Treating pain by blocking the 'chili-pepper receptor'

Biting into a chili pepper causes a burning spiciness that is irresistible to some, but intolerable to others. Scientists exploring the chili pepper's effect are using their findings to develop a new drug candidate for many ...

Gene discovery may halt a deep-rooted pepper disease

(Phys.org) —For more than a century, the global hot pepper industry has been dealing with a problem. A funguslike pathogen, known as Phytophthora capsici, has spread a root rot disease that severely diminishes crop yields. ...

ACS chemistry mavens stir up hot sauce science

The chemistry of Sriracha or "rooster" sauce joins the list of topics of interest for the American Chemical Society, which recently delivered a "Reactions" video on the sauce. Huy Fong Foods' Sriracha sauce has attracted ...

Early uses of chili peppers in Mexico

Chili peppers may have been used to make spicy beverages thousands of years ago in Mexico, according to new research published November 13 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Terry Powis at Kennesaw State University and ...

Putting the fire out with light

Chili peppers contain an activator of heat-sensitive pain receptors. An LMU team has now converted an antagonist to the compound into a light-sensitive regulator of such receptors that can differentially modulate the effects ...

Airborne gut action primes wild chili pepper seeds

Scientists have long known that seeds gobbled by birds and dispersed across the landscape tend to fare better than those that fall near parent plants where seed-hungry predators and pathogens are more concentrated.

Ethylene of no effect: Why peppers do not mature after picking

(Phys.org) -- The plant hormone ethylene lets green tomatoes ripen even after the harvest, whereas the closely related chili peppers show no such effect. Researchers from the Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology ...

Research shows how the body senses a range of hot temperatures

The winter sun feels welcome, but not so a summer sunburn. Research over the past 20 years has shown that proteins on the surface of nerve cells enable the body to sense several different temperatures. Now scientists have ...

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