Music can influence how much you like the taste of beer, say scientists. Their findings suggest that a range of multi-sensory information, such as sound, sensation, shape and colour, can influence the way we perceive taste. A team of researchers led by Dr. Felipe Reinoso Cavalho, from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and KU Leuven, designed an experiment [...]
For the first time, scientists have shown that malaria-transmitting mosquitoes actively avoid feeding on certain animal species such as chickens, using their sense of smell. Odours emitted by species such as chickens could provide protection for humans at risk of mosquito-transmitted diseases, according to a study in Malaria Journal.Researchers found that Anopheles arabiensis, one of [...]
Plastic microbeads are very much in the news right now - and as if the other environmental damage they cause isn't enough, new research has shown potentially lethal bacteria are living on them and hitching a ride into the North Sea. Summer heatwaves could result in the strong proliferation of pathogenic bacteria in North and Baltic Seas. [...]
Biologists at Hiroshima University have identified the genetic mutation that could ruin production of high-quality sake.The research was part of an academic-government-industry collaboration involving the Japan National Institute of Brewing, the Asahi Sake Brewing Company, and several universities.Two types of sake considered to be of especially high quality are daiginjo-shu and junmai-daiginjo-shu and are often [...]
A group of Wisconsin’s federal lawmakers have requested the US Food and Drug Administration look again at recent standards intended to limit the level of non-toxigenic E. coli allowed in raw milk cheese. 'Raw' milk - or to give it its proper scientific name, sewage - is milk that has not been pasteurised. While cheese carries a lower risk of foodborne [...]
Detergent wet wipes used to clean hospital wards are helping spread deadly superbugs, a new study has revealed. The study discovered that not only were all the wipes tested incredibly poor at removing dangerous pathogenic bacteria, but also that in ‘every instance’ the wet wipes actually spread the superbugs from one surface to another. The [...]
It may sound like the makings of a bad joke but answering the question of how chickens crossed the sea may soon provide more than just a punchline. A study of the mysterious ancestry of the feral chicken population that has overrun the Hawaiian Island of Kauai may aid efforts to curtail the damage done by invasive [...]
A new vaccine providing long-lasting protective immunity against the Ebola virus has potential for development as a wider vaccine strategy to prevent spread of ebolavirus infections. A new study shows the durability of this novel Ebola virus vaccine and its potential to reduce ebolavirus infection in wild African ape species. Apes are one of the reservoirs for ebolavirus [...]
A new analysis of a medieval cesspit in the Christian quarter of the old city of Jerusalem has revealed the presence of a number of ancient parasite eggs, providing a window into the nature and spread of infectious diseases in the Middle East during the 15th century. Researchers found evidence of six species of intestinal [...]
Households can serve as a reservoir for transmitting meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and once the organism enters a home it can linger for years, spreading from person to person and evolving genetically to become unique to that household. MRSA are strains of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus that are resistant to almost all beta-lactam antibiotics and since [...]
