Shoppers Buy More Healthy Foods With Store Audio Tour
wsj.com, 12/8/2014
Listening to nutrition podcasts while navigating grocery store aisles increases the likelihood of consumers
making healthier choices, suggests a small but intriguing pilot study...From January to May 2011,
researchers at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., recruited 56 shoppers, 44 women and 12
men age 41 years old on average, at a supermarket in the township of Woodbridge. The subjects listened
to a five-minute podcast on an MP3 player that directed them to omega-3 foods in the store. The podcast
stressed the importance of consuming seafood, nuts, seeds and vegetable oils - main dietary sources of
omega-3s.
Why Hasn't A Major Hurricane Hit the U.S. in 9 Years?
climatecentral.org, 12/9/2014
Another Atlantic hurricane season has come to a close, and with it comes the continuation of a
remarkable streak: The U.S. hasn't seen a major hurricane make landfall within its borders in nine years.
The last to do so was Hurricane Wilma, which hit Florida as a Category 3 hurricane on Oct. 24,
2005...Other work has come to conflicting conclusions. A study by Jennifer Francis of Rutgers
University has suggested that the reduction of Arctic sea ice and the amplified warming at the North Pole
could lead to more "blocking situations" like the one that sent Sandy on its westward turn into the U.S.
Blocking patterns happen when the kinks in the jet stream get "stuck" for several days or weeks.
Stop, Slow, & Go: Hormonal Signals from Mother's Milk
milkgenomics.org, 12/10/2014
Hormones are like a group email or a Facebook message with many recipients. Just as a Facebook
status may be received by only certain ("friended") people, hormone messages are only received by
tissues that have the right receptors. In this way, specialized glands secrete a hormone to convey the
body's "status," and the "friended" tissues - those with the receptor - are updated..Professors Frank "Skip"
Bartol at Auburn University, and Carole Bagnell at Rutgers have been tackling hormones in mother's
milk and the consequences in piglets for over a decade. They and their team have found an exquisite
synchrony between hormones in mother's milk and hormonal receptors in piglets that together affect
piglet development, particularly in their reproductive tract.
Environmental and landscape resolutions for the new year
MyCentralJersey.com, 12/10/2014
As 2014 comes to a very quick close in just a few weeks, Rutgers is offering commercial landscapers
and private citizens some great opportunities to meet and fulfill their New Year's resolutions that promise
to better their landscape and how they care for it while also considering their local and regional
environment...The Rutgers Cooperative Extension Organic Land Care Certificate Program provides
education to landscapers and land care providers on organic practices for promoting healthy soil,
enhancing biodiversity, and reducing polluted runoff from managed landscapes.
Rutgers Master Gardeners complete two-year project at Old Broad Street Cemetery
NJ.com, 12/11/2014
Rutgers Master Gardeners of Cumberland County completed a two-year project planting 500 Ice Folly
daffodils throughout the Old Broad Street Cemetery in Bridgeton. What a glorious display awaits us this
spring. In addition, five trees, four shrubs and 30 daylilies were planted. Master Gardener Jane Hankins
heads the Broad Street Cemetery Project, and she is presently preparing the paperwork for a grant to
plant colorful shrubs throughout this historic cemetery.
Volcanoes May Be Masking the Severity of Global Warming
pbs.org, 12/11/2014
Global warming continues to heat up the earth, but volcanoes are keeping us just a little cooler. A new
paper published in Geophysical Research Letters shows that volcanic eruptions may be part of the
reason why the earth isn't heating up quite as fast as climate models predict...Alan Robock
(environmental science professor at Rutgers University), a climate scientist who was not involved in
the study but was quoted in the journal's press release, commended Ridley's team for using ground and
air-based instruments to examine the lower stratosphere in a way that satellite data simply can't. He said
that the new observational methods can potentially help scientists make better climate predictions and
create more accurate models in the future.
Food industry coalition seeks balanced dietary guidance
foodbusinessnews.net, 12/12/2014
A coalition of 18 food organizations, including the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the American
Bakers Association, has formed the "Back to Balance Coalition," which aims to promote balanced,
practical and achievable dietary guidance. The coalition on Dec. 9 also released results from an October
2014 survey of 300 registered dietitians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants..."Historically, we've
seen shifts in dietary recommendations that have led to conflicting messages and confusion," said Carol
Byrd-Bredbenner, Ph.D., R.N., a professor of nutrition at Rutgers University. "These
recommendations often have little to do with what Americans really eat, nor do they consider what
working families could achieve given today's time and economic pressures."
Rutgers Research Professor: State Needs to Invest in Infrastructure
njtvonline.org, 12/12/2014
The infrastructure that carries water to your tap is aging and in need of repair. Groups including New
Jersey Clean Water Council, New Jersey Future and the American Society for Civil Engineers worry
utilities aren’t keeping up with necessary maintenance to water infrastructure...Rutgers research
professor Dr. Daniel Van Abs told NJTV News Anchor Mary Alice Williams that New Jersey is not
paying the full cost for proper water infrastructure. “Basically what it means that we’re not paying the full
cost for our water,” said Van Abs. “We’re paying rates that are lower than what it really requires to
maintain our water systems.”
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