There's nothing like a shot of espresso when you need to get some studying done—and now, it seems like bees learn better with a jolt of their favorite caffeine-laced nectar, too. In a paper published July 28 in the journal ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 28, 2021
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1606
Caffeine is well-known for its ability to help people stay alert, but a team of researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women's Hospital has now come up with a novel use for this chemical stimulant—catalyzing the formation of ...
Materials Science
Apr 13, 2018
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198
Enzymes that help produce caffeine evolved independently in coffee, tea and chocolate, say scientists who have newly sequenced the coffee plant genome.
Biotechnology
Sep 4, 2014
25
0
Scientists have today shown that caffeine improves a honeybee's memory and could help the plant recruit more bees to spread its pollen.
Plants & Animals
Mar 7, 2013
7
1
With global goals set on transitioning away from fossil fuels, fuel cells stand out as a promising carbon-free energy source. Comprising an anode and a cathode separated by an electrolyte, fuel cells convert the chemical ...
Analytical Chemistry
Mar 14, 2024
0
17
Coffee—one bean with many possibilities. A big choice is how to brew it: espresso, filter, plunger, percolator, instant and more. Each method has unique equipment, timing, temperature, pressure, and coffee grind and water ...
Analytical Chemistry
Aug 26, 2022
1
75
For many people, the best start to the day is a nice, fresh cup of joe. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on October 15 find that honey bees find caffeinated beverages—er, nectar—irresistible ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 15, 2015
3
307
There were not large numbers of people in the eighth century living in what is now the Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico, but the inhabitants who were there really valued cacao and holly beverages which were ...
Archaeology
Sep 8, 2015
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1766
The coffee berry borer is the most devastating coffee pest in the world. The tiny beetle is found in most regions where coffee is cultivated, and a big outbreak can slash crop yield by 80 percent.
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 14, 2015
0
132
(Phys.org) —A team of researchers led by Prof. Young-Tae Chang from National University of Singapore and Prof. Yoon-Kyoung Cho from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Korea, developed a fluorescent ...
Analytical Chemistry
Aug 7, 2013
1
0
Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that is a psychoactive stimulant drug. Caffeine was discovered by a German chemist, Friedrich Ferdinand Runge, in 1819. He coined the term "kaffein", a chemical compound in coffee, which in English became caffeine. Caffeine is also part of the chemical mixtures and insoluble complexes guaranine found in guarana, mateine found in mate, and theine found in tea; all of which contain additional alkaloids such as the cardiac stimulants theophylline and theobromine, and often other chemicals such as polyphenols which can form insoluble complexes with caffeine.
Caffeine is found in varying quantities in the beans, leaves, and fruit of some plants, where it acts as a natural pesticide that paralyzes and kills certain insects feeding on the plants. It is most commonly consumed by humans in infusions extracted from the cherries of the coffee plant and the leaves of the tea bush, as well as from various foods and drinks containing products derived from the kola nut. Other sources include yerba mate, guarana berries, and the Yaupon Holly.
In humans, caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant, having the effect of temporarily warding off drowsiness and restoring alertness. Beverages containing caffeine, such as coffee, tea, soft drinks, and energy drinks enjoy great popularity. Caffeine is the world's most widely consumed psychoactive substance, but unlike many other psychoactive substances it is legal and unregulated in nearly all jurisdictions. In North America, 90% of adults consume caffeine daily. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration lists caffeine as a "Multiple Purpose Generally Recognized as Safe Food Substance".
Caffeine has diuretic properties, at least when administered in sufficient doses to subjects who do not have a tolerance for it. Regular users, however, develop a strong tolerance to this effect, and studies have generally failed to support the common notion that ordinary consumption of caffeinated beverages contributes significantly to dehydration.
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