A chemical reaction that gives food flavour could have helped evolution, one study suggests. According to New Scientist, the Maillard reaction is when the temperature between sugars and amino acids rises above approximately 140°C. It often occurs in food such as toasted bread, meats and roasted vegetables. Caroline Peacock at the University of Leeds wanted to explore whether it could happen at lower temperatures. To do this, scientists added iron or manganese minerals to a solution made up of sugar glucose and the amino acid glycine. When the substance was incubated at 10°C, the process was sped up by around 100 times. The temperature is said to be similar to the seabed at the edges of continents. Peacock and the team discovered that the Maillard reaction also occurs on the ocean floor, where iron and manganese minerals are often found. If this is the case, it could cause the carbon in sugars and amino acids to be stored in "large, complex polymers that microbes find harder to ingest," Peacock said, as per the publication. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter "If you can get your carbon through the 1-metre danger zone [at the top of the sea floor], where carbon generally is attacked and degraded and turned back into carbon dioxide by microbes, that will lock it away from the atmosphere," she explained. The team estimated that the minerals could lock away roughly 4 million tonnes of carbon every year. If this process didn't exist, the atmosphere could have warmed by a further 5°C over the past 400 million years, the study suggested. "This process has such a profound impact on atmospheric oxygen," she says. "Because complex life forms require higher levels of oxygen, as they’re more energetically demanding, we think it’s reasonable to surmise this process had a hand in creating conditions required for complex life." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Sony's PlayStation Pulse Explore true wireless earphones are designed to be used with your PlayStation

Apple has revealed a host of new updates coming to the iPhone. The company launched iOS 17, its new iPhone operating system, this week. It was detailed at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, which also saw the long-awaited unveiling of its Vision Pro headset. During that event, Apple showed off new features for the iPhone that included new messaging features and the option to twist the iPhone to the side and have it show a special “ambient” mode. But many features appear to have been left without discussion during that same introduction. Now Apple has published a new list of updates that were presumably left out of the update for reasons of time. They include a host of Apple Music features: the ability to make collaborative playlists, control music in the car, sing along to songs in a karaoke mode while seeing video of yourself, and more. Apple also announced offline downloads in Maps, for times when connections may be difficult, and Apple Fitness tools that let users generate a workout routine. Apple News, Podcasts, Apple Books and payments all get other updates. Apple has also added a new ID tool within wallet, that means users can show businesses proof of their age through their phone. That will let people quickly pay for alcohol purchases, for instance, or prove their identity for car rentals, Apple suggested. The full list of updates can be seen on Apple’s website. Unusually, Apple is allowing any users to get hold of the developer version of the new update for free, meaning that it is available right after the launch. But most users are still advised not to install it, given that it might come with potentially disastrous bugs. The public beta version of the software is expected in July. And Apple will fully launch iOS 17 in autumn, usually in September around the same time the new iPhone is launched. Read More ‘I saw the future. It left me in tears’ This could be the end of ‘ducking’ Apple lets people get brand new iPhone update early – but there’s a very big warning

IShowPseed had to pay to get unbanned from OmeTV twice while he was streaming

One of the first personal computers built by Apple and signed by company co-founder Steve Wozniak has sold at auction for more than $223,000

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 27, 2023--

Nearly every website you visit, from dating apps to hyper-secure banking sites, insists you create

STAFFORD, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 8, 2023--

China's leader Xi Jinping is to declare the Asian Games open at a lotus-shaped mega stadium in Hangzhou on Saturday.

Oil executives betting they’ll be able to meet net zero emissions goals by relying on carbon-capture technology are

When Asia’s biggest computing and electronics show kicked off this week, one name was conspicuously absent: Intel Corp.

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 19, 2023--