New Atlas

Robotics Audio available

Robotic bar could soon be hailed like a drink-making cab

Ben Coxworth January 15, 2019

It was six years ago that we first heard about Makr Shakr, a robotic bar that can reportedly mix one Googol (the digit 1 followed by 100 zeroes) drink combinations. Now, its designers are planning on installing the tech in an autonomous vehicle that users can hail whenever they want a bevvy.

Users will be able to hail the Guido vehicle, and order their drinks, using an app

Biology

Buzzed bar flies reveal molecular mechanism of intoxication that could lead to hangover cure

Michael Irving December 27, 2018

With Christmas just behind us and New Year’s around the corner, many are familiar with the effects of alcohol, but how it works in the brain is still shrouded in mystery. Now scientists at the Scripps Research Institute have discovered a new step in the intoxication process – by getting flies drunk.

Researchers have uncovered a previously unknown mechanism in how alcohol works on the nervous system

Good Thinking

The year's weirdest and wackiest inventions

Michael Irving December 24, 2018

Every now and then, an invention comes along that makes us wonder how we ever lived without it – but those are in the minority. New Atlas rounds up the weirdest and wackiest inventions that left us scratching our heads this year.

The inventions that left us scratching our heads this year

Around The Home

Keurig switches from AM to PM with pod-based cocktail maker

Michael Irving November 19, 2018

Keurig is best known for popularizing the coffee pod machine, but realizing it’s always five o’clock somewhere, the company is now taking the concept out on the town with the Drinkworks Home Bar, which cooks up cocktails (or beer and cider, for some reason) from the same kind of premixed pods.

The Drinkworks Home Bar is a pod machine for mixing cocktails, and pouring beer and cider

Good Thinking

Blitzen lets drinks sit n' chill on your car's roof

Ben Coxworth September 26, 2018

Imagine if it's a chilly day and you're heading out to a gathering, but the only beverages you have on hand are room-temperature. Well, that's where Blitzen would come in. It lets you chill bottled drinks on top of your car, while you drive.

Blitzen should work on any car with a metal roof

Science

Oldest-known beer is a 13,000-year-old vintage

Michael Irving September 13, 2018

Beer is generally thought to be about 7,000 years old, but now archaeologists have found clues that could date beer-making to almost twice that age, meaning it predates agriculture and represents the oldest record of man-made alcohol.

Archaeologists have discovered evidence of beer-brewing dating back around 13,000 years – making it the oldest ...

Science

Addiction mechanism discovery may explain why some people are prone to alcoholism

Rich Haridy June 26, 2018

A robust study has uncovered a molecular mechanism in the brain that is believed central to the development of alcohol addiction. The research potentially explains why some people are more prone to alcoholism than others and may even lead to a new drug therapy than could treat alcohol dependance.

Markus Heilig and Eric Augier from Linköping University, leads on this new compelling research

Medical

Can magnetic pulses to the brain help drug users shake their addiction?

Nick Lavars May 15, 2018

Scientists exploring the potential of transcranial magnetic stimulation to tackle drug addiction have found that it can dampen brain activity in response to common triggers, with implications for both the development of new substance abuse treatments and our understanding of neuroscience.

Electrical pulses delivered to the brains of drug users have dampened the neural response to common ...

Science

Injectable chip measures alcohol consumption

Ben Coxworth April 11, 2018

There may be a new method of monitoring the alcohol intake of people in substance abuse treatment programs. Led by Prof. Drew Hall, scientists at the University of California San Diego have developed an alcohol-sensing chip that can be implanted in the body.

The chip is intended to be injected under the skin, at a clinic

Health & Wellbeing

Will taxing sugary soft drinks, alcohol and tobacco help the poor?

Rich Haridy April 4, 2018

A major study examining ways of stemming the rising rates of non-communicable diseases worldwide has concluded that taxes on unhealthy products, such as sugary soft drinks and tobacco, would produce major health gains for the poor.

Several new studies suggest taxes on unhealthy products will have broad benefits for low-income households