smashed cucumber salad, this vegetable (a fruit, depending on who you ask) brings a burst of freshness to meals that really can’t be replicated by any other ingredient.

The 3 Reasons English Cucumbers Come Wrapped In Plastic

Mental_Floss

The microwave holds a unique place in modern life: we use it all the time, it sometimes makes things blow up, and very few of us can really and truly, hand-on-heart, say we know how it works. So it’s probably not out of the question to assume you haven’t cleaned...

Your Microwave Is Covered With Bacteria—Here’s What to Do About It

The online debate about tilapia is endless. Did you know that it's a fish that's pumped full of hormones and fed its own waste? No, wait, it's an environmentally friendly and sustainable mild fish that can carry many flavor profiles and works well in a variety of dishes. With fans and critics either singing its praises or bashing it, one must ask the question: Is tilapia really a garbage fish?

Is Tilapia Really A Garbage Fish?

After eight years of testing dark chocolate, a new study reveals many products were contaminated with lead and cadmium — two heavy metals toxic to human health. Organic chocolates were “significantly more likely” to have higher levels of both heavy metals than conventional options, researchers at George Washington University and ConsumerLab.com reported Wednesday in Frontiers in Nutrition.

Many dark chocolate products contain heavy metals, study finds. 1 type stood out

Have you ever taken a moment to consider the plastic items in your close vicinity? Plastic objects are quite ubiquitous, fulfilling various roles; from the bags we fill with food supplies to the water bottles we use to maintain our hydration. However, there could be more to these everyday items...

Drinking from plastic bottles raises your blood pressure

An international team of infectious disease researchers with the World Mosquito Program, working with colleagues from WeRobotics, has developed a way to release large numbers of mosquitoes infected with a mosquito-killing bacteria into the wild much more efficiently than current methods. In their paper published in the journal Science Robotics,...

Using a drone to release mosquitoes infected with deadly bacteria into the wild

Food & Wine

Glass containers are really where it's at.

Why You Shouldn’t Microwave Your Food in Plastic Containers, According to Toxicologists and an Epidemiologist

The Independent

 Workers have been filmed hitting suffering pigs at an RSPCA-backed slaughterhouse supplying pork to Tesco and other supermarkets.The scenes of cruelty were captured in secret filming at C&K Meats in Eye, Suffolk, which kills up to 1,400 pigs a day in gas chambers – both intensively-reared and free-range.The abattoir, which is endorsed by the RSPCA Assured scheme, sells pork to Tesco, the Co-op, Aldi, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Asda and Lidl among others. Some of it, such as bacon and sausages, is sold under differently branded labels.C&K Meats says it takes animal welfare seriously, with regular inspections by vets. But the...

Workers hit sick pigs at RSPCA-backed slaughterhouse supplying pork to Tesco and other supermarkets

We do our best to take care of ourselves, but recent testing shows there’s a potentially harmful chemical that even our fresh veggies can carry onto the plate — perchlorate, which is used in rocket fuel, missiles, explosives, airbags and certain types of plastic. Consumer Reports analyzed samples...

Groceries and Fast Food Are Widely Tainted With a Rocket Fuel Chemical, Testing Finds

A new study has introduced a technique using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to detect low levels of pesticide residues on food, suggesting that washing alone might be insufficient to remove pesticides, and peeling may be necessary. Pesticides and herbicides are critical to ensuring food security worldwide, but these substances can...

Concerning Findings: New Research Reveals That Washing Your Fruit Doesn’t Remove All Pesticides

Fungi are having a cultural moment, thanks in large part to the horror franchise The Last of Us, in which society has collapsed after an outbreak of a fungal infection that turns humans into violent, zombie-like hosts. While real-life fungi won’t be turning us into zombies any time soon, they have become an increasingly worrisome threat to our health. Fungal infections are a lot harder to treat that those caused by bacteria. Here’s why.

Why Diseases Caused by Fungi Are So Frightening

With or without a yield monitor, the person driving the combine or forage harvester for many years can probably point out on a map where the best and worst yields consistently come from. What is happening to those areas of fields that consistently produce exceptional yields?. Many factors affect crop...

6 common traits of top-yielding fields

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NewsNinja

They can’t believe the employee’s response. An attempt at reviewing desserts from Crumbl Cookies took an awkward turn for two TikTokers who weren’t happy with the Oreo cheesecake.

‘They’re doing something wrong’: Crumbl customers ask for a refund after ordering Oreo cheesecake.

The Lens

This year’s area of low oxygen in the Gulf of Mexico is larger than average, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Thursday. The “dead zone” is approximately 6,705 square miles , as measured last week. Within NOAA’s 38 years of measuring the dead zone, this year’s assessment marks the 12th-largest area of low to no oxygen, which can kill fish and marine life.

Gulf ‘dead zone’ larger than average, larger than expected for 2024, scientists announce

Researchers at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague have achieved a significant breakthrough in water purification by developing low-cost activated carbons derived from biomass waste, specifically artichoke leaves and pomegranate peels. This innovative method effectively removes common pharmaceutical contaminants, caffeine (CFN) and acetaminophen (ACT), from water sources. The...

Achieving effective removal of caffeine and painkillers, scientists turn food waste into water cleaners

The Healthy 

Maybe you’ve heard about the increasing research that’s suggesting too much exposure to polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, could increase cancer risk and disrupt hormonal harmony. Meanwhile, another substance used in plastic packaging, bisphenol A or BPA, has been linked to high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and heart disease, according to the Mayo Clinic.

This Food Packaging “Significantly” Produces Microplastics in Urine, Says New Research

Even the microwave oven in your kitchen is not immune to bacteria. The irradiating environment within a microwave oven might seem inhospitable to microbes. But swabs from microwave ovens in several different locales identified over 100 bacterial strains, researchers report August 7 in Frontiers in Microbiology. This is the first time that scientists have documented microbial communities living in microwave ovens, according to the researchers.

More than 100 bacteria species can flourish in microwave ovens

Kentucky State

Pinehurst, NC

Town Talks

Choosing the right place to retire involves balancing affordability, access to healthcare, and proximity to loved ones. But safety is also crucial, especially for older adults.

Lovely North Carolina City Was Just Crowned America’s Safest Place To Retire

Festival season is in full flow, and like any self-respecting plant-soil biogeochemist attending a local music festival, I'm curious about how these outdoor events might modify important nutrient cycles. With crowds gathering in fields, consuming lots of food and drink, then excreting these in, shall we say, not exactly ideal...

How human urine can disrupt soil health and water quality

NewsBreak

Human manure makes great crop fertilizer. Here’s why we shouldn’t raise a stink over the idea

Would you eat potatoes grown in human poo? And how would you feel if the marigolds in your local park sprouted from human manure? In the...

Human manure makes great crop fertilizer. Here’s why we shouldn’t raise a stink over the idea

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