Category Biology/Biotechnology

This model car’s carbon fibre roof and battery electrodes are made with wood. Credit: Image courtesy of KTH The Royal Institute of Technology

Swedish researchers have produced the world’s first model car with a roof and battery made from wood-based carbon fibre – a lightweight and renewable alternative to metals and other composites. Remember wood paneled station wagons? Well, wood is back, but this time it’s not for aesthetics – it’s for reducing vehicle weight with renewable materials. Swedish researchers have just produced the world’s first model car with a roof and battery made from wood-based carbon fibre.

Although it’s built on the scale of a toy, the prototype vehicle represents a giant step towards realizing a vision of new lightweight materials from the forest, one of the benefits...

Highlights •Prevotella/Bacteroides is associated with a beneficial response to barley kernels •Prevotella-enriched microbial interactions are higher in barley kernel responders •Prevotella protects against Bacteroides-induced glucose intolerance •Prevotella promotes increased hepatic glycogen storage in mice

A recent study from Lund University in Sweden shows that barley can rapidly improve people’s health by reducing blood sugar levels and the risk for diabetes. The secret lies in the special mixture of dietary fibres found in barley, which can also help reduce people’s appetite and risk for cardiovascular disease.

The study was conducted with healthy middle-aged participants who were asked to eat bread largely made out of barley kernels for 3 days – at breakfast, lunch and dinner...

Anatomical sites of brown, white and beige adipocytes in mice and humans.

Mild stress stimulates the activity and heat production by brown fat associated with raised cortisol. Brown adipose tissue (BAT), also known as brown fat, is 1 of 2 types of fat in humans and other mammals. Initially only attributed to babies and hibernating mammals, it was discovered in recent years that adults can have brown fat too. Its main function is to generate body heat by burning calories (opposed to white fat, which is a result of storing excess calories. People with a lower body mass index (BMI) therefore have a higher amount of brown fat.

To induce a mild psychological stress, 5 healthy lean women had to solve a short maths test in the first run, but in the second run, the test was substituted with a rela...

There are a whole lot of good reasons to eat wholegrain products , including the health-promoting benzoxazinoids. Credit: Colourbox

Rye bread and other wholegrain foods contain a particular group of health-promoting substances: benzoxazinoids, or BX. Scientists have documented the uptake of these compounds in humans and their possible beneficial effect on the immune system. Their presence in wholegrain was discovered by scientists from Aarhus University in 2010. Now, the scientists have dug more deeply to discover the BX factor’s secrets.

“Certain medicinal plants and green cereals have previously been found to contain BX, but it was a revelation that they are also found in ripened rye and other wholegrains...