rick301 Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB1SMP2T7E.html Scientists Discover Why Some Popcorn Kernels Don't Pop By Rick Callahan Associated Press Writer Published: Apr 21, 2005 INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Eat your way to the bottom of almost any bag of popcorn and there they are: the rock-hard, jaw-rattling unpopped kernels known as old maids. The nuisance kernels have kept many a dentist busy, but their days could be numbered: Scientists say they now know why some popcorn kernels resist popping into puffy white globes. It's long been known that popcorn kernels must have a precise moisture level in their starchy center - about 15 percent - to explode. But Purdue University researchers found the key to a kernel's explosive success lies in the composition of its hull. Unpopped kernels, it turns out, have leaky hulls that prevent the moisture pressure buildup needed for them to pop and lack the optimal hull structure that allows most kernels to explode. "They're sort of like little pressure vessels that explode when the pressure reaches a certain point," said Bruce Hamaker, a Purdue professor of food chemistry. "But if too much moisture escapes, it loses its ability to pop and just sits there." The findings may help popcorn breeders select the best varieties - or create new ones - with superior hulls that yield few, if any, unpopped kernels. But for now, there's no way to screen out potential old maids before they end up in bags of popcorn. Hamaker and his associates compared the microwave popping performance of 14 Indiana-grown popcorn varieties and examined the crystalline structure of the translucent hulls of both the popped kernels and the duds. In the varieties popped, the percentage of unpopped kernels ranged from 4 percent in premium brands to 47 percent in the cheaper ones. The findings could be good news for people who savor the snack and those who grow the 17 billion quarts of popcorn sold each year in the United States. Wendy Boersema Rappel, a spokeswoman for the Chicago-based Popcorn Board, said popcorn processors are always looking for ways to improve their product, including reducing the number of old maids. "It's one of life's annoyances - it's not rocking anyone's world, but our members always like to improve their product," Rappel said. Hamaker said two popcorn manufacturers have already expressed interest in Purdue's findings. The research, funded by Purdue's Whistler Center for Carbohydrate Research, which Hamaker directs, has been published online and will appear in the July 11 edition of the journal BioMacromolecules. --- On the Net: The Popcorn Board: http://www.popcorn.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manichispanic Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 List of Incurable Diseases Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia Acute Myeloid Leukemia Alzhiemers Acquired Immune Defficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Asparylglucosaminuria Asthma Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) Autism B-Mannosidosis Batten Disease (Juvenile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis) Bi-polar Disorder (Manic-depression) Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Currarino Triad Cystic Fibrosis Cystinosis Emphysema (C.O.P.D.) Farber Disease Fucosidosis Galactosialidosis (Goldberg Syndrome) Gaucher Disease GM1 Gangliodsidosis Hairy cell leukemia Hopeless Aatrocytoma (Brain Cancer) Hurler-Scheie Hurler Syndrome Hunter Syndrome Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis Infertility Krabbe Disease Lissencephaly Lymphocytic Lymphoma Maroteaux-Lamy Metachromatic Leukodystrophy Morquio A Mucolipidosis II (I-Cell Disease) Mucolipidosis IV Multiple sclerosis (MS) Niemann-Pick, Types A and B Pompe Disease Prosaposin Pseudomyxoma Salla Disease Sandhoff Disease Sanfilippo A Scheie Syndrome Schindler Disease Schizophrenia Sialidosis (Mucolipidosis I) Sly Syndrome Spreading Adenocarcinoma Spreading Melanoma Takayasu's Arteritis (Pulseless Disease) Tay-Sachs Disease Wolman Disease glad to see unpopped popcorn is off that list :doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonard Washington Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 lol did you hear about about this discovery manic? http://www.nightmare.com/~rushing/gene_chips/gene_chips.html ITHACA, NY--In an announcement with major implications for future generations of big fat hogs, Cornell University geneticists announced Monday that they have isolated the specific DNA series that makes an individual susceptible to eating a whole goddamn bag of chips. "We have long known that the tendency to sit down and eat the whole goddamn bag runs in certain families," said team leader Dr. Edward Alvaro. "However, until we completed our work, we weren't sure whether the disposition to cram chips down your greasy gullet was genetic or whether it was a behavioral trait learned from one or both fat-**** parents. With the discovery of gene series CHP-48/OZ-379, we have proof positive that single-case serial chip-eating is indeed hereditary." For years, scientists have been aware of the numerous health complications linked to a person's predisposition to plop down and mow through a whole bag of chips, but it wasn't until now that they were able to isolate the gene that carries the trait. According to the Cornell team, series CHP-48/OZ-379 is a set of "alleles," or collections of genetic material, that cause chip-eaters to develop a markedly larger number of chip-responsive nerve endings in their cerebral material. "People with this gene have up to four times the amount of fritoceptors normally found in a human," Alvaro said. "This increases their pleasure response to snaxamine-2, the human body's principal chip-eating hormone, which is released in response to giant handfuls of chips being shoveled into the mouth. This tends to promote entire-goddamn-bag-eating behavior in those individuals who possess the series." One of the most interesting characteristics of the newly discovered series, researcher Dr. Paul Bergleiter said, is its tendency to appear more than once in the gene strands of a human subject. "Series CHP-48/OZ-379, because it is a fairly large, or 'fat-assed,' allele, tends to just lie around at convenient sites on the DNA sequence," Bergleiter said. "Though many subjects exhibit only one instance of this gene, on others we have found as many as four. This, of course, led these rather rare subjects to eat four times as many whole goddamn bags of chips as those in our control group." Though many more fatsos must be studied to determine CHP-48/OZ-379's transmission pattern, conventional wisdom seems to indicate that the gene is recessive. "Who would want to pass on their own intact genetic material to someone who just sat around eating chips all goddamn day?" Bergleiter asked. "Unless, of course, that was the only person you could find because you were such a big lard-ass yourself. That would probably be the only source of friendly RNA-transcriptive culture you could find." Carriers of the CHP-48/OZ-379 gene are hailing the Cornell find. "It is about time science took steps to help people like me--people who eat bags of chips like it's ****ing popcorn," said 370-pound Erie, PA, resident Russell Roberts. "I can't even get jogging pants in my size anymore." The discovery is considered the most significant advance in gene-mapping since a University of Chicago team isolated the DNA strand that causes people to shovel spoonfuls of ice cream into their mouths while standing in front of the friggin' freezer with the door wide open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinzfan4life Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 Originally posted by manichispanic List of Incurable Diseases Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia Acute Myeloid Leukemia Alzhiemers Acquired Immune Defficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Asparylglucosaminuria Asthma Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) Autism B-Mannosidosis Batten Disease (Juvenile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis) Bi-polar Disorder (Manic-depression) Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Currarino Triad Cystic Fibrosis Cystinosis Emphysema (C.O.P.D.) Farber Disease Fucosidosis Galactosialidosis (Goldberg Syndrome) Gaucher Disease GM1 Gangliodsidosis Hairy cell leukemia Hopeless Aatrocytoma (Brain Cancer) Hurler-Scheie Hurler Syndrome Hunter Syndrome Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis Infertility Krabbe Disease Lissencephaly Lymphocytic Lymphoma Maroteaux-Lamy Metachromatic Leukodystrophy Morquio A Mucolipidosis II (I-Cell Disease) Mucolipidosis IV Multiple sclerosis (MS) Niemann-Pick, Types A and B Pompe Disease Prosaposin Pseudomyxoma Salla Disease Sandhoff Disease Sanfilippo A Scheie Syndrome Schindler Disease Schizophrenia Sialidosis (Mucolipidosis I) Sly Syndrome Spreading Adenocarcinoma Spreading Melanoma Takayasu's Arteritis (Pulseless Disease) Tay-Sachs Disease Wolman Disease glad to see unpopped popcorn is off that list :doh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: You have a very good point! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashback Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 Hmmm. Is there a therapy yet for Fritoceptor Deficiency Syndrome? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancalagon the Black Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 Originally posted by manichispanic Hopeless Aatrocytoma (Brain Cancer) If you call it hopeless, aren't you kind of conceding defeat from the outset? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. S Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 haha, good point ATB. these 2 articles just scare me. Way to use our scientific minds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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