Slashdot Mirror
Scientists Grow Decaffeinated Coffee Plants
An anonymous reader writes "According to a CBC News story, researchers have genetically modified coffee seedlings to produce up to 70 per cent less caffeine." The Japanese researchers quoted in the article say "..demand for decaffeinated coffee is growing worldwide. Caffeine can trigger palpitations, increase blood pressure and disrupt sleep in sensitive people", and so "..used a tool called RNA interference to genetically engineer the one-year-old plants." Seems like these boffins may be competing against the University Of Hawaii researchers we mentioned last year to take away your buzz.
I mean really, if it can't help me stay up all night coding whats the point?
"It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists." -Ludwig Wittgenstein
How about they get working on super-caffeinated coffee? And we can call it Coffee 2. Then the regular caffeinated version of coffee can be renamed to Coffee 2. But the super-caffeinated version will be Coffee 2 Hi-Caffeine and the regular-caffeinated version will be Coffee 2 Full-Caffeine.
i rerereally cococould uuuuse thththis stufffff.
opiate free poppy plantations?
*Jaw drops open*
;-)
This is blasphemy!! This, this, this... This is an outrage! Oh, the humanity!
It's time to stop this nonsense once and for all! Coders, Admins, hackers, and yes, even Microsoft employees, virus writers and marketdroids, repeat after me:
No to GMO! We want Real Coffee!
I mean, Decaf' Coffee? If God wanted us to drink this, he would not have invented Starbucks!
Oh, wait... I am a tea drinker...
Err... Well, never mind me. Carry on...
The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
Until reading this I was fairly neutral about the GM issue.
On one hand I thought greenpeace were a load of insane hippies who are in need of a damn good kicking, but I was also suspicious of the motives of the biotech companies. I was, however, prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Now I know. Greenpeace are right! Those bastards mean to destroy us all, and I have proof!!!
Someone needs to look at what the whole drive for effectless "drugs" tells us about society. THC free hemp yes, because hemp is a useful plant (makes good cloth,easier to grow than cotton). But surely the sole purpose of coffee beans is to produce...coffee? If you don't like the side effects, there are any number of alternatives. Decaffeinated coffee is like devaluing the brand name.
Or perhaps I've missed the business implications. Perhaps I should just patent my new process for making alcohol free vodka, and get rich.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
I'd wait for SP1 before drinking an untested release.
to buy my thc-free marjiuana before.
But now I'm not so sure.
...consumption of coffee is expected to increase by over 200 percent.
Decaf is like masturbation. When it is all you have it is ok. But, man you would die for the real thing!
Don't laugh. Just like me you are reading slashdot. You know what I am talking about;)
Good for you! If you don't want caffeine, why drink coffee? There are thousands of alternatives.
But for me, let me say:
It is by caffeine alone
I set my mind in motion,
It is by the beans of Java
That my thoughts aquire speed,
The hand aquire shakes,
The shakes becomes a warning,
It is by caffeine alone
I set my mind in motion.
Kinda makes you wonder if either A) Scott Adams knew about this already or B) Scott Adams reads Slashdot...
My journal has hot
Cool! Are there any side effects?
Six sick
Of course there caffeine-free beverages that are better than coffee. But all of those contain alcohol and some people occasionally want to drink something that is both alcohol AND caffeine free.
I'm not sure why. People can be weird sometimes.
LOL IM A PROGRAMMER LOL I DRINK COFFEE LOL CAFFEINE LOL DONT COME TO CLOSE LOL I HAVE THE SHAKES AND MIGHT SNAP ROFL I HAVENT HAD MY MORNING CUP OF COFFEE LOL
Unfortunatly, I've met more imaginative heroin addicts.
I fucking hate this caffeine gimmick, it's not that hard to stay up late when coding, or make it to work in the morning without bending over for caffeine.
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
I mean, who is fucked up enough to want such products? Whats the next glorious "light"-idea? Castrated husbands?
--
"The more prohibitions there are, The poorer the people will be" -- Lao Tse
Scientists have also found a way to remove Dihydrogen Monoxide from water in a process called "deaquificiation".
In stead of "Scientists Grow Decaffeinated Coffee Plants" I want ot see headlines like...:-
Scientists Grow caffeinated Coffee Plants with 50% more Caffine
or
Scientist grow a Jolt Cola Plant
or
Scientist grom a Caffine/Pizza combo plant
Why _less_ caffine??
Jaj
just to invent a nontoxic brown magic marker for your teeth.
Manually implemented sigs are of unlimited length...
I'm a biotech student, and as such genetic modification is hardly anathema to me;
BUT DON'T FUCK WITH MY DAMN COFFEE!
And yes, I actually do like the taste of it (at least the stuff I make). I would be curious to find out if this new stuff tasted any good...