Don't refrigerate tomatoes for better aroma.

Don't refrigerate tomatoes for better aroma.Aroma, which is produced by a complex mixture of volatile compounds, plays an important role in consumers' perceptions of fresh fruits and vegetables. According to the researchers not only do pre and post-production practices such as time of harvest, use of plant growth regulators and storage temperature/atmosphere affect tomato aroma, common kitchen practices such as refrigeration and blanching are also detrimental.more

Vacuum cooling: Ensuring product quality and optimizing storage life.

Vacuum cooling: Ensuring product quality and optimizing storage life. Many vegetables, flowers, herbs and fruit quickly age after harvest. At harvest temperature, respiration and transpiration could be up to 25 times higher than with at optimum storage temperature. Vacuum cooling is a perfect method for this, ensuring optimal product quality, and optimizing storage or vase life. Vacuum cooling is a pre-cooling technique with an average cooling time of only 15-30 minutes. Vacuum cooling reduces: 1)The degree of respiration (and thus the risk of botrytis [in flowers] and black rot [in vegetables]). 2)Transpiration, and thus loss of fluids (maximizing your yield) 3)The production of ethylene and the sensitivity to this. 4)The development of microbes (and thus the percentage of production loss). more

How bubbles can help us treat cancer.

How bubbles can help us treat cancer.Injecting bubbles in the bloodstream is usually the cause of a medical emergency, but that's precisely what Eleanor Stride intends to do to help us fight cancer. The biomedical engineer from the University of Oxford has developed a method of delivering cancer drugs by encapsulating them inside microbubbles. This allows for a precise delivery of the drug to a target tumor, improving the efficacy of the treatment.more

Vaccine refrigerator runs on evaporation cycles.

Vaccine refrigerator runs on evaporation cycles. Coolar’s solar-powered refrigerators could improve the way vaccines are stored in developing countries.Julia Römer's refrigerators produce cold from heat. Many medicines - from asthma sprays to insulin to vaccines - must be cooled until moments before they're used. But in large parts of the world, electricity is not readily available In a conventional refrigerator, low temperatures are caused by the evaporation of a coolant. In Römer's solar-powered version, the evaporating liquid is water. Her system uses silica gel to attract water after evaporation and create a cycle: a solar panel generates heat that causes the gel to dry, then the water evaporates and is returned to circulation. The solar chiller needs almost no maintenance and is easy to dispose of since it doesn't contain any polluting substances.more

E-cigarettes poison 100 pets.

E-cigarettes poison 100 pets. Gudrun Ravetz, president of the British Veterinary Association said: "E-cigarettes may be harmful if they are ingested by your pet, as e-cigarettes and refills can easily contain sufficient quantities of nicotine to kill a small animal" A large increase of incidents involving e-cigarettes and vitamin D supplements were recorded in recent years.Some 113 pets were poisoned by e-cigarettes while 148 cases involved vitamin D tablets, figures from the Veterinary Poisons Information Service (VPIS) show - however they remain a small percentage of the overall total.more

Natural Pesticide with Chili Peppers.

How to use chilli pepper as natural pesticides. Chili peppers are very strong and insects have a very powerful sense of smell and taste. The chili works to basically fry their senses and causes them pain. They learn from their mistakes and do not bother your produce.

How to use chilli pepper as pesticides.

How to use chilli pepper as pesticides. Chili peppers are very strong and insects (as well as other animals) have a very powerful sense of smell and taste. The chili works to basically fry their senses and causes them pain. They learn from their mistakes and do not bother your produce. Use 20 chili peppers and dry them out. Grind the chili in to a fine dust. Fill a pot with 2 liters of water and add the chili dust. Boil this mixture for roughly 20 minutes. Remove the pot from the stove and add another 2 liters of water then allow it to fully cool. Strain the water through a cheese cloth then add potash soap to it (soft). This allows the spray to stick to the vegetation without hurting it. Fill a spray bottle with this liquid and apply to your plants once a week and twice if there is rain. A chili pepper can be an insecticide as well as a deterrent for other animals to ravage your crops. Many of us have to worry about groundhogs, rabbits and skunks. You can create a barrier that these animals will not willingly cross. As soon as they get a scent or a taste they will be disgusted and made ill. It will not kill them but will make them feel incredibly unpleasant. Get dried chili peppers and grind them to dust. Sprinkle the dust around the vegetation.more