How to tell if your olive oil is the real thing | Life and style | The Guardian:
Last month, the Olive Oil Times reported that two Spanish businessmen had been sentenced to two years in prison in Cordoba for selling hundreds of thousands of litres of supposedly extra virgin olive oil that was, in fact, a mixture of 70-80% sunflower oil and 20-30% olive.
In 2008, Italian police arrested over 60 people and closed more than 90 farms and processing plants across the south after uncovering substandard, non-Italian olive oil being passed off as Italian extra virgin, and chlorophyll and beta-carotene being added to sunflower and soybean oil with the same aim.
Most alarmingly, a study last year by researchers at the University of California, Davis and the Australian Oils Research Laboratory concluded that as much as 69% of imported European olive oil (and a far smaller proportion of native Californian) sold as extra virgin in the delicatessens and grocery stores on the US west coast wasn't what it claimed to be.
In Britain, of course, it wasn't so very long ago that the most likely place to find olive oil was the chemist. Today, thanks partly to the health claims made on its behalf and partly to the fact it tastes good, the oil Homer called "liquid gold" is in half of all UK homes and we get through 30m litres of olive oil every year – more than double than we did decade ago. We're now, in fact, the world's 10th biggest olive oil-consuming nation. So with a litre of supermarket extra virgin costing up to £4, and connoisseurs willing to pay 10 times that sum for a far smaller bottle of seasonal, first cold stone pressed, single estate, artisan-milled oil from Italy or Greece, can we be sure of getting what we're paying for?
Monday, July 28, 2014
Thursday, June 26, 2014
On the right path | Letters | Times Higher Education
On the right path | Letters | Times Higher Education
Given USF’s vision of becoming a global research university, our ambitious 2009 strategic enrolment goals, and our recognition that we had neither the luxury of time nor sufficiency of expertise and resources to achieve them, seeking a proven partner committed to a long-term “insourcing” model guided by student success made best sense to enable USF to deliver on its global talent recruitment strategy.
This strategy is built around attracting the best and brightest intellectual talent (students and scholars) from around the world; expanding the global diversity of our student body to enhance the quality and relevance of our education; extending the global reach and international brand recognition of a young research university; aligning with US multinational companies’ desire to educate and train their future global workforce in the US; encouraging more USF students to explore and connect with the world, and facilitating educational and research partnerships with a small number of top universities.
Due in large part to USF’s joint venture with INTO, our total international student population has grown 20 per cent annually over the past two years – almost three times the US average of 7 per cent as reported by the Institute of International Education. The university currently enrols 2,648 international students from 140 countries.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
New Energy Information, Technologies
New Energy Information, Technologies: New Energy Technology Resources
Our new energy technology resource list contains one-paragraph summaries of the best videos, websites, and a scholarly magazine which provide reliable new energy information. Ratings are given on both interest and reliability for each resource listed. Links are always provided for purchase or free viewing.
Our new energy technology resource list contains one-paragraph summaries of the best videos, websites, and a scholarly magazine which provide reliable new energy information. Ratings are given on both interest and reliability for each resource listed. Links are always provided for purchase or free viewing.
Clearwater Opens a Park for Horses
6/23/2014 9:50:45 AM
Contact: Anna Gurney
CLEARWATER, Fla. – The City of Clearwater has opened a 27-acre equestrian park just south of Lake Chautauqua Park equipped with facilities to allow horse-owners and their horses a place to enjoy a ride through a nature preserve.Lake Chautauqua Equestrian and Nature Preserve features parking spaces for horse trailers, a shaded pavilion with picnic benches, and even a self-watering trough. The land was acquired by the city in 2009 through a Florida Communities Trust grant in the city’s efforts to provide the community more natural park recreation opportunities. “Pinellas County is the most densely populated county in Florida. The City of Clearwater is committed to giving its citizens areas to enjoy natural ecosystems and biodiversity through land preservation. We have 110 parks in Clearwater, with 28 of them labeled nature preserves,” says Felicia Leonard of the City of Clearwater’s Parks & Recreation Department.
The project was funded through a $200,000 Recreational Trails Program grant by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Additional funding for the project came from Penny for Pinellas sale tax.
Lake Chautauqua Park is located at 2312 Landmark Drive, south of Enterprise Road in Clearwater. The park’s amenities include parking, trails and picnic areas. The park is open every day from dawn to dusk.
Monday, June 23, 2014
Higher Ed, Not Debt
About | Higher Ed, Not Debt: Higher Ed Not Debt is a a multi-year campaign of dozens of organizations dedicated to
tackling the crippling and ever-growing issue of student loan debt in America. With over $1.2 Trillion in outstanding educational debt, affecting more than 40 million Americans, we have partnered around a simple message and a clear objective: Higher Ed, Not Debt!
tackling the crippling and ever-growing issue of student loan debt in America. With over $1.2 Trillion in outstanding educational debt, affecting more than 40 million Americans, we have partnered around a simple message and a clear objective: Higher Ed, Not Debt!
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
endoRIOT: 200+ Free Documentaries That Will Expand Your Consciousness!
endoRIOT: 200+ Free Documentaries That Will Expand Your Consciousness!: 200+ Free Documentaries That Will Expand Your Consciousness!
200+ Free Documentaries That Will Expand Your Consciousness!
March
23, 2014 - UPDATED! Now over 200 movies! Do you feel like having a
'Movie Night' without Hollywood? Here is a list of 200 plus
consciousness expanding documentaries that will assist you in your
evolution, all of which can watched for free online in the
links below. Enjoy!
Leave a comment below if there are any other videos that you would like to recommend!
Also, if there are any broken links, please let us know as well!
Please share with your friends!
1. Home (2009)
2. Thrive (2011)
3. Paradise or Oblivion (2012)
4. Love, Reality and the Time of Transition (2011)
5. Earthlings (2005)
6. Everything You Know Is Wrong (2000)
7. Zeitgeist: Addendum (2008)
8. Zeitgeist: Moving Forward (2011)
9. The Money Fix (2009)
10. The Wikileaks Documentary (2010)
11. Owned & Operated (2012)
12. Overdose: The Next Financial Crisis (2010)
13. Apologies of an Economic Hitman (2010)
14. The Beautiful Truth (2008)
15. The Awakening (2011)
16. What Would It Look Like? (2009)
200+ Free Documentaries That Will Expand Your Consciousness!
March
23, 2014 - UPDATED! Now over 200 movies! Do you feel like having a
'Movie Night' without Hollywood? Here is a list of 200 plus
consciousness expanding documentaries that will assist you in your
evolution, all of which can watched for free online in the
links below. Enjoy!
Leave a comment below if there are any other videos that you would like to recommend!
Also, if there are any broken links, please let us know as well!
Please share with your friends!
1. Home (2009)
2. Thrive (2011)
3. Paradise or Oblivion (2012)
4. Love, Reality and the Time of Transition (2011)
5. Earthlings (2005)
6. Everything You Know Is Wrong (2000)
7. Zeitgeist: Addendum (2008)
8. Zeitgeist: Moving Forward (2011)
9. The Money Fix (2009)
10. The Wikileaks Documentary (2010)
11. Owned & Operated (2012)
12. Overdose: The Next Financial Crisis (2010)
13. Apologies of an Economic Hitman (2010)
14. The Beautiful Truth (2008)
15. The Awakening (2011)
16. What Would It Look Like? (2009)
devices to detect GMO and toxic foods
endoRIOT: Consumers will soon have devices in their hands to detect GMO and toxic foods: run on-the-spot tests for environmental toxins, GMOs, pesticides, food safety and more
Consumers will soon have devices in their hands to detect GMO and toxic foods
Marco Torres, Prevent Disease
In the not too distant future, consumers will be able to run on-the-spot
tests for environmental toxins, GMOs, pesticides, food safety and more
with their smartphones and other hand-held devices.
Every human being on every developed nation on Earth, whether living in a
rural or isolated area, in the middle of a large city, or near an
industrialized area, now contains at least 700 contaminants in their
body including pesticides, pthalates, benzenes, parabens, xylenes and
many other carcinogenic and endrocrine disrupting chemicals.
We are being bombarded on a daily basis by an astronomical level of
toxicity, all controlled by chemical terrorists on behalf of the food
industry. Morever, many of these toxins affect our fertility and those
of successive generations.
It’s time for people to know exactly what they are putting in their
bodies and technology is coming to the rescue. University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign researchers have developed a cradle and app that uses a
phone’s built-in camera and processing power as a biosensor to detect
toxins, proteins, bacteria, viruses and other molecules.
“We’re interested in biodetection that needs to be performed outside of
the laboratory,” said team leader Brian Cunningham, a professor of
electrical and computer engineering and of bioengineering at Illinois.
“Smartphones are making a big impact on our society — the way we get our
information, the way we communicate. And they have really powerful
computing capability and imaging. A lot of medical conditions might be
monitored very inexpensively and non-invasively using mobile platforms
like phones. They can detect molecular things, like pathogens, disease
biomarkers or DNA, things that are currently only done in big diagnostic
labs with lots of expense and large volumes of blood.”
“Modern biological research is also allowing an extension of laboratory
devices on to small computer chips to detect biological information
within DNA sequences,” said biotech specialist Dr. Marek Banaszewski.
“Bioinformatic algorithms within programs will aid the identification of
transgenes, promoters, and other functional elements of DNA, making
detection of genetically modified foods on-the-spot and real-time
without transportation to a laboratory.”
The wedge-shaped cradle created by Cunningham’s team contains a series
of optical components — lenses and filters — found in much larger and
more expensive laboratory devices. The cradle holds the phone’s camera
in alignment with the optical components.
At the heart of the biosensor is a photonic crystal. A photonic crystal
is like a mirror that only reflects one wavelength of light while the
rest of the spectrum passes through. When anything biological attaches
to the photonic crystal — such as protein, cells, pathogens or DNA — the
reflected color will shift from a shorter wavelength to a longer
wavelength.
The entire test takes only a few minutes; the app walks the user through
the process step by step. Although the cradle holds only about $200 of
optical components, it performs as accurately as a large $50,000
spectrophotometer in the laboratory. So now, the device is not only
portable, but also affordable for fieldwork in developing nations.
In a paper published in the journal Lab on a Chip, the team demonstrated
sensing of an immune system protein, but the slide could be primed for
any type of biological molecule or cell type. The researchers are
working to improve the manufacturing process for the iPhone cradle and
are working on a cradle for Android phones as well. They hope to begin
making the cradles available next year.
In addition, Cunningham’s team is working on biosensing tests that could
be performed in the field to detect toxins in harvested corn and
soybeans, and to detect pathogens in food and water.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Modular Solid
State Technologies EMFT in Regensburg have also engineered an ingenius
solution to detecting toxins – a glove that recognizes if toxic
substances are present in the surrounding air.
The protective glove is equipped with custom-made sensor materials and
indicates the presence of toxic substances by changing colors. In this
regard, the scientists adapted the materials to the corresponding
analytes, and thus, the application. The color change — from colorless
(no toxic substance) to blue (toxic substance detected). The researchers
also envision other potential applications for the glove in the food
industry.
Other handheld devices currently in development are portable
chemiluminescence detectors, but based on enzyme-catalyzed reactions
emitting light. The detection devices for nucleic acids, biotin
associated with the target DNA provides the handle for the
chemiluminescent detection. The non-radioactive DNA detection chemistry
will be able to readily identify single-copy genes in transgenic plants
making them suitable for GMO detection.
Consumers will soon have devices in their hands to detect GMO and toxic foods
Marco Torres, Prevent Disease
In the not too distant future, consumers will be able to run on-the-spot
tests for environmental toxins, GMOs, pesticides, food safety and more
with their smartphones and other hand-held devices.
Every human being on every developed nation on Earth, whether living in a
rural or isolated area, in the middle of a large city, or near an
industrialized area, now contains at least 700 contaminants in their
body including pesticides, pthalates, benzenes, parabens, xylenes and
many other carcinogenic and endrocrine disrupting chemicals.
toxicity, all controlled by chemical terrorists on behalf of the food
industry. Morever, many of these toxins affect our fertility and those
of successive generations.
It’s time for people to know exactly what they are putting in their
bodies and technology is coming to the rescue. University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign researchers have developed a cradle and app that uses a
phone’s built-in camera and processing power as a biosensor to detect
toxins, proteins, bacteria, viruses and other molecules.
“We’re interested in biodetection that needs to be performed outside of
the laboratory,” said team leader Brian Cunningham, a professor of
electrical and computer engineering and of bioengineering at Illinois.
“Smartphones are making a big impact on our society — the way we get our
information, the way we communicate. And they have really powerful
computing capability and imaging. A lot of medical conditions might be
monitored very inexpensively and non-invasively using mobile platforms
like phones. They can detect molecular things, like pathogens, disease
biomarkers or DNA, things that are currently only done in big diagnostic
labs with lots of expense and large volumes of blood.”
“Modern biological research is also allowing an extension of laboratory
devices on to small computer chips to detect biological information
within DNA sequences,” said biotech specialist Dr. Marek Banaszewski.
“Bioinformatic algorithms within programs will aid the identification of
transgenes, promoters, and other functional elements of DNA, making
detection of genetically modified foods on-the-spot and real-time
without transportation to a laboratory.”
The wedge-shaped cradle created by Cunningham’s team contains a series
of optical components — lenses and filters — found in much larger and
more expensive laboratory devices. The cradle holds the phone’s camera
in alignment with the optical components.
At the heart of the biosensor is a photonic crystal. A photonic crystal
is like a mirror that only reflects one wavelength of light while the
rest of the spectrum passes through. When anything biological attaches
to the photonic crystal — such as protein, cells, pathogens or DNA — the
reflected color will shift from a shorter wavelength to a longer
wavelength.
The entire test takes only a few minutes; the app walks the user through
the process step by step. Although the cradle holds only about $200 of
optical components, it performs as accurately as a large $50,000
spectrophotometer in the laboratory. So now, the device is not only
portable, but also affordable for fieldwork in developing nations.
In a paper published in the journal Lab on a Chip, the team demonstrated
sensing of an immune system protein, but the slide could be primed for
any type of biological molecule or cell type. The researchers are
working to improve the manufacturing process for the iPhone cradle and
are working on a cradle for Android phones as well. They hope to begin
making the cradles available next year.
In addition, Cunningham’s team is working on biosensing tests that could
be performed in the field to detect toxins in harvested corn and
soybeans, and to detect pathogens in food and water.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Modular Solid
State Technologies EMFT in Regensburg have also engineered an ingenius
solution to detecting toxins – a glove that recognizes if toxic
substances are present in the surrounding air.
The protective glove is equipped with custom-made sensor materials and
indicates the presence of toxic substances by changing colors. In this
regard, the scientists adapted the materials to the corresponding
analytes, and thus, the application. The color change — from colorless
(no toxic substance) to blue (toxic substance detected). The researchers
also envision other potential applications for the glove in the food
industry.
Other handheld devices currently in development are portable
chemiluminescence detectors, but based on enzyme-catalyzed reactions
emitting light. The detection devices for nucleic acids, biotin
associated with the target DNA provides the handle for the
chemiluminescent detection. The non-radioactive DNA detection chemistry
will be able to readily identify single-copy genes in transgenic plants
making them suitable for GMO detection.
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