How saliva determines our food-texture preferences

Most of us like a good crunch and abhor a slimy feel in our food. And most of us think that food texture preference is simply a matter of personal taste, perhaps determined by culture or upbringing... "This is really about oral lubrication, based on the amount of water and proteins in saliva that serve as lubricants," says Paul Breslin, a nutritional sciences professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. One of the things that he studies is "oral haptics," the scientific name for the sensation of food or liquid coming into contact with your mouth. It's what food-world people call "mouth feel."

If Donald Trump is elected president, America's approach to energy and the environment will be drastically different than it is today... Jennifer Francis, a research professor at Rutgers University's Institute of Marine and Coastal Science, also acknowledged that neither the Clean Power Plan nor the Paris climate agreement would slow climate change to a manageable pace on their own. But they are "absolutely critical steps in the right direction," she said.

Those who have been around horses for years know that they leave hoof prints on the heart, but now individuals working through personal and emotional challenges will learn what horses can do for people therapeutically through the Hoof Prints on the Heart program... Hoof Prints on the Heart's program is designed for veterans, and adults and children experiencing feelings of depression, anxiety and isolation, according to executive director Jenni Tevlin. Tevlin also developed and teaches a 'Animal-Assisted Therapy' class as a part-time lecturer in the Rutgers University undergraduate animal sciences department.

If Donald Trump is elected president, America's approach to energy and the environment will be drastically different than it is today... Jennifer Francis, a research professor at Rutgers University's Institute of Marine and Coastal Science, also acknowledged that neither the Clean Power Plan nor the Paris climate agreement would slow climate change to a manageable pace on their own. But they are "absolutely critical steps in the right direction,"she said.

Vitamin D aka the "sunshine vitamin" is not only the only vitamin made by the human body from-you guessed it-sunshine, but it's also the only vitamin that is a hormone... Another study done at Rutgers University showed that people over 60 with vitamin D deficiencies are more prone to losing brain power, as professor Joshua Miller observed, "on average people with low vitamin D declined two to three times as fast as those with adequate vitamin D."

When it comes to predicting hurricanes, the ones that matter most are the storms that hit land... "And that's very hard to predict," said Alan Robock. Rutgers professor and climate expert Robock says part of the uncertainty here in the Atlantic, has to do with weather all the way over in the Pacific Ocean.

Warming waters from climate change off the Atlantic coast are driving lobsters further north than ever before, disrupting fisheries and - for some - perhaps changing a way of life forever... Malin Pinsky, an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources at Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences in New Jersey, calls the northward movement of lobsters over the last five decades dramatic. In that period of time, the crustaceans has shifted more than 273 kilometres northward.

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY - The 100th Anniversary of Rutgers Gardens on Ryders Lane presented not only a chance to look back at the achievements of the past, but also to provide an opportunity to envision a vital future... Rutgers Gardens was established in 1916, right in the middle of World War I, when local farmer Robert Lipman bought the farmland and donated it to the university. According to the Director of Rutgers Gardens Bruce Crawford, "Since then, Rutgers Gardens has served the greater Rutgers community as a site for horticultural research, climate studies; and landscape design."

Heat and humidity are major factors in determining the severity of an anthracnose outbreak, and initial weather forecasts could spell a long, hot summer for superintendents. Turf specialist Dr. James A. Murphy says anthracnose is an opportunistic pest, and there's almost always the potential threat of an outbreak... Heat and humidity are major factors in determining the severity of an anthracnose outbreak on turf. If this summer warms up as much as previous ones have in recent years, the potential for the disease will only increase, says Dr. James A. Murphy, specialist in turf management at Rutgers University's Department of Plant Biology & Pathology.

The National Science Foundation awarded $11.8 million to Rutgers to launch and operate the Ocean Observatories Initiative's data system. The data center for the pioneering Ocean Observatories Initiative, which collects and shares data from more than 800 sophisticated instruments and a transmission network across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, is now operating at Rutgers University... "Rutgers is now the hub for the world's richest source of new in-water oceanographic data, and we are extremely proud to have been chosen for this important work," says Christopher J. Molloy, Rutgers' senior vice president for research and economic development.

Cambridge University Professor Peter Wadhams has made headlines this weekend, telling The Independent that the Arctic could become ice-free "this year or next." While the extreme prediction has drawn skepticism from other climate scientists, Wadhams' warning does draw attention to a situation that many monitoring Arctic sea ice find alarming... Other climate scientists were hesitant to back-up Wadhams' claims to The Independent. Professor Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University called Wadhams' prediction "highly unlikely," citing 2030-2050 as a more likely timeframe for the event.

The Arctic is on track to be free of sea ice this year or next for the first time in more than 100,000 years, a leading scientist has claimed. .. Professor Jennifer Francis, of Rutgers University in New Jersey, US, who has studied the effect of the Arctic on the weather in the rest of the northern hemisphere, was also sceptical about Professor Wadhams's prediction, saying it was "highly unlikely" to come true this year.

Memorial Day weekend is the start of the Jersey Shore's summer season, but the ocean is typically not warm enough for most to enjoy. This year featured even cooler ocean temperatures than normal, courtesy of days of southerly winds preventing moderation... "Most people like it to be at least in the mid to upper 70s," said Josh Kohut, assistant professor of Physical Oceanography at Rutgers University and founding member of the university's Coastal Ocean Observation Lab (COOL).

Students from Pleasantville's North Main Street Elementary School piled out of a school bus and raced into the clubhouse at the Pomona Golf & Country Club on Monday afternoons... North Main Street golf club program advisers Deborah Gaskins and John Grenda and Atlantic County 4-H agent Debi Cole created the program to teach life skills through golf. "For us, it's the subject that draws the children in," Cole, 58, of Egg Harbor Township, said.

Cresskill's Environmental Commission is inviting residents to attend a Rain Barrel Making Workshop on June 15 at borough hall. Organizers hope there will be a flood of support for the concept of conserving water in rain barrels... New Jersey State Climatologist David Robinson of Rutgers University said that North Jersey is in an abnormally dry spell right now: "The groundwaters are low. March and April were very dry. May was average. We will have to hope for timely rains and conditions that are not too hot." Robinson, who is an advocate for rain barrels and smart lawn watering, said such measures are important because "it makes people aware of the finite nature of fresh water that's out there...people put too much water on their lawns."

We've all taken a swig out of a milk carton that's a couple days past its expiration date, with little to no consequences. Which makes us wonder: Do these dates really mean anything? "Expiration dates are something people find confusing and with good reason," says Don Schaffner, a professor of food science at Rutgers University.

The two main forces that conspire to destroy Earth's massive polar ice sheets are heat, which melts their surfaces via sunlight and warm air, and gravity, which drives glaciers to slide to the sea. But a new analysis of the Greenland Ice Sheet points to an underappreciated culprit that could accelerate its demise: wind... Some researchers see the new study as offering support to a controversial hypothesis regarding amplification developed by meteorologist Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, in New Jersey. Francis argues that the melting of sea ice is causing the Arctic to reflect less sunlight, warming it up. That, in turn, is causing the jet stream to meander more - and making it more likely to spin off blocking events like cut-off highs.

Drawing the crabs' blue blood for vital medical testing can condemn the animals to die, even after they are returned to the sea... "There's not very good science-based information on the mortality of the crabs. I've seen figures range from 15 percent to 40 percent but nobody has a really good handle on that," says Michael De Luca, senior associate director at the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University.

Marion Selectmen approved at the board's June 7 meeting a request by the Marion Energy Management Committee to increase the number of electric vehicles (EVs) to be requested through grant applications... "At least two additional charging stations would also be purchased using grant funds, which we hope will encourage more residents in our region to choose EVs," Marion resident Dr. Jennifer Francis, a member of the Marion Energy Management Committee, and a research professor at Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, said. "By replacing gas-guzzling vehicles with clean EVs, Marion is saving tax dollars, reducing greenhouse gas emissions (about for tons of carbon/car/year), and raising awareness of human-caused climate change."

An analysis of well water tests by the nonprofit environmental watchdog group Raritan Headwaters Association (RHA) has detected a "disturbing increase" in concentrations of arsenic, a known carcinogen, according to a study released on Thursday, June 9... "No law requires that homeowners test their wells except when selling their property to someone else, a requirement to protect the buyer only," noted Daniel Van Abs, associate research professor for Water, Society and Environment at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. The analysis was peer reviewed by Richard Lathrop, professor of environmental monitoring and restoration ecology at Rutgers University's School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

A 13-year-old Chicago, Ill., student died in 2010 from an allergic reaction to peanuts after a Chinese restaurant cooked meals for a school party and apparently used peanut oil, after saying they would not... "People sometimes aren't aware of how serious food allergies can be," said Dr. Carol Byrd-Bredbenner, a nutrition researcher at Rutgers. "To them, it may seem like an inconvenience to not put peanut butter sandwiches in their children's lunch, but there are many other nutritious choices - and leaving the peanut butter at home may save a classmate's life."

Scientists from the University of Georgia have linked the 2015 record ice melt in Greenland with a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification, a recent study in the journal Nature Communications reports... The authors stop short of confirming Arctic amplification as the cause of the warming, but they say the results fit the anticipated effects of Arctic amplification described by Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University and Stephan Vavrus of the University of Wisconsin in a 2012 paper.

The Upper Township Farmers Market will return for its second season on Friday, June 17 at the field north of the Cedar Square Shopping Center in Seaville... One of the featured vendors this week will be Linda Conover, of Cape May, a master gardener with Rutgers University's New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. She will present practical ways to do backyard composting and effective ways to use it, according to a press release.

The vast northern ice sheet of Greenland melts every summer, pooling lakes of meltwater on its surface, and losing fleets of icebergs from its finger-like glaciers.. "I think we can start to connect these dots and say that increasing loss of Arctic sea ice is leading to more blocking patterns, which are contributing to the increasing surface melt on Greenland," said Jennifer Francis, the Rutgers University Arctic expert whose ideas about Arctic melting distorting the jet stream have ignited one of the biggest ongoing debates in climate science, and who is familiar with the new study by Tedesco and his colleagues.