Finally, A Fruit Bowl That Will Tell You When Your Bananas Are About To Go Bad

Time to eat those quickly ripening peaches and bananas! As an effort to curtail food waste, London-based design student Jagjit Chodha developed a fruit bowl that changes color to tell when a fruit has become ripe — and when it's about to pass its prime.

The design is simple enough: the bowl is outfitted with a sensor that detects spikes in levels of ethylene, a compound given off by ripening fruit, and changes color as your fruit gets to the point of maximum deliciousness, or closer to the point of being inedible. The overall concept is genius, especially given the millions of pounds of wasted food that's discarded annually First World countries. Got a little overzealous at the farmer's market? Now you'll have a visual reminder to do something with all that fruit before it turns to mush.

The bowl, which Chodha presented at Brunel University's Made in Brunel graduate show this past spring, isn't for sale yet, but its smart design is something we hope to see on countertops very soon.

Design done right: The bowl's interior changes color as fruit ripens and releases increasing levels of ethylene, while cool the outer shell features a cool faceted-angle look.