Beetles into Bread with 3D Printing and Other Fascinating Scientific Discoveries

Scientists have developed a way to turn ground insects into food by grinding them into flour and using a 3D printer to turn them into cooked goods, such as breads and cakes.

According to food technologists from London South Bank University, eating insects could provide a sustainable way of feeding the ever-increasing population across the globe.

Dr Ken Spears, who is leading the technique, told the Telegraph: "We are using this very hi-tech printing ability to try to encourage people to consider a new protein source. We've made some block products, a bread, but we think we can draw more on the potential of insects as food by using 3D printing."

The insects have to be dried and ground down into a fine powder, before mixing the "flour" into other ingredients. The group experimented with mealworm beetle larvae, as they are easily available in the UK. However, they have recommended more protein-rich insects for the most nutritious meals.

Here is our pick of other fascinating scientific discoveries and breakthroughs, which have intrigued the world over the last decade:

Invisibility cloaks exist

In December 2013, Harry Potter fans rejoiced when Chinese scientists confirmed they had created a working invisibility cloak. The experiment was completed in June, by Prof Chen Hongsheng from Zhejiang University. They turned a cat "invisible" by bending light around the animals, which was documented in a study called "Natural Light Cloaking for Aquatic and Terrestrial Creatures".

Earlier that year, scientists at the University of Toronto demonstrated an invisibility cloak which could hide test objects from radar detection. It worked by surrounding an object with small antennae that radiate an electromagnetic field. The field cancels out radio waves coming off the object, making it invisible to radar.

Higgs Boson discovery

In 2012, scientists at the European Center for Nuclear Research announced they had caught a glimpse of the Higgs Boson particle. The incredible research validates the Standard Model of Physics, a theory of fundamental particles and how they interact, which explains how and why the universe is able to take on a tangible existence.

The smell of white

In the same way colours and wavelengths combine to form white light and different sound frequencies create white noise, scientists discovered the phenomenon of white smell also exists. Scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel chose 86 different odor molecules and diluted them to the same consistency.

The molecules were combined to create mixtures, which revealed the more components they had, the more similar they smelt. Therefore, creating the "white noise" of smells. Mixtures with more ingredients were more difficult to tell apart than those with less.

The killer mathematical equation

According to researchers from the University of California, serial killers may kill because of a mathematical equation called a power law. Scientists discovered a correlation between the equation and the timing of murders carried out by the Rostov Ripper, who sexually assaulted and murdered a minimum of 52 women between 1978 and 1990.

Power laws are used to predict unexpected events, such as earthquakes. It is a relationship between two quantities, where one varies as a power of another. Often, killers attack their victims in bursts, killing a number of people in succession before a period with no attacks. The result of the 2012 research found murderers killed when the firing of neurons in their brains go awry. In serial killers, the rapid firing crosses a threshold, which results in an impulse to kill.