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Report on U.S. food aid recommends ways to improve quality

A report on the quality of U.S. food aid released on Tuesday "has identified improvements experts hope will make relief campaigns more effective at fighting hunger," CNN reports.

28 Apr 2011

FDA rules e-cigarettes as tobacco products and plans regulations

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ruled that electronic cigarettes should be considered tobacco products. E-cigarettes are small plastic or metal devices that heat a liquid nicotine solution, creating a vapor that is then inhaled. They are marketed as a way to help smokers quit by addressing their addiction and the behavioral aspects of smoking.

26 Apr 2011

Senomyx receives U.S. patent for S2383 flavor ingredient

Senomyx, Inc., a leading company focused on using proprietary technologies to discover and develop novel flavor ingredients for the food, beverage, and ingredient supply industries, announced today that the Company has been granted U.S. Patent No. 7,928,111 covering foods and beverages containing S2383, a highly effective enhancer of the sweetener sucralose.

26 Apr 2011

Delegation of retired world leaders traveling to North Korea to address food shortages, other issues

Former President Jimmy Carter will lead a four-member delegation of retired world leaders on a trip to North Korea this week to discuss "how to ease sanctions on Pyongyang that have exacerbated a serious food crisis" and other issues, Agence France-Presse reports.

26 Apr 2011

Pranashama Yoga Institute to begin teacher training in Ubud, Bali

Pranashama Yoga Institute, Dashama's Yoga School, will lead their first yoga teacher training in Ubud, Bali, the same city Julia Roberts filmed the movie Eat, Pray, Love. In addition to immersing themselves in the culture of Bali, Indonesia, the participants will be practicing yoga and learning how to be yoga teachers as well.

25 Apr 2011

Happy people more likely to eat candy bars

Happy people are more likely to eat candy bars, whereas hopeful people choose fruit, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. That's because when people feel hope, they're thinking about the future.

22 Apr 2011

New Maryland research center to focus on environmental policymaking, activism

A new University of Maryland research center will focus on the human side of environmental policymaking and activism - one of the first of its kind in the field.

22 Apr 2011

University of Greenwich's lecture on resistance training and health to be held on April 27

The University of Greenwich's School of Science is holding a free public lecture on resistance training and health, at 6.30pm on Wednesday, April 27 at the Medway campus.

22 Apr 2011

“Possible” Smoking ban inside homes: Cancer Council SA

The Cancer Council of South Australia is planning to ban smoking inside Australian apartments and calls this plan “entirely possible and even probable.” Earlier this month an eight-unit apartment block in western Sydney introduced a by-law making the premises, including balconies, completely smoke-free.

19 Apr 2011

FAO, WFP launch international global food security platform to improve coordination

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program "have launched a new global food security platform" aimed at improving food security response coordination during natural disasters and other humanitarian situations, PTI/MSN India reports.

19 Apr 2011

G20 finance ministers' meeting concludes

G20 finance ministers "concluded three days of talks late Saturday with pledges of greater cooperation to avert another financial crisis, leaving uncertain how far they would go in changing their domestic policies in response to international pressures," the Associated Press/Christian Science Monitor reports.

19 Apr 2011

House passes FY12 budget resolution

The House on Friday passed "on a nearly party line vote of 235-193" an FY12 budget resolution, National Journal reports.

19 Apr 2011

Nerve disorder expert Jack Griffin passes away

Jack Griffin, an internationally acclaimed and admired expert on diseases of the peripheral nervous system, founding director of the Johns Hopkins Brain Science Institute, and former director of Hopkins School of Medicine's Department of Neurology, died Saturday, April 16, after a long battle with bladder cancer. He was 69.

18 Apr 2011

Human voice links us all together, helps define us as human beings: U-M Vocal Health Center director

In recognition of World Voice Day on April 16, Norman D. Hogikyan, M.D., professor of otolaryngology at the University of Michigan Medical School and director of the U-M Vocal Health Center, reminds us not only to think about vocal health, but the ways in which the human voice influences our lives and unites us.

16 Apr 2011

Crisis communication lessons from Japan's tsunami disaster

Adam Acar and Yuya Muraki of the Kobe City University of Foreign Studies surveyed and questioned Twitter users and tracked updates from people in the disaster-struck area on the social media site two weeks after the Tohoku earthquake and devastating tsunami of March 11. They hoped to determine what benefits such a system can bring to people involved in a disaster and to those hoping to hear news.

16 Apr 2011

World Bank President raises concerns about volatile world food prices' impact on poverty

"World Bank President Robert Zoellick on Thursday warned of rising food inflation and high oil prices resulting from political turmoil in the Middle East as risks to world growth, as they threaten to push more people into poverty," the Wall Street Journal's "Dispatch" blog reports.

16 Apr 2011

Economists urge G20 finance ministers to support Tobin tax to fund global development

One thousand economists have signed a letter calling on G20 finance ministers, who are meeting in Washington this week, to support the "so-called 'Robin Hood tax' or Tobin tax on transactions in financial markets," the Guardian reports.

15 Apr 2011

Great Place to Work Institute honors Genencor with prestigious award

Genencor, a division of Danisco A/S, announced today that the company was ranked #7 on the list of The Netherlands Great Places to Work 2011 in the category of "Large & Multinational Companies" by the Great Place to Work Institute.

15 Apr 2011

Genetically modified bacteria filters out toxic pesticide vapors

Genetically modified bacteria could be used in air filters to extract pesticide vapors from polluted air thanks to work by researchers in China published this month in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution.

15 Apr 2011

Experts suggest Fukushima clean-up workers store blood cells for future use

As Japan still reels with the after effects of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and radiation exposure, plant workers are working to control the radiation leakage from the Fukushima Daiichi complex. Experts note that the work there will take years, posing a risk of accidental exposure.

15 Apr 2011