Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
The KEN Diet - Eat Nothing And Love It!
The KEN (Ketogenic Enteral Nutrition) diet is a radical diet that couldn't be simpler - eat nothing for ten days. All of your nutritional needs are supplied by your own body fat - and the special liquid formula that is dripped into your stomach through a thin tube.
The no-food diet originated in Italy and has taken the country by storm. It was invented by Gianfranco Cappello, associate professor of general surgery at the University of Rome’s La Sapienza Hospital. Cappello is a world expert in artificial feeding, and has successfully treated 40,000 patients with the KEN diet...
As for the inconvenience of lugging the pump everywhere, and the social stigma of having a plastic tube hanging out of your nose, Dr Shidrawi shrugs. ‘The pump is very light and extremely quiet,’ he says.
Fans of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine might be thinking about the Jem'Hadar, who take their nourishment in a similar manner.
KEN works by sending the body into controlled starvation, forcing it to use its own fat for energy. And it works fast. Each cycle of KEN strips up to 10 per cent of body weight in just ten days, without, apparently, causing any loss of muscle, and without causing hunger.
(Ikat'ika, a Jem'Hadar soldier in 2373)
The only nourishment they require comes in the form of the hormonal enzyme Ketracel White or simply the white. Without this drug, Jem’Hadar go into severe withdrawal, resulting in loss of cognitive and motor functions. They will lose their shrouding ability and regress into a highly aggressive stage, not discriminating in whom or what they attack, including their Vorta superiors and peers. Lack of white will eventually kill a Jem’Hadar. The Founders use the Vorta to supply the Jem’Hadar with the white. It is administered through cylinders that fit into a system near a Jem’Hadar's collar, which is then fed directly into the Jem’Hadar via a tube running into the carotid artery.
Fans of sf Grandmaster Jack Vance might be thinking of the Meks from his 1967 Hugo award-winning novel The Last Castle.
The Mek, standing as if a specimen in a museum case, was a manlike creature, native, in his original version, to a planet of Etamin.His maw, a vertical irregular cleft at the base of this "face" was an obsolete organ by inclusion of the syrup sac which had been introduced under the skin of the shoulders...
(Read more about the syrup sac)
Via the Daily Mail. Thanks to Moira for finding this story and reference, and sharing it with us.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 3/14/2012)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Food ")
SliceIt! Why Not Teach Robots To Use Knives?
'One building now gushed forth smoke and another stench that was unmistakable.' - Anne McCaffrey, 1996.
3D Printed Cheesecake Not Quite Food Replicator Quality
With each successive print, our model needed to incorporate more structural ingredients to minimize print failures
Porcine Fat Cells For 3D-Printed Whole Pork Products
'I grabbed two Syntho-Steaks out of the freezer...' - Robert Heinlein, 1950.
Microbial Protein Production More Efficient Than Crops
'It's the food situation I'm worried about...' - James Blish, 1950.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
GITAI R1 Lunar Rover Like NASA Robonaut Centaur
'...waldoes in the screen followed in exact, simultaneous parallelism.'
Meshworm Soft Robot, With Peristaltic Crawling, Is Getting Better
'Seen close it was not completely flexible, but made instead of pivoted and smoothly finished segments.'
Mushroom 'Robot' Is Just A Start
'Some unknown race ... decided to help them out.'
Tesla Electric 'Giga Train' Operational In Germany
'...the cars are wedge-shaped at both ends.'
DOTPad Braille Device Offers Live Access
Amazing tactile display.
Biohybrid Robot Combines Living Muscle With Artificial Materials
'...great rectangular slabs of muscle, slung into a rectangular frame.'
Biohybrid Robots Made Of Living And Synthetic Materials
'If the biological robots were not living creatures, they were certainly very good imitations.'
Drug Induces Hibernation-Like State In Humans
'... drugged and chilled and stowed in sleep tanks.'
Poul Anderson's 'Brain Wave'
"Everybody and his dog, it seemed, wanted to live out in the country; transportation and communication were no longer isolating factors."
AI Note-Taking From Google Meet
'... the new typewriter that could be talked to, and which transposed the spoken sound into typed words.'
Qore IcePlates Are Personal Cooling Suits
'... underneath they consisted of networks of cooling tubes against the skin.'
P1 Just The Latest Robot To Take A Beating From Humans
'...we mere people come second.'
Waymo Cars Shout At Each Other, Autonomously
'My cars talk to one another. I have no doubt about it...'
Your Solar Electric Paint Is Ready, Larry Niven
'...you spray it on.'
How Long Till We Have These Tattoos?
Truth or fiction?
Seeing Faces On Grains Of Sand (AI Pareidolia)
'... the imprint of her image on the telephoto cell.'
