Coke-powered cellphones, nut-free airplanes, parsley’s great comeback, Beyoncé to live long
• As any student knows, Coke can provide enough energy to power one through an all-nighter. Nokia has figured this out, as well, as proven by the company’s new cellphone battery, which uses enzymes to generate electricity from sugar. The fully biodegradable handset, designed by Daizi Zheng, also runs four times longer than those with the traditional lithium battery. [The Design Blog]
• Curly parsley has become the new “star of high-end cuisine,” Canadian House and Home reports. The ascent of this essentially boring herb, great garnish of roadside diner dishes the world over, marks the return of many basic ingredients to chefs’ kitchens since the recession. Goodbye, saffron spice. Hello, iceberg lettuce. [National Post]
• Researchers at Oxford University have found that gluteofemoral body fat—the pudge around the hips, buttocks and thighs—is a key determinant of metabolic health. According to the Daily Star, “Beyoncé will live to a ripe old age” because her ample posterior protects against heart and metabolic problems by mopping up harmful fatty acids that can clog arteries. [BBC]
• “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” In his latest book of aphorisms, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, Michael Pollan condenses the wisdom of folklorists, anthropologists, doctors, nurses, dietitians and nutritionists, as well as over 2,500 readers, into 64 simple food rules. “Don’t buy cereals that change the colour of the milk.” “If it came from a plant, eat it. If it was made in a plant, don’t.” Elegant, memorable and, above all, brief. [New York Times]
• On a recent Air Canada flight, a woman with a nut allergy locked herself in the bathroom for 40 minutes, insisting that the airline make its planes nut-free. The incident led to a federal transportation tribunal ordering Air Canada (which long ago stopped serving peanuts) to create a nutless buffer zone of several aisles around travellers with the allergy. The tribunal, however, remains silent on the precise definition of “nut.” [National Post]
