Buck Rogers bicycles.

Chicago.

In an interesting¹ new development in food science, scientists have developed a way to use bacteriophage viruses to keep lunch meat fresh. More specifically, they're using phages to destroy Listeria monocytogenes, which is not the sort of thing you want in your food. The upside is that there will be less potential for food poisoning from Listeria; the downside is that there could be some unintended consequences, like breeding resistant strains of the bacterium. The researchers claim that using a "cocktail" of several strains of phages will kill off all of the bacteria - meaning there'll be none left to evolve into anything more dangerous. How true that may be, no one knows.

Of course, this also means there could be a new ingredient to add to the end of the list for sliced meat products: "bacteriophage preparation". Well, it doesn't sound as terrifying as some of the other things² that show up in processed foods. I mean, it's not as though everyone isn't covered in billions³ of phages right now, all doing whatever it is that viruses do to pass the time. If you're happily noshing at Subway on a regular basis, none of this can be any scarier than what's already a normal meal.

Speaking of eyebrow-raising human ingenuity, an LA Times article on human-powered vehicle (HPV) racing is well worth the read. It's a geek sport, a combination of engineering know-how, cycling skill, and no shortage of beyond-all-good-sense dedication. What about that combination isn't fascinating?

If that doesn't sound thrilling enough, consider these tidbits: the sport consists of bicycles that race at fifty-five miles per hour and above; the aerodynamic enclosures look like something out of Buck Rogers; and sometimes, in that desperate lunge for better speed, riders pedal vehicles without windshields, using cameras and video screens. These "camera bikes" have a strong tendency to crash and run objects over, since it's maddeningly difficult to steer a bicycle using a TV. Then again, the European speed record holder⁴ rides backwards and watches the course through a mirror.

And cable television hasn't turned this into a reality show yet?

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¹Meaning that I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

²Sodium stearol lactylate, anyone? How about some partially de-fatted cooked beef fatty tissue? Or, perhaps, a little mechanically separated meat? Okay, I'm done being gross now.

³Or maybe trillions. I have no idea. I'm just sure that the number involves many, many zeroes.

⁴Damjam Zabovnik, from Slovenia. 73 mph.