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Scientists have identified a less stringent and more manageable alternative to traditional intermittent fasting, offering new possibilities for extending lifespan and promoting healthy aging. This novel method, involving short-term isoleucine deprivation, has shown remarkable results in fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster). The research found that intermittent, short-term omission of only the essential amino acid isoleucine from the diet significantly increases stress resistance and extends lifespan in fruit flies. "Unlike conventional intermittent fasting, this approach does not require drastic reductions in overall food intake, making it a more practical and feasible strategy," said Tahila Fulton. Previous research has shown that moderate restriction...

“This is a 10-week gravid uterus,” Zoey Thill said, holding up a "pregnant" papaya the size of a large fist. “And this,” she added, gesturing to her own pregnant belly, “is a 38-week gravid uterus.” Thill, a New York City-based abortion provider, was explaining the anatomy of the uterus to a group of about a dozen of us, in Verso Books’ Brooklyn office on a Monday night. The narrow part of the papaya, where the stem would be, is like the cervix, she said. The broader portion of the papaya is like the upper area of the uterus known as...

We had high winds here last night and this morning three of my large papaya plants were laying flat on the ground. I chopped the stems and put the leaves into compost but I now have 150 - 200 pounds of papaya that are to green to ripen indoors. Does anyone have a favorite recipe that would use these or do they just get thrown out (BTW I am allergic to Papaya, I grow them for the wife, and grandkids)

MIAMI (AFP) – Researchers said Tuesday that papaya leaf extract and its tea have dramatic cancer-fighting properties against a broad range of tumors, backing a belief held in a number of folk traditions. University of Florida researcher Nam Dang and colleagues in Japan, in a report published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, documented papaya's anticancer effect against tumors of the cervix, breast, liver, lung and pancreas.

MIAMI (AFP) – Researchers said Tuesday that papaya leaf extract and its tea have dramatic cancer-fighting properties against a broad range of tumors, backing a belief held in a number of folk traditions. University of Florida researcher Nam Dang and colleagues in Japan, in a report published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, documented papaya's anticancer effect against tumors of the cervix, breast, liver, lung and pancreas. The researchers used an extract made from dried papaya leaves, and the effects were stronger when cells received larger doses of papaya leaf tea. Dang and the other scientists showed that papaya leaf extract...

A University of Illinois faculty member is leading an effort to perform sex changes on papayas. That's right, the large, yellowish, sweet fruit. Papayas, it turns out, have not just one but three sexes: male, female and hermaphrodite. The third produce the yummy fruit while the male and females are mostly useless to farmers. U. of I. plant biology professor Ray Ming secured a $3.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to change the papayas' sex to grow only plants that produce hermaphrodite offspring. Currently, farmers don't know which plants are hermaphrodite until the plants have grown and flowered,...

If you live here in Central Florida, I’m sure you’ve seen this plant growing in a friend or neighbor’s yard. Papaya needs very little to grow well here, it thrives in warm weather with plenty of rainfall -- pretty much the exact description of Central Florida most of the time. If you want to try growing some yourself be sure to provide support for the plant as the fruit grows from the stem of the “tree”. The papaya plant in the above picture was planted next to a large porch where it could be tied to help keep it from...

Woke up this morning and it was rank. What causes that smell?

On September 19, 1997, the New York Times announced the discovery of a group of earthen mounds in northeastern Louisiana. The site, known as Watson Brake, includes 11 mounds 26 feet high linked by low ridges into an oval 916 feet long. What is remarkable about this massive complex is that it was built around 3400 B.C., more than 3,000 years before the development of farming communities in eastern North America, by hunter-gatherers, at least partly mobile, who visited the site each spring and summer to fish, hunt, and collect freshwater mussels... Social complexity cannot exist unless I it...