Tech

11 Methods of Food Preservation used by Food Industry

With the beginning of civilisations and human settlements, the need to preserve excess foods became essential for survival. Since then, many traditional and household practices have evolved to limit food spoilage. Such as cooking, the addition of spices and fermentation. In modern commercial food production, spoilage and contamination are preserved by a variety of methods such as Filtration, Lyophilisation, Refrigeration, Pasteurisation, Canned Food, Vaccum packing, Irradiation, Food preservatives etc.

Plants

What are Antitranspirants? How do they Reduce Water Loss in Plants?

Antitranspirants are the materials or chemicals which are capable of reducing the water loss from plant leaves. Almost 99 per cent of the water absorbed by the plant is lost in transpiration. Since water loss normally occurs through the stomatal pores in the leaves, anti-transpirants are usually foliar sprays.

Health

Free Radicals: What is their role in making us old?

From the beginning of time, humans have always been concerned about aging and have tried every bit of ability to defy this process. Many of us believe that aging results from the repetitive damage caused to our body cells due to radicals produced by the everyday metabolic activities that usually sustain our life also create "metabolic stress". But, recent studies are proving this theory of aging wrong, and are saying that so called - "evil radicals" are not so evil.

Biology

What are SNPs? Why are Scientists interested in them?

A most common and important source of genetic variability is known to be present uniformly throughout the genome is termed Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms or SNPs. Interest in SNPs lies in the fact that these polymorphisms may be responsible for the differences in disease susceptibility, drug metabolism and response to environmental factors between individuals. Even, if they are not directly responsible for the disease, they serve as genetic markers for a nearby locus that might be responsible.

Biology

How a 2 meters long DNA is fitted into a 2 micrometers Nucleus?

An average Human cell (diploid) contains about 6.4 billion base pairs of DNA divided among 46 chromosomes. The length of each base pair is about 0.34 nm. Therefore, if the DNA molecule in a diploid cell were laid out end to end, the total length of DNA would be approximately 2 meters.Since the diameter of a typical cell nucleus is only 10 μm, it is obvious for us to know that how is it possible to fit 2 meters of DNA in such small space without getting tangled up. The answer lies in the remarkable manner in which a DNA molecule is packaged.

Health

How do Bacteria become Resistant to Antibiotics?

Bacteria often become resistant through different kinds of mechanisms. One kind of mechanism is never confined to any specific class of antibiotics. Different resistance mechanisms are used in different bacteria to confront the same antibiotics. Prevention of Drug's Entry, Driving out the drug, and altering or degrading the antibiotics are some of the examples of mechanisms of antibiotic resistance employed by bacteria.

Health

What are Emerging and Re-Emerging Diseases?

Fifty years ago people believed that the war of humankind against infectious diseases was virtually over. They thought that science had won over diseases such as pneumonia, whooping cough, polio, and smallpox with the help of antibiotics, vaccines, and some aggressive public health campaigns. But, after the 1980s, emerging and re-emerging diseases have caused havoc. In… Continue reading What are Emerging and Re-Emerging Diseases?