Frutarom invests in algae startup for food, cosmetic products

	Direct Imaging: The Next Big Step in the Hunt for Exoplanets NASA's Kepler Space Telescope revealed more than 4,600 planetary candidates over its brief lifetime. When almost 350 exoplanet scientists gathered in Hawaii earlier this month, Space.com asked several of them what they were most looking forward to. "The new technique now is direct imaging," Sara Seager, a professor of planetary science and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told Space.com. Read More » Tiny Chameleons' Tongues Pack a Powerful Punch Having super-spring-loaded tongues lets them capture more prey, said study author Christopher Anderson, a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University. Researchers already knew that chameleon tongues are incredible things. Chameleons don't use muscle power alone to snap at passing flies. Read More » Tough, 3D-Printed Ceramics Could Help Build Hypersonic Planes Strong, flawless ceramics in various shapes, including spirals and honeycombs, can now can be created using 3D printing, researchers say. One potential strategy for making ceramics that have complex shapes is 3D printing. A 3D printer usually works by depositing layers of material, just as ordinary printers lay down ink, except 3D printers can also lay down flat layers on top of each other to build 3D objects. Read More » Gorgeous Images Reveal Parasitic Plant in 3-Way Symbiotic Relationship Scientists have found a bizarre food triangle between three different organisms lurking deep in the Peruvian Amazon. The cast of characters includes a yellow parasitic plant that bursts forth like boils from tree bark, a caterpillar that feeds on that plant, and an ant that drinks the sweet liquid that the caterpillar produces in a special gland near its neck. "It's really a weird relationship, I've never seen anything like it before," said Aaron Pomerantz, an entomologist who works with a rainforest expedition company at the Refugio Amazonas near the Tambopata Research Center in Peru. Read More » Brain Circuit Linked to Depression Found in Rats The brain circuits responsible for the inability to feel pleasure have now been discovered in rats, a finding that could help researchers better understand the mechanisms underlying depression and schizophrenia. Previous brain-imaging research suggested that anhedonia might be linked to a part of the brain that sits just behind the forehead known as the medial prefrontal cortex. Now, scientists have conducted experiments on the medial prefrontal cortex of rats. Read More » Tip for Keeping New Year's Resolutions: Turn Them into Questions If you normally have trouble sticking to your New Year's resolutions, a new study may help: Psychologists have found that asking questions and then answering them, instead of making statements, is one key to sticking with your promises. The studies were looking into this effect of asking questions in a variety of contexts, such as eating healthier or going out to vote. In most of the studies, the participants were questioned by another person, and only had to answer the question, said Eric Spangenberg, co-author on the paper and professor of marketing and psychology at the University of California, Irvine. Read More » Frutarom invests in algae startup for food, cosmetic products One of the world's largest flavoring and specialty natural ingredient companies is investing in algae to enhance its food and cosmetic products. Frutarom Industries said on Monday it bought half of a biotech startup called Algalo, which is based on a kibbutz, or communal farm, in northern Israel, that developed a way to efficiently cultivate, harvest and process a variety of algae. The algae yield strong antioxidants, lipids and proteins that can help cardiovascular and immune systems, as well as bone structure, Israel-based Frutarom said. Read More »