
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 […]

Passed is the time when the economists and politicians told us renewable energy was too expensive to pursue. Renewables, such as wind, solar and hydroelectric systems that generate electricity with no associated air pollution emissions, now appear as a cheap, and clean, alternative to traditional fossil fuels. Even Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, is […]
“A leader is a dealer in hope.”
Napoleon Bonaparte

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 […]