Sports drinks like Gatorade are marketed as a source of body-boosting electrolytes, which begs the question: What exactly is an electrolyte, and why are they so important? The short answer is that they’re dissolved salts, which break down into positively and negatively charged ions that conduct electricity and water. These charges control nerve impulses and the flow of water in our cells.
Electrolytes are lost from the body through sweat—but seeing as how we get plenty from food, should we really guzzle sugary athletic beverages after a tough workout? The American Chemical Society weighs in with their latest Reactions video:
Bad airplane food is a cliché for a reason, but Air New Zealand is bucking the trend, Food & Wine reports. The airline’s new in-flight menus feature culinary creations by New Zealand chef Michael Meredith and Peter Gordon, the Kiwi-born executive chef of London’s popular The Providores and Tapa Room. To promote their revamped meal options, Air New Zealand launched a free, two-day pop-up restaurant in London that serves nothing but airplane food.
The temporary outpost, called This is How We Fly, is running out of the Unit London gallery in Soho, but it’s only sticking around for two days—April 25 and April 26 (which is today, which means you’ve only got a few hours left to give it a try). Patrons sit in airplane chairs and dine on options including “lamb with minted peas, braised lettuce with bacon lardons, and salt roasted crushed new potatoes with mint jelly” and a “yoghurt marinated chicken tikka with saffron pilaf jewelled rice, and aloo ghobi with spicy raita dressing,” according to Food & Wine.
Vegetarians were able to indulge, too, as the airline’s meatless dishes included “soy marinated tofu brown rice seaweed with sesame miso dressing and a chunky vegetable” and “tofu coconut curry with spinach and coriander green rice.” New Zealand wines and desserts like apple rhubarb and treacle tarts, were also on the menu.
Air New Zealand didn’t simply wine and dine prospective flyers, they also surveyed them on their attitudes about airline food. The company questioned 1000 adults, and found that 25 percent of respondents preferred hospital menu options to airline cuisine. Meanwhile, half of respondents said they disliked airplane food. Still, customers were willing to reconsider their relationship with sky grub if it were made from fresher ingredients, or if menus featured a wider array of options.
Air New Zealand isn’t the only company in the South Pacific that’s rethinking its approach to airplane food: Airlines flying out of the state of Queensland, Australia, have teamed up with a charity called OzHarvest Brisbane to collect uneaten sandwiches and snacks, which are then donated to more than 800 charities.
In May, Star Wars: A New Hope celebrates the big 4-0. The iconic film was released on May 25, 1977, and fans around the world are marking the milestone with special screenings, sweepstakes, and limited-edition merchandise. But the most over-the-top anniversary homage to George Lucas’s space opera may belong to Tanaka Kikinzoku Jewelry, a fine jewelry retailer in Japan. Mashable reports that the company has created a solid 24-karat-gold sculpture of Darth Vader’s mask, priced at $1.4 million.
The 33-pound gold mask is currently on display at Tanaka Kikinzoku’s flagship store in Tokyo. Star Wars fans with cash to spare can purchase it on May 4, known among fans as “Star Wars Day.” (It’s rooted in the pun “May the fourth be with you.”)
This isn’t Tanaka Kikinzoku’s first pricey pop-culture homage, and it likely won’t be their last: In past years, the company has made headlines for creating a gold cast of soccer player Lionel Messi’s left foot and a pure gold replica of a Gundam robot.
Can’t afford Tanaka Kikinzoku’s latest? Japan Times reports that the company is also selling 77 Star Wars-themed commemorative plaques, adorned with three pure gold coins for $11,000. The coins are emblazoned with Star Wars-inspired designs and the number “1977525,” or May 25, 1977.
Maps are history lessons in disguise: Long ago, the New World’s states and regions received their present-day monikers from European explorers, who liked to name new lands after faraway kings, and indigenous tribes, who drew inspiration from geography, myths, or the people who occupied the area. In the maps below—created by Expedia, and spotted by Lonely Planet—you can learn the original meanings behind the names of all the U.S. states and Canadian provinces and territories. (Click for a close-up view.)
Starbucks’ limited-edition Unicorn Frappuccino wasn’t magical for everyone: As Reuters reports, the pink-and-blue drink elicited social media gripes from sticky—and exhausted—baristas around the country, following five days of overwhelming customer demand.
The on-trend Frappuccino was offered at participating stores from Wednesday, April 19 through Sunday, April 23, while supplies lasted. The crème-based drink’s main ingredient appeared to be food coloring: In addition to mango syrup, it contained a hearty dusting of pink powder and a sour blue drizzle, and was garnished with whipped cream and blue-and-pink powder topping. At first glance, the sweet treat looked purple, with blue swirls—but when the drink was stirred, it turned pink, and the flavor turned tart.
The drink’s taste reportedly wasn’t anything to write home about. But thanks in part to its Instagrammable appearance, the Unicorn Frappuccino proceeded to sell out at multiple stores. The ensuing chaos prompted baristas to take to the internet to vent their frustrations: “Please don’t get it!” a Colorado-based barista named Braden Burson complained in a since-deleted Twitter video. “I have unicorn crap all in my hair and on my nose. I have never been so stressed out in my entire life.”
“It’s a great drink,” Burson later added in a Facebook message, quoted by the AP. “But it is difficult to make when there are like 20 fraps all at once both front and drive thru.” (Starbucks promised to reach out to their disgruntled hire and “talk about his experience and how to make it better.”)
Meanwhile, Reddit was clogged with complaints from stressed food service workers (including one who was forced to whip up 56 Unicorn Frappuccinos for a single order), along with exultation from workers whose customers opted for simpler orders, or whose workplaces had run out of drink ingredients. One user even christened the infamous treat the “Frap from hell.”
To the relief of many baristas, Starbuck’s Unicorn Frappuccino promotion is over. That said, they are likely the only company employees clamoring for the mythical beverage to go extinct: Starbucks received “tremendous positive feedback” for the drink, according to a spokesperson, and company shares closed up 0.9 percent at $60.61 on Friday.
Australia is home to kangaroos, the Great Barrier Reef, and—surprisingly—the world’s greatest number of micronations. For the uninitiated, a micronation is a tiny, unrecognized “country” that claims sovereignty from its homeland. Around 100 micronations exist around the globe, and 35 of them are located Down Under.
In the documentary below, director Craig Rasmus gives viewers a virtual tour Australia’s smallest “country,” Atlantium. Founded in 1981 by “ruler” George Cruickshank—who christened himself “Imperial Majesty George II”—the 200-acre micronation overlooks the Lachlan River Valley in New South Wales. In addition to its own flag, monetary system, and national anthem, Atlantium has 3000 “citizens” worldwide (most of whom declared residency by filling out a form online).
Watch below to learn more about how Atlantium is a micronation unlike any other in Australia—or for that matter, the world.
Blue whales are picky eaters. It’s not because they’re finicky about flavors; it’s the meal’s size that matters. The ocean giants eschew small, concentrated groups of krill, opting instead to chow down on massive patches of the small crustaceans. Scientists explain this behavior by theorizing that lunging for food requires whales to exert large amounts of energy, forcing them to be discerning about which floating feasts are worth the effort.
In the video below, which was spotted by Mashable, you can observe a hungry blue whale pursuing its meal. Oregon State University scientists—who filmed the aerial scene in New Zealand using a drone camera—say it illustrates the feeding hypothesis.
“Modeling studies of blue whales ‘lunge-feeding’ theorize that they will not put energy into feeding on low-reward prey patches,” marine ecologist Leigh Torres explains in a press release. “Our footage shows this theory in action. We can see the whale making choices, which is really extraordinary because aerial observations of blue whales feeding on krill are rare.”
Watch the blue whale speed toward the krill patch, slow down, open its mouth wide, and gulp down its dinner:
Recycling isn’t—and shouldn’t be—limited to separating plastic cartons, junk mail, and tin cans for the garbage collector. This Earth Day, think outside the plastic bin, and brainstorm creative ways to convert or re-purpose old, discarded, or unexpected materials into something new and useful. Don’t know where to start? Get inspired by one (or all) of the sustainable organizations and initiatives below.
1. THE SHOPPING CENTER THAT SELLS RECYCLED/UPCYCLED ITEMS
The adage “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” rings true in Eskilstuna, Sweden. The metropolis is home to a shopping center, ReTuna Återbruksgalleria, which only sells upcycled, recycled, or sustainable merchandise. (The name ReTuna Återbruksgalleria combines Tuna, which is a nickname for the city; återbruk, which means “reuse” in Swedish; and galleria, which means mall.)
Patrons can drop off objects they no longer want or need at a designated recycling depot. Items that can be repaired are fixed and re-sold in the mall’s nine shops, which offer customers everything from furniture to clothing items to sporting equipment. Goods that can’t be sold are donated to needy institutions or organizations, or recycled.
2. THE MALL THAT FEEDS ITS FOOD WASTE TO HOGS
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The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, is the nation’s largest shopping center—and it’s also vying for the title of “greenest.” In addition to LED parking garage lighting, water-efficient toilets, and thousands of air-purifying plants and trees, the mall annually recycles more than 2400 tons of food waste by donating it to a local hog farm. (If you’re an entrepreneur who’s interested in emulating the MOA’s large-scale food waste strategy, you can check out the Environmental Protection Agency’s guidelines for getting started here.)
3. THE NONPROFIT THAT TRANSFORMS FLIP-FLOP FLOTSAM INTO ART
Around 8 million tons of plastic enter the ocean each year. Soda bottles, grocery bags, and six-pack rings aren’t the only plastic items polluting the world’s waterways and harming fish, turtles, and other animals: In 1997, marine conservationist Julie Church came across a beach in Kenya that was strewn with discarded flip-flops.
Church noticed children making toys from the debris, and convinced local women to collect, wash, and process the flip-flops into colorful art objects. This initiative grew into Ocean Sole, a fair-trade business that today collects flip-flop flotsam from Kenya’s beaches and waters and transforms them into plastic sculptures, accessories, and trinkets. Ocean Sole’s goal is to recycle 400,000 flip-flops per year, and the organization also provides business opportunities to women living in city slums and remote coastal areas.
4. THE COMPANY THAT TURNS USED DIAPERS INTO USABLE ITEMS
Founded in 1989, Knowaste is a Canadian company that recycles diapers and absorbent hygiene products (AHPs), such as baby diapers, feminine hygiene products, and incontinence pads. They’ve developed a way to strip them of their plastic and fiber, which they then use to make products like composite construction materials, pet litter, and cardboard industrial tubing.
5. THE ECOLOGICAL NONPROFIT THAT COLLECTS HAIR TO CLEAN UP OIL SPILLS
Work at a beauty salon or own a furry pet? Instead of tossing shorn or shed hair into the trash, donate it to Matter of Trust. The San Francisco-based ecological charity’s Clean Wave program collects hair and fur, and uses it to make oil-absorbing mats and stuff containment booms. Hazmat teams use these all-natural tools to clean up after oil spills, and public works departments use them to keep motor oil drip spills out of waterways.
In addition to large-scale donations from beauty salons, barbershops, and groomers, Matter of Trust also accepts smaller contributions from private individuals. If you’re interested in helping out, visit Matter of Trust’s website, register to participate in the nonprofit’s Excess Access recycling program, and follow the instructions to donate. The program’s need for hair and fur ebbs and flows, depending on the volume of recent donations. But in the case of an emergency oil spill, all donations are welcome. (Cases in point: Matter of Trust’s hair mats and booms were used to help clean up after both the 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill in the San Francisco Bay and the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.)
6. THE NONPROFIT THAT RE-PURPOSES OLD CRAYONS INTO NEW ONES
Crayola’s crayon-making factory in Easton, Pennsylvania, produces around 12 million crayons each day, making it all too easy and inexpensive to toss scuzzy, broken, and worn-down wax stubs into the trash and purchase new ones. Crayons are typically made from paraffin wax and aren’t biodegradable—so to keep old art tools from clogging landfills, a Northern California-based nonprofit called The Crayon Initiative collects unwanted crayons from restaurants and schools and melts them down to make fresh ones. Then, they donate the re-purposed goods to children’s hospitals. Family restaurants and schools can find out how to organize crayon donation drives online.
A new line of high-tech earplugs called Knops promises to grant wearers the gift of selective hearing. According to The Verge, the plugs can be adjusted to filter out background noises ranging from low to high.
Tiny knobs positioned on the sides of the earplugs allow wearers to switch between four “hearing” settings: no filter; an ambient noise blocker, which filters city sounds; a setting meant for live music; and a fourth one designed for silence. Wearers can keep their Knops in all day, allowing them to hear what they want, when they want.
Knops plans to bring their product to the masses by November 2018, following a successful (and still ongoing) Kickstarter campaign. The earplugs range in price from $62 to $117, and come in a variety of different colors and trims. Individuals who support the project can score their own set of Knops for a special price before the campaign ends on May 4.
Dolly Parton’s life is a true rags-to-riches story: Raised in poverty in rural Tennessee, she beat the odds and rose to international stardom as a country musician, actress, producer, and philanthropist. Now, The New York Times reports that the Southern star’s down-home roots are the focus of an honors history course offered at the University of Tennessee’s main campus in Knoxville.
Called “Dolly’s America,” the seminar uses Parton’s personal journey as a lens through which to examine modern Appalachian culture. The singer grew up in Sevier County, about 30 miles outside of Knoxville, and the class looks at how a “‘hillbilly’ girl from Appalachia grew up to become an international one-word sensation,” according to the course description on the university’s website.
Materials include Dolly Parton’s 1994 autobiography, Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business, and books about Appalachia; movies, TV shows, and historic videos; and scholarly articles. Ranging from lighthearted to somber, they provide a framework for students to examine historic themes like child labor, regional poverty, and the federal-state committee formed by President Kennedy that’s known today as the President’s Appalachian Regional Commission.
“Dolly’s America” also tries to dispel deep-seated stereotypes about rural America: ”Reading about how hillbillies and feuds began as made-up characters and tropes in novels and cartoons to the rise of hillbilly music to Christian entertainment and the thread of tourism, students see the processes by which fiction often becomes fact, and how heritage is a blend of the real and the imagined,” the course description says.
“Dolly’s America” was taught for the first time last year, and will be taught again in Fall 2017. That said, admission is likely to be competitive, as the course recently received a Twitter endorsement by Parton herself:
From the girl voted in High School ‘least likely to succeed’ this sure is a blessing! https://t.co/3EnB8ixB4f
