Next time you experience road rage or get into an argument with the boss, maybe ordering a nice, big, hunk of steak will soothe your aggression.
Contrary to expectations, a McGill University researcher has discovered that seeing meat makes people significantly less aggressive. Frank Kachanoff, who studies evolution at the university’s department of psychology, had initially thought the presence of meat would provoke bloodlust, believing the response would have helped our primate ancestors hunt. But in fact, his research showed the reverse is true.
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Kachanoff recruited 82 men and asked them to punish an aide with various volumes of sound each time he made an error while sorting photos, some with pictures of meat, and others with neutral images. The researcher had anticipated participants who watched the aide sort meat photos would inflict more discomfort on him, but he was surprised when those pictures did not provoke aggressive behaviour.
“[W]ith the benefit of hindsight, it would make sense that our ancestors would be calm, as they would be surrounded by friends and family at meal time,” Kachanoff said in a press release.
If seeing meat really makes people more placid, could Lady Gaga have intended to calm, rather than provoke, when she wore that meat dress?
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Seeing meat calms you down, study says - The Globe and Mail
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US army develops tooth-cleaning gum
US army develops tooth-cleaning gum
By Simon Pitman, 21-Dec-2005
Related topics: Formulation & Science
American soldiers could soon benefit from tooth-cleaning chewing gum. An army research team has developed an active ingredient that can be included in gum to keep mouths clean when toothpaste and brush are out of the question.
The discovery, which is currently being tested by the army, could also prove to be a major discovery for the oral care industry, which has experienced huge growth from the sale oral care chewing gum lines.
The chewing gum was originally developed to help out soldiers in action. On the battle field, cleaning teeth is often relegated to a low priority, and with bathroom facilities often non-existent it can become an impossibility.
Some 15 per cent of deployed soldiers claim to have experienced 'dental emergencies' such as gum infections, Kai Leung of the US Army Dental Research Detachment in Great Lakes, Illinois told news provider Nature.com in a report that was published last month.
The report also explains that US Army researchers developed a protein that attacks the bacteria that causes plaque, which can lead to gum disease. This protein can easily be incorporated into the gum, making it a serious alternative to toothbrush and toothpaste, the researchers claim.
The gum's active ingredient is a protein fragrment called KSL, and lab research has shown that the it can kill harmful bacterias.
Although the active ingredient is still to be tested on soldiers in action, the research team believe it could mean that soldiers will not have to reach for the toothpaste for at least a couple of days.
Patrick DeLuca of the University of Kentucky said that the chewing gum could also prove particularly useful for the outdoorsman and people on the go.
Although there are a range of tooth-friendly chewing gums available on the market, DeLuca adds that many of them simply increase saliva flow and do little to actually clean the teeth.
As the oral care category is currently a highly mature category, industry experts believe that future growth will depend on innovative niche products, which explains the boom in the market for tooth whitening products and oral care gum.
Euromonitor's Claire Briney says that the biggest dividends for the oral care category lye in highly functional products, which suggests tooth-cleaning chewing gum could have big potential.
Furthermore, it could also tap into the huge growth in on-the-go cosmetics, a category that is being driven by huge growth in travel and leisure activities.
However, the product is still only in the very early stages of trials on humans, so it will probably be a number of years before it appears on retailer shelves.
