Food
After millennia of agricultural expansion, the world has passed “peak agricultural land”
This marks a historic moment in humanity’s relationship to the planet.
This starchy wondercrop could help alleviate food insecurity
Enset, a perennial banana-like fruit cultivated in southwestern Ethiopia, is an underexploited starch crop with significant potential.
Real cheese without the cow
Biotech startup Formo uses genetically modified microorganisms to produce a completely lab-grown milk that can be made into cheese.
What foods will 9.3 billion people be eating in 2050?
Algae, fried insects, and exotic lab-grown meat could all be on the menu.
Scientists grow plants in real lunar soil for the first time
Lunar soil was used to grow plants for the first time, suggesting that we may be able to produce food for astronauts off-world.
‘Mad honey’: The rare hallucinogen from the mountains of Nepal
On the mountainsides of Nepal and Turkey, bees sometimes produce a strange and dangerous concoction: mad honey.
Inspired by kombucha tea, engineers create living materials
A symbiotic culture of specialized yeast and bacteria can generate tough materials able to perform a variety of functions.
Smart sensor tells you exactly when fruit will ripen — or spoil
Inside vast warehouses, millions of fruits sit and slowly ripen. To help packers know when fruit has got to go, a biotech startup is turning to small sensors.
Could you sniff out counterfeit whiskey?
An “electronic nose” that can accurately identify a whiskey’s brand, region, and style could help combat the sale of counterfeit whiskey.
The West Coast wants to tap into the maple sugar market
Over 75% of the world’s maple syrup production is in Quebec. But with climate change threatening their seasons, West Coast producers are looking to tap in.