This dairy lovers’ dream job requires tasting up to 24 cheeses and a dozen pizzas per week.

Richard Branson’s space tourism venture Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. plans to fly its first commercial passenger space mission

Every summer at the beach, sand becomes an essential ingredient in the recipe for fun. But what the heck is it?

Reading transports us to worlds we would never see, introduces us to people we would never meet, and instills emotions we might never otherwise feel. It also provides an array of health benefits.

A lot of things in the chaos that is life have sparked comparisons to Netflix’s dark anthology series Black Mirror over the years. Its very first episode back in 2011 - “The National Anthem” – resurfaced in 2015 amid ‘Piggate’ and David Cameron, Apple’s Animojis drew parallels with the titular animated bear in “The Waldo Moment”, and just this week people thought Apple’s first AR headset looked particularly dystopian. Now, as both tech experts and political advisers warn of the threat of artificial intelligence (AI), and the AI chatbot ChatGPT continues to generate memes and news stories online, Black Mirror’s creator Charlie Brooker has revealed he’s had a go with the software – albeit with underwhelming results. He told Empire: “I’ve toyed around with ChatGPT a bit. The first thing I did was type ‘generate Black Mirror episode’ and it comes up with something that, at first glance, reads plausibly, but on second glance, is s***. “Because all it’s done is look up all the synopses of Black Mirror episodes, and sort of mush them together. Then if you dig a bit more deeply you go, ‘oh, there’s not actually any real original thought here.’” Shame – that would have been suitably meta. Brooker did, however, note some learnings from his experience with the chatbot, adding: “I was aware that I had written lots of episodes where someone goes, ‘oh, I was inside a computer the whole time!’ So I thought, ‘I’m just going to chuck out any sense of what I think a Black Mirror episode is.’ Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “There’s no point in having an anthology show if you can’t break your own rules. Just a sort of nice, cold glass of water in the face.” Although an AI-produced episode of Black Mirror is off the cards for now, fans of the show do have five new ones to look forward to when the hotly anticipated season six drops on Netflix on 15 June. Opening episode “Joan Is Awful” features a Netflix parody known as Streamberry in scenes akin to The Truman Show (and stars Scott Pilgrim actor Michael Cera and comedian Rob Delaney), episode two titled “Loch Henry” is reported to have elements of past episode “White Bear” in it, and Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul is up in space in “Beyond The Sea”. Meanwhile the penultimate episode “Mazey Day” appears to follow the scandal-hit celebrity in its title, and stage stars Anjana Vasan and Paapa Essiedu round off the series with “Demon 76” – a story which is reportedly about a sales assistant forced to do awful things. Yeah, that sounds about right. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Here, in no particular order, are just a few of history’s most influential tomes—and how they made humanity look at things in a new light.

The halibut in this ceviche "cooks" in a simple lime marinade.

The feeling of hunger could be a simple way to stop the ageing process, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Michigan tricked fruit flies into feeling hungry which resulted in the insects living longer – even when they eat their calorie intake. The study - published in Science - suggests that the perception of insatiable hunger alone can generate the anti-aging effects of intermittent fasting. (And since it’s the perception rather than actual hunger, it means the bugs don’t actually have to starve). Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter "We've sort of divorced [the life extending effects of diet restriction] from all of the nutritional manipulations of the diet that researchers had worked on for many years to say they're not required," physiologist Scott Pletcher said, as per Michigan Medicine. "The perception of not enough food is sufficient." You may have heard the term intermittent fasting before, as it is a popular diet fad that consists of going for extended periods of time without eating, followed by a period of eating normally, according to Bupa. Despite its popularity, evidence supporting its benefits is limited in terms of research on humans. Perhaps you’re thinking… why fruit flies? Well, the insects actually share 75 percent of the same disease-related genes as us, while also sharing similar qualities to mammals in terms of their metabolisms and brains, according to Science Alert. In the research, branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) essential nutrients that appear to trigger feelings of fullness in flies when consumed, were used. The fruit flies maintained their hunger through getting fed snacks low in BCAA and their hunger was noticed through how much the insects ate from a buffet of food hours after eating the snack. More food was consumed by flies who earlier ate a low-BCAA snack, and they choose protein over carbs, focusing on what their hungry bodies needed. From learning this, the team directly activated the neurons in fruit flies that trigger hunger responses, they found these hunger-stimulated flies also lived longer. "Demonstration of the sufficiency of hunger to extend life span reveals that motivational states alone can be deterministic drivers of ageing," Pletcher and colleagues wrote in the findings. Along with fruit flies, rodents have also been part of the study and both seems to suggest calorie restriction can extend life and is good for our health too. Though of course, more extensive research is required to see whether or not this is also the case with humans. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

A revelation about pineapples only made noticeable thanks to a TikTok account and a microscope, has people reevaluating whether they are allergic to the fruit or not. You may have noticed that whenever you've eaten a chunk of the delicious citrus fruit, you are sometimes greeted with an odd tingling sensation in your mouth. Well, if you've ever been curious about what that actually is then the TikTok account SF Microscopy is here to help. The account analyses all sorts of things under a microscope and exposes all the fascinating and dare we say worrying things that lie within everyday objects that the naked eye cannot see. One of the biggest videos on the account, with 35 million views, is about a pineapple. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In the caption, the person behind the account writes: "One of my favorite fruits is pineapple, but every time I eat them, my mouth tingles. I read that the fruit contains raphides! Kiwis, grapes, taro, and yams also have large amounts of these crystals. These needles serve as a defensive function against insect herbivores to deter them from eating the plant’s fruits and protect the seeds. The needles work with other chemical substances, like bromelain in the pineapple, to amplify the effects." If that sounds a bit farfetched then take a look at the video for yourself and you might find that its even more alarming than you might have imagined. @sf_microscopy One of my favorite fruits is pineapple, but every time I eat them, my mouth tingles. I read that the fruit contains raphides! Kiwis, grapes, taro, and yams also have large amounts of these crystals. These needles serve as a defensive function against insect herbivors to deter them from eating the plant’s fruits and protect the seeds. The needles work with other chemcial substances, like bromelain in the pineapple, to amplify the effects. #microscope #microbiology #underthemicroscope #microscopy #microcosmos #nature #pineapple #crystals #fyp #fypage #fypシ The fact that these needles are real has people second-guessing the feeling they experience when they eat pineapples. One person wrote: "My mouth be sore as hell after going crazy on them pineapples & kiwis." Another added: "So ummmm…I’m not allergic to pineapple????" A third said: "Makes sense that when i accidentally inhaled pineapple juice i just about died." While a fourth person said: "It’s gonna stop me i dont feel like being stabbed." Will you stop eating pineapples now that you know this? I think this writer might be willing to live in blissful, delicious ignorance. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Civil engineer Siswanti Zuraida built a concrete structure using diapers that would otherwise sit in a landfill for decades, making for a literal brick sh-t house.

They all sparkle. They all bubble. And they’re all water. But they're not interchangeable.

Forget pizza pie…this is pizza AI! Domino’s reveals national dish-inspired pizza toppings for countries competing in the Eurovision final. But they have all been made with artificial intelligence. As the stand-in host nation for war-torn Ukraine, the UK - with Mae Muller singing for glory - has been given a Beef roast dinner speciality pizza. It comes with potatoes on a bed of gravy, covered in horseradish sauce. France has Coq au Vin braised chicken, with diced potatoes and rosemary garnish. Germany’s toppings are Bratwurst sausage loaded over chips, drizzled with ketchup and mayonnaise. There is Carbonara pasta, bordered with pepperoni slices, on a pizza for Italy. Paella with clams and prawns – finished with a sprinkle of spring onions, is dedicated to Spain. Sweden has a fish with sliced tomatoes, chopped radishes and onions topping. Ukraine has a trademark Chicken Kyiv, dressed in lemon and dill. Meanwhile Australia - in Eurovision since 2015 - has Fairy Bread, an old-fashioned Aussie snack made from white bread, butter and ‘hundreds and thousands’ sprinkles. A Domino’s spokesperson said: “With Eurovision being one of the busiest nights of the year for Domino’s, the nation’s favourite pizza brand, has cooked up a treat for the senses. “By challenging AI to imagine what a limited-edition pizza for all the favourite competing countries would look like. “Domino’s set AI system MidJourney to work, curating completely unedited Eurovision-inspired pizza toppings for The Big Five countries and a few other nations. “Passing the reins to AI, pizzas generated varied from a somewhat delicious looking Roast Dinner to Carbonara and a clam and prawn loaded Paella pizza. “Signature dishes were also generated for host nation Ukraine in the form of Chicken Kyiv pizza. “And Australia, to see what the country that has competed in the competition since 2015 – to everyone’s bewilderment – would serve up. “And it’s Fairy Bread pizza. “A country and party staple of bread spread with margarine and covered in hundreds and thousands.” Sam Wilson, AI mastermind at Domino’s said: “Pizza brings everyone together, just like Eurovision. “So we challenged AI to generate the perfect pizza for each nation. It’s no surprise the classic Sunday Roast was Britain’s pizza of choice, but we didn’t expect Fairy Bread for Australia. “We’re rooting for Mae Muller this weekend and look forward to seeing her waving the flag for the UK. “But we won’t be giving AI a role in our kitchen just yet.” The Eurovision contest saw over 161 million people worldwide tune in last year. With an estimated 8.93 million people in the UK watching the finale ceremony in 2022. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.