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Co-op trials “pay in aisle”

Time-pressed shoppers will soon be able to pay in the aisle and avoid the till all together, using their phone to purchase goods at the Co-op with an app built in partnership with Mastercard. The “shop, scan and go” initiative is being trialled in Manchester with a wider roll-out beginning as early as this summer.

The Co-op says it has seen the number of cash transactions in its stores drop by 15% in the last 18 months alone. Matthew Speight, director of retail support at the Co-op, said “It is all about consumer choices and convenience”.

The temporary structure is painted with Vantablack VBx2, a chemical substance made of vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays that absorb over 99 per cent of light.

It’s a sprayable version of Vantablack, which British artist Anish Kapoor controversially acquired exclusive rights to in 2016.

The new “sustainable” parts including leaves, bushes and trees will hit shops later this year.

But while the process for making them may be greener than for traditional Lego bricks, they will not be bio-degradable. It will be “a long time” before Lego is made out of sustainable materials according to Tim Brooks at Lego. Bricks are made from ABS plastic, derived from crude oil, but with pieces regularly washing up on beaches, Lego has committed to making them sustainable by 2030.

The radio’s hand crank could deliver an hour of running power after just 30 seconds of winding. Inspired after seeing a TV report about the spread of AIDS in Africa, Bayliss wanted to give people access to news, information and AIDS education without having to rely on an external power source.

He also invented a wind-up lamp, electricity-generating shoes and a self-weighing briefcase, and was vocal about how little money he made from his brilliant and potentially life changing inventions. Now that is what we mean about the importance of design.