Previous groups have developed artificial mouths that can analyse soft foods or sets of robotic jaws to test teeth. But, until now, no one has been able to recreate what happens when a human chows down on hard foodstuffs.

“Previous models were simpler and did not take into account all processes involved in perception of food. Our
artificial mouth allows the study of hard foods like apples,” said lead researcher Galle Arvisenet of ENITIAA in France.

In fact, the munching device mimics the first steps of digestion — chewing, saliva release and food breakdown.
About five times the size of a human mouth inside, the steel container is kept at a steady 37C by an electrical element. Its internal surfaces are coated with a chemically resistant plastic used for medical implants. The ceiling and floor of the cylindrical chamber are attached to variable speed motors. Food is placed on the floor which is able to revolve, while the ceiling coated spiky “teeth” moves up and down like a plunger.

The compression and rotation simulate the mechanical forces food undergoes in the mouth. The process is made more realistic by the addition of enzyme-containing artificial saliva through a pipe in the base of the chamber.

Longevity and lifestyle

A bone health study of one of the oldest persons in the world, who recently died at the age of 114, has shown that the secret to long life may not lie in the genes. Headed by Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona professor Adolfo Diez Perez, the research team indicated that longevity of the 114-year-old man was not linked to any genetic mutations.

Rather his excellent health was because of a healthy lifestyle, a Mediterranean diet, a temperate climate and regular physical activity. Under the course of the study, the researchers studied the bone mass and analysed the genetics of a man with enviable health who at the time of the study was 113 years old.

‘Missing matter’ uncovered

Astronomers have uncovered part of the missing matter in the universe, a discovery which they claim will help in understanding the evolution of the cosmic web in the future.
Ten years ago, scientists predicted about half of the missing ‘ordinary’ or normal matter made of atoms exists in the form of low density gas, filling vast spaces between galaxies. But attempts to detect it in the past were hampered.
Now, an international team has
discovered its hottest parts, using the
European Space Agency’s orbiting
observatory. They were observing a pair of galaxy clusters — Abell 222 and Abell 223 — situated at a distance of 2,300 million light years from Earth, when images and spectra of the system revealed a bridge of hot gas connecting them, the ESA said.

Breastfeeding boosts IQ

A new study has found that long-term, exclusive breastfeeding boosts children’s cognitive development.
In a study of 17,046 children, the team found that breastfeeding exclusively during the first year of life was associated with an increase in a child’s intelligence by first grade.

Previous studies have reported that children and adults who were breastfed as infants have higher scores on IQ tests and other measures of cognitive (thinking, learning and memory) development than those who were fed formula, according to background information in the article.

However, the evidence has been based on observational studies, in which children whose mothers chose to breastfeed were compared with those whose mothers chose not to breastfeed.

The results of these studies may be complicated by subtle differences in the way breastfeeding mothers interact with their infants, the authors note.

Cancer’s ignition key

A whole-organ genomic survey has given an international team of researchers, including a scientist of Indian origin, significant insights into how a normal cell grows into bladder cancer.

Led by scientists at The University of Texas M D Anderson Cancer Center, the researcher team geographically related the organ’s varied tissues-normal, pre-cancerous, and malignant — to their underlying genetic variation or regulation. This helped the researchers identify a crucial new category of genes that launches the process of cancer development, they said.

Dr T Sudhir Srivastava, chief of the Cancer Biomarkers Research Group, Division of Cancer Prevention of the National Cancer Institute, terms the techniques and the team's findings “seminal work”.