Nobel Conference Blog

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  • Cary Fowler honored with Heinz Family Foundation award

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    jdontje

    The Heinz Family Foundation has honored Cary Fowler, one of this year’s Nobel Speakers, with a Heinz Award. Established by Teresa Heinz to honor her late husband, US Senator John Heinz, the annual awards recognize individuals who have made contributions to areas of importance to John Heinz. This year’s awards, including a cash prize of…

  • It’s Paul Thompson Day in the Marketplace!

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    heldke

    Check out the VariVeggie Zone today, to find the menu inspired by Nobel Conference presenter Paul Thompson. Professor Thompson blogged about one of his favorite summer meals, heirloom tomatoes with cottage cheese and fresh black pepper–and about his dream of opening a restaurant chain called “Fat Elvis.” The Dining Service has recreated that meal here,…

  • Tabasco Sauce: now THAT’S evolved!

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    heldke

    Yet another upside of human evolution: we like to set our mouths on fire. In this Times article, we learn a bit about the psychology of pleasure and pain, as they concern the infernal chili. Linda Bartoshuk, our Wednesday afternoon speaker, explores the terrain of taste, pleasure and health.

  • Friedman Wins Lasker Award

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    mferrag

    Yesterday the  New York Times reported that the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation honored Jeffrey Friedman, Rockefeller University,  and Douglas Coleman, Jackson Laboratory, with the prestigious Lasker Award for their discovery of leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells that regulates metabolic rate and food intake.   Please do listen to Dr Friedman discuss “Leptin and…

  • “Push-pull” agriculture in Kenya links to Nobel discussions

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    jdontje

    Some news on the international ag production front. As background on the article, stem borer is obviously a kind of pest we are familiar with, but the Striga pest mentioned in the article is a parasitic weed with varied species that use their roots to steal nutrients from corn, sorghum, millet, and cowpeas (aka black-eyed…

  • Race to the genome, redux

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    heldke

    Remember when two rival organizations were racing to sequence the human genome? Well, it’s happening again; this time with something that is, to some, nearly as precious as their own life: chocolate. The USDA and Mars (the candy company, not the planet nor the god of war) have just this morning announced that they have…

  • Can we grow corn in Minnesota and still have wild-caught shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico?

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    brussell

    Guest blogger Joel Carlin writes: CNN published a story this week on Tony Thompson, a farmer in Windom, MN (just 75 miles southwest of St. Peter). Thompson is a super-fun guy who is very excited about keeping up the family tradition of farming in a way that is kinder to nature and consumers. Tony has met…

  • Theme for Nobel Conference 46 – Food and Nutrition

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    chuck

    What makes food good? To ask this question in contemporary society is to enter an arena in which aesthetic, ethical, economic, agro-ecological and physiological definitions of goodness intertwine, clash and vie for eaters’ attention. Few issues seem to demand our attention so frequently—and on such visceral levels—as does our need for good food. The question…