Chocolate has made news over the past few months for the apparently heart-healthy properties of some of its components—antioxidants known as flavonoids (see Chocolate Hearts: http://www.sciencenews.org/20000318/bob10.asp.) These findings, together with data reported several years ago on the treats' ability to turn on opiate receptors in the brain (SN: 10/12/96, p. 235), threaten to transform the image of chocolate from dietary vice to herbal medicine.To meso-American anthropologists, however, the idea that chocolate can be health-promoting is old hat—very old hat.Revered by cultures throughout...

Chocolate has made news over the past few months for the apparently heart-healthy properties of some of its components—antioxidants known as flavonoids (see Chocolate Hearts: http://www.sciencenews.org/20000318/bob10.asp.) These findings, together with data reported several years ago on the treats' ability to turn on opiate receptors in the brain (SN: 10/12/96, p. 235), threaten to transform the image of chocolate from dietary vice to herbal medicine.To meso-American anthropologists, however, the idea that chocolate can be health-promoting is old hat—very old hat.Revered by cultures throughout...

Chocolate has made news over the past few months for the apparently heart-healthy properties of some of its components—antioxidants known as flavonoids (see Chocolate Hearts: http://www.sciencenews.org/20000318/bob10.asp.) These findings, together with data reported several years ago on the treats' ability to turn on opiate receptors in the brain (SN: 10/12/96, p. 235), threaten to transform the image of chocolate from dietary vice to herbal medicine.To meso-American anthropologists, however, the idea that chocolate can be health-promoting is old hat—very old hat.Revered by cultures throughout...

Chocolate has made news over the past few months for the apparently heart-healthy properties of some of its components—antioxidants known as flavonoids (see Chocolate Hearts: http://www.sciencenews.org/20000318/bob10.asp.) These findings, together with data reported several years ago on the treats' ability to turn on opiate receptors in the brain (SN: 10/12/96, p. 235), threaten to transform the image of chocolate from dietary vice to herbal medicine.To meso-American anthropologists, however, the idea that chocolate can be health-promoting is old hat—very old hat.Revered by cultures throughout...

Chocolate has made news over the past few months for the apparently heart-healthy properties of some of its components—antioxidants known as flavonoids (see Chocolate Hearts: http://www.sciencenews.org/20000318/bob10.asp.) These findings, together with data reported several years ago on the treats' ability to turn on opiate receptors in the brain (SN: 10/12/96, p. 235), threaten to transform the image of chocolate from dietary vice to herbal medicine.To meso-American anthropologists, however, the idea that chocolate can be health-promoting is old hat—very old hat.Revered by cultures throughout...

Chocolate has made news over the past few months for the apparently heart-healthy properties of some of its components—antioxidants known as flavonoids (see Chocolate Hearts: http://www.sciencenews.org/20000318/bob10.asp.) These findings, together with data reported several years ago on the treats' ability to turn on opiate receptors in the brain (SN: 10/12/96, p. 235), threaten to transform the image of chocolate from dietary vice to herbal medicine.To meso-American anthropologists, however, the idea that chocolate can be health-promoting is old hat—very old hat.Revered by cultures throughout...

On Sept. 10, scientists in Kabul reported the loss of Afghanistan's principal agricultural insurance policy: two stores of carefully collected seeds, materials selected to represent the genetic diversity of native crops.It was a looting of the worst kind—a theft of that agrarian country's stockpiled agricultural heritage. In it were seeds to help that nation's 22 million people rebuild the capacity to feed themselves.Ironically, the stores were not plundered for those plant materials; the seeds were dumped in disarray onto the floor of ransacked buildings in two cities. The looters merely ran ...

Something looked suspicious.On Aug. 13, a helicopter from the Navy's USS Fife spotted an 84-foot fishing boat—the King Diamond II out of Honolulu—plowing slowly through international seas southeast of Acapulco, Mexico. Riding low in the water, the modern vessel appeared weighted down with heavy cargo. Yet there were no signs of fishing gear. Particularly curious, on its deck was a shipping container like those ferried by long-haul trucks or container ships.When the crew radioed in the sighting, a Coast Guard law-enforcement detachment on the Fife agreed that something didn't sound quite right....

When it comes to fresh fruit, looks can be deceiving.The prettiest apples may be tasteless or their texture mealy. Intact, ruby-hued skin may hide a large, mushy bruise. As a result, each purchase becomes somewhat of a gamble.Federal engineers with the Agricultural Research Service hope to up a buyer's odds with a system they're developing in a laboratory at Michigan State University. They shine near infrared (NIR) light onto apples and then analyze the light both that's reflected back at a slightly altered wavelength and that's scattered.The first type of spectral data offers some information...

When it comes to fresh fruit, looks can be deceiving.The prettiest apples may be tasteless or their texture mealy. Intact, ruby-hued skin may hide a large, mushy bruise. As a result, each purchase becomes somewhat of a gamble.Federal engineers with the Agricultural Research Service hope to up a buyer's odds with a system they're developing in a laboratory at Michigan State University. They shine near infrared (NIR) light onto apples and then analyze the light both that's reflected back at a slightly altered wavelength and that's scattered.The first type of spectral data offers some information...

When it comes to fresh fruit, looks can be deceiving.The prettiest apples may be tasteless or their texture mealy. Intact, ruby-hued skin may hide a large, mushy bruise. As a result, each purchase becomes somewhat of a gamble.Federal engineers with the Agricultural Research Service hope to up a buyer's odds with a system they're developing in a laboratory at Michigan State University. They shine near infrared (NIR) light onto apples and then analyze the light both that's reflected back at a slightly altered wavelength and that's scattered.The first type of spectral data offers some information...

With some half of the adult U.S. population overweight—many individuals severely so—is it any wonder that the fastest growing segment of the dietary supplement industry is weight-loss aids? Since 1997, sales of diet pills and related supplements have been increasing 10 to 20 percent annually to the point where last year they reached $2 billion.The biggest sellers continue to be products based on ephedra, or ma huang, a Chinese herb from the Ephedra sinica. Although the Food and Drug Administration has logged at least 1,173 "adverse event" reports among users of such products, "as many as 3 bil...

Some 60 percent of U.S. adults say they're worried at the prospect of developing cancer, yet only 6 percent recognize that being overweight is a leading predisposing factor.That's one finding from a June survey, commissioned by the American Institute for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C. The survey was unveiled on July 11 at a meeting in Washington by Philip James of the London-based International Obesity Task Force.It's ironic, James notes, that so few people recognize obesity's role in cancer. Accumulating data indicate, he says, that "you can probably ascribe over 100,000 new cases of can...

One common experience that tourists encounter while traveling far from home is gut-wrenching diarrhea. In some developing countries, it's so common that it's picked up geographic eponyms, like Montezuma's revenge in Mexico or Delhi belly on the Indian subcontinent.Rates of disease can be amazingly high. On average, 40 percent of U.S. visitors to Mexico develop the runs. Meanwhile, some 50 to 70 percent of Europeans visiting such high-risk destinations as India and Kenya develop diarrhea during a 2-week stay, according to a 2000 report by an international group of researchers.Now, data emerge c...

One common experience that tourists encounter while traveling far from home is gut-wrenching diarrhea. In some developing countries, it's so common that it's picked up geographic eponyms, like Montezuma's revenge in Mexico or Delhi belly on the Indian subcontinent.Rates of disease can be amazingly high. On average, 40 percent of U.S. visitors to Mexico develop the runs. Meanwhile, some 50 to 70 percent of Europeans visiting such high-risk destinations as India and Kenya develop diarrhea during a 2-week stay, according to a 2000 report by an international group of researchers.Now, data emerge c...