5@5: The future is cow-less | Google buys Fitbit

We're very close to disrupting the cow

Casein and whey, proteins typically derived from milk, are currently being produced in Silicon Valley–without the cow. And that's not the only cow byproduct modern technology is replacing–burgers, milk, leather, collagen and more are part of a new overlapping business models and innovations that will likely halve the number of cows in the U.S. by 2030. Read more at Fast Company…

Google to buy Fitbit for $2.1B

Google is taking aim at the increasingly successful Apple Watch with its recent purchase of health wearable maker Fitbit. The company can leverage its influential software services and data-collecting abilities to help Fitbit devices compete in the market, all while enhancing its lineup of hardware products.. Read more at The New York Times…

Advances in anti-aging research: How chemistry could hold the key to better health

Recent research has unveiled the few biological root causes responsible for nearly every disease of old age. As a result, aging has theoretically become "druggable." What this means is that a wide range of fatal and degenerative illnesses could soon be cured by treatments that target the identified biological mechanisms. Read more at The Conversation…

Doctors call on workplaces to ban sale of sugary drinks

Researchers at the University of California in San Francisco banned sugary drink sales at the school and its associated hospital and subsequently found that the over 200 staff members monitored had lost weight, improved upon their health and lowered their cholesterol after just 10 months. One of the study's authors states that making the ban permanent was an obvious move, and argues that most of the chronic diseases plaguing the U.S. can be traced back to the "calorie-dense, nutritionally poor standard western diet." Read more at The Guardian…

What's blockchain actually good for, anyway? For now, not much

Blockchain technology has been, to put it mildly, a headache for many a startup founder. The tracing technology is touted as a solution for seemingly everything–problems within our food system, homelessness and unreliable health records being a few. Although companies such as Bitcoin are thriving, a large portion of the companies attempting to build the software into "more complex applications... are hobbled by the underlying technology." Read more at Wired…