What happens when a physicist decides to become a chef? If they’re anything like Manuel Linares, then you can expect a fusion of food and science to come out of their kitchen. For instance, one of the Spaniard’s masterpieces is an ice cream that changes colors when you lick it. He calls it the Xamaleón, a play on the Spanish word for chameleon, and it originally starts as a periwinkle blue frozen treat until it’s spritzed with Linares’ “love elixir, ” a super secret mixture he concocted himself. This mixture reacts to changes in temperature and saliva, causing the tutti-frutti-flavored ice cream to turn into purple, then into pink as you lick. As unusual as it sounds, this is just the beginning of Linares’ foray into the color-changing ice cream business: he also plans to whip up ice cream that turns from white to pink, and another one that glows under ultraviolet light. You can only get a scoop of this chameleon ice cream from one the creator’s shops in Spain right now, but he’s looking to export it to other countries, according to The Mirror . Until that happens, you can check out this video that shows how the yummy dessert transitions from purple to pink. [Image credit: Manual Linares/IceXperience / Cocinatis ] Filed under: Science , Alt Comments Via: Geek Source: Cocinatis , Diari de Girona
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Physicist concocts ice cream that changes color when you lick it
New submitter meeotch writes: According to a new study by the Urban Institute, 35% of U.S. adults with a credit history (91% of the adult population of the U.S.) have debt “in collections” — a status generally not acquired until payments are at least 180 days past due. Debt problems seem to be worse in the South, with states hovering in the 40%+ range, while the Northeast has it better, at less than 30%. The study’s authors claim their findings actually underrepresent low-income consumers, because “adults without a credit file are more likely to be financially disadvantaged.” Oddly, only 5% of adults have debt 30-180 days past due. This latter fact is partially accounted for by the fact that a broader range of debt can enter “in collections” status than “past due” status (e.g. parking tickets)… But also perhaps demonstrates that as one falls far enough along the debt spiral, escape becomes impossible. Particularly in the case of high-interest debt such as credit cards — the issuers of which cluster in states such as South Dakota, following a 1978 Supreme Court ruling that found that states’ usury laws did not apply to banks headquartered in other states. Even taking into account the folks who lost a parking ticket under their passenger seat, 35% is a pretty shocking number. Anyone have other theories why this number is so much higher than the 5% of people who are just “late”? How about some napkin math on the debt spiral? Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
Earth is an unforgiving place. Volcanoes erupt, rivers erode, continents break up—it’s a small miracle every time a millions-of-years-old creature is found fossilized in rock. By comparison, the moon is dead and lifeless; astronaut footprints will be preserved forever in moon dust. So it’s the moon that could hold the secrets to life on ancient Earth. Read more… 
If humanity hopes to realize its dreams of exploring the stars, we’re going to need to find ways to recreate life on Earth aboard a spaceship. Simply stockpiling enough vital supplies isn’t going to cut it, which is what led Julian Melchiorri , a student at the Royal College of Art, to create an artificial biological leaf that produces oxygen just like the ones on our home planet do. Read more…