From Bake Off’s beautiful buns to Instagram foodies posting pictures of their plates – digitally enhanced images of divine-looking dishes are everywhere. Professor Charles Spence, who studies visual hunger, explains to Canvas8 how these images affect our appetites.

Studies show that our ability to empathise has greatly diminished over the last 30 years. It’s due in part to the uptake of smartphones and social media – we’re all too busy thinking about ourselves. But while it might be part of the problem, could technology also be used to make us more empathetic?

Tech has transformed how we study, socialise and partake in sport – and it’s also having a huge impact on storytelling. Yet predictions that e-readers and video would supersede the written word have proven simplistic. So how exactly are the ways we write, publish and read stories changing?

BuzzFeed’s cooking channel Tasty is feeding the internet's appetite for comfort food with its immensely popular recipe videos. It’s attracted nearly 62 million likes on Facebook and gained 14 billion video views in just under a year, but what’s the secret to its success?