Blueberries may have been dubbed a “superfood” by some, but the fruit may have met its match with a new variety of lettuce developed by Rutgers University. Named Rutgers Scarlet Lettuce as a tribute to the school’s mascots, the Scarlet Knights, the variety is high in polyphenols and has a low glycemic index, according to a news release. Polyphenols are plant-based chemicals known for beneficial properties, such as helping with diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity.
Archives for 2014
New Brunswick Community Farmers Market Hosts Día de los Muertos Marigold Sales, Oct. 25 – 27
The Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a time to celebrate and remember loved ones who have passed. It’s also a time when bright orange marigolds, or cempzuchilt, an Aztec term, are in high demand for the annual holiday. New Brunswick has a growing community of migrants from the Mexican state […]
NJ Secretary of Ag Tours Rutgers Turf Research Farm
New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Doug Fisher visited the Rutgers Plant Biology Research and Extension Farm in Adelphia on September 16. Faculty from the Turfgrass Breeding Project at the Rutgers Center for Turfgrass Science gave Fisher a tour of research plots and discussed types of grasses being evaluated and studied for breeding. Faculty on hand […]
Rutgers Residence Life, Local Elementary Schools Team Up For Monster Mash Halloween Celebration on Oct. 24
The 11th annual free Halloween Monster Mash, a collaborative community service event sponsored by Rutgers University Residence Life on the Cook/Douglass Campus, will be held Friday Oct. 24, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Cook/Douglass Recreation Center Gymnasium. The Halloween Monster Mash is a community outreach event that provides an alternative trick-or-treat experience to […]
Containing Ebola Like They Did in This Video Game [AUDIO]
Public health officials need to be able to predict how outbreaks like Ebola spread and grow. But that’s not so easy. Mainly because it requires knowing how real people will react. Human behavior ain’t so easy to plug into a computer model. But, then there was this bizarre and totally accidental video game incident that made real life disease outbreak modeling smarter. The story of “corrupted blood” in World of Warcraft is still inspiring epidemiologists. (Featuring Professor Nina Fefferman, department of Ecology, Evolution, & Natural Resources)
Fending Off Disease with a Fork: Rutgers Scarlet Lettuce Exceeds Blueberries in Polyphenol Content
Modern science is catching up with ancient wisdom. The expression “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” has been attributed to Hippocrates, father of medicine, around 431 B.C. Hippocrates’ adage is aptly illustrated by a glance down a supermarket produce aisle with its colorful display of deep red strawberries, fiery orange carrots, […]
Hot Pepper Plots Picked Clean in ‘HYOP’ 2014
In the second annual “Harvest Your Own Pepper” (HYOP) event on October 15, the hot pepper plots at Hort Farm III on Ryders Lane in New Brunswick were once again open to Rutgers faculty and staff to pick their own hot peppers left over from research variety trials. Albert Ayeni, ethnic crop specialist, and Tom […]
Big brown bats in N.J. thrive as smaller cousins decline
While New Jersey’s little brown bat population, ravaged by a fungal disease, continues to slip toward likely extinction, another species, the big brown bat, appears to be benefiting, with its numbers rising by as much as 50 percent in the state since w…
European Expert George Marshall Discusses Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change
On September 23, George Marshall, one of Europe’s leading experts on climate change communication, gave an engaging talk to a gathering of 200 Rutgers students, faculty, staff and members of the public at Rutgers Cook Campus Center about his latest book, Don’t Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change. […]
Seeing Eye club members talk toils and joys of raising puppies
Abbey Hartman cried for two days after being separated from her puppy Nestle. These tears, however, turned into tears of joy soon when she reminded herself that Nestle would help a visually impaired person take control of his or her life. “I can imagine how hard it will be with Nestle,” Hartman said. “But there is nothing but pride in my heart.” Hartman, a Rutgers Business School junior, is the treasurer of the Rutgers University Seeing Eye Puppy Raising Club. The organization trains puppies to be Seeing Eye dogs for the visually and physically impaired.
