What does a nine-year-old girl in Menlo Park, California have in common with a Russian Mystic, an Indian Emperor, a mythic legion of girl assassins, and an enemy of the Roman Republic? Mithridatism: Immunity through the measured ingestion of poison.
posted by Toekneesan on Mar 7, 2013 - 33 comments

As if ticks weren't awful/awesome enough already, the Lone Star Tick (Amblyomma americanum) has been shown to transmit an allergy to meat in humans. [more inside]
posted by wormwood23 on Nov 21, 2012 - 34 comments

We've talked about using neti pots in the past. From Louisiana comes this cautionary instruction on proper technique!
posted by Runes on Dec 16, 2011 - 77 comments

N.C. A&T food scientist develops process for allergen-free peanuts. An agricultural researcher at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has developed a simple process to make allergen-free peanuts. The new process – believed to be a first for food science – could provide relief to millions of peanut allergy sufferers, and be an enormous boon to the entire peanut industry.The inventor, Dr. Mohamed Ahmedna, is optimizing the process further to remove allergens from other foods.
posted by billysumday on Jul 30, 2007 - 34 comments

The all-new sneeze-free cat this week joins a distinguished roster of altered organisms, such as glowing green pigs and bunnies, ampicillin-resistant maize and tomato, and even a potato with a bacterial pesticide spliced in. And don't forget OraGenics, the company that wants to infect your teeth with bacteria that won't cause decay - and will crowd out the ones that do. Brave New World, indeed. What's next?
posted by ikkyu2 on Jun 12, 2006 - 47 comments

Many common food plants contain noxious and toxic antinutrients designed to ward off predators, including humans. Tomatoes and Potatoes for example contain Glycoalkaloids which cause a Depressed central nervous system; kidney inflammation; carcinogenic; birth defects; reduced iron uptake. Can Genetically Engineered strains increase these naturally occuring antinutrients and toxins? (more inside)
posted by stbalbach on Nov 8, 2003 - 26 comments