• Skytrax published its annual "World Airlines Awards" on Tuesday. As part of the annual event, the consumer-aviation website also named the best low-cost airlines in the world. 
• Going nearly 19 years strong, the survey attracted the entries of over 20 million airline customers this year.
• For the 10th consecutive year, AirAsia was voted the World's Best Low-Cost Airline, while Norwegian Air Shuttle also earned high marks. 
  

  ---

Skytrax, the United Kingdom-based consumer aviation agency, has released its annual "Best Low-Cost Airlines in the World" ranking for 2018. The survey, which began in 1999, is an annual customer relations' satisfaction survey that is among the most professional and prestigious. It has gone from attracting the entries of 2.2 million airline customers in 2000, to receiving more than 20 million entries in 2018. 

Skytrax mandates that its survey is "independent, impartial and global," and adds that there are neither survey entry fees, nor any payments to anyone to attend the awards event. 

This year's survey was conducted from August 2017 to May 2018 and over 100 customer nationalities participated in the event. The survey's costs are paid by Skytrax and languages provided include English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, and Japanese. This year, 335 airlines were included in the survey and more than 20 million respondents were counted in the final results. All participants are screened so no duplicate or ineligible entries are recorded. 

Customers rank their favorite airline on a 1-5 scale based on three categories: Cabin Service, Ground Airport, Onboard Product. In each of these categories, there are numerous sub-factors that customers evaluate. For instance, Cabin Service will include judgments on such aspects like hospitality, service attentiveness, staff language skills, and meal service efficiency; while Ground Airport will include evaluations on carry-on policy, airport ticketing, check-in, and pre-boarding procedures. 

All in all, there are 50 categories which customers evaluate. 

This year the results were impressive, but somewhat predictable: AirAsia was voted the World's Best Low-Cost Airline for the 10th successive year. Norwegian was voted the World's Best Long Haul Low-Cost Airline, as well as the Best Low-Cost Airline in Europe. 

Take a look a look below to see how the top 20 low-cost airlines in the world are ranked in Skytrax's 2018 survey. 

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 20 best airlines in the world

FOLLOW US: on Facebook for more car and transportation content!

20. Nok Air

19. West Air

18. Air Canada Rouge

• Some jobs have a reputation for being particularly exciting, glitzy, or lucrative.
• Occasionally, that's partly because of inaccurate media depictions.
• Other jobs do boast a number of major perks, but they also come with trade-offs.

Glamorous jobs might seem enticing, but, at the end of the day, work is work.

And sometimes, jobs that sound especially fancy or thrilling turn out to have a less-than-luxurious side. Many have hidden tradeoffs, at the very least.

Here's a look at the reality of certain glam-sounding jobs:

SEE ALSO: 19 US presidents' surprising first jobs

DON'T MISS: 37 brilliant questions to ask at the end of every job interview

SEE ALSO: The top 25 companies where American business students dream of working

What's more glamorous than getting paid to travel? That's the job description of a flight attendant in a nutshell, which comes complete with perks like flying standby for free or discounted prices and getting to explore exotic locales during layovers.

Source: Business Insider, Business Insider, Travel and Leisure

But the job isn't a constant glitzy adventure, even if you're working in first class. The job can be frustrating, as many passengers dismiss flight attendants as "waiters and waitresses on a plane," according to longtime Delta flight attendant Danny Elkins. The reality is flight attendants are trained to ensure everyone's safety aboard the aircraft.

Source: Business Insider, Business Insider, Travel and Leisure, Business Insider

And, while frequent travel is a great perk, many flight attendants don't necessarily get to see the world on a regular basis. "Most layovers are short, and you barely have time for food and a good night's sleep," a flight attendant previously told Business Insider's Rachel Gillett.

Source: Business Insider

• A list from the American Institute for Economic Research ranked top college towns.
• It looked to economic, demographic, and quality-of-life factors.
• Boulder, Colorado was the top-ranked town.

Boulder, Colorado, is the top-ranked college town in the US, according to a list from the American Institute for Economic Research.

The city of roughly 200,000 (for its metro area population) earned the top spot thanks to its accessibility — more than 20% of commuters take public transportation or cycle around Boulder Creek Corridor — and diverse and educated population. Boulder also has an active bar-and-restaurant scene, with plenty of coffee shops and microbreweries.

AIER compiled its list using nine economic, demographic, and quality-of-life factors. It defines college towns as having fewer than 250,000 residents.

Aside from the overall ranking, we included cities' individual scores for noteworthy metrics including rent, earnings, and bars and restaurants. We chose the one metric where the city scored the highest out of the nine.

Scroll through to find out the 20 best college towns.

SEE ALSO: The 11 best colleges for business majors

20. Bellingham, Washington — home of Western Washington University

Metro area population: 208,832

College student population in the metro area: 24,926

No. 4 in arts and entertainment

19. La Crosse, Wisconsin — home of the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse

Metro area population: 136,824

College student population in the metro area: 16,081

No. 1 in youth unemployment

18. Jacksonville, North Carolina — home of the University of Mount Olive

Metro area population: 186,684

College student population in the metro area: 15,297

No. 3 in rent

• Archaeologists in Egypt on Thursday pried open a mysterious 2,000-year-old sarcophagus found earlier this month in the port city of Alexandria.
• While some had thought the sarcophagus may contain royalty — or even Alexander the Great himself — it was found to contain three skeletons.
• Their skulls will be further analyzed to figure out their cause of death and, eventually, where they came from. 

Egyptian archaeologists on Thursday pried open a mysterious 30-ton black sarcophagus and found three skeletons, including one that had suffered a blow to the skull.

Legends abounded about the sarcophagus, which construction workers found earlier this month more than 16 feet below ground in a residential area of Alexandria. Some observers thought it might contain the corpse of Alexander the Great, as the sarcophagus dates back to the early Ptolemaic period (about 323 BC), which began after his death.

Despite warnings of an ancient curse to those who would open the 2,000-year-old sarcophagus, archaeologists went ahead on Thursday, enlisting the help of Egyptian military engineers.

"The sarcophagus has been opened, but we have not been hit by a curse," Mostafa Waziri, the secretary-general of Egypt's antiquities ministry, told Egypt Today, which published live updates of the sarcophagus opening.

Waziri added that the sarcophagus was unusual for its size; it's the largest ever discovered in Alexandria.

What the archaeologists found inside the sarcophagus was grisly — but it was not the earth-shattering discovery some had hoped it would be.

The three skeletons found in the sarcophagus were most likely soldiers, according to Egypt's antiquities ministry, and one skull showed signs of fractures caused by a sharp instrument.

Beyond the skeletons, the sarcophagus was inundated with sewage water, which accelerated their decomposition.

The skulls will be further analyzed to understand their age, the cause of death, and where they came from.

Alexandria was the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt after Alexander's army conquered the region and deposed the old pharaohs. The Ptolemaic dynasty famously ended with Cleopatra's suicide during the Roman conquest of Greece and Egypt around 30 BC.

SEE ALSO: Archaeologists found the remains of 140 children in a 550-year-old mass grave in Peru — perhaps the largest child sacrifice in human history

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What happens when you hold in your pee for too long

• Some of the most dangerous jobs have a much higher risk of fatal or non-fatal injuries than others.
• Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we found the 34 jobs that had the highest rates of fatal injuries in 2016.

Some jobs have a much higher risk of fatal or non-fatal injuries than others.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics documented how many people died on the job in 2016 for the equivalent of every 100,000 people who held that job.

To find the most dangerous jobs in America, we identified the jobs from the Bureau's list with the highest fatal injury rate. Each of these jobs has a fatal injury rate above the national average for all workers of 3.6 per 100,000 full-time workers.

Overall, the greatest number of fatal work injuries resulted from transportation incidents, followed by violence or other injuries by persons or animals; falls, slips, and trips; and contact with objects and equipment.

Here are the 34 most dangerous jobs in America, along with their 2016 fatal and non-fatal injury rates per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, and a description of what workers in these jobs do from the Department of Labor's O*NET careers database.

SEE ALSO: The 47 jobs that are most damaging to your health

DON'T MISS: Here's how much the typical millennial, Gen X, and baby-boomer worker earns in every US state

34. Pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters

What they do: Lay out, install, or maintain pipes, plumbing, and sewer systems.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 workers):  4.1

Non-fatal injury rate (per 100,000 workers):  1,629

33. Hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers

What they do: Manually move freight, stock, or other materials or perform other general labor.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 workers): 5.2

Non-fatal injury rate (per 100,000 workers): 3,068

31 (tie). Firefighters

What they do: Control and extinguish fires or respond to emergency situations where life, property, or the environment is at risk.

Fatal injury rate (per 100,000 workers): 6.1

Non-fatal injury rate (per 100,000 workers): 927

• Dele Alli has taken a break from sport after helping the England national soccer team to a rare semifinal appearance at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
• So, Alli has done what a lot of young people do — he's gone partying.
• Alli landed a private jet in LA, rapped about being overpaid, attended an after-party held by Drake, and is set to jet out to Ibiza for the final leg of his 8-day tour.
• He is expected to link back up with Tottenham Hotspur for the club's pre-season preparations, where he could double his current earnings by signing a bumper $130,000-a-week contract, according to The Sun.
• Read all of Business Insider's coverage for the 2018-2019 soccer season here.

Dele Alli is quickly turning into one of the biggest sports stars in England.

He is a Tottenham Hotspur midfielder, one of the best players in the England national soccer team, and now a wannabe West Coast rapper.

The 22-year-old, fresh from helping England reach the World Cup semifinal for the first time since 1990, has taken a well-deserved break from sport and landed a private jet in Los Angeles for an 8-day party.

Alli has taken four of his close soccer pals on vacation with him, and a Snapchat video of him rapping on the California streets has appeared online.

"Too many people try roll like the Dellster, I'll swing you round like a helter-skelter, I'm so hot I'll melt ya," Alli rapped in a video shared by The Sun. "Bars for days and I still get overpaid."

Alli is currently paid £60,000 ($78,000) per week which, if anything, is underpaid when compared to other salaries of elite Premier League attacking midfielders like Chelsea forward Eden Hazard ($300,000 per week), Manchester City standout Kevin de Bruyne ($340,000 per week), and Arsenal playmaker Mesut Özil ($455,000 per week).

Alli and his friends have already partied in prominent places in LA, including Drake's after-party in Hollywood following the ESPYS, according to the Mail Online.

When they leave Los Angeles they will take their lads' tour to its last leg — the nightclubs of Ibiza. After sunning and dancing on the famous Balearic island, Alli is scheduled to link back up with Tottenham for its pre-season preparations where he will reportedly sign a bumper new deal that could almost double his current earnings.

The Sun reports Alli could be in line for a new $130,000 contract. Ammunition, perhaps, for bars for even more days — but compared to other midfielders, he still wouldn't be overpaid.

SEE ALSO: Croatia is mercilessly trolling England and English soccer after knocking them out of the World Cup in heartbreaking fashion

DON'T MISS: Dele Alli stuck his middle finger up during an England match — but swears it wasn’t aimed at the referee

UP NEXT: One of England’s best players has a long list of pre-match superstitions — and he admits they're 'a bit crazy'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Brazil's empty $300 million World Cup stadium

• In the World Cup of food wars, sugar and fat are the playoff teams.
• But an emerging science is beginning to suggest that when eaten on its own, fat does not contribute to weight gain. Sugar, however, does.
  
• Increasingly alarmed by the sugar in our diets, scientists recommend cutting back and instead bringing back foods like creamy avocados and buttery salmon.

In the World Cup of food wars, sugar and fat are the playoff teams.

It makes intuitive sense that rich foods like creamy avocados or butter-drenched salmon would contribute to weight gain. Similarly, stacking up on sweet treats like sugary cereals and carb-heavy bagels can't be too great for your waistline, either.

But scientists are increasingly examining what happens inside our bodies when we regularly indulge in large amounts of either sugar or fat on their own.

In many parts of the world, the two ingredients are rarely eaten alone. Take doughnuts as an example. When the fresh carb-laden dough is deep-fried in oil, you get a classic combination of sugar and fat with a rich flavor and powerful mouthfeel that's tough to pass up.

But an increasing body of evidence is beginning to suggest that when eaten in isolation, fat doesn't contribute to weight gain. On the other hand, dozens of studies indicate that sugar alone is significantly tied to packing on pounds. 

Aaron Carroll, a professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, put it this way in the recent book, "The Bad Food Bible: How and Why to Eat Sinfully."

"There is one thing we know about fats," he wrote. "Fat consumption does not cause weight gain. To the contrary, it might actually help us shed a few pounds."

That means that foods like buttery avocados, rich salmon, and savory nuts should probably have a place in your diet. If you banned them during the low-fat dieting craze of the 1990s, it's time to bring them back.

The proof is in the pudding

To nail down which ingredient — fat or sugar — is responsible for the biggest share of negative health outcomes, it helps to compare people who've eaten low-fat or low-carb diets.

Time and time again, studies that do this suggest that people who cut back on fats not only don't lose weight, they don't see other health benefits like a reduced risk of disease, either.

In contrast, people who eat lots of fats but curb their intake of refined carbs like sugary cereals, white bread, and white rice tend to see both of these gains.

In other words, the proof that sugar is linked with weight gain is in the pudding — quite literally.

For a large recent review of studies published in the journal The Lancet, scientists compared more than 135,000 people in 18 countries on either low-fat or low-carb diets. People on the low-fat diets were more likely to die from any cause; they were also at a greater risk of death from heart attacks and heart disease. By contrast, people on the low-carb plans had significantly lower risk of both of these outcomes.

The finding was so strong, the authors of the paper concluded, that "global dietary guidelines should be reconsidered," they wrote.

What happens when we trim the fat

That conclusion makes even more sense when we look at what happens when people try to trim the fat from their diets. In general, they just end up swapping rich or creamy ingredients with foods filled with sugar and carbs.

During an eight-year trial involving almost 50,000 women, scientists put roughly half on a low-fat diet. Not only did the low-fat dieters not lose much weight, if any, they also didn't see a decrease in the risk of breast cancer, colorectal cancer, or heart disease— outcomes commonly associated with a healthier eating plan.

Part of the problem lies in what happens with the rest of our diet when we suddenly try to eat only low-fat foods.

Most ready-to-eat items in the "low-fat" category are packed with sugar and carbs. Take any common cereal, granola bar, and yogurt and check the nutrition label: they're all high in sugar and carbs despite being low in fat.

Meanwhile, studies suggest that both of those ingredients are linked strongly with weight gain. A review of 50 studies on diet and weight gain published in the journal Food and Nutrition Research found that, on average, the more refined grains someone ate (like those from processed cereals and granola bars), the more weight they tended to gain over the study period.

So while "low-fat" products are all marketed as weight-loss tools, the reality is these products may contribute much more to weight gain than a fat-rich product with fewer refined carbs.

The take-home message here is that fat is a critical dietary ingredient, while sugar — despite being omnipresent in dozens of every day foods — is not. That means while it takes more work to curb your sugar intake, the available evidence suggests it's a more worthwhile fight than trimming the fat.

SEE ALSO: A little-known technology that Fitbit and Apple are exploring could be the answer to healthy eating and peak performance

DON'T MISS: The best ways to lose weight and keep it off, according to science

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What happens when you hold in your pee for too long

• Roseanne Barr posted a YouTube video on Thursday addressing the tweet that got her fired from her hit ABC sitcom, "Roseanne," in May.
• In the brief video, Barr screams that she compared former Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett to an "ape," in the tweet that led to her show's cancellation, because she "thought the b---- was white!" 
• The video comes 11 days after Barr took to Twitter to say that she would appear in a televised interview. She later back-tracked and said that she would instead release a video on her personal YouTube page.

Roseanne Barr posted a YouTube video on Thursday about the tweet that got her ABC sitcom, "Roseanne," canceled in May. 

In the brief video, Barr screams "I thought the b---- was white" about former Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett, whom Barr compared to an "ape" in a tweet that led ABC to cancel her show. ("Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj," Barr tweeted in May, in reference to Jarrett.)

Barr released her new pseudo-interview footage 11 days after she took to Twitter to say that she would appear in a televised interview.

"To my wonderful fans who I treasure and love-who have carried me these past weeks when I was 2 weak 2 carry myself: I will be doing a TV interview this week," she tweeted on July 8. "I'll tell u about it tomorrow!"

The next day, Barr walked back her previous tweet.

"After a lot of thought, I decided that I won't be doing any TV interviews, too stressful & untrustworthy 4 me & my fans," she wrote on Twitter. "I'm going to film it myself & post it on my youtube channel in the next week-the entire explanation of what happened & why! I love you all-sign up & get ready."

In the video released to her personal YouTube page on Thursday, an off-screen voice coaches Barr to conduct the video like "a presidential address," as Barr, smoking a cigarette, protests that she wants to talk about "Valerie Jarrett and Iran," which she says her tweet in May was meant to address. She then wildly screams that she thought Jarrett "was white."

As The Hollywood Reporter notes, the video is Barr's second public response to her firing, after she appeared on a podcast episode with the Rabbi Shmuley Boteach for his eponymous podcast last month, in which she cried and expressed "horrible regret" about her tweet.

ABC has since announced that it will produce a new show called "The Conners," starring the whole cast of the "Roseanne" reboot, with the exception of Barr. 

Watch the video below:

SEE ALSO: Every controversial step that led toward ABC's 'Roseanne' cancellation — from Pizzagate to Parkland to the final racist last straw

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why the World Cup soccer ball looks so different

• Whoopi Goldberg and Fox News host Jeanine Pirro got into a shouting match over President Trump on "The View" Thursday, which Pirro later said got her "thrown out of the building."
• Pirro was on the show promoting her new book, but the interview derailed when Pirro pointed at Goldberg and told her that she suffered from "Trump Derangement Syndrome."

Whoopi Goldberg and Fox News host Jeanine Pirro got into a shouting match over President Trump on "The View" on Thursday, and their heated argument reportedly escalated backstage after the on-air segment ended. 

Pirro was on the ABC talk show to promote her new book, "Liars, Leakers and Liberals: The Case Against the Anti-Trump Conspiracy," but the interview derailed when Pirro pointed at Goldberg and told her that she suffered from "Trump Derangement Syndrome."

"Listen, I don't have 'Trump derangement,'" Goldberg said. "Let me tell you what I have. I'm tired of people starting a conversation with 'Mexicans are liars and rapists.'"

"I'm 62 years old. There have been a lot of people in office that I didn’t agree with," Goldberg continued. "But I have never, ever seen anything like this. I have never seen anybody whip up such hate. I have never seen anybody be so dismissive."

"You know what's horrible?" Pirro responded, as the argument ramped up. "When people who shouldn’t be here end up murdering the children of American citizens."

"What's horrible is when the president of the United States whips up people to beat the hell out of people," Goldberg shouted over Pirro, before ending the segment by ripping up the cards for her questions and telling Pirro, "Say goodbye, bye! I’m done."

Page Six reported on Thursday that their argument continued "backstage when the two crossed paths":

"A source told us, 'Jeanine tried telling her she's fought for victims her whole life.' That's when 'Whoopi got in her face and said that they've known each other a long time, but still, 'F–k you, get the f–k out of this building.' Jeanine looked stunned."

Pirro later appeared on Fox News' "Hannity" on Thursday night and confirmed Page Six's report, adding that she "got thrown off the set, thrown out of the building."

Watch "The View" segment below:

SEE ALSO: Roseanne Barr screams that she thought Valerie Jarrett 'was white' in new video about the tweet that got her show cancelled

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why the World Cup soccer ball looks so different

• Comcast announced Thursday that it would not pursue assets of 21st Century Fox, including the Fox movie studio, clearing the way for Disney to acquire them. 
• It will change the movie business forever.
• Other movie studios are "clear acquisition targets" that could potentially be merged together, like Disney and Fox, says UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television lecturer and former network television/movie studio head Tom Nunan.
• And for the moviegoer, the Disney/Fox deal's "creative and synergistic possibilities are exciting and truly mind boggling," says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore.

With the news on Thursday that Comcast is stepping aside in trying to buy assets from 21st Century Fox, including its movie studio, it now seems to be smooth sailing for Disney to move forward and take the pieces off Fox's hands.

Back in December, after months of speculation, Disney announced that it had agreed to acquire the Fox studio and a large portion of its television production for $52.4 billion. Recently, Comcast swooped in with its own offer for the Fox assets (excluding Fox News and Fox Business channels). This led to Disney raising its offer to $71.3 billion. Comcast has now cut bait to put its focus on buying the European broadcast company, Sky.

With Fox under the Disney umbrella, the studio Walt Disney created goes from being the most envious in the movie industry to now becoming an unimaginable Goliath. Not only does it beef up Disney's Marvel Studios with the addition of the likes of the X-Men and Deadpool characters, which are currently Fox's big moneymakers, but it also brings countless options of content for Disney's upcoming streaming service with its pick of everything from family-friendly fare like "The Greatest Showman," to prestige dramas from the Fox Searchlight library, which released last year's best picture Oscar winner, "The Shape of Water."

If you combined the 2018 box office market share for both Disney and Fox, it's close to 50%.   

It's another win for Disney CEO Bob Iger, and it will add to a legacy that is becoming one of the most successful Hollywood has ever seen. 

"In terms of the history of the Walt Disney Company, there's no question that Bob Iger has really done more for that company than perhaps any other individual — even more than Walt Disney," Tom Nunan, UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television lecturer and former network television/movie studio head, told Business Insider. "If you think about the number of characters and franchises that Iger has brought under the same umbrella. Disney himself built it on the shoulders of a little mouse, and that's spectacular. But it's nothing compared to the acquisition of Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel, and now the acquisition of Fox. There's just been no comparable experience in the history of Hollywood in terms of a series of success under one individual. It's a tremendous story."

But for a business that's lived on being reactionary, the merging of Disney and Fox has set the stage for an overhaul of Hollywood, in an even more visible way than has already been happening under the surface.

The "big six" — Disney, Fox, Sony, Paramount, Warner Bros., and Universal — have never been shy about making major deals with huge conglomerates. Universal is under the Comcast umbrella. Just recently, AT&T bought Time Warner for $85 billion, giving the large wireless carrier the Warner Bros. studio as well as all the binge-worthy content on HBO. But the studios have never swallowed each other until now. And don't be surprised if you see more deals like the Disney/Fox one in the future.

"There's no doubt that the big acquisition targets seem to be Paramount, Sony, and Lionsgate," Nunan said. "All three of those companies for a variety of different reasons are clear acquisition targets in this market. But in a world of Google, Amazon, and Apple any of these 20th Century-created entertainment giants could possibly get picked off by 21st Century technology wizards."

And that's the reality of today's Hollywood. The magic is no longer created on movie studio lots. It hasn't been for some time. The Disney/Fox deal proves that most of the business is spread out to many other entities, leaving the "big six" as dinosaurs only good at doing one thing. 

"They really are just blockbuster movie companies and that's a very small list of people who actually know how to make and produce those movies," Nunan said, noting the emergence of Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu as major employers in Hollywood. And then there's Lionsgate, Annapurna Pictures (which recently took the domestic franchise rights of James Bond from Sony), and STX Entertainment.

"That's become a smaller part of the overall employment in Hollywood," he said of the big studios. "I don't think we should get our violins out too soon to grieve the loss of that. It's really such a tiny part of the overall food chain that exists in the entertainment industry."    

But for moviegoers, Disney bringing in Fox leads to more content than many could have imagined. 

It "will essentially combine under one umbrella a very powerful slate of content that will be almost second to none in terms of its creative scope and potential combined revenue market share," Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst at comScore, told Business Insider. "The key Fox brands — including of course the all-important 'X-Men,' 'Deadpool,' and 'Fantastic Four' franchises — will be brought into the Disney/Marvel fold and the creative and synergistic possibilities are exciting and truly mind boggling."

SEE ALSO: Comcast has dropped out of bidding for Fox to focus on its battle for Sky — here's why the UK company is so important

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why the World Cup soccer ball looks so different

Everybody on the planet is aging, and each body is made up of trillions of tiny cells. So, what happens when your cells start aging? You do, too.

California-based company ChromaDex, a 20-year veteran of the analytical standards and ingredient industry, recently launched its first direct-to-consumer product to combat aging at the cellular level — with only one active ingredient.

Nicotinamide riboside (or simply “NR”) was discovered by a Stanford-educated PhD with an advanced degree in biology named Charles Brenner. NR is a patented form of vitamin B3 that boosts your levels of NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) at the cellular level. NAD is critical to converting the food we eat into the energy we need to stay healthy and is one of the most important molecules in every single cell of our bodies.

Unfortunately, NAD declines with age, as well as with “stressors” like sun exposure, alcohol consumption, and poor diet. Discover the nutrient that can change the way you age, straight from the scientists who uncovered it.

Boosting your cellular metabolism as you age

Depending on your age, health, and lifestyle, the benefits of NR can vary. For example, if you spend a lot of time out in the sun, or have too many glasses of wine, you may feel a benefit from that extra NAD boost more than your healthy, active, and well-rested person. Regardless, “aging is a major risk factor for many of the diseases that kill us,” says Brenner. “The inevitable physiological stresses of life and aging, however, may lead to a decline of our NAD levels, and therefore supplementation makes a lot of sense.”

And Brenner would know, as he was the first to test NR … on himself. His discovery of the pathway between NR and NAD is important because a number of companies misleadingly say that their supplements can do the same thing as NR, but they do not have human studies to back up their claims. Through these tests, NR was shown to be superior to other forms of vitamin B3 — including nicotinamide and niacin — at raising cellular NAD consuming activities. (Niacin also causes the uncomfortable side effect of flushing).

By boosting cellular metabolism, energy production, and mitochondrial function at the cellular level, the higher NAD levels produced by TRU NIAGEN® could help cells deal with physiological stress and other effects associated with aging.

A nutraceutical with exemplary science

The clinical research behind nicotinamide riboside is substantial. The third published clinical trial using NIAGEN®, released in March 2018 in the journal Nature Communications, showed that consistent supplementation kept NAD levels raised in humans. The science gets complex but also hints at some new applications for this blockbuster B3 with further study.

There’s also evidence that higher NAD levels could potentially enhance mental focus, memory, and muscle endurance, based off studies in animal models.

In terms of safety, NIAGEN® has twice been successfully reviewed under FDA's new dietary ingredient (“NDI”) notification program, and has also been successfullynotified to the FDA as generally recognized as safe (“GRAS”).

NR has attracted the attention from around the world — including over 140 research collaborations and $48 million in strategic investments with Tru Niagen in 2017. Will it change the way you age? Only time will tell.

A single bottle of Tru Niagen costs $50, with a monthly subscription at just $40/month. To save even more, you can get a 3-month supply for only $105.

This post is sponsored by Tru Niagen. | Content written and provided by Tru Niagen. 

Join the conversation about this story »

• Dollar Tree and Dollar General are the largest dollar stores in the United States and are neck-and-neck in terms of store count and annual sales.
• Based on numbers alone, the two chains are almost identical. However, there are some big differences in the shopping experiences you'll have at these stores.
• We decided to put them to the test.

Bargain-hunting has been the flavor of the past decade.

Since the recession, cost-conscious consumers have flocked to off-price, thrift, and dollar stores in search of good deals. As a result, these stores have seen a surge in sales.

From 2010 to 2015, US dollar-store sales grew to $45.3 billion from $30.4 billion, and hundreds of stores have opened. The credit-rating agency Moody's said in a report on Dollar Tree that it was expecting 8% growth for the dollar-store segment in 2018. That's about double the growth of 3.5% to 4.5% it expects for US retail in general during the same time.

Dollar General and Dollar Tree are the two largest dollar stores in the United States and based on numbers alone, the two chains are almost identical.

Dollar Tree – and its newly acquired Family Dollar chain – have slightly more locations than Dollar General, but both have about 14,000 to 15,000. In terms of sales, Dollar Tree is a close second, generating $22 billion in sales in 2017 compared with $23.5 billion at Dollar General.

But there is a massive difference in the shopping experience at these no-frills stores. First and foremost, Dollar Tree sells only products that are $1 or under, whereas Dollar General, which once did the same, is now more like a discount retailer.

Dollar Tree was also recently voted one of the top 25 beloved brands by a pool of millennial shoppers surveyed by market research firm Morning Consult. 

We visited both stores in March to see how they compared:

SEE ALSO: The UK's favorite chocolate tastes completely different in the US — and we put it to a taste test to prove it

We visited Dollar General and Dollar Tree stores that were a 15-minute walk from each other in Brooklyn, New York.

Our first stop was at Dollar General. The chain has 14,761 stores in the US, most of which are located in rural areas.

Dollar General was initially rolled out to areas that were not already served by a Walmart. As these stores are generally in rural markets, they cost less to operate.

Walmart launched a series of mini express stores in 2014 with the aim of winning back the midweek shopper from Dollar General. The strategy was not successful, and Walmart ended up closing these stores and selling 41 of the locations to Dollar General.

Source: Dollar General and Business Insider

On first impression, the store looked great. It was modern and bright.

• "The Equalizer 2" marks the first time director Antoine Fuqua and the movie's star, Denzel Washington, have ever made a sequel.
• Fuqua also gave his thoughts about President Trump's remarks following the Parkland school shooting that movie violence is to blame for school shootings.
• And the director addressed the reports that he's in talks to direct a reboot of the Brian De Palma classic, "Scarface."

Antoine Fuqua has pulled off something no other director working with Denzel Washington has done before: getting him to do a sequel.

“The Equalizer 2” (in theaters Friday) marks not just the first-ever sequel done by Fuqua, but also Washington. The two have worked on numerous projects, from “The Magnificent Seven” reboot to Washington’s Oscar-winning performance in “Training Day.” But it’s Sony’s unlikely hit thriller about a man (Washington) with a mysterious past who disrupts his quiet life to rescue a girl that the two felt was fertile ground to continue with a sequel.

Business Insider sat down with Fuqua in April during CinemaCon (in a backstage room with the film’s producer Jason Blumenthal), to talk about the movie, Trump, and if he’s going to direct the much-rumored “Scarface” remake.

Jason Guerrasio: This is the first time you and Denzel have ever done a sequel. What did Sony have to do to talk you guys into doing another?

Fuqua: It was a conversation that we had toward the end of making “Equalizer 1.” We had a lot of fun together just making the movie. All of us: me, Denzel, the producers. And we were talking about it and it's hard to talk about that stuff with Denzel because he just wants to make this one good. The one we're doing. But we were all kind of like, "Hey, if this works let's do it again." It came out and did well, the audience enjoyed it, and the guys went off to write another. And it wasn't that long, three months after the release.

Guerrasio: Wow, three months after it opened?

Fuqua: Yeah. They gave me the script and I read it and it was better than the first script and much more emotional and deeper. And it hit all the things that I think a lot of people wanted to see. When I would be in an airport people would ask, "Are we going to find out more about this or that?" And the script did those things. And when I read it, Denzel read it as well, and he called me and he said, "This is good!" And I was like yeah, and he said, "Let's do it again!" So that's how it worked.

Guerrasio: I would imagine this was not the first time a sequel to a movie you've done has been floated by you. What sequel pitches have you gotten in the past?

Fuqua:“Olympus Has Fallen,” they wanted me to do that, there were rumors about “Training Day" —

Guerrasio: How can you do “Training Day” again?

Fuqua: I think like a prequel. Yeah, it's been a few times. It’s just not exciting to me to do that really because you have already been down that road and it's rare to get someone like Denzel so you have got to make it right. The script has to be very different from the first one, and it has to be a character he wants to play again, but have enough differences that he feels like he's doing something else. He's an actor's actor, so for him, he's not doing the exact same thing. I can't even get the exact same take. So you think he's going to do a movie twice? [Laughs.]

Guerrasio: I’m thinking about your filmography now, you could probably do another “Magnificent Seven.”

Fuqua: Yeah. I would love to do another one. That's not up to me but I would love to do one. With the right actors. Because that's tricky. You have to get all those guys’ schedules on the same page at the exact same time.

Guerrasio: And do audiences still want to see Westerns?

Fuqua: It's tricky. You never know. The audience sometimes will surprise you. It's timing. You think you know and then the next Western comes out and makes a billion dollars.

Guerrasio: The only thing that will make me disappointed is Vincent D’Onofrio will not be in it. Because he was so entertaining in that movie.

Fuqua: We do it as a prequel. You see what happens? You got the opportunity to do a movie with a great actors and then you kill them off, how do you do another one? [Laughs.]

Guerrasio: I don't want you to give anything away about “Equalizer 2,” but in the trailer there's a shot of Denzel telling a guy to do the Vulcan salute from “Star Trek” and then breaking his fingers when the guy shows him the salute.

Fuqua: That's all Denzel.

Guerrasio: He came up with that?

Fuqua: He did that. That's the fun of it. He's not going to say the exact same line every time the exact same way. Someone on that level, you have to have some fun with it.

Guerrasio: Almost all of your movies deal with gun violence. It's a topic that's big again in society because of the Parkland school shooting. But when you hear President Trump say that school shootings are due to the violence kids see in movies, how do you react to that?

Fuqua: I’m not into politics, I'm a father. I'll say that first. I grew up watching movies — Westerns, war movies, gangster movies, comedies. But are movies the reason people are shooting and killing each other? I don't think so. I would hate to think that's true in any way. We've been making movies since, what —

Guerrasio: Over 100 years.

Fuqua: It seems it's something that's been happening more and more recently, so it's hard to blame something like that on movies. When the president says something like that it's sad because I don't think you should put the blame on one thing. It's all of our problem, not just movies.

Guerrasio: What you see in society, does that affect what stories you want to tell going forward?

Fuqua: It does. That's why I wanted to do “Equalizer.” Because “Equalizer” is about justice. You talk about gun violence, yeah, of course, I'm tired of seeing young black men get shot down in the street like animals. I'm tired of seeing anybody get shot down in the street. Especially innocent people. So you can make a movie with a positive use as well. If you put it in the hands of the right people: Air Force, military, Navy, Navy Seals, Marines, and I'm friends with a lot of these guys and I'm friends with a lot of cops, too. Thank God they are there when you need them, strapped. What I'll say is when you make a movie you have to have a reason you want to make it. I wanted to make “Equalizer” because it's about justice and I think that's the thing we all want. When you see young people die it's heartbreaking, but as a director you can only do a movie to say something. You could get involved with politics if you want to, but I'm not a politician.

Guerrasio: I want your take on the inclusion rider that's been a buzz term since Frances McDormand brought it up at the Oscars. As one of the few African-American directors working regularly in Hollywood currently, do you use that? Do you want to use it more?

Fuqua: I don't know.

Jason Blumenthal: It hasn't been an issue with Antoine, to be honest. We know he wants a very diverse and eclectic group of people around him as a filmmaker. He thrives on that. So we run these colorblind sets. And just so you know, the inclusion rider wasn't even a thing when we shot this movie. Denzel has also been big on that with us, too. He's always wanted us to give people a shot. He's never said, "Give the black guy a shot."

Fuqua: Denzel says, "Give the woman a shot."

Blumenthal: It comes from the top down, so if we weren't running an inclusive set and Antoine and Denzel said we better do that it's going to happen because it needs to happen. But it's been happening with our movies for the last five to six years.

Fuqua: We just do it. There's not really a conversation. We do what's right and who's the best person for the job. And we help bring people up along the ranks as well.

Guerrasio: So I know you're working on a Muhammad Ali documentary.

Fuqua: Yeah.

Guerrasio: After that, are you taking on the “Scarface” reboot?

Fuqua: I don't know. We are still finishing up “Equalizer 2.” Editing a little bit, shaping here and there. Not a lot. The music and all the final stuff we have to do. We did a test last week and it scored through the roof. Scored a little higher than the first one. So “Scarface, “I don't know, man. When I get the script.

Guerrasio: That's such a classic film that if it's going to be attempted I assume, if you were to take it on, you would do it completely different than Brian De Palma's.

Fuqua: Very different.

Guerrasio: Like how De Palma's is completely different from the 1932 original movie.

Fuqua: Exactly. You have to. And you have to find the reason to make it, any movie. I have to find my reason to make the movie. So “Scarface” is one of those movies that I've been talking to the writer and different people about it and I know a lot about that world, it's just making sure when I get the script it's the right reason to make “Scarface.” In today's society everyone feels injustice like Tony Montana. Everyone feels like they are the small guy.

Guerrasio: And hustling to make a better life.

Fuqua: The hustle. So the feeling of that is in the air and coming back to “Equalizer” that's what's important about doing that. It's about justice. When I did “Training Day” it was about street justice. So it always comes back to justice, so I have to figure out what “Scarface” is about for me.

Guerrasio: You're doing “Scarface.”

Fuqua: [Laughs.] 

SEE ALSO: The 32 movies coming out this summer you can't miss

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why the World Cup soccer ball looks so different

What's the most popular air route in the world?

New York to LA? London to Paris? Beijing to Shanghai?

Chances are your first guess wasn't the domestic flight between Seoul and Jeju, the capital of Jejudo island in South Korea. Last year, almost 65,000 flights made the journey between the two cities. The next busiest air route, Tokyo to Sapporo, didn't even come close with just under eight million passengers.

Flights from Seoul to Jeju are so popular that you can board one every 15 minutes. There are around 250 flights that make the journey in either direction every day, according to Google.

Most of the tourism is domestic — Jeju is often touted as the "Hawaii of South Korea"— though it is not just Koreans that are lured by its beauty. In 2014, Jeju was behind the spike in Chinese tourists visiting the Republic of Korea, according to Chinese travel giant Ctrip. The Chinese are largely flocking to the island because of its visa-free entry requirements and abundance of casinos, which are banned in China.

The pictures below show why honeymooners and holidaymakers come in droves to bask in Jeju's natural beauty.

The world's most popular plane journey, from Seoul to Jeju (the capital of Jejudo island in South Korea), takes just under an hour. You can buy tickets for around £50-£120 ($65-$157) each way.

Source: Google Flights.

According to the Republic of Korea's official Flickr page, Jejudo is "a special self-governing province ... the only special autonomous province of Korea, situated on and coterminous with the country's largest island."

Source: Flickr.

This means the island retains a level of autonomy — hence why almost every country in the world is allowed a temporary visit, visa-free.

• Blockbuster's final two locations in Alaska closed for business earlier in July.
• Prior to the closure, tourists flocked to the Blockbuster stores to take nostalgic photos and take a peek at Russell Crowe's jockstrap, which was donated to the store by HBO and John Oliver. 
• Now, people are wondering what will happen to the jockstrap — and Blockbuster's manager tells our new podcast, "Household Name," that he's sick of the question. 
• To subscribe to the podcast, click here. 

The manager at the last remaining Blockbusters in Alaska is tired of talking about Russell Crowe's jockstrap. 

In May, John Oliver and HBO donated a bizarre assortment of Russell Crowe paraphernalia to an Anchorage Blockbuster, one of the two remaining locations of the video-rental chain in the state. Tourists traveled far and wide to see the garb, which included Crowe's jockstrap from the movie "Cinderella Man" — but it ultimately wasn't enough to save the location. 

Earlier in July, Blockbuster Alaska announced that the last two stores in the state are closing up shop. But, manager Kevin Daymude has bigger concerns than the jockstrap. 

"It kills me to hear everybody more concerned about that jockstrap than the customers that have been faithful to us since the 1990s and the employees that are losing their jobs," Daymude told reporter Emily Russell in an upcoming episode of Business Insider's new podcast, "Household Name." "People just want to know about that stupid jockstrap." 

While Daymude said he was "shocked" by the closure, he has been preparing for the death of Blockbuster in Alaska — long a holdout in the chain's extinction — for some time. 

"Let's be real, you have Netflix, you have Redbox," he told Russell prior to the announcement of the stores' closures.

"The economy is tough right now," Daymude said. "So, people are still renting — but they aren't renting as much."

Daymude has worked at Blockbuster since 1991, and he saw the Alaska stores transform from a necessary stop for entertainment through the cold winter into a photo shoot for nostalgic tourists. He even started selling t-shirts and shipping them around the world, as Blockbuster fans far and wide have sought out remnants of the video-rental chain. 

"People were coming out, taking pictures of Blockbuster, getting back on their tour bus and they go on their merry way," Daymude said. 

With the Blockbuster closing, Daymude isn't sure what comes next. He is definitely staying in Alaska, and he might go back to school. And, as for the jockstrap, its future is similarly up in the air, but for now it still remains on display as the Alaska Blockbusters finish selling out their inventory before closing up shop for good. 

To hear from Daymude and learn how Blockbuster managed to survive in Alaska for years after the chain went out of business, subscribe to "Household Name", a new podcast from Business Insider premiering July 25. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or your favorite app. 

SEE ALSO: Blockbuster is closing its final remaining stores in Alaska. Here's what it was like to visit the video rental chain before it went extinct.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How Tabasco sauce is made

• Schott Bros. NYC is an apparel company that is headquartered in Union, New Jersey, and has been around for over 100 years.
• Its flagship product, the leather motorcycle jacket, has been worn by everyone from Marlon Brando to Bruce Springsteen.
• Business Insider got a peek inside the New Jersey factory to see how they've been manufacturing the coolest apparel for decades.

Schott Bros. NYC is more than just a jacket-making company. It's a legacy — one that's been manufacturing jackets worn by some of the coolest people of the last century. The company, which was started in 1913 by Irving Schott on New York City's Lower East Side, invented the motorcycle jacket in 1928, and it's been hand-sewing the jackets in the same way ever since.

Everyone from Marlon Brando and James Dean to the Ramones and Bruce Springsteen have donned Schott's Perfecto jacket, or a slight modification of it. The company also manufactures other apparel, including peacoats, shirts, and shoes for men and women.

Schott gave us a peek into their factory in Union, New Jersey, in 2016 to see how they've been able to do it for more than 100 years.

All photos are by Sarah Jacobs.

SEE ALSO: Nobody wants to buy this outrageous $188 million mansion with a 4-lane bowling alley and an entire collection of cars

In an unsuspecting town, on an unsuspecting street, far away from the glitz and glamour of their Manhattan boutique, hides Schott's corporate office and factory.

Walk past the reception area, down the halls lined with offices and conference rooms, and make a left. You've reached the factory floor, where about 100 union employees work tirelessly to pump out 200 leather jackets and other pieces of apparel each day.

Jason Schott, the great-grandson of Irving Schott — one of the original Schott Bros. — runs the company as COO, along with Roz Schott, his mother, who serves as president, and Steve Colin, his uncle, who serves as CEO.

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, reached a new milestone recently: his net worth reached $150 billion, making him, as Bloomberg put it, the richest person in modern history.

As his Amazon empire continues to expand, Bezos continues to amass his fortune. He first nabbed the title of world's richest person last summer, and is now worth $55 billion more than Microsoft founder Bill Gates, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index.

But Bezos' rise to the top is has taken decades. He got his start in the hedge fund world, then left a cushy job to launch his own startup. 

Here's how Bezos got his start, and built one of the largest tech companies in the world.

SEE ALSO: Everything I loved and hated about the $120 Fire TV Cube, Amazon’s ambitious vision for the future of TV

Jeff Bezos' mom, Jackie, was a teenager when she had him in January 1964. She had recently married Cuban immigrant Mike Bezos, who adopted Jeff. Jeff didn't learn that Mike wasn't his real father until he was 10, but says he was more fazed about learning he needed to get glasses than he was about the news.

Source: Wired

When Bezos was 4, his mother told his biological father, who previously had worked as a circus performer, to stay out of their lives. When Brad Stone interviewed Bezos' father for Stone's book "The Everything Store," Bezos' dad had no idea who his son had become.

Source: The Everything Store

Bezos showed signs of brilliance from an early age. When he was a toddler, he took apart his crib with a screwdriver because he wanted to sleep in a real bed.

Source: The Everything Store

We're at the point where you can buy a premium smartphone for as low as $530 and still get a similar high-end experience as you would on a $1,000 smartphone, and the option to go the less expensive route is more alluring than ever.

One of the biggest deciding factors between cheaper and more expensive smartphones — and even between phones that cost about $700 — is camera performance. The smartphone-camera debate rages on, and it's likely to keep going until smartphone makers can't possibly improve smartphone cameras any further.

This time, I looked at how a $1,000 phone, the iPhone X, compared with one of my favorite Android phones, the $530 OnePlus 6.

With such a massive difference in price tags, you'd image the iPhone X has the better camera. And you'd be right — at least in certain situations. But there were certainly some instances where the OnePlus 6 actually did better than the iPhone X.

Check out how the $530 OnePlus 6 does against a smartphone that's almost twice its price:

SEE ALSO: I was blown away by how well this $530 phone's camera compared to Google's $650 Pixel 2, the best smartphone camera in the world

Starting off with this view right outside Business Insider's New York offices. The iPhone X's photo is vastly superior. The OnePlus 6 shot captures some glare and looks far too hazy for my taste compared with the iPhone X's.

Without glare, the OnePlus isn't as bad. But the iPhone still takes a better shot with richer colors and contrast.

As for bright colors in bright situations, the OnePlus 6 seems to add too much color saturation and voids some details as a result. The iPhone X takes a great shot here.

• Since February, Uber users have been able to book an electric bike through the app. Now the bikes are taking a big chunk out of Uber's core car-ride business.
• An Uber employee published early results of an analysis showing that it booked 10% fewer rides in cars and SUVs in San Francisco after the company got into bike-sharing.
• The data suggests that Uber could be in serious trouble if the emerging scooter-sharing market also cuts into its car-hailing business.

Electric-scooter sharing startups are racing to become as dominant as Uber or Lyft in this wacky and well-funded transportation business that's revolutionizing transit in America.

At the same time, Uber is learning that it may need to end up dominating scooter-sharing, before companies like Bird, Lyft, and Ofo cannibalize its core car-hailing business.

On Thursday, Santosh Rao, a policy researcher at Uber, published a Medium post showing that Uber trips in San Francisco fell 10% overall after the company got into the bike-sharing business in February. During peak traffic hours, Uber trips in cars and SUVs declined as much as 15%.

Mike Dudas, an entrepreneur who previously led mobile business development at Venmo, PayPal, and Google, shared the Medium post in a tweet that's going viral.

According to Dudas, the analysis shows Uber's "core car business would be REKT in dense urban areas by scooters if they didn't own them," in his own words. 

Bird and Lime— two scooter-sharing companies that investors say are destined to become the Uber and Lyft of scooter-sharing based on their explosive user growth — are "looking like increasingly brilliant investments and businesses," Dudas said.

Jump, a startup that makes the fire-engine red electric bikes that cover the streets of San Francisco, Chicago, Austin, and Washington, DC, teamed up with Uber in February to let users book rides on its app. Uber later acquired Jump for close to $200 million, giving it skin in the game as consumers tried new modes of transportation.

According to the Uber researcher, the overall number of trips booked on Uber's app increased 15% among "early Jump adopters" — people who averaged at least one trip a week (in an Uber car or on a Jump bike) after their first Jump ride — between February and July in San Francisco.

"The entire increase can be attributed to the use of eBikes," Rao wrote.

He added, "To sum up, eBikes were popular with these early adopters and some Uber trips, especially during congested periods, were replaced by Jump trips. This is a promising early sign of the ability of eBikes to alleviate congestion and reduce car trips. The fact that demand for eBikes is currently constrained by limited supply (there are only 250 Jump bikes in San Francisco) makes this all the more promising."

The post neglected to mention the meteoric rise of scooter-sharing, which could someday cut into Uber's car-hailing business in the same way Jump bikes have. Scooters are good for even shorter trips than the electric bikes, and are one fewer reason to book a car.

Shortly after Jump bikes cropped up on the streets and sidewalks of San Francisco, electric scooters invaded. Hundreds of vehicles covered the city before local officials issued cease-and-desist letters to their operators, forcing a temporary ban.

Twelve companies, including Bird, Lime, Uber (via Jump), and Lyft applied for permits to operate scooters in San Francisco. The city is expected to issue a maximum of five permits, sometime in August, TechCrunch reported on Thursday.

With Uber joining the fray, the company shows it refuses to be left in the dust.

SEE ALSO: Uber, Alphabet, and top VCs just poured $335 million into scooter startup Lime — here's why one investor thinks it's the future of commuting

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: An early investor in Uber, Airbnb, and bitcoin explains why it's actually a good sign that no one is spending their crypto

It's time to admit the truth: I'm in love with Google's Pixel 2 smartphone camera.

Admittedly, it's easy to fall in love with. The Pixel 2 camera produces stunning, vibrant, better-than-real-life photos regularly.

The building here, for instance:

In reality, the building was actually darker than in this photo — the Pixel 2's high-dynamic range (HDR) function pulled a wider range of lighting than my own eye was capable of seeing. It also managed to dim the incredibly bright street light and capture the movement of a car speeding past. 

And this was all during sunset, when natural lighting conditions are at their worst. 

I've been using the Pixel 2 for months now, but spending the last two weeks traveling throughout Israel with Google's flagship phone highlighted to me just how incredibly impressive the Pixel 2's camera is. Let's get into it.

SEE ALSO: 6 months later, Google's Pixel 2 is still one of the best phones in the world

The Pixel 2 camera captures an incredible level of detail.

Looking to see individual strands of ground chickpea in your falafel photos? Look no further than the Pixel 2. 

I take a lot of food photos. I have an Instagram account dedicated primarily to food and travel photos.

I cook a lot. I eat a lot. I care deeply about taking pretty photos of food — probably more than I should. And the Pixel 2 makes it incredibly easy to take gorgeous photos of food. 

Just look at the shots of falafel from famed Tel Aviv spot Hakosem. I was already freaking out because I was handed free, fresh falafel to eat while standing in line to order — and seeing that my phone camera was able to capture the crispy, dark exterior and the creamy, spice-flecked, bright green interior of said falafel was a tremendous bonus. 

That stunning level of detail applies to most lighting conditions.

I shot this photo from within a dark, unlit ruin — Masada, the over 2,000 year old fortress left by King Herod the Great. Outside of the ruin, around 7 in the morning, the desert sun had just begun filling the valley. 

Yet, remarkably, this photo captures the stunning detail of the rocks inside as well as the mountains (and Dead Sea) in the distance. I didn't doctor the brightness settings; this is a completely untouched photo. 

If anything, the quality is slightly lower than the original photo — I'm slightly dropping the quality from the originals here to make the files smaller (so this article doesn't take forever to load). And the photos still look this good!

The range of colors, while still retaining remarkable levels of detail, is incredibly impressive.

I came away from photos like this marveling at the Pixel 2's ability.

Smartphone cameras aren't ususally able to capture remarkable views like the one above. What often happens is you see an incredible view, attempt to capture it in a photo, and fail miserably. It crops a section, or the lighting is all wrong, or whatever else — the essence of the gorgeous view is lost in translation from reality to digital. 

In the case of the Pixel 2 camera, even without taking a panorama shot (which you can do!), photographs of landscapes like the one above are remarkable. The subtle bokeh effect in the foreground, the depth of lighting in the rocks on the left side, and the hazy beauty of the background — to say nothing of the fuzzy, luminous sun and its reflection on the Dead Sea — was all done automatically.

I pointed, framed the shot, and clicked. The Pixel 2 did the rest.