Bits And Pieces: Tooth Pollution, Seaweed for Frost Protection And Cold-Fighting Fruit

Fooling Mother Nature: By culturing stem tissue from an ordinary celery plant, researchers at Plant Genetics, Inc.—a biotechnology firm headquartered in Davis, California—have found they can produce man-made seeds that are very much like the natural embryos . . . but that lack protective kernels. The scientists weren't stumped by this complication, however. They simply imitated Mother Nature by encapsulating the tiny green embryos in a polymer coated organic jelly. The synthetic celery seed, which could reach the market within 18 months, would offer growers their first opportunity to buy true hybrid celery. Other advantages of the manmade seeds are that they could be produced year round and in very little space, and that the jellylike aqueous "epidermis" could carry minute doses of agricultural chemicals or nitrogen-fixing bacteria to help the young plants on their way. According to the Newsweek report, though, it appears that natural celery seeds will still be with us for quite some time.

Tooth Pollution: The Department of Environmental Affairs in the German state of Hesse has determined that the region's dental offices are among the chief sources of mercury waste, most of it coming from the amalgam used in fillings . . . and it's suspected that the tooth fillers are partly responsible for the mercury contamination in the area's streams. Hessian dentists dump out a total of 4.8 metric tons of tooth cement each year. Although half of this comes from extracted teeth and is thus disposed of as solid waste, the debris left over after a tooth is filled goes directly down the drain and into the water supply. The actual amount of mercury that can be traced to the dentist's chair is not yet known, but the region's dental associations are already discussing the implementation of some sort of waste-filtering system.

Getting the Lead Out: Recent findings published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Science suggest that cola may be of benefit in instances of acute lead poisoning. When laboratory rats drank the beverage immediately after ingesting lead, absorption of the toxic metal was cut by 30%. The phosphates in the cola, the researchers say, may combine with the lead to form lead phosphate, a substance that the gastrointestinal tract can't absorb efficiently and thus excretes.

An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away: This familiar adage held true for 300 students at Michigan State University, reports The Gardener, a publication of the Men's Garden Clubs of America, Inc. In a three-year study, students who ate the fruit daily made one-third fewer visits to the university clinic for upper respiratory infections and colds than did their non-pome-eating classmates.

Fertilized Frost Protection: According to investigators at Clemson University in South Carolina, seaweed can protect plants from damage by frost. Tomato plants whose leaves were sprayed with dilute seaweed extract survived temperatures of 29°F, while untreated plants were killed by the cold. The frost deterrent is also an excellent fertilizer, having twice the potassium of cow manure and an abundance of trace elements.