It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, October 04, 2023
Study investigates Australian climate interventions including solar geoengineering, introductions of adapted corals to the Great Barrier Reef and cloud forest conservation, identifying both synergies and trade-offs
Study investigates Australian climate interventions including solar geoengineering, introductions of adapted corals to the Great Barrier Reef and cloud forest conservation, identifying both synergies and trade-offs.
HARVARD JOHN A. PAULSON SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCES
IMAGE:
A AEROPHILIC SURFACE MADE FROM A COMMONLY USED AND INEXPENSIVE TITANIUM ALLOY WITH A LONG-LASTING PLASTRON KEEPS DRY DURING HUNDREDS OF DUNKS IN A PETRI DISH OF BLOOD.
CREDIT: CREDIT: ALEXANDER B. TESLER/FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER-UNIVERSITÄT ERLANGEN-NÜRNBERG
A species of spider lives its entire life underwater, despite having lungs that can only breathe atmospheric oxygen. How does it do it? This spider, known as the Argyroneta aquatica, has millions of rough, water-repellent hairs that trap air around its body, creating an oxygen reservoir and acting as a barrier between the spider’s lungs and the water.
This thin layer of air is called a plastron and for decades, material scientists have been trying to harness its protective effects. Doing so could lead to underwater superhydrophobic surfaces able to prevent corrosion, bacterial growth, the adhesion of marine organisms, chemical fouling, and other deleterious effects of liquid on surfaces. But plastrons have proved highly unstable under water, keeping surfaces dry for only a matter of hours in the lab.
Now, a team of researchers led by the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard, the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany, and Aalto University in Finland have developed a superhydrophobic surface with a stable plastron that can last for months under water. The team’s general strategy to create long-lasting underwater superhydrophobic surfaces, which repel blood and drastically reduce or prevent the adhesion of bacterial and marine organisms such as barnacles and mussels, opens a range of applications in biomedicine and industry.
“Research in bioinspired materials is an extremely exciting area that continues to bring into the realm of man-made materials elegant solutions evolved in nature, which allow us to introduce new materials with properties never seen before,” said Joanna Aizenberg, Amy Smith Berylson Professor of Materials Science and Professor of Chemistry & Chemical Biology at SEAS and co-author of the paper. “This research exemplifies how uncovering these principles can lead to developing surfaces that maintain superhydrophobicity under water.”
Aizenberg is also an associate faculty member of the Wyss Institute.
The research is published in Nature Materials.
Researchers have known for 20 years that a stable, underwater plastron was theoretically possible but, until now, haven’t been able to show it experimentally.
One of the biggest issues with plastrons is that they need rough surfaces to form, like the hair of Argyroneta aquatica. But this roughness makes the surface mechanically unstable and susceptible to any small perturbation in temperature, pressure, or tiny defect.
Current techniques to assess artificially made superhydrophobic surfaces only take into account two parameters, which don't give enough information about the stability of the air plastron underwater. Aizenberg, Jaakko V. I. Timonen and Robin H. A. Ras from Aalto University, and Alexander B. Tesler and Wolfgang H. Goldmann from FAU and their teams identified a larger group of parameters, including information on surface roughness, the hydrophobicity of the surface molecules, plastron coverage, contact angles, and more, which, when combined with thermodynamic theory, allowed them to figure out if the air plastron would be stable.
With this new method and a simple manufacturing technique, the team designed a so-called aerophilic surface from a commonly used and inexpensive titanium alloy with a long-lasting plastron that kept the surface dry thousands of hours longer than previous experiments and even longer than the plastrons of living species.
“We used a characterization method that had been suggested by theorists 20 years ago to prove that our surface is stable, which means that not only have we made a novel type of extremely repellent, extremely durable superhydrophobic surface, but we can also have a pathway of doing it again with a different material,” said Tesler, a former postdoctoral fellow at SEAS and the Wyss Institute, and lead author of the paper.
To prove the stability of the plastron, the researchers put the surface through the ringer — bending it, twisting it, blasting it with hot and cold water, and abrading it with sand and steel to block the surface remaining aerophilic. It survived 208 days submerged in water and hundreds of dunks in a petri dish of blood. It severely reduced the growth of E.coli and barnacles on its surface and stopped the adhesion of mussels altogether.
“The stability, simplicity, and scalability of this system make it valuable for real-world applications,” said Stefan Kolle, a graduate student at SEAS and co-author of the paper. “With the characterization approach shown here, we demonstrate a simple toolkit that allows you to optimize your superhydrophobic surface to reach stability, which dramatically changes your application space.”
That application space includes biomedical applications, where it could be used to reduce infection after surgery or as biodegradable implants such as stents, according to Goldmann, senior author of the paper, and former Harvard fellow. It also includes underwater applications, where it could prevent corrosion in pipelines and sensors. In the future, it could even be used in combination with the super-slick coating known as SLIPS, the Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces, developed by Aizenberg and her team more than a decade ago, to protect surfaces even further from contamination.
This paper was co-authored by Lucia H. Prado, Ingo Thievessen, David Böhringer, Lena Fischer, Mark Bruns, Anca Mazare, Ulrich Lohbauer, Sannakaisa Virtanen, Ben Fabry, Patrik Schmuki, and Wolfgang H. Goldmann of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany; and Matilda Backholm, Bhuvaneshwari Karunakaran, Heikki A. Nurmi, Mika Latikka, Zoran M. Cenev, Jaakko V. I. Timonen and Robin H. A. Ras of Aalto University in Finland; and Shane Stafslien of North Dakota State University.
A survey of New York state residents found that nearly half of respondents increased the amount of time they spent on wild and backyard food in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, confirming anecdotes about increases in activities such as sourdough baking, fishing and gardening. People also tended to eat the food they produced, researchers found, possibly buffering the generally less healthful eating that was common at the time.
“This was the period of 2020 when you couldn't find tomato cages, seeds were out of stock, and there were reports about record numbers of people hunting and fishing,” said Kathryn Fiorella, assistant professor in the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health at Cornell University and senior author of “Wild and Backyard Food Use During COVID-19 in Upstate New York, United States,” published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition.
The researchers conducted a survey of more than 500 people across Broome, Cortland, Onondaga, Oswego, Cayuga and Seneca counties. Participants reported on their production and consumption of wild and backyard foods – from gardening, poultry rearing, foraging and hunting and/or fishing – during the pandemic compared with the previous year. Because respondents were recruited in a convenience sample, they likely overrepresented interest in these activities. They also tended to be whiter, more educated and wealthier than average New Yorkers.
Results showed that only a small number of participants were new to wild and backyard food-related pursuits, and across different activities, 40% to 46% of people increased the amount of time they invested. Conversely, a notable minority of respondents reduced their activities.
The researchers were especially interested to see whether people also consumed the food they produced. Indeed, they did. While diets generally worsened during the pandemic, gardening and poultry rearing for meat and eggs may have contributed to buffering those effects in the study region.
“People were actually consuming really meaningful quantities,” Fiorella said, including home-produced eggs and meat, and backyard-grown fruits and vegetables.
“People reported harvesting and eating wild and backyard foods to have more control over food availability, a key dimension of food insecurity, compared to before the pandemic,” said doctoral student Jeanne Coffin-Schmitt. “This was true even though the people we surveyed were almost entirely considered food secure based on their responses. We think this could show how much anxiety about conventional food systems the pandemic inspired.”
Academics from Northumbria University have uncovered an “extreme underappreciation” of firms with CEOs who are openly gay, lesbian, trans or bisexual – and they say it’s driven by discrimination.
According to the recently published study, ‘LGBT CEOs and stock returns: Diagnosing rainbow ceilings and cliffs’, conscious and unconscious biases against LGBT executives lead to stock market participants and investors failing to appreciate the financial performance and potential of LGBT-led firms.
As a result, such companies are reportedly substantially underestimated and undervalued on the stock market. This discrimination-driven effect, academics say, is leading to stocks of companies with LGBT leaders significantly outperforming the market by 0.69%-1.08% per month – a finding uncovered for the first time in the study.
Research lead Dr Savva Shanaev – Lecturer in Finance in the Accounting and Financial Management department of the university’s Newcastle Business School – describes this outperformance as a “hidden gem” of an investment opportunity, saying: “What’s powerful about this is that you could see an investment do well, and you can also do good at the same time.
“That’s the golden grail of socially responsible investing and it’s very rare to find.”
By highlighting this unexplored facet of the socially responsible investment industry, the academics hope to generate publicity and boost the market value of LGBT-led companies, meaning they may be able to attract funding more easily in the future. Dr Shanaev hopes any such ‘rainbow rush’ would ultimately bring about a levelling of the market and a positive step towards equality and better representation at a senior level.
Focusing on dozens of LGBT-led companies, Dr Shanaev and his colleagues – Northumbria University masters’ graduate Arina Skorochodova and lecturer Dr Mikhail Vasenin – documented ‘alphas’, a measure of risk-adjusted return that tells investors if an asset has performed better or worse than predicted.
In doing so, they found that the companies significantly outperformed the market, with those outperformances persisting even when adjusted for several factors. In the first study of its kind, the academics also found that portfolios formed from stocks with LGBT CEOs also robustly outperformed market indices.
“Once we’d discovered this,” explains Dr Shanaev, “we shifted our focus to look at why this was happening.
“We wanted to know, if this kind of opportunity exists, why has it not been exhausted yet? In finance research, this is one of the most important questions – is there really a free lunch here or is there some risk we haven’t accounted for that means it’s not the deal we thought it was?”
After carrying out robust eliminatory tests, the academics concluded that - in line with similar gender-based research – the consistent outperformance suggests “substantial” discrimination.
Generally, they suggest, investors and stock market participants do not see LGBT CEOs as equal to others and consequently, underestimate and undervalue their performance. This contributes to a “rainbow ceiling” effect that impacts upon LGBT people in business and is analogous to the glass ceiling hypothesis illustrating similar discrimination against women.
Dr Shanaev believes more awareness of the undervaluing of LGBT-led stocks will eventually see the income-boosting effect of discrimination vanish as the market levels out.
“If there is a flow of capital to these stocks in light of this research,” he explains, “the values will increase and the discrimination effect will eventually vanish.
“But that’s no bad thing, because ultimately the objective is to prove to the market that companies led by the LGBT community are, in essence, no different to any other.”
Following last year’s selection of Forschungszentrum Jülich as the hosting entity, it has now also been decided who will supply JUPITER, Europe’s first exascale supercomputer: a bidding consortium by the German supercomputing and quantum computing company ParTec AG and Eviden, the advanced computing division of the French IT service provider Atos.
The “Joint Undertaking Pioneer for Innovative and Transformative Exascale Research,” or JUPITER for short, will be the first system in Europe capable of more than 1 exaflop/s. This number corresponds to one million times one million times one million – a “1” followed by 18 zeros – floating-point operations per second, which is the equivalent of the computing power of 10 million modern notebooks.
JUPITER is designed to tackle the most demanding simulations and compute-intensive AI applications in science and industry. Applications will include training large neural networks like language models in AI, simulations for developing functional materials, creating digital twins of the human heart or brain for medical purposes, validating quantum computers, and high-resolution simulations of our climate that encompass the entire Earth system.
The cost of the system and its operation for an expected six years amounts to 500 million euros. Half of JUPITER’s funding is provided by the European Union, and the other two quarters by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Ministry of Culture and Science of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (MKW-NRW), respectively.
Modular architecture for largest-scale simulations and AI workloads
JUPITER will be implementing the modular supercomputing architecture. The exascale-computer will consist of a highly scalable Booster Module and a tightly coupled general-purpose Cluster Module. The general-purpose cluster module will be based on SiPearl’s new Rhea processor made in Europe, a CPU with exceptionally high memory bandwidth for most complex workloads. The Booster Module will feature NVIDIA’s accelerated computing platform designed for next-generation data center technologies to deliver extreme-scale computing power for AI and simulation workloads, for example, to train generative AI like large language models. The components will be integrated by Eviden into their highly energy-efficient, direct liquid-cooled BullSequana XH3000 platform, and the cluster and booster modules are dynamically operated as a unified supercomputer using ParTec's modular ParaStation Modulo operating system.
ParTec, Eviden, SiPearl and NVIDIA are collaborating with the European scientific community on JUPITER to provide researchers with the state-of-the-art AI and HPC resources they need to drive the next wave of breakthroughs in areas from climate to quantum computing. The first exascale supercomputer in Europe will pioneer new avenues of research and scientific discovery not only in Europe, but all over the world.
The installation of the system will start in early 2024. Beginning with the construction of JUPITER, users will be able to prepare for and test the system as part of the JUPITER Early Access Program, enabling a close cooperation of all involved parties to fabricate and configure the best possible version of the system for the scientific community.
More details and specifics about the system will be announced in November at this year's SC23 conference.
Statements
This news marks a pivotal step forward in the realisation of our endeavour to bring exascale computing to Europe. With the combined expertise of our partners and the EuroHPC JU’s continued commitment to bolstering European computing power, JUPITER will revolutionise the European HPC landscape and reinforce European excellence in HPC. Not only will JUPITER break the exaflop barrier, but the system will also use the European HPC processor Rhea developed under the European Processor Initiative by SiPearl.
Anders Dam Jensen, Executive Director of EuroHPC JU
The signing of the contract for the construction of JUPITER is another major milestone on the way of Europe entering the exascale era. JUPITER will be one of the leading supercomputers in the world and will therefore become a symbol of the strength of European scientific cooperation. It will enable scientists to achieve scientific breakthroughs in various domains like health, climate, energy, materials and AI. We are proud to host this research infrastructure in Germany.
Prof. Dr. Sabine Döring, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
The JUPITER exascale computer is a milestone for NRW as a research location. The fact that the first European supercomputer of this new performance class is being installed in NRW underlines our leading position in high performance computing. With its incredible computing power, JUPITER will help address the major societal challenges of our time. It will be particularly well suited for AI applications and further enhance Jülich´s focus on quantum computing in combination with the Jülich supercomputing architecture.
Minister Ina Brandes, Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MKW NRW)
With JUPITER, our Supercomputing Centre at Forschungszentrum Jülich will offer an instrument of unprecedented size and capabilities, the result of years of outstanding systems- and user-oriented research. In its dual role as a leading simulation and AI-engine, as required for training large foundation models, JUPITER promises breakthroughs in many areas where pressing challenges are at stake, such as materials science, sustainable energy systems, or earth system science.
Prof. Astrid Lambrecht, Chair of the Board of Directors of Forschungszentrum Jülich
I am particularly proud that our specialists at Jülich, together with many European partners, succeeded in developing the new modular supercomputing concept as a genuine European technology, which is now the basis of JUPITER. Only thanks to the generous support of the European Commission since 2012 as well as EuroHPC JU and BMBF in the DEEP and SEA projects, such a development was possible in the first place.
Prof. Thomas Lippert, Director of the JSC, Forschungszentrum Jülich
Computing time via established peer review procedures
The Jülich Supercomputing Centre will operate JUPITER as a member of the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing (GCS), an association of the three national high-performance computing centers in Germany, to which the three data centers of Forschungszentrum Jülich (JSC), the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (LRZ), and Stuttgart University (HLRS) belong. The computing time is allocated to national and European projects via established peer review procedures. GCS is supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of the German State of Baden-Württemberg, and the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts.
Diagnosing anthropogenic carbon emissions: a "CO2 checkup" of Earth's health
Since 2020, many countries have pledged their plans for "carbon peak and carbon neutrality". Managing anthropogenic emissions, especially from major industries, is crucial for addressing global warming and promoting sustainable growth. However, existing emission records lack transparency and accuracy due to limited knowledge of CO2 emissions from cities and key sectors, leading to uncertainty in the global carbon budget and hindering carbon asset management across industries.
Recent research conducted by Dr. Dongxu Yang and his team from the Carbon Neutral Research Centre at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IAP, CAS), is shedding light on the critical issue of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions and their impact on the Earth's climate. They conducted a campaign in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, and Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, focusing on monitoring greenhouse gas emissions from urban and vital sectors.
During this campaign, they established the Low-cost UAV Coordinated Carbon Observation Network (LUCCN) equipped with medium-accurate greenhouse gas sensors for CO2 measurements. LUCCN combines ground-based and UAV-based in-situ measurement instruments, enhancing the detection and quantification capability of point source emissions in three dimensions.
A swarm of drones for coordinated observation. （Photo taken by YANG Dongxu）
Dr. Yang said that existing and even near future satellite measurements cannot meet the frequent monitoring requirements for anthropogenic emissions due to cloud cover, aerosols, and revisit patterns. Therefore, the development of an adaptable observation network is crucial for accurate monitoring and data collection on greenhouse gas emissions.
Following data collection, conversion of CO2 concentration data into emission intensity is essential for validating emission inventories. The research utilized the UAV-measured data to calculate emission flux using a cross-sectional flux (CSF) method, resulting in a slightly overestimate than the Open-source Data Inventory for Anthropogenic CO2 inventory(ODIAC) due to data limitations associated with UAV in-situ measurements. ODIAC is a global high-resolution emission data product for fossil fuel CO2 emissions, originally developed under the Greenhouse gas Observing SATellite (GOSAT) project at the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan. This discrepancy underscores the current challenge of UAV-based measurements.
The study showcases LUCCN's requirements and accomplishments and provides insights for future quantitative research into anthropogenic emissions. Nonetheless, the UAV sampling strategy and emission estimation methods require further exploration. "We are now developing a measurement-fed-perception self-adaptation network strategy for the LUCCN system to improve monitoring efficiency, and atmospheric inversion will be applied to enhance emission estimates. These tasks are essential for monitoring anthropogenic emissions," said Dr. YANG Dongxu.
Hot weather reduces workers’ productivity – even if their workplace is air conditioned, new research shows.
The study, led by the University of Exeter, tracked outdoor temperatures and worker productivity at a high-tech factory in China.
Despite climate-controlled conditions inside the factory, productivity dropped by 0.83% for every 1°C increase in outdoor temperature.
The research team found that night-time heat (which can affect sleep) caused some of the decline in productivity – but daytime heat affected productivity even after cool nights.
It is not clear why this happens, but the researchers say their findings are a “cautionary tale” as governments and businesses adapt to rising global temperatures.
“We usually think about climate change in terms of its impacts at huge scales, but it also affects individuals,” said Dr Jingnan Chen from the University of Exeter.
“Previous research has shown that – unsurprisingly – hot conditions reduce productivity when people work outdoors, or in buildings without air conditioning.
“Our findings – showing that heat affects workers even in a climate-controlled factory – provide further evidence of the likely economic impacts of climate change.”
Dr Miguel Fonseca added: “Policymakers and business leaders might assume that technology such a climate-controlled buildings can mitigate the effects of climate change.
“In our study, climate control on its own was not sufficient to insulate a firm from the effects of high outdoor temperatures.”
The study used data on the daily maximum “wet bulb” temperature – a measure that takes account of both heat and humidity.
Researchers combined this with individual-level data on the quantity and quality of work done in 35,190 worker-shifts (635 separate workers, all male).
The factory in the study makes silicon wafers, a key component of solar panels.
The delicate nature of the wafers means that, to ensure quality, all workshops have climate-control systems that keep them at a constant temperature of 25°C (77F) and relative humidity of 60%.
The 0.83% productivity dip for each 1°C of temperature rise meant a worker produced 22.6 to 33.4 fewer wafers.
The study also found that a wet-bulb temperature over 28°C was associated with 5.8% lower productivity compared to a typical day.
How Much Will Climate Change Reduce Productivity in a High-Technology Supply Chain? Evidence from Silicon Wafer Manufacturing
Ancient technology turns plant-based cheese into 'something we want to eat'
In a new research result, University of Copenhagen scientists demonstrate the potential of fermentation for producing climate-friendly cheeses that people want to eat
AFTER ONLY EIGHT HOURS OF INCUBATION, THE RESULT WAS A FIRM "CHEESE-LIKE GEL" REMINISCENT OF A FRESH SOFT WHITE CHEESE. PHOTO: DEPARTMENT OF FOOD SCIENCE
To produce plant-based cheeses that feel and taste like dairy cheese, scientists have their sights set on fermentation. In a new research result, University of Copenhagen scientists demonstrate the potential of fermentation for producing climate-friendly cheeses that people want to eat.
Nearly thirty kilos of cheese are eaten by the average dairy-loving Dane every year. But increasing pressure on Earth's resources and climate change call for our food system to turn in a more plant-based direction. As a result, scientists are looking into how to transform protein-rich plants like peas and beans into a new generation of non-dairy cheeses that possess the similar sensory properties as the dairy-based ones that humans have enjoyed for thousands of years.
Several plant-based cheeses are already on the market. The challenge is that plant proteins behave differently than milk proteins when trying to make cheese from them. To meet this challenge, producers add starch or coconut oil to harden plant cheeses, as well as an array of flavourants to make them taste like cheese.
But it turns out that this can be done with the help of nature’s smallest creatures. In a new research result from the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Food Science, researcher Carmen Masiá has succeeded in developing plant-based cheeses made from yellow pea protein with a firm texture and improved aroma profile. She was able to do so by using the same natural fermentation process with bacteria that we have used with cheeses made from milk for thousands of years.
"Fermentation is an incredibly powerful tool to develop flavour and texture in plant-based cheeses. In this study, we show that bacteria can serve to develop firmness in non-dairy cheese in a very short period of time while reducing the bean-like aroma of yellow pea protein, which is used as the main and only protein source," explains Carmen Masiá.
Fresh cheese after eight hours
The result builds upon a research result from last year by the same researcher, who found that yellow pea protein constituted a good "protein base" for making fermented plant-based cheese. In the new result, the researcher examined twenty four bacterial combinations made from bacterial cultures supplied by the biotech company Chr. Hansen, where Carmen Masiá is completing her Industrial PhD.
"The whole point of this study has been to combine the commercially-available bacterial cultures that are suitable for the fermentation of a plant-based raw material, and test them in a pea protein matrix to develop both taste and texture that would be suitable for a cheese-like product. And, even if some bacterial combinations performed better than others, all of them actually provided firm gels and reduced beaniness in the samples" says the researcher.
To study the behavior of the bacterial combinations, the scientist inoculated them in a protein base made of yellow pea protein. After only eight hours of incubation, the result was a firm "cheese-like gel" reminiscent of a fresh soft white cheese.
"All bacterial blends produced firm gels, which means that one can get a fermentation-induced gel without necessarily adding starch or coconut oil to the base. From an aroma perspective, we had two goals: To reduce the compounds that characterize the beaniness of yellow peas, and to produce compounds that are normally found in dairy cheese. Here we saw that some bacteria were better at producing certain volatile compounds than others, but that they all worked great to reduce beaniness – which is a very positive outcome. Furthermore, all blends acquired dairy aroma notes to different degrees" explains Carmen Masiá.
Taste and feeling is everything
The researcher points out there is still a way to go to before achieving this plant-based cheese, but that research is on the right track. According to her, tailored bacterial compositions and cultures must be developed in order to achieve the optimal cheese-like characteristics. Furthermore, the plant-based cheese might need to mature over time so that it develops flavor and character, just as dairy-based cheeses do.
Finally, the new generation of fermented plant-based cheeses must be judged by consumers, so that the flavour is perfected. All in all, this is to make plant-based cheeses so delicious that people seek them out and purchase them.
"The most challenging thing for now is that, while there are a lot of people who would like to eat plant-based cheese, they aren’t satisfied with how it tastes and feels in the mouth. In the end, this means that no matter how sustainable, nutritious, etc. a food product is, people aren't interested in buying it if it doesn't provide a good experience when consumed," says Carmen Masiá, who adds:
"One needs to remember that dairy cheese production has been studied over many years, so it's not something that we can just mimic overnight with totally different raw materials. Nevertheless, there are many scientists and companies out there doing great progress in the field; I hope that we will get closer to making non-dairy cheeses that taste good over the next few years. We are getting there."
The study was conducted in collaboration between the Department of Food Science and microbial ingredients supplier Chr. Hansen, a bioscience company that produces ingredients for the food and pharmaceutical industries, among other things.
What is fermentation:
Fermentation is an ancient technique which originated in China. Today, it is used to make beer, wine, cheese, pharmaceuticals and much more. Fermented foods are preserved by initiating a fermentation process in which natural lactic acid bacteria and enzymes are formed. This is done as microorganisms convert sugars in the selected food into lactic acid, acetic acid and carbon dioxide. This makes food acidic and prevents the growth of putrefactive and pathogenic bacteria.
The first textual evidence of cabbage fermentation is found in China's oldest collection of poems, Shi Jing (Book of the Odes), which dates back to approximately 600 BC.
About the study:
The researchers tested twenty four different bacterial compositions on a protein base made from yellow pea protein.
The study shows that all of the bacterial compositions produce a firm cheese-like gel, reduced the beaniness, and produced dairy-related volatile compounds.
The study was conducted in collaboration between the Department of Food Science and microbial ingredients supplier Chr. Hansen, a bioscience company that manufactures microbial ingredients for the food and pharmaceutical industries.
