Food – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Nov 18
2015

Bioengineered Shark Fins Could Save 70 Million Sharks

Each year, an estimated 70 million sharks are killed for their fins. The brutal shark finning process involves cutting off a live shark’s fins and returning the debilitated animal back into the water to die a slow death. Highly valued in traditional Asian medicine and cuisine, the fins can sell for as much as $300 a pound on the black market.

What if an artificial shark fin could remove sharks from the equation completely?

New Wave Foods, a San Francisco-based sustainable seafood company, is developing a bioengineered fin product that could pull the rug out from underneath the shark trade.

Nov 11
2015

Billions in Change Official Film

The world is facing some huge problems. There’s a lot of talk about how to solve them. But talk doesn’t reduce pollution, or grow food, or heal the sick. That takes doing. This film is the story about a group of doers, the elegantly simple inventions they have made to change the lives of billions of people, and the unconventional billionaire spearheading the project.

Join us at:
www.BillionsInChange.com
https://www.facebook.com/billionsinchange
https://twitter.com/billionsnchange
https://instagram.com/billionsinchange

Nov 10
2015

TRON inspired glow in the dark drinks

Enjoy a little taste of life on the grid! While watching TRON: Legacy recently, I decided that my next party needed to channel some of the cool vibe of the Daft Punk dj-ed bar. Most people are probably familiar with the fact that gin and tonics glow under black lights (there’s even a great instructable about it) but what if you’re not a big fan of g&t? Thanks to the fantastic Kryptonite Candy instructable, I learned that vitamin B2 (also know as riboflavin) glows yellow. I decided to experiment to see what adding tonic water and B2 could do to some of my favourite drinks.

Oct 31
2015

Robots, Bioprinting, and the Future of Food [Video]

Emerging technologies are shaking up how we grow food, distribute it, and even what we’re eating. We are seemingly on the cusp of a food revolution and undoubtedly, technologies including artificial intelligence will play a huge role in helping people grow healthier, more resilient food faster and with less energy than ever before.

Rob Nail, Singularity University’s CEO and Associate Founder, provides a few examples of how robotics, automation, and drones are transforming agriculture in this short video:

Oct 31
2015

EXCLUSIVE: Oncology dietitian reveals the foods YOU can eat to prevent cancer

THIS week we learnt red meat can give you cancer from the World Health Organisation, but is your diet linked to illness?

Oct 29
2015

Powerless refrigerator keeps food cold through evaporation

Students from Calgary win first prize at the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge, for their invention of a electricity-free cooling unit.

Oct 29
2015

Warp Factor 11 — ships powered by BLACK HOLES to “outpace Enterprise”, say scientists

The novel its a bit older, but it‘s an incredible vision!

When Star Trek’s Scotty warns the Captain that the engines can’t “take it”, he might just be best off switching fuel — a new book claims that humanity could reach the stars using vast spacecraft harnessing the energy of black holes with the power to “eat planets”.

Inside would be an artificial black hole — created by spheres of generators firing “gravitons”- and, claims author Dr Roger Hoskins, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, would curve space-time — and would be “faster than anti matter drives.”

Captain Kirk would be jealous of the speeds offered by a black hole powered craft — which displaces or curves space time, like a warp drive, thus appearing to go faster than light.

Oct 22
2015

Arctic Explorers Uncover (and Eat) 60-Year-Old Food Stash — By Danny Lewis | Smithsonian.com

“While exploring the coldest parts of the planet, even the smallest snacks can be a lifesaver. In case of emergencies (or sometimes to for a future treat), polar explorers will leave caches of food and supplies along their return route. … Recently, a teams of researchers camped out in Greenland’s arctic desert discovered one such cache—ration tins left behind by an expedition about 60 years ago.”

Oct 21
2015

The First Robot Operated Hospital in North America Has Finally Opened

The $1.7 billion investment has finally opened its doors to the public, and the robots are ready to provide patients with a medical experience that’s truly revolutionary.

Hailed as the first fully digital hospital in North America, the Humber River Hospital in Toronto, CA finally opened its doors to the public on October 18. In addition to being equipped with the most advanced technologies, robots currently man several areas of the facility. This includes the radiology area where they facilitate the X-Ray procedure and the chemotherapy area where they mix, prepare, and monitor the drugs being administered to the patients. Before the drugs get to the patients, each package is checked and scanned thoroughly through an information management system to make sure that the patients get the correct treatment. These automated robots will also be assisting the health care staff by carrying and delivering medical supplies and food for patients.

Here’s a video of one of the automated robots in action:

Oct 21
2015

Scientists Have Genetically Engineered Dogs To Make Them More Muscly

As long as they don’t enter the food supply.

First micropigs, now dogs: Scientists in China have used a gene-editing technique to produce the world’s first genetically engineered pooches. Although these two endeavors share scientific roots, with their production aimed at assisting medical research, unlike the teeny tiny pigs, the researchers behind this latest project are not intending to sell their customized animals as pets.

So it probably won’t come as a surprise that the dogs weren’t engineered to be cuter, fluffier or more pocket-sized: they had their DNA tweaked to make them more muscly. The first of many potential edits the team would like to carry out, this was done with the forces in mind.

With greater muscle mass, the dogs “are expected to have a stronger running ability, which is good for hunting, police (military) applications,” researcher Liangxue Lai from the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health told MIT Technology Review. Later on down the line, the scientists would like to manipulate the dog genome in order to mimic human diseases, which could better our understanding and treatment of certain conditions.