Cereal Killer

Murder aforethought be described in this study, which focuses on a particular kind of cereal killer—one that strikes from within: “Programmed cell death in cereal aleurone,” Angelika Fath [pictured here], Paul Bethke, Jennifer Lonsdale, Roberto Meza-Romero and Russel Jones, Plant Molecular Biology, 2000 Oct;44(3):255-66. The authors, at the University of California, Berkeley, report: “Progress in […]

Building on Ig Nobel-winning cereal soggification research

There’s news about soggy-cereal research — a study called “Crunchiness Loss and Moisture Toughening in Puffed Cereals and Snacks,” by Micha Peleg, published in the Journal of Food Science, epub July 29, 2015. Peleg, at the University of Massachusetts, builds on the research of — among others — 1995 Ig Nobel Nutrition Prize winners D.M.R. Georget, R. Parker, […]

The breakfast-cereal bat comes to roost at the museum

The pipistrelle bat (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) that made headlines (and this blog) in Germany last November, after the Chemisches und Veterinäruntersuchungsambt (CVUA-Stuttgart) reported its find in a box of breakfast cereals, is in the news again. The mummified insectivore is now a registered specimen (NMR 9990- 03109) in the Natural History Museum of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. […]

Die Fledermaus in the breakfast cereal

Chemischen und Veterinäruntersuchungsämter (CVUA) in Stuttgart, Germany, issued a report about a recent investigation. Translated (automatically, by Google) into English, it begins: Surprise at breakfast A report from our laboratory work Consumers found mummified bat in wholegrain wheat flakes A curious appeal trial was recently presented to us: consumers had in their “mini Zimties whole […]

Scientists Gain Insights into and with Cereal Flakes

After generations of humans had been pouring cows’ milk onto breakfast cereal flakes and then pouring that milk/flake mixture into themselves, a researcher named Luigi Degano fed breakfast cereal to 21 cows in Italy. Degano wanted to see how this might affect the milk that later issued from the cows. Degano, based at the Istituto Sperimentale Lattiero […]

To prevent unappetization

Why do great inventors invent? In “PROCESS FOR PREPARING A COOKED CEREAL AND THE RESULTING PRODUCT“, US patent #3,113,868, granted Dec. 10, 1963, inventor Louis J. Lee makes clear some of his motivation: The seriousness of this problem can be appreciated when it is realized that in many commercial eating establishments, particularly in cafeterias, it […]