This article is about THE BEST INVENTIONS OF 2020 - Fitness, Food&Drink
1. Record-Breaking Running Shoes, Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Next%
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In 2019, Eliud Kipchoge ran 26.2 miles in 1:59:40, becoming the first human to run a sub-two-hour marathon. His not-so-secret weapon: a pair of high-tech kicks, the Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Next% ($275). The shoes have air-filled pods that help return some 90% of the energy an athlete exerts. “We think of the airbag almost as a battery—when your foot lands and pushes down on it, it stores that energy and then it returns more of it to you than we could do with foam,” says Nike senior footwear innovator Carrie Dimoff.
—Jesse Will
2. Rowing with a Router, Hydrow
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Call it the Peloton of the pond. Hydrow combines a burly electromagnetic-resistance rowing machine with a 22-in. touchscreen and a web connection. That allows home scullers to train with real-life instructors and teams all over the planet, with interactive workouts set in famed bodies of water—from the Charles to the Thames. Boston-based rowing coach and entrepreneur Bruce Smith dreamed up the Hydrow in 2018, intending to bring onto dry land the feeling of rhythm and synchronicity that you experience rowing with a team. The recent fervor for at-home workouts has provided Hydrow with a tailwind: sales of the machine, which retails for $2,245, surged some 400% from January to April.
—Jesse Will
3. The Anywhere Workout, Supernatural by Within
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This subscription-based VR fitness app takes your workout beyond—way beyond—your four walls. Supernatural was launched in April by Within, a company specializing in immersive tech. Paired with the Oculus Quest or Quest 2 VR headsets, it transports users to places like the Gálapagos islands, or a volcano in Ethiopia, or the surface of Mars. With the help of a virtual trainer, you strike down targets with your arms and squat your body into triangles on the screen, working up a fierce, but fun, sweat. “I don’t know anyone who runs on a treadmill for entertainment,” says Within co-founder and CEO Chris Milk. “We want you to feel a sense of awe.” A Supernatural subscription costs $19 per month or $179 per year.
—Sean Gregory
4. A Mini Home Brewery, The Greater Good Fresh Brewing Co Pinter
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Brewing your own beer seems like a great idea—at first. Then comes the ingredient measuring, the mess and, weeks later, the slightly off-tasting results. Here’s a simpler solution: the Pinter, a home-brewing kit designed and built by London’s Greater Good Fresh Brewing Co. The brightly colored, naturally carbonating unit (about $100) uses mail-order “Pinter Pack” kits that can include bottled lager, pilsner, IPA and cider mixes, among others—and some yeast to brew 10 pints of your liking in about a week. Animated videos help make the process nearly foolproof—even if you’re under the influence of your last batch.
—Jesse Will
5. Vodka, Out of Thin Air, Air Vodka
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For centuries, vodka has been made by fermenting grains like corn and wheat, a process that naturally results in carbon emissions. The Brooklyn-based startup Air Co. thinks it’s found a better way, distilling the spirit from nothing more than water and carbon dioxide, in a process that transforms the CO² into ethyl alcohol. Not only does Air Vodka (starting at $65 for 750 ml) do the trick in a Moscow mule, but it’s also carbon negative: for every bottle that’s produced, the company’s NASA-award- winning technology removes about a pound of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
—Nadia Suleman
5. A Sustainable Substitute, Impossible Pork
The world’s most- consumed animal protein is pork—and its farming results in a slew of environmental issues, including pollution due to swine waste. Impossible Foods, which wowed the world with its rendition of a burger in 2015, aims to tackle these issues with a plant-based pork substitute, Impossible Pork. Previewed at CES 2020, Impossible Pork is made from soy and said to taste uncannily like the real deal. While the favorable environmental impacts of a pork alternative are clear, plans for a commercial rollout of Impossible Pork are still in the works.
—Nadia Suleman
