Solutions to Our Problems: Teleports, Telesurgery, and the Food Pillthe FUTURIST magazine has featured recently potential oefixes
and uncommon solutions to various big problems facing the world. Patrick Tucker of THE FUTURIST highlights several of them below.
The Issue: Transportation The industrial world addiction to cars is costly and will become more so.
Unlike corn or even sugar ethanol, halophyte algae (algae that grow in saltwater) do not compete with food stocks for freshwater. oewhen the cost of pumping ocean water into so-called wasteland regions such as the Sahara
Some 68%of the freshwater that is now tied up in conventional agriculture could instead go to thirsty populations rather than irrigating freshwater dependent crops.
Even better algae require only a fraction of the land area of many other crops. Read Bushnell op-ed for THE FUTURIST. 3. Ocean-current power.
Tidal-current turbines and tidal-stream turbines tapping the power of sea systems like the Gulf stream could provide energy for power-hungry states such as Florida.
and simple pumps for irrigating crops during the dry season these are just a few simple technologies that deal with the everyday problems of the 90%of humanity usually neglected by the world top designers and the subject of a recent exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution
Researchers say new agriculture methods and crops could halve food price inflationresource conservation technologies in agriculture could potentially halve the staggering increases in food prices in the face of climate change,
the International Food Policy Research Institute has found. IFPRI will release key findings on agriculture and soil degradation at this month's Rio+20 conference on sustainable development in Rio de janeiro.
The institute, one of the many centers affiliated with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research,
"Looking at wheat, rice and maize yields around the world, IFPRI researchers have found that drought tolerance technologies for rain-fed agriculture would increase maize output by 27 percent,
wheat output by 30 percent and rice output by 10 percent by 2050, assuming farmers fully adopt the technology over a 30-year period.
Integrated soil fertility management--a term for a variety of nonchemical practices that raise the nutrient levels of soils--could raise maize output by up to 50 percent,
rice output by 30 percent and wheat output by 20 percent. Nitrogen-use efficiency introduced through breeding
or high technology could improve maize yields by 22 percent, rice yields by 12 percent and wheat yields by 19 percent.
Climate change could send prices soaring Under climate change scenarios up to 2050, maize prices could shoot up 90 percent, rice by 65 percent and wheat by 70 percent,
Rosegrant said. But full adoption of these improvements could cut food price inflation almost in half,
he said. The program will continue to evaluate yield changes, focusing on combined scenarios. IFPRI researchers will also discuss finds on the economic impacts of land degradation.
Degradation rates are higher in rural areas than in more densely populated areas said Ephraim Nkonya, a senior research fellow in the environment and production technology division of IFPRI.
"The institutions that are regulating the forests and natural resources were very strong, and in such areas, the roads were not affecting deforestation as we would expect."
and land contributes to about one-fifth of global annual greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
by Tony Fadell, a former Apple executive, which has hired more than 100 engineers from Apple, Google, Microsoft and other high-tech companies.
Its product, introduced in late October, is a digital thermostat, combining sensors, machine learning and Web technology.
Matt Rogers, 28, a Nest cofounder, led a team of engineers at Apple that wrote software for ipods.
He loved his job and working for Apple he said. But he added: oein essence, we were building toys.
SENSORS on fruit and vegetable cartons can track location and sniff the produce warning in advance of spoilage,
agreed. oemeeting those needs with the same land area would require global crop yields to increase nearly 25%faster than historically.
Timothy Wise recently cited biofuel production as a oedemand shock that consumes crop production and yields price increases.
what the potential consequences of genetically modified organisms (GMOS) are, and what the global public role is in their use or disuse.
and by 1, 000 BC, many of the practices that define agriculture today, such as using manure for fertilizer,
and pesticide use in the 1940s. The world population reached one billion in 1825, and the population of industrialized nations grew from 500 to 800 million between 1850 and 1900.
cereal and calories per capita also skyrocketed. The world population of three billion that had arrived by 1960 gave way to the industrialized agriculture that defines food production today.
Chemical inputs mechanized farming methods, and the start of the animal agriculture business all saw dramatic increase in yields,
and the use of technology to produce GMOS was born. GMOS: What they are and why they re used According to THE WHO,
GMOS oecan be defined as organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally it allows selected individual genes to be transferred from one organism into another, also between non-related species. Simply put,
genetic modification involves manipulating the genetic makeup of food to create or enhance characteristics that are desired by humans.
As scientific advancements throughout the 1980s discovered that DNA could be transferred in pieces from one organism to another,
and tobacco plants were produced. The success of the first tested genetically engineered cotton in 1990 led biotech company Monsanto to introduce herbicide-immune soybeans aka, oeround-Up Ready in 1995,
and the 2000 discovery that modification can enrich foods using nutrients and vitamins has made biotechnology a global giant in the world of food production
Hickok Cole Architects; Gensler; The Miller Hull Partnership; and Pickard Chilton. Share this story with your followers The winning designers identified several common themes that could drive changes in how we oeoffice in 2020.
Hickok Cole Architects oeform follows performance, not just function, in Hickok Cole office building of the future.
According to Hickok Cole submission, oeworker productivity increases due to a focus on the health and well-being of employees.
and¢Shared office amenities, like coffee cafes. Also, the office building of the future must accommodate employers seeking multiple, smaller office locations,
At the heart of Hickok Cole design are advanced mechanical and electrical systems, plus new construction materials and fabrication techniques.
What woes it mean for agriculture? Today post was prompted by an invitation from Andrew Revkin to join in on a discussion spawned by his recent post at NYTS oedot Earth titled,
synthetic fuels, biofuels, electricity, hydrogen, etc. â agriculture and food production: engineered crops, pest control, fertilizers, etc. â environmental protection and remediation:
restoration, monitoring, detection, etc. â consumer products: computers, sporting goods, cosmetics, etc. â chemical production:
genetically modified seeds and crops at $110 billion; and industrial biotechnology (e g.,, fuels, materials, and enzymes) at $115 billion.
rather than the monoculture crops that the big corporations prefer. Designing genomes will be a personal thing a new art form,
So much of this discussion potentially relates to agriculture. The authors of the paper, Kent H. Redford, William Adams, Georgina Mace, Rob Carlson, Steve Sanderson,
A few things that synthetic biology might bring to us in agriculture are: the ability to raise crops using fewer pesticides;
an offer of greater food security; improved nutrition; livestock which produce medications or biological substances such as spider-silk;
and an optimal source of biofuel. For our health, we may see new ways to target infectious diseases
This may well favor applications in existing industrial processes and commodity chains (energy, agriculture, aquaculture) and the operations of large business corporations.
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