By Danielle Carpenter – According to UNICEF, “Nearly half of all deaths in children under 5 are attributable to undernutrition, translating into the loss of about 3 million young lives a year. Undernutrition puts children at greater risk of dying from common infections, increases the frequency and severity of such infections, and delays recovery.” Malnutrition can be […]
By Danielle Carpenter – Ambling through the Piccadilly district in London, pedestrians often want to rest their tired feet. What better place to do this than on a bench that pulls pollution from the air, is self-sufficient and plant-based, cools the surrounding air through water evaporation, and reduces noise pollution? The CityTree, by Germany-based tech […]
There’s been a flurry of talk lately about the amount of pollution, plastic waste in particular, covering our planet. A new weapon may help rescue us from the mess. A recent discovery could radically change how plastic pollution is dealt with. It involves fungi. A fungus is a living organism separate from animals and plants. It includes […]
The logistics company, Zipline, designs, manufactures and operates drones that deliver urgent medical supplies and other goods, such as vaccines or blood for transfusions. Health professionals in remote hospitals or health centers in Rwanda, where the company first tested its concept, order the medical products they need by SMS. The products, stored at Zipline’s distribution center, […]
What has changed the lives of a whole bunch of people? A wild shrub with yellow flowers that grows like a weed in humid tropical areas. The plant, called Tithonia diversifolia, can be used as a fertilizer to increase cereal or vegetable yields. Made into “green manure”, its effects are equivalent to those produced by […]
Portugal is using goats to keep wildfires at bay. Goats grazing on arid land eat the dry brush that helps fires spread easily. They also trample the grass, which makes it less likely to burn. The goats are being used to feed on the vegetation in areas that are highly susceptible to catching on fire, […]
One way to eliminate artificial fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides is to let ducks paddle in rice fields and waddle in vineyards. In what is now called integrated duck farming, specially raised ducks are put into rice paddies and fields to weed the areas and eat insects. At the same time, their manure becomes organic plant food. Farming […]
Bacteria can fight such medical conditions as cancer, obesity and diabetes, acne, and malaria. Each person’s skin and large intestine harbor a complex array of microorganisms, called microbiota, that affect many aspects of their health and physiology, the way in which a living organism or bodily part functions. Recent studies show that some of these bacteria […]
One of the most devastating diseases known to man is smallpox. More people died from this contagious and sometimes fatal infectious disease than from any other disease in history. But in 1796, Edward Jenner, a country doctor in rural England, developed the smallpox vaccine. Jenner’s vaccine not only makes him the first person to successfully develop […]
Most people have heard of Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg and their solar-powered airplane, Solar Impulse 2. They flew 40,000 km (around 24,850 miles) around the world to promote clean technologies. But another explorer is on a mission to sail from the Pacific to the Atlantic in a solar-powered electric boat. Her name is Anne […]
