The Download: Introducing the Food issue

What are we going to eat? It’s the everlasting query. We people have been asking ourselves this for so long as we’ve got been human. The query itself might be tedious, thrilling, pressing, or determined, relying on who’s asking and the place. There are a lot of elements of the world the place there is no such thing as a reply. 

Even when starvation isn’t an acute situation, it could possibly stay a persistently continual one. Some 2.3 billion individuals world wide endure from meals insecurity, in line with the World Well being Group. In the US alone, the USDA has discovered that greater than 47 million individuals reside in food-insecure households. 

This situation is all about meals and the way we are able to use know-how—excessive and low tech—to feed extra individuals. Right here’s a sneak peek at simply a few of what you may count on:

+ This situation’s cowl function explores the thorny situation of herbicide-resistant weeds: an issue which is simply, effectively, rising.

+ Researchers, farmers, and international agricultural establishments in Africa are tackling starvation by reviving almost forgotten indigenous crops. But as is the case with many such initiatives, a lot hinges on sufficient investment and attention.

+ If we’re ever to spend any time on Mars, we’re going to wish to develop our personal meals there. However whereas the soil is toxic, efforts to make it arable couldn’t solely assist us convey life to Mars—it could also help support life here on Earth.

+ Would you eat meals that originates from carbon-hungry micro organism munching on greenhouse gases? These startups are betting that you will.

The must-reads