It’s no secret that the number of bees around the world is decreasing. Bees are simply leaving their hives and never coming back. This is called Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD. Scientists aren’t 100% sure why it’s happening, but it spells big trouble for humans. Many of the foods humans eat depend on bees for pollination.
Hubris
In the 1950’s China was working to transform from an agricultural society to a communist industrial society. Their leader, Mao Ze Dong, wanted to completely reshape society, and his efforts didn’t stop with humans. One of the strangest reforms of this period was an order to exterminate sparrows and other pests.
Is Sugar a Drug?
What would you say if someone told you most of your friends were addicted to drugs? It might sound ridiculous, but according to many scientists, most people in the world are addicted to drugs, maybe even you. When they talk about drugs, they aren’t talking about the illegal ones you can go to jail for. Instead, they are talking about sugar, which many believe to be a drug. Image by: Jackie License: (CC BY 2.0)
The True Cost of Bottled Water
It’s dinner time on a hot summer day. And you have a choice of bottled or tap water to go with your meal. Which do you choose? Well, if you’re like most people in the developed world, you’ll go for the bottled water. After all, it seems safer, cleaner, and it costs money, so it must be better, right? Well, not necessarily. There’s actually more to bottled water than meets the eye.
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Treasure Hunting In The Trash
The process of looking for discarded food is called dumpster diving. Maximus started dumpster diving as a student in Boston. At night, he and his friends jump supermarket fences after the stores close, open up the dumpster and look for edible treasure. On an average night, they find fruits, vegetables, bread, coffee and even processed foods like ravioli in the trash.
Do You Really Need Food To Survive?
Recently a software engineer named Rob Rhinehart has started producing a drink called Soylent that he believes can safely replace fresh food. It’s not green and it’s not made of people. It’s a drink made from an artificial powder that Rhinehart says contains all the nutrition that humans need to survive without food.
Your Weight In Gold
Similar to gold, salt has been valued by cultures around the world for thousands of years. The English word salary comes from the Latin word for salt. In ancient Rome salt was so valuable that some people received their monthly pay in the form of salt.
Fantastic Fermentation
We all know that eating a balanced diet is one of the keys to vitality and longevity. For most of us this means consuming things like fruits and vegetables, meat and fish, and dairy and grains. But let’s not forget an important element to any healthy diet: fermented foods.