Why Burger King Is Proudly Advertising A Moldy, Disgusting Whopper
Burger King unveiled a global ad campaign aimed at highlighting its commitment to dropping all artificial preservatives. The chain’s anti-preservatives pledge breaks just about every rule in advertising.

Why Can’t We Agree On What’s True Any More?
It’s not about foreign trolls, filter bubbles or fake news. If there is one thing on which virtually everyone is agreed, it is that the news and information we receive is biased. Technology encourages us to believe we can all have first-hand access to the ‘real’ facts – and now we can’t stop fighting about it.

The Decade Disney Won
The control Disney has on pop culture is kind of terrifying. Marvel’s superhero movies and Star Wars are two of—if not the—biggest franchises in the world. Add those to Pixar’s beloved library of films and its own perennially popular movies, and Disney is effectively in charge of what people watch.

Blackfishing: ‘Black Is Cool, Unless You’re Actually Black’
From Kim Kardashian to Selena Gomez, the perceived trend for wanting to appear black shows no sign of slowing down. “It’s about picking and choosing common black traits and characteristics for one’s benefit, while we continue to face discrimination on a day to day basis.”

The Climate Activists Who Dismiss Meat Consumption Are Wrong
All too frequently, activists, politicians, and scientists reduce the all-consuming crisis of global warming to a question of greenhouse gas emissions: what drives them up, and how best to bring them down. The natural world and its nonhuman inhabitants are reduced to a series of models and equations.

Why A Struggling Rust Belt City Pinned Its Revival On A Self-chilling Beverage Can
Welcome to Youngstown, Ohio, home of Chill-Can, the self-chilling beverage container you’ve probably never heard of. Officials have gambled millions of dollars and demolished a neighborhood for the product. Not one job has been created yet.

The Surprising Psychology Of Dieting And Plate Design
You’ve probably heard the idea that using smaller plates and bowls can affect your perception of how much you’re eating, thereby helping you eat less. But how well does it work? A new study sheds light on that popular theory, finding that if you’re really hungry, it doesn’t work.

How To Find New Music You’ll Actually Like
Some people can dig up great music like magic, or have friends inside the industry who keep them updated. Others are perfectly content with their weekly Spotify Discover playlist. But if you need more ways to find music, here are some ideas.

How Campbell’s Soup Changed Tomatoes’ DNA For The Worse
The perfect tomato to eat is red, plump, juicy, and bursting with flavor. When mass-produced, tomatoes also have to be easy to remove from the vine. That is why the Campbell Soup Company cultivated a variety with a genetic mutation more than a half-century ago.

Farmer’s Fridge Wants To Make Eating Healthy Food As Easy As Getting Money From An ATM
Farmer’s Fridge retrofits vending machines to serve up healthy foods — salads, sandwiches, granola, etc. — for people on the go. In order to ensure restaurant-quality food, Farmer’s Fridge has a chef on board who receives feedback from customers to constantly tweak the menu and the food.

Online Streaming: Television’s Looming Car Crash
As the distribution model for entertainment is remade, a revolutionary ardour has seized the industry: the choice is to win the streaming battle against the likes of Netflix, or face commercial oblivion. The immediate result has been clear: more television than ever before. There were 496 scripted TV shows made in the US last year, more than double the 216 series released in 2010.

How ‘Taco Friday’ Became A Swedish Tradition
Fredagsmys, or Cozy Friday, is a beloved Swedish tradition. Across the Scandinavian country, families stay home on Friday night, watch TV, and eat Tex-Mex-style tacos. This dinner choice is so common that, for most Swedes, Cozy Friday is also Taco Fredag, or Taco Friday.

The Man Who Drove McDonald’s Out Of Iceland
Tómas Tómasson’s all-American burger joint is so legendary in Iceland, it ousted McDonald’s from the country. It all began back in 1981 when the good folk of Reykjavík, Iceland still thought fish and chips was exotic foreign food. Along came Tommi and taught them to worship a new kind of sustenance: the mighty burger.

Becoming A “Mindful Drinker” Changed My Life
Sober curiosity is spawning both a philosophical movement whose adherents have holidays (Dry January and Sober October) and is creating an industry through sober influencers; nonalcoholic beer, wine, and “spirits”; dry bars; dry events; and sophisticated cocktails without alcohol.

Before Beauty Vlogging, There Were Renaissance ‘Books of Secrets’
So-called Books of Secrets were a new and wildly-popular literary genre during the Italian Renaissance. Written in vernacular Italian, they instructed an increasingly literate public in the pursuit of alchemy, making secrets previously circulated in Latin manuscripts amongst the educated elite more broadly accessible.

Confused About What To Eat? Science Can Help
Potent societal powers create a culture of nutrition confusion that not only obfuscate the truth about diet, they undermine science as a whole. Begin by asking critical questions when digesting diet news. Does the writer have an advanced degree in nutrition, or does she or he have expertise in science journalism?

How Wikipedia’s Volunteers Became The Web’s Best Weapon Against Misinformation
Twenty years after it sputtered onto the web, it’s now a de facto pillar in our fact-checking infrastructure. Its pages often top Google search and feed the knowledge panels that appear at the top of those results. Big Tech’s own efforts to stop misinformation also rely upon Wikipedia.

Artist Creates Daily Toast Designs Inspired By Japanese Traditions
For Japanese designer Manami Sasaki, making toast is a time to slow down and get creative. Every morning, she’s been using slices of bread as her canvas to create incredible breakfasts that look too pretty to eat.

How IKEA Helped Swedish Meatballs Go Global
Swedish meatballs are no longer just a domestic dish. They have gone global, thanks to the efforts not of Sweden’s mothers but of one giant furniture company: IKEA. The firm wanted to make something that was easy to serve, tasty and affordable for most people.

The Italian Town That Always Smells Like Panettone
Since 1922, Pinerolo has been home to Galup, a bakery-factory that specializes in northern Italian enriched breads, an operation that defines this small town—from its aroma to its employment options. The town always smells like panettone.

The Eternal Revenue Stream Of Led Zeppelin
In the rapid-fire age of digital everything, with young listeners eager for discovery, the ground has shifted beneath record companies’ feet and catalog departments are being called upon to be hubs of innovation and fresh creativity.