Food

Itching for a revolution? Then visit a restaurant perched up high and watch the world go around.

Revolving restaurants sprouted atop towers and boxy buildings across the U.S. in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s as symbols of modernity, progress and a space-age future, according to Chad Randl, author of “Revolving Architecture: A History of Buildings that Rotate, Swivel and Pivot.”

“They were really the thing to have,” he said. Once the novelty of spinning around over a meal ran its course, however, most revolving restaurants fell into disrepair. Some were converted into conference rooms; many were toppled.

But don’t despair, those that still spin tend to have a charm worthy of their kitschy revolution – a spectacular view, for example, or a menu that claims to make the world stand still.

Throughout human history, alcoholic beverages have treated pain, thwarted infections and unleashed a cascade of pleasure in the brain that lubricates the social fabric of life, according to Patrick McGovern, an archaeochemist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

For the past several decades, McGovern’s research has focused on finding archaeological and chemical evidence for fermented beverages in the ancient world. The details are chronicled in his recently published book, “Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages.”

The United States pork industry has already been battered by the false perception that pork can transmit swine flu. And now farmers are bracing for the first reported transmission of the virus to a U.S. pig, which at this point seems inevitable, experts say.

Beyond the economic impact, experts warn that, if transmitted to pigs, swine flu could quickly mutate into a more dangerous strain, given the crowded conditions at many industrial hog farms.

In the fight against global warming, most innovations have been targeting the greenhouse gas “supervillain” carbon dioxide.

Meanwhile, several “henchmen” gases—some even more potent than CO2—have also been building up in Earth’s atmosphere.

For now, none of these gases is as big a worry as CO2, due to its higher levels in the atmosphere. But if left unchecked, experts warn, these other compounds could create major new climate change battlefronts.

Central and western Europe’s first farmers weren’t crafty, native hunter-gatherers who gradually gave up their spears for seeds, a new study says.

Instead, they were experienced outsiders who arrived on the scene around 5500 B.C. with animals in tow—and the locals apparently didn’t roll out the welcome wagon.

Watermelon, the quintessential summer fruit, may soon be helping to fuel your car as well as your picnic guests.

According to a new U.S. government study, juice from unwanted watermelons could be a promising new source for making the biofuel ethanol.

The request struck Dave Hedlin, a farmer in Washington’s fertile Skagit Valley, as particularly odd: Conservationists wanted him to voluntarily flood his fields.

“Most of us have spent our entire lifetimes trying to keep water off the land,” said Hedlin, whose farmlands are nestled among inlets, bays, and estuaries in the shadow of the snowcapped Mount Baker volcano.