Important Innovations

  GetGo - New Technology Experiment at Tesco in London                                             Source:  Tesco Supermarket Chain UK & Amazon Palm Pay Mobile Apps & Seamless Checkouts - Big New Grocery Trend Tesco, the United Kingdom's largest supermarket chain, is testing a scan-less - just walk in and walk out - grocery payment system that is based on a mobile app.  The trial is called Tesco GetGo.  To buy groceries without scanning the items or going through the checkout, the shopper, when they enter the store, needs to download the Tesco mobile app.  All items that the shopper selects are tracked and charged to the shopper's Tesco account.  The transaction is finalized on a QR code that is scanned by the customer's phone. Tesco says a receipt is provided to the customer within minutes.  This time-savings, no cu...

Aeroponically Grown Vertical Vegetables and Herbs Source:  Prague University Scientists From Prague University, Important Food Science Czech scientists from Prague University have created a new lab to experiment on growing food for very constrained and extreme conditions with a lack of water like on Mars.  But the utilization is also for back on Earth to boost agricultural output in places hard hit by urbanization and Climate Change. Marsonaut Experiment The Czech scientists call it the Marsonaut Experiment and it's being led by their top life scientists.  They're using aeroponics which grow plants in the air, without any soil and very little water.  To minimize space, they grow the plants in vertical units stacked one on top of the other. Harvest Time The team has succeeded in growing salad leaves, mint, basil, mustard plants, herbs and radishes.  They enjoyed the fruits of their harvest last week and said it tasted great. Their next big crop is s...

New Cottonseed Just Approved by FDA Regulators Source:  Texas A&M Cotton Plants Protein Packed & Hoped to Alleviate Global Malnutrition This is a remarkable, new, genetically altered cotton plant developed by scientists at Texas A&M University.  US regulators at the Food and Drug Administration have just approved the genetically modified cottonseed from the plant for human consumption and also for any type of animal consumption.  The new plant is being called a protein packed new food source.  It's said to taste like chickpeas. Helping to Feed the World Developers say it could help address global malnutrition.  The Texas A&M research team is talking with companies and expects to have the new plant commercialized and available within 5 years.  They are also working on regulatory approvals in other countries like Mexico. New Cotton Plant The key to the scientists' success is what's called RNA interference technology.  That s...

How to Protect Your Lunch from Gulls at the Beach Source:  Cape Cod Seagull Remedy in New Scientific Research from UK It's a beautiful summer day here on Cape Cod. The beach is dotted with seagulls that are gliding Atlantic Ocean waves, soaring winds and walking the pristine shoreline.  Cape Cod, MA is surely one of the seagull capitals of the world and soaring seagulls are a symbol of this beautiful region.  But, what do you do if a seagull wants to join in your beach lunch?  They can be quite nudgy!  British scientists have just come up with an innovative remedy.  Just stare them down.  And they get the message. UK's Battle With Pushy Seagulls The UK is battling seagulls trying to get a piece of tourists' lunches and snacks in seaside communities.  UK scientists have come up with great research and a smart solution.  University of Exeter scientists examined whether if staring at seagulls might make them decide to back-off and not ...

Portable, in the Field Gadget, for Healthy Plants & Spot Disease Source:  North Caroline State University new tech for plant health First of its Kind Device to Detect Plant Disease in Minutes A new, smartphone powered device detects disease in plants.  For the first time, plant disease can be detected by a portable device, used by a farmer in the field and the analysis is done on the spot within minutes.  Up until now, plant analysis had to be done in a lab and that could take days or weeks.  This smartphone powered device reads gas concentrations in a plant in the farm field real-time. That analysis tells farmers that they are dealing with the presence of disease in plants and that they should take action. Portable, Down on the Farm Device This significant innovation was developed by a team at North Carolina State University.  The device is designed to attach to a farmer's smart phone above the phone's camera for quick crop analysis....

IBM's Watson AI Now a Top Chef in Global Food Company Kitchen Source:  IBM Watson Logo Spain's Cerealto Siro Cooking with Watson's AI Cerealto is one of the world's biggest food companies.  It sells 4 million products a year and introduces 250 new cereals to the global market every year.  IBM and Cerealto just unveiled a very innovative partnership.   IBM's Watson Artificial Intelligence is being integrated into Cerealto's food innovation process to create new foods and snacks at the cutting edge of consumer's nutritional goals and taste trends.  For a great news blog to tell you what's new in the kitchen, go to  Important Innovations Collection: AI Inspired Food and Snacks : IBM's Watson Cooking in the Kitchen Source:  IBM Watson Logo Watson's AI Inspiring Food Innovations at Spain's Cerealto S...

Cornell University Innovation Source:  Stock image  Milk Cartons that Are Smart and Help You This new gadget technology, a smart food carton, is designed to prevent food waste by helping consumers and retailers know how fresh a product actually is.  The container is more precise than the expiration dates we look for on a product.  Cornell University food scientists call it the carton of the future.  It gives consumers precise "best-by time" data. Shelf Life Information that is Precise The Cornell team is applying digital agriculture tools directly to the cartons to specify the shelf life and history of the product.  Their research is particularly targeted at milk cartons because consumers get rid of them so quickly based on the best by date.  Most consumers don't know that date indicates when the product is likely to be at peak quality not the expiration date. Cornell's  New Tech Cornell has developed a QR code and sensor placed insi...