Nerdy Science Blog

When did human start eating fish?  Why did human eat fish?  As a creature being on the land, it is unlikely for early human to think fish as a source of food.

An international team of research conducted a chemical analysis of protein collagen of a 40,000-year-old bone found at Tianyuan Cave near Beijing.  They examined the ratios of isotopes of nitrogen and sulfur, and determined that the bone owner was a regular fish consumer.  This study became direct evidence that the earliest modern human who ate fish was back in 40,000 years ago.

This regular fish consumption evidence was before the effective making of fishing equipment.  It is believed that the consumption of aquatic resources may be a reflection of pressure from expanding population when modern human emerged across Eurasia.

The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

At a local conference last year, I had a chance to meet up with a researcher who hails from the University of Manchester. He was one of the invited speakers to present a plenary lecture on the latest technology for protein detection. During tea section, he brought up an interesting view regarding adding milk to tea. Tea is known to contain a compound known as flavanoid which has antioxidant properties, and milk contains casein. Therefore, if milk is added to tea, the casein will bind to flavanoid render the tea to lose its antioxidant function.

In 2007, a research regarding the effects of milk on tea was carried out by a group of scientists from Berlin (lead by Verena Stangl, a professor in cardiology). The results which were published in the European Heart Journal shows that the concentration of one of the flavanoids of black tea-catechins, had reduced after milk was added. This results in elimination of the beneficial effects of black tea such as vasorelaxation of arteries, anti-inflammatory, and of course, antioxidant properties. These were proven on 16 healthy female volunteers and also on rats. The drinking habit of adding milk to tea is widely practiced in England, which ironically has higher incidence of cardiac diseases as compared to Asian countries.

Therefore, thinking of adding milk into your nice cup of tea in the next tea session? Think again.

(Source of pic: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/40/125297497_d02dd38997.jpg?v=0)

Asian Food Information Centre (AFIC) has released a consumer survery showing that consumers from Asia are ready to accept the benefits of biotechnology derived foods.

That notwithstanding, the AFIC survey “Consumer Perception on Acceptance of biotech Food in Asia”, conducted by Nielsen across five Asian countries inlcuding Idnia, Japan, China, Philippines and S Korea, has found that in India, a significant 95% of consumers support plant biotechnology related to  sustainable food production; 84% of Indians are ready to purchase biotech food such as tastier tomato, cheaper food staples adn foods/cooking oil with a healthier fat profile: more confident with food safety levels in the country, vis a vis other Asian countries surveyed.

There are a lot of typos in this news report.  The editor should do proofreading.

When I was at China Airport, I saw this box of chocolate, “China Panda Chocolate”. This triggered my imagination, whether it’s made of the panda itself, or its poop.

Vanessa Hull, 25, a Ph.D. candidate, is in the snowy, remote mountains of the Sichuan Province of China — which also is the heart of panda habitat. She’s hoping to capture, collar and track up to four wild pandas using advanced global positioning systems.

Coincidently, I saw this piece of news.

By the way, that box of chocolate ain’t cheap. It costs at least RMB 100. Its taste is bad too.

Our food preferences are likely to be programmed from the moment we’re fertilized.

For the first time, scientists have linked the all-too-human preference for a food — chocolate — to a specific, chemical signature that may be programmed into the metabolic system and is detectable by laboratory tests. The signature reads ‘chocolate lover’ in some people and indifference to the popular sweet in others, the researchers say.

—— ScienceDaily: People Are Programmed To Love Chocolate, Study Finds

Some people might envy those who can eat a lot (such as me) and will never get fat. Researchers suggested that this might be because of the link between metabolic system and food we like, such as chocolate, carbs, steaks, etc.

So stop using “fattening” restraining yourself from eating chocolate, you’re just not talented. So do durianphobic losers.

Working in lab, apart from lab works, there’ll always be times where we are craving for snack or drink. Well, you know, most of biological labs are strictly prohibited from eating and drinking, it is killing for some of us especially after long hours staying in lab working hard on a work.

As a coffee addict, I usually have my coffee during lunch break. But most of the time, those “kopi tarik” or nescafe can be pretty s*ck by its less coffee powder and excessive condensed milk, though I had again and again asking for less sweet coffee, it will either turn out to be still the same or ‘coffee favor sky juice’ — tasteless!

To stop myself from walking back to the lab full with disappointment and stop spending monies (RM1.40/cup) on those unworth coffee, I finally bought myself some 3 in 1 nescafe which is much more cheaper, costing only about RM0.20~0.30/pack and giving me same aroma and taste. All I need is another mug of hot water, and it’s provided by water heater (not water bath) in another room.

I was surfing through internet one day searching for journals and protocols, I had a good laugh seeing this pics.

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I don’t like potatoes for no reason, this get me away from the harm of french fries (they are really bad to your health). Though I don’t like potatoes, that does not make me hate potatoes lovers. So I am going to tell you that green potatoes are poisonous.

You should not eat green potatoes because they contain a chemical called solanine (glycoalkaloid poison). Solanine is very toxic even in small amount. It is created by nightshade plants as a defense mechanism against diseases, insects and predators. Solanine produced by potatoes when they are exposed to sunlight, even the fluorescent lights in supermarket can stimulate the potatoes to turn green and produce glycoalkaloid. You can’t ‘kill’ solanine by cooking the potato as they are heat stable toxic and it is bitter.

I found an interesting review here about the chemical. Guess no one can poison me by serving me potato as I don’t eat them at all.

When I saw this news from Yahoo! News saying that scientist develops caffeinated doughnuts, I was stunned.

I was stunned not because the product is so incredible, but it is so dumb. Imagine when the product is out of the market, and I’d order, “give me a cup of coffee and a doughnuts without caffein” or “give me the caffeinated doughnuts and a cup of coffee without caffein”.

How dumb it sounds. I have no idea what’s the better way he meant, but sure he loves baked food and want to be waken by them, A LOT!