geekosystem

Fact: There is no situation in life so bleak that it can't be improved, if not entirely solved, by a liberal application of candy. For proof of this statement, look no further than a recently developed chemical that promises to use the ingredients in peanut butter and chocolate to clean up oil spills, like the one that resulted from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Because like the Planeteers, when chocolate and peanut butter combine their powers, there is pretty much nothing they can't do -- including save the environment.

A lot of people love chocolate; it's rich, it's creamy, it's sweet, and it's just delicious. However, all that chocolatey goodness comes at a cost in the form of chocolate's high fat content, but thanks to researchers from the University of Warwick, we may soon be able to eat chocolate without guilt. The team found that, by adding fruit juice, chocolate loses up to half its fat, but keeps all the things that make it great.

Hey, readers? Let's be honest for a moment with one another. A little one-on-one session. No one else is listening, don't worry, this is only the Internet. Remember how you once confided in me that you really wanted to eat your own face sometime, but still wanted to have your face after the meal, due to all of the benefits that having a face provides? Listen, I know at the time of you divulging that deep, dark -- and truth be told, super weird -- desire, I told you that it wouldn't be possible and you'd have to choose between eating your face, or having your face. Well, guess what? With this 3D printed mold that allows you to make a chocolate replica of your face, you can now have your face and eat it too.

Most of us can agree that chocolate is delicious. However, we probably also agree that eating a lot of it is probably not a good thing from a dietary or waistline standpoint. However, a new study from the University of California, San Diego suggests that people who eat chocolate on a regular basis may actually be skinnier than people who do not indulge as often.

Kristi over at 30 Pounds of Apples has provided the Internet with a way to fancy up their hot chocolate, but keep it about as instant as the powdered mix that comes in a box. Presenting: Hot chocolate on a stick, complete with marshmallows. Once the sticks are made, simply submerge a stick in hot milk and after about four to five minutes, the cube dissolves, creating a smooth hot chocolate.

You want to try something really out of this world? Try these planetary chocolates. They let you put space in your stomach. Japanese chocolatiers L’éclat have developed this novel little line of chocolate balls to represent each of the -- it pains me to say this -- 8 planets in the solar system. Each planet boasts a different flavor loosely based on its appearance. The whole set is roughly $50 dollars, but the chance to make some really good Uranus jokes is priceless. Check out closeups and awkwardly Google-translated flavor descriptions after the jump.

In what seems to be a slap in the face towards fossil fuels, the Exige 270E Tri-fuel sports car runs on three things: chocolate, cheese, and wine. As catchy as that is, it's actually a somewhat deceptive marketing ploy. This sexy looking car designed by Lotus Engineering actually runs on ethanol, technically, but it derives that ethanol from the aforementioned products and can use that ethanol to go from 0-60 in under 4 seconds.

So it runs on chocolate, cheese, and wine in the same way that your normal car runs on dead dinosaurs. Still, it makes for an interesting angle on ethanol and the myriad ways to produce it that don't involve, you know, boring into the earth and robbing her of both her innocence and natural beauty. In regard to these three products, ethanol is typically made from whey, from the cheese-making process; surplus chocolate (as if); and low-grade wine. Still, I prefer to use those things to fuel my body, but maybe that's just me.

Scottish band FOUND has released their song "Anti Climb Paint" on an edible chocolate record. Created by baker Ben Milne of Fisher & Donaldson, the idea for the 7" record came out of wanting to collaborate with the band.

Milne is friends with the members of FOUND, who filmed the video for the song in the bakery’s kitchen. The band includes Ziggy Campbell (lead vocals, guitar), Tommy Perman (bass guitar, synth) and Kev Sim (electronics, percussion) who describe their sound as an unusual mix of garage rock, melodic pop and glitchy electronica. While the chocolate record will be released for only a very limited run, this is one sweet idea that will certainly attract attention. But what we really want to know is what happens to the sound when it starts to melt?

Nothing says "I love you!" quite like a disturbingly realistic recreation of the human heart cast in chocolate. I hope that the chambers each have a different filling. I call caramel, but I'll take cherry creme if I must. (Naoto Fukasawa via Laughing Squid)

Within the past six years, cocoa prices have been on the rise and, according to the Cocoa Research Association, the human race is consuming more cocoa than is being produced. According to John Mason, executive director and founder of the Nature Conservation Research Center, "In 20 years chocolate will be like caviar. It will become so rare and so expensive that the average Joe just won't be able to afford it."