Nanofoods Are Coming

George Rebane

… and not a minute too soon to suit this pudgy commentator who always licks his platter clean.  Many food research outfits have been working on modifying our favorite foods and condiments so as to increase their nutrition, taste, and satisfaction while reducing their harmful effects - starting with how much we want to eat.  Emma Davies in The New Scientist writes a comprehensive report on the goings on in this promising area.

So what is a nanofood? It isn't just about nanoparticles. Many foods have a natural nanostructure - the proteins in milk form nanoscale clusters, for example - that can be altered on the nanoscale to enhance their properties.

In fact, researchers have been changing the nanostructure of food for years, for example by adding emulsifiers to improve the texture of ice cream. It's the emergence of technologies such as atomic force microscopy that has changed the game by finally opening a window on the nanoworld …

Every time I read about the accelerating pace of technology, I can’t help but hearken back to the constant stream of proposed benefits from new government restrictions and diktats that are awaiting legislative action to further prescribe our behavior and reduce our liberties.  In the area of nutrition we constantly hear reports of government prescribing what products we will be able to buy and what we should eat.  ‘Outlaw Big Macs and hot coffee!’

The dolts in Washington have no idea what is coming down the pike, and how such new products as described by Davies will benefit us, all without the meddling and ministrations of Big Brother.  But then, where is the ability to tax and control in that approach?

Thinking about this research should remind us of the new kinds of jobs that are constantly being created and the education required to perform in them.   At your local schools, check out the number of kids preparing for technical careers to the number who plan to go into the arts or get a government job.

Comments

[RL Crabb]

It should be pointed out that many of the innovations realized by technology are born in the imaginations of artists.

[George Rebane]

A point worth pursuing Bob. We all need to take a look at a list of innovations with such a birthright.

[RL Crabb]

The most obvious is Da Vinci, who was designing helicopters when he wasn't creating cryptic religious codes in his masterpieces. The communications satellite was imagined by Sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke decades before Sputnik. I was watching a program on History called "Star Wars Tech" where an oriental engineer was inspired by the movie to invent a camera that could remotely explore the colon, which proves that I'm not just talking through my ass.

[George Rebane]

Taking up the challenge Bob, I would offer the following for your examples, while not denying your original premise. Da Vinci was possibly the world's first pure technician and engineer. Like many technicians throughout history, he could also do art. All serious sci-fi writers trained themselves in technology, or were bona fide technicians. The big three - Arthur Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov - emerging from WW2 were all all solid technicians who could write. Sir Arthur was a radar engineer and instructor before turning to sci-fi. The inspiring Star Wars series and movie had a claim to realism from a number of technical experts who advised George Lucas who himself was originally trained in anthropology segueing into cinematography - a technical undertaking if there ever was one.

Again, I'm not saying that there isn't a technologically innocent artist out there somewhere who might have given the necessary and sufficient nudge to a technical innovation, but we're going to have to go back into search mode to find one.

[RL Crabb]

Sometimes art is inspired by science and sometimes science is inspired by art. Maybe someday technology will catch up with Rube Goldberg.

By the way, George, sometimes you remind me of a character from a Heinlein novel. Grok that!

[George Rebane]

Agreed. Speaking of Rube Goldberg, I think that technology has already caught up with and passed the wild complications of that gentlemen - it's called Microsoft Windows.

Yes, sometimes I do feel like a stranger in a strange land.