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I'm your host, Elise Hugh.

Imagine a vast, invisible network that keeps our food fresh, our drinks cold, and our global economy running.

I'm talking about refrigeration,

or the cold chain, as the network is called. It connects farms in Africa to supermarkets in Europe, and it quietly shapes what we eat, how we live, and how our planet is changing. In this talk,

food researcher Nicola Twilly explores how refrigeration transformed the world,

the unexpected consequences it created, and the innovative ways we can rethink freshness itself

to build a better food future.

Picture Earth's icy places. Picture Earth's icy places. Mountain glaciers, Siberian permafrost, the poles.

This is the cryosphere, the frozen part of the world.

Now, picture your fridge.

It's a white box, maybe stainless steel, maybe messy, maybe pristine, maybe full, maybe empty.

Regardless, it is just the tip of the iceberg.

Because if you live in the developed world, your fridge is connected to an entire network of thermal control.

It's called the cold chain,

and it brings nearly three quarters of everything you eat

from the farm to your table.

It's also massive.

Add all those refrigerated warehouses, shipping containers,

trucks, supermarket cabinets together, and this artificial cryosphere is more than 700 million cubic meters. It's a new Arctic, and unlike the real one, it's growing fast,

as people all around the world get their first fridge and join the cold chain themselves.

A little more than a decade ago, I realized that even though I'd been writing about, thinking

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