Smithsonian.com

A cooking stove called the Chulha just won an INDEX award for “design to improve life.” Why? Because according to the World Health Organization, about half of all households worldwide—and 90 percent of rural households—get their cooking and heating fuel from “biomass” sources like coal, wood, charcoal, or dung:

“When these fuels are used in poorly ventilated conditions and burned in open fires or inefficient stoves, conditions common in households throughout the developing world, [biomass fuels] may result in indoor air pollution levels well above those in even the dirtiest of cities.”

The results are higher rates of respiratory illness and mortality, especially in children—the WHO reports that in 2000, two million children younger than 5 died of acute respiratory infections. Studies also suggest a link between indoor air pollution and several non-respiratory health problems, including stillborn births and miscarriages, low birth weight, heart disease, and even cataracts.

Chulha stove by Philips Design, courtesy INDEX

The Chulha stove and projects like it can’t solve these problems entirely, but they offer an inexpensive way to reduce such indoor pollution from cooking—coupled in this case with the potential for economic development. Philips Design, the Chulha’s creator, is offering free intellectual property rights to local entrepreneurs who want to build and sell the stove in places like rural India, where it was tested.

And toxic fumes aren’t the only significant challenge faced by cooks in the developing world. In our 2007 “Young Innovators” special issue, the magazine profiled Christina Galitsky, who helped design an energy-efficient, portable cookstove for women in Darfur. By using less wood as fuel, the stove reduced the amount of time and distance involved in gathering firewood—and thus reduced the women’s risk of being attacked and raped by militiamen roaming the countryside. And by being portable, the stove made it easier for the women to pack up and flee when such militias were approaching their villages and settlements.

All of this makes me stop and think…I’ve been whining lately about not having a “real” oven in my new apartment, but I do have a range top, fueled by gas which I can summon with a simple twist of a dial. I also have a microwave/convection oven, a toaster, a digital food steamer, and a backyard barbecue grill, as well as a bevy of gadgets and appliances to help prepare the food for cooking. There are various vents, fans and alarms to keep the air in our home clean and safe. It’s no Top Chef kitchen, but it’s certainly luxurious compared to stoking a toxic fire in a tiny, unventilated room, or having to risk one’s life to gather cooking fuel, isn’t it?

Ever peel one of those pesky stickers off a piece of supermarket produce, and end up with a gooey or skinless spot marring an otherwise lovely nectarine or tomato? Ever been stuck waiting in the checkout line while the cashier ponders whether to ring up organic or regular bananas, since the stickers have fallen off the bunch you picked? I know I have.

Grapefruit labeled with a laser, courtesy ARS News Service

So I like the idea of “food tattoos,” which I learned about today in a press release from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service. The concept is pretty simple—a carbon dioxide laser beam etches the words or numbers straight onto the fruit’s skin, cauterizing it in a way that creates a permanent marking or “tattoo” (ironically, perhaps, the same type of laser can be used to remove human tattoos). The technique was developed by researchers in Florida and seems to work well on grapefruit; it’s still being tested on tomatoes, avocados and other fruits.

Aesthetics aside, laser labeling could be a boon for food safety, since tracking down the source of pathogens (last summer’s salmonella outbreak in jalapenos, for example) can be notoriously tricky in our complex global food supply.

What do you think of this idea? Would you rather buy produce labeled with lasers or stickers?

Beet tattoo, courtesy Flickr user rallycat!

Or did you think this post would be about something else—tattoos of food, on people—which is what our science blogger Sarah tells me she guessed at first glance?

In that case, here’s some eye candy for you. There’s even a whole Flickr group devoted to photos of food tattoos (warning: there’s a lot of skin showing in several of the pics). My favorite is the guy who covered up his shark tattoo by turning it into an image of an eggplant; although I also like this simpler image of a cake. Very, um, tasteful!

Which brings up another question—is there any food you love enough to get it tattooed on your body?

This piece of news isn’t directly about food, but I find it fascinating. I mean, I don’t run across too many press releases that manage to combine satellites, computers, stereo headsets, and…cows.

Photo courtesy of USDA

The USDA’s Agricultural Research Service recently licensed a new method of cattle herding, something called a “Directional Virtual Fencing” system, which will monitor and steer the animals as they graze in large, open areas.

Virtual fencing? What’s next, cows on Facebook? (Too late.)

The DVF system is the equivalent of a remote control for cattle, basically. It uses GPS technology to keep track of them as they munch and meander, and relays this information to the rancher via computer. A small, solar-powered headset is attached to each animal’s ear—so if the critters seem to be straying too far from home or overgrazing a particular patch, the rancher can press a few buttons and send an “auditory signal” to move them elsewhere.

These signals could range from a spoken “Hey, Bessie, get moving!” to a traditional cowboys’ gathering song, or a non-human sound like a warning siren.

A Canadian company called Krimar got the license to develop DVF into a commercially viable product. In the meantime, you can watch a test-run conducted on the USDA’s research range in New Mexico.

This system seems like a brilliant idea to me, and more humane than shock collars. But it is a bit sad to realize that someday soon, images of the traditional cowboy (already a rare sight) could be replaced by something more like this.