New Atlas

Environment Audio available

New straw is reusable, "chewable" and spin-dryable

Michael Irving November 15, 2018

The drinking straw seems pretty simple and unassuming, but it’s contributing to one of the most pressing environmental problems today. To help cut back on that, a start-up in Singapore is getting ready to launch the Chew, a reusable straw with a “chewable” rubber tip and a spin-dry mechanism.

The Chew straw is a reusable straw with a silicone "chewable" tip

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

The Spirale wine glass: A new twist on an age-old problem

Mike Hanlon August 30, 2017

The Vacanti Spirale is a wine glass with a corkscrew-like twist that captures sediment. Given this a problem that would have confronted every other wine-drinking civilization of the last 10,000 years, it's quite astonishing it hasn't been done before.

Good Thinking

Inexpensive new solar still ups water purification efficiency

Michael Irving January 30, 2017

In areas where clean water isn’t easily accessible, solar stills can help purify available water that might be dirty or salty, but they can be expensive and inefficient. Now, a new type of solar still that uses carbon-coated paper could be cheaper and twice as efficient.

A new type of solar still can produce twice as much fresh water per day as ...

Around The Home

Smart cocktail system ups your mixology skills

C.C. Weiss January 5, 2017

At CES, French wine and spirits company Pernod Ricard is highlighting how hosts of the near-future will mix up refreshing, lounge-grade cocktails using its Opn smart cocktail system that connects the host with ingredients and cocktail recipes, turning him or her into a seasoned mixologist.

Pernod Ricard's Opn combines liquor cartridges, a connected tray, a mobile app and a website

Good Thinking

Beer pump lets customers order, pay and serve themselves

Stu Robarts December 16, 2016

As pubs and bars in the UK get busier in the run up to Christmas, Barclaycard has uncorked a way to reduce the time people spend waiting to be served. Pay @ Pump is a beer pump that allows customers to pour their own pint and pay with a contactless card in as little as a minute.

The Pay @ Pump prototype contactless beer pump has a touchscreen on which drinks are ordered

Health & Wellbeing

Scientists identify neurons that drive drinking habits

Danny Gallagher July 7, 2016

Scientists from Texas A&M identify the neurons in mice that drive them to drink more and curb their drinking habits.

Scientists from the Texas A&M College of Medicine discovered the neuron that prevents mice from wanting ...

Electronics

MixStik LEDs you through mixing the perfect cocktail

Stu Robarts September 8, 2015

Short of having a robot bartender to pour you the perfect cocktail on a whim, you're probably best off mixing it yourself. The MixStik is designed to help, by showing what measures of each ingredient you need.

The MixStik is used with an accompanying app for Android and iOS, with which users can ...

Space

Ballantine's invents glass for sipping whisky in space

David Szondy September 5, 2015

In a move that Star Trek's Mister Scott would approve of, Scottish distiller Ballantine’s has developed a glass for sipping whisky in zero gravity. The cleverly conceived Space Glass might well be a more attractive proposition for astronauts than plastic bags and straws.

Ballantine's Space Glass allows astronauts to sip whisky the same way they would on Earth.

Outdoors

VSSL Flask hides your favorite tipple inside a flashlight

Dave Parrack August 27, 2015

The amount of kit needed to go camping in the great outdoors can soon add up. Which means multi-purpose products can be an absolute godsend. The VSSL Flask is one such item, combining a flashlight, compass and a flask for discreetly storing a beverage of your choice.

The VSSL Flask hides your favorite tipple inside what appears to onlookers to be a simple ...