subject: Who Is Solving Our Problems? [print this page] Tired of whacking the bottom of ketchup bottles to get the last bit of ketchup? Dave Smith, a PhD candidate at MIT, might have the solution. In April and May of 2012 he worked with mechanical engineers and nano-techicians at the Varanasi Research Group lab to develop "LiquiGlide". It's a slippery coating made of non-toxic materials that can be used in food packaging. The team estimated that one million tons of food wouldn't be thrown out each year if the $17 billion, bottled-sauce industry used LiquiGlide. It seems if this new coating were used, we could "catch-up" with waste.
MIT has developed another solution. This one is for the 10% of Americans who have needle phobia. Although jet injection has been around for more than a century and used for fuel injection in cars, as well as delivering vaccines in the 1960's, mechanical engineers at MIT incorporated 21st century improvements that shoot an extremely thin, extremely fast jet of medicine through skin and into muscle. As of this writing - May 2012 - the precision of the new injector has been tested only on sheep. However, they supposedly weren't aware they were injected - unless MIT is "pulling the wool over our eyes".
Waist size is a better solution for predicting diabetes risk in overweight people than body mass index (height-weight ratio). In a study published in PLoS ONE, about 30,000 middle-aged people had their waist size and BMI measured. After 10 years 7% and 4.4% respectively of men and women with large waists (40+ inches for men and 35+ inches for women) had developed diabetes compared to 4.9% and 2.7% of obese men and women with moderately large waists. BMI doesn't distinguish between fat and muscle, whereas waist size measures belly fat - an important factor in developing diabetes. "Waist not, want not".
Kirin, the Japanese beer maker, has a solution for warm beer - soft serve beer. The frozen head on the beer looks like frozen yogurt, but tastes like beer and keeps the beer ice cold 30 minutes longer. This product definitely has a summer appeal, but the manufacturer expects it to sell well year round. Supposedly, in the winter the top will be like eating shaved ice that tastes like beer. Having a frozen head on a beer is meant to appeal to younger drinkers who opt for trendy cocktails instead of beer. Could Japan be "a head" of us again?
