Lovely apples-juice, that is

As the saying goes, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” But will a glass of apple juice suffice? A new study is examining whether 100 per cent fruit or vegetable juice is as effective as whole fruits and vegetables at reducing a person’s risk of developing cancer and cardiovascular disease. Because juice contains only a fraction of the fiber-renowned for its disease-fighting power-of whole produce, the general opinion is that juice is not as beneficial. However, a recent literature review found that the positive health effects of fruits and vegetables come not only from their fiber content, but also from the anti-oxidants they contain. The study concluded that juice and whole produce were equal in their ability to prevent disease.

Source: International Journal of Food Science and Nutrition

-Mayce Al-Sukhni

Soft, squeezable, and surprisingly useful

What happens when a team of robot-loving biologists and bioengineers tinker with nanoparticles? They make the world’s first prototype of a soft-bodied robot! Some machines today are made up of flexible materials that give them more power and the ability to move faster, but none can compete with the physical abilities of a moving, living organism. At Tufts University’s Biomimetic Technologies for Soft-bodied Robots project, Professors Barry Trimmer and David Kaplan are working on a pliable, moldable robot with the ability to crawl along ropes, burrow into tight spaces, and collapse to a smaller size. The two are aiming not only to send their soft creations to work in disciplines like medicine, prosthetics, and emergency search and retrieval, they ultimately aim to launch them into space. The hope is that astronauts will be able to relax while a soft-bodied robot squeezes into space stations to handle repairs.

Source: Tufts University

-Sandy Huen

Can’t help making the same old thing?

Everyone wants to be successful, but who knew that too much success could be a bad thing? A recent study notes that successful inventors can become less creative over time. While scientists who successfully patent their inventions continue to generate more patents, their subsequent patents tend to be less divergent from their previous work. As such, if R&D managers allocate more resources to successful departments, productivity may increase, but creativity may diminish. One way of managing this problem is to encourage inventors to collaborate with one another and to make “exploration” an explicit organizational goal.

Source: Management Science

-M.A.