Menu

Blog

Archive for the ‘food’ category: Page 265

Jan 29, 2017

MIT’s Food Computers Set the Stage for Open Source Agriculture

Posted by in categories: climatology, computing, food, sustainability

Most of us probably don’t think too much about the foodstuffs we buy in the supermarket. But behind the scenes, today’s food production system relies on a centralized, industrial-scale supply chain that’s still dependent upon soil-based agriculture for the majority of our food crops.

In many instances, that means that food has to travel long distances from farm to table, meaning that food has lost much of its freshness and nutritional value by the time it reaches your table. There’s also a growing awareness that this model isn’t sustainable: the pressures of increasing urbanization and loss of arable land, rising populations and the increased frequency of extreme weather events like droughts and floods — brought on by climate change — means that slowly but surely, we are going to have to change the way we grow our food.

Continue reading “MIT’s Food Computers Set the Stage for Open Source Agriculture” »

Jan 29, 2017

Choosing a New System Architecture

Posted by in categories: business, food, sustainability

The food retail, foodservice and industrial cooling industries are in the midst of a momentous transition in refrigeration system architectures. Regulations are driving the need to implement sustainable systems with options growing exponentially. Emerson’s natural refrigerant expert, Andre Patenaude, provides advice on the best alternatives to future proof your system.

To get to what many call the “end game” of achieving compliance and meeting corporate sustainability objectives, more businesses are looking at systems based on natural refrigerants to help them achieve these goals.

The term “natural refrigerant” refers to substances that naturally occur in the environment. Unlike the synthetic refrigerants that have commonly been used in refrigeration applications — including hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) — ammonia (NH3 or refrigerant name R-717), propane (refrigerant name R-290) and carbon dioxide (CO2 or refrigerant name R-744) are three naturally occurring refrigerants that pose very little threat to the environment.

Continue reading “Choosing a New System Architecture” »

Jan 27, 2017

Vertical Farming Brings Fresh Produce to Cities

Posted by in categories: food, sustainability

You’ve never seen a farm like this.

Read more

Jan 22, 2017

Learn How This Family Grows 6,000 Lbs Of Food on Just 1/10th Acre – Urban Homestead

Posted by in category: food

There 7.68 billion acres of arable land. if everyone did this and lived one one tenth of an acre then that’s room for 76 billion people just on the arable land where there is actually 36 billion acres of land on the planet.

If farming were turned into vertical farming building with ten floors a piece at 1/10th and acre per level that’s 760 billion. At 100 floors that’d be 7.6 trillion. I would need to review an Isaac Arthur video about the maximum occupancy of the planet, there may be heat problems with trillions of people on the planet.

Continue reading “Learn How This Family Grows 6,000 Lbs Of Food on Just 1/10th Acre – Urban Homestead” »

Jan 21, 2017

Exploring the environmental impact of quantum dots

Posted by in categories: biological, food, nanotechnology, quantum physics

The speed with which microbes in a simplified ecosystem absorb the nanomaterials is raising concerns about the effect on organisms higher in the food chain.

Read more

Jan 20, 2017

KFC China Is Using Facial Recognition To Recommend Menu Items

Posted by in categories: food, robotics/AI

The fast food franchise is leveraging a special device to help customers choose their meal by age, mood, and gender.

Read more

Jan 20, 2017

Sensors Promise Spectral Analysis in the Palm of Your Hand

Posted by in categories: electronics, food

Austria’s Ams has released a pair of tiny spectral sensors for on-the-go analysis of foods or pharmaceuticals.

Read more

Jan 17, 2017

Energy Dept. Seeks A Few Good (Really, Really Good) Seaweed Farmers

Posted by in categories: energy, food, sustainability

Attention all seaweed farmers! US DoE and DARPA wants you.


Did you know that the amount of commercially produced seaweed almost hit the mark of 25 million metric tons last year? China and Indonesia dominate the global seaweed-to-food market, and now the Department of Energy has been casting a hungry eye on the potential for the US to get in on the action, with a particular focus on converting seaweed to biofuel and other high value products.

Of course, there is a problem. Growing seaweed — aka macroalgae — for food is one thing. The algae-to-energy cycle is quite another thing entirely. That’s why the Energy Department has called upon its cutting edge funding division, ARPA-E, to put out a call for the super macroalgae farmer of the future.

Continue reading “Energy Dept. Seeks A Few Good (Really, Really Good) Seaweed Farmers” »

Jan 16, 2017

Make your own meat with open-source cells – no animals necessary

Posted by in category: food

Engineered meat is taking on a new flavour as an entrepreneur aims to help people make animal-free meat at home, like brewing beer, by sharing cell cultures.

Read more

Jan 15, 2017

A type of vampire bat has started feeding on humans in Brazil for the first known time

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food

For the vampire lovers out there. Very scary situation.


The bats should only consume bird blood, but as humans have started to move into the forests of northeastern Brazil, they’ve turned to new sources of food.

Read more