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The value of seeing a mind in meditation

Using neurofeedback techniques, Dr. Judson Brewer of Yale says he can teach people to “see” the subjective experience known to meditators as mindfulness. Brewer explains that too often we trip ourselves up when we get caught up in our own thinking. In the video and accompanying research papers, Brewer and colleagues describe how subjects can […]

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Researchers Find New Way to Create ‘Gradients’ for Understanding Molecular Interactions

Scientists use tools called gradients to understand how molecules interact in biological systems. Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technique for creating biomolecular gradients that is both simpler than existing techniques and that creates additional surface characteristics that allow scientists to monitor other aspects of molecular behavior.

A gradient is a material that has a specific molecule on its surface, with the concentration of the molecule sloping from a high concentration on one end to a low concentration at the other end. The gradient is used not only to determine whether other molecules interact with the molecules on the gradient, but to determine the threshold level at which any interactions take place. (more…)

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Creating cleaner dirt

MSU students and faculty are cleaning up farming with worms.

The group is involved in a program called RISE, The Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment. It is researching and implementing vermicomposting in a greenhouse by Bailey Hall. (more…)

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Gentechnik im Bio-Gemüse?

Es hört sich nach einem Skandal an: Im Bioladen gebe es massenhaft gentechnisch verändertes Gemüse – und das ohne Kennzeichnung, hat das ZDF-Magazin WISO in seiner Sendung am 5. August berichtet. Was ist dran an der Geschichte?

17 von 37 getesteten Gemüseproben aus Bioläden seien im Labor als „gentechnisch verändert“ identifiziert worden. In Chicoree wurde genetisches Material der Sonnenblume, in Blumenkohl und Brokkoli Erbsubstanz des japanischen Rettichs nachgewiesen. Die Behauptung des ZDF ist dennoch schlicht falsch: Es handelt sich nicht um gentechnisch veränderte Organismen (GVOs) im Sinne der gebräuchlichen Definitionen – ansonsten wäre das Gemüse nicht nur im Bioladen mehr als unerwünscht, sondern schlicht illegal gewesen. Die EU erlaubt weder den Anbau noch den Import von gentechnisch verändertem Gemüse. (more…)

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