Nailed It!

New DNA analysis of a fingernail supports the idea that lead poisoning was not the culprit of an explorer's death.

A 170-year-old mystery has been solved with a new, more detailed genetic map of a dead man's fingernail, John Hartnell. Lead poisoning was the leading cause of death (with good reason, it wasn't uncommon at the time; tainted water and food caused a lot of deaths) but now researchers have found evidence to prove that this was not the case.

Toxicologist Jennie Christensen and her colleagues measured levels of zinc and copper in different places of a fingernail and toenail of explorer Hartnell. They found that Hartnell was actually deficient for both metals (especially zinc) and could track the levels over his expeditions. The lack of zinc and copper was due to a lack of protein from meat and fish that is crucial to a person's diet. Hartnell's extreme zinc deficiency may have lead him to be susceptible to illness due to a weak immune response. Hartnell and his shipmates were vulnerable to pneumonia and tuberculosis and that is how they may have died.

Genetically "Strong" Chickpeas battle Malnutritions

          Malnutrition affects over 2 billion people worldwide and has been a growing epidemic. Researchers from the University of Saskatchewan have been finding ways to combat the growing micronutrient malnutrition by enriching certain food grains by breeding correctly and right practices. these actions are coupled together and are called biofortification. Specifically chickpeas have been analyzed and changed. After the common bean, the chickpeas are the most important crop and is a necessity in the diets of millions of people.

                                     
            Dr. Ta'ran, one of the leading researchers states that in order to increase the micronutrient content in these chickpeas, the appropriate mechanisms must be clearly understood. Mechanisms of mobilization, absorption, translocation and retranslocation in the plant seed must be analyzed. Single Nucleotide variations or SNP's was analyzed through testing. The chickpeas consisted of elite cultivars, landraces, and advanced breeding lines from the University. The study found that there is in fact variability present in chickpea germplasm for seed iron and zinc concentrations, Increasing the levels of zinc and iron genetically could be a solution to a huge problem in the US

         This article gets me excited with research. Genetically modified foods have been a huge debate over the years, but its benefits can not be shown lightly. These chickpeas can have an affect, not only in the immediate US populations, but can have an affect world-wide.

Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141201113130.htm
Related Article: http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/database/plants/302.chick_peas.html