Source: 8 Startups Using Seaweed, From Algae Milk To Vegan Shrimp

Source: Frontiers | Trends in Microalgae Incorporation Into Innovative Food Products With Potential Health Benefits

…in dried microalgae such as spirulina protein per weight varies from 30% to 60%, making it comparable to soybean, which is about 35% to 40% protein. Plus, algae can provide more of the essential amino acids than soybean provides.

It also has the potential to reduce the amount of land we use to grow protein. A paper published last year says microalgae produces 4-15 tonnes of protein per hectare per year, compared to 0.6-1.2 for soybean.

There are some other obstacles to overcome, too. And at the moment, says Smith, we don’t know if eating algae would be as good for us as something like spinach. That’s because there is not enough research looking into whether the nutrients in algae are bio-accessible, meaning they can be released from the food in our intestines, or bio-available, meaning they will be absorbed by our bodies.

Plus, she says, it remains to be seen if we can really grow algae for food on a scale that genuinely could feed the world. While productivity might have been demonstrated on small scales, making it commercially is a totally different thing.

Still, Smith is certain algae will play a role in the food of our future, even if only as a supplement: “Algae offer a source of vitamins you can’t get from soybean, and actually there’s one vitamin you can’t get from spinach either.”

Source: How algae could transform our diets

Cereal-based products, such as pasta, flour and bread, are another group of products enriched with algae. Due to their properties algae may also be used for construction of fermented functional food. Fermented products containing algae are, most of all, dairy products, such as cheese, cream, milk deserts, yoghurt, cottage cheese, and processed cheese. Combination of fermented products offering a high content of lactic acid bacteria with algae possessing biologically active metabolites of natural origin allows not only to compose products with a high content of nutrients, but also to create a brand new segment of fermented food. Source: Algae in food: a general review – PubMed

“Algae can actually become the breadbasket for the Global South,” Greene said. “In that narrow strip of land, we can produce more than all the protein that the world will need.”

Along with high protein content, the researchers noted that algae provide nutrients lacking in vegetarian diets, such as essential amino acids and minerals found in meat and omega-3 fatty acids often sourced in fish and seafood.

Algae, which grow 10 times faster than traditional crops, can be produced in a manner that is more efficient than agriculture in its use of nutrients. For example, when farmers add nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers to grow terrestrial crops, about half runs off fields and pollutes waterways. With algae grown in enclosed facilities, excess nutrients can be captured and reused.

Similarly, carbon dioxide must be added to aquaculture ponds to grow algae. Researchers and companies have been experimenting with adding algae to construction materials and cement, where the carbon gets sequestered and removed from the atmosphere. “If we use algae in these long-lived structural materials, then we have the potential to be carbon negative, and part of the solution to climate change,” Greene said.

Source: Algae Farms Could Help Feed Billions | Food Manufacturing

Covid is a deadly virus, especially for older people, and Paxlovid reduces Covid’s severity. It does so by inhibiting the virus’s replication inside the human body, the same process that has made H.I.V. treatments so effective.

With Paxlovid, both randomized trials and data from electronic health records have pointed to its effectiveness. Some research finds an effect across all age groups, while other research finds one only among older patients. But that is not surprising. The Covid death rate for people under 50 is already so close to zero that reducing it in a statistically significant way is difficult.

Source: Donald Trump seeks to withhold two folders seized at Mar-a-Lago | Donald Trump | The Guardian

Source: Republicans Are Going All In to Convince You Crime Is Out of Control. They Don’t Have Any Proof. – Mother Jones

As of Friday morning, officials report that at least 101 people are dead from the storm, 89 of them in Florida — 45 in Lee County, which includes Fort Myers and Cape Coral. More than 60 percent of the deaths were due to drowning.

“That’s something I’ve never seen in my 38 years in public safety in Lee County,” said Cecil Pendergrass, Lee County Commission chair, during an October 2 press conference.

Source: Hurricane Ian, the deadliest hurricane in the mainland US since Katrina, explained – Vox

Source: Nicola Sturgeon says lack of contact from Liz Truss ‘absurd’ – BBC News