The Rise Of The “Ghost Kitchen” Could Change The Restaurant Delivery Game
Meet the virtual restaurant, or “ghost kitchen,” a business that distributes meals through apps, but has no sit-down, brick and mortar location. Delivery-only restaurants, run out of low-rent kitchens without a storefront, are shifting the landscape of ordering food online.
The Plant-Based Movement To Transition Farmers Away From Meat And Dairy Production
Two fledgling projects led by animal-welfare groups hope to offer a lifeline to struggling farmers by helping them trade animal agriculture for alternative proteins. The groups say the shift benefits animals and the environment, while boosting farmers’ economic outlook.
My Restaurant Was My Life For 20 Years. Does The World Need It Anymore?
Forced to shutter Prune, Gabrielle Hamilton has been revisiting her original dreams for it — and wondering if there will still be a place for it in the New York of the future.
‘This Is Small Talk Purgatory’: What Tinder Taught Me About Love
I found myself single in a town where the non-student population is 1,236 people. I briefly considered flirting with the cute local bartender, the cute local mailman. For the first time in my life, I decided to date online. But finding someone fully and messily human was harder than I thought.
Airbus Beluga XL Enters Service
One of the aviation world’s most hotly anticipated planes, the Airbus Beluga XL, has entered full-time service. The super-transporter cargo plane is designed by Airbus to fly its aircraft components between production sites in Europe and its final assembly lines in Toulouse, France; Hamburg, Germany; and Tianjin, China.
Hyperloop Explained
Billed as the fastest way to cross the surface of the earth, Hyperloop represents the greatest leap in transport infrastructure for generations. The concept promises to slash journey times between major cities from several hours to a matter of minutes.
What Fruits And Vegetables Looked Like Before Humans Intervened
The fruits and vegetables we know and love are a lot more complicated than you’d think. They didn’t always look like they do. In fact, it took decades of human intervention to transform them into the delicious, nutrient-rich morsels they are today.
The Man Who’s Going To Save Your Neighborhood Grocery Store
American food supplies are increasingly channeled through a handful of big companies: Amazon, Walmart, FreshDirect, Blue Apron. What do we lose when local supermarkets go under? A lot — and Kevin Kelley wants to stop that.
iPhones Are Being Turned Into Ultrasound Devices To Diagnose Patients
The world’s first handheld ultrasound device, Butterfly iQ, will give hope to 4.7 billion people who don’t have access to medical imaging, revolutionizing modern medicine. Butterfly Network founder Dr Jonathan Rothberg invented the tool, a battery-operated device the size of an electric shaver that diagnoses abnormalities within seconds.
Thailand: Turning Straw Into Gold
Huge amounts of rice straw are left over after the harvest in Thailand. Farmers often burn it, which is terrible for the environment. A young entrepreneur has found a new use for the material. Turned into paper, it can replace plastic food packaging.
LEGO Launches Braille Bricks For Children To Learn Braille
At the Sustainable Brands conference in Paris, the LEGO Foundation and LEGO Group announced their new project to help blind and visually impaired children learn braille through custom LEGO Braille Bricks.
Diabetes: The Rice You Eat Is Worse Than Sugary Drinks
The health authorities in Singapore have identified one of their top concerns as they wage war on diabetes: white rice. It is even more potent than sweet soda drinks in causing the disease.
World’s Tallest Wooden Building, Mjøsa Tower By Voll Arkitekter
Mjøsa Tower (Mjøstårnet) by Trondheim-based Voll Arkitekter, the world’s tallest wooden skyscraper, is over 4.5 meters higher than planned. Now structurally topped out, the 18-story structure stands 85.4 meters tall and is officially the world’s tallest timber tower.
It’s No Crime To Drink Wine By Yourself
From the moment we start to learn about wine, we are taught that drinking responsibly is a social activity. Wine is for sharing, for drinking with friends or family over a meal. But self-imposed isolation does not require you to forgo good food or good wine, despite the social stigma.
Once Hailed As Unhackable, Blockchains Are Now Getting Hacked
More and more security holes are appearing in cryptocurrency and smart contract platforms, and some are fundamental to the way they were built.
Wikkelhouse: Pick Your Modular Segments & Click Them Together
The “Wikkelhouse”, or “wrap house”, is a truly customizable home composed of 5-meter-square (53-square-foot) modules that click together to create any-sized structure. Once “printed”, the basic units can be customized: kitted out as a bathroom, a kitchen or combined bunk rooms can create larger rooms.
The Food Expiration Dates You Should Actually Follow
Here’s the first thing you should know: Expiration dates are not expiration dates. Food product dating, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture calls it, is completely voluntary for all products — with the exception of baby food. Not only that, but it has nothing to do with safety.
How To Tell If You’re Talking To A Bot
It’s important not to be swayed by fake accounts or waste your time arguing with them, and identifying bots in a Twitter thread has become a strange version of the Turing test. Advances in machine learning hint at how bots could become more humanlike.
How Philadelphia Became The One And Only Cream Cheese
There is only one cream cheese, and that is the brick-shaped silver package with the bright blue lettering: Philadelphia. Philadelphia cream cheese’s dominance isn’t a happy accident. Its cult popularity is likely the result of equal parts clever marketing and good timing.
Kudos, Leaderboards, QOMs: How Fitness App Strava Became A Religion
Strava is a fitness and sports tracking platform that launched in 2009 and bills itself the “number one app for runners and cyclists”. The app offers community, training data and motivation to millions of athletes. Even runners who dislike tech can’t bear to be without it.
Water-Resistant And Biodegradable Plant-Based Plastic
A group of researchers at Japan’s Osaka University has developed an alternative type of plastic which is not only biodegradable in seawater but is also water-resistant under normal use. The plastic is made from cellulose nanofibers and starch, both of which were extracted from plants.