Story Search Results

Advanced Search

There are so many ways to search the solutions journalism stories in this database. Explore our searchable fields:

Search Results

You searched for: -

There are 183 results for your search. View and Refine Your Search Terms

Can Bats Reduce Nut Farmers' Pesticide Use?

Susan Moran

September 21, 2015 |

Ensia |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Sacramento, California

In California some farms lose up to 10 percent of their crop due to coddling moths. Davis University is measuring the impact bats have on various walnut farms, such as potential savings from reduced insecticide use and crop loss to insects.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Could adorable tiny tech backpacks save the honeybees?

Jessica Mendoza

August 25, 2015 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Australia

Concerned with colony collapse syndrome in honey bees worldwide, scientists, farmers and tech companies teamed up in Australia to create a micro-sensor that collects data on the bee's environment.

Read More
Go to Original Story
As wolves rebound, range riders keep watch over livestock

Sandi Doughton

August 02, 2015 |

The Seattle Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Cle Elum, Washington

Wolves in western America were once hunted to near-extinction but have now been reintroduced into certain territories with notable success. More wolves often means more attacks on ranchers' livestock, however, so cowboys are working to track wolf packs by computer to reduce conflicts.

Read More
Go to Original Story
In Cambodia, Rats Are Being Trained To Sniff Out Land Mines And Save Lives

Michael Sullivan

July 31, 2015 |

NPR |

Radio |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: Cambodia, Krong Siem Reap

In Cambodia, demining rats have been trained to detect TNT in the ground, effectively identifying unexploded materials like landmines, bombs, and grenades. These two-feet-long Gambian pouched rats have an excellent sense of smell and are trained by Apopo – an international nonprofit – using bananas as a reward for finding TNT. While they are highly effective, they are just one way the region, hit hard by conflict, is attempting to demine its land.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Welcome to the world of rhino conservation

Adam Welz

March 18, 2015 |

Ensia |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Kenya, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Laikipia

There are only five northern white rhinos left in existence - all in captivity and unable to breed. Researchers work to identify the most valuable solution to rhino poaching in order to prevent the animal from going extinct.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Can biomimicry tackle our toughest water problems?

Benjamin Goldfarb

November 24, 2014 |

High Country News |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Shepherd, Montana

Clean water and healthy ecosystems are becoming increasingly difficult to come by. With floating islands and other inventions, eco-entrepreneur Bruce Kania thinks that biomimicry - such as reconstructing wetlands and growing biofilms - can tackle the toughest of water problems.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Scientists search Palau's coral reefs for new anti-cancer drugs

Ari Daniel Shapiro

February 24, 2014 |

Public Radio International (PRI) |

Radio |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: Palau

Often it is faster and easier to harvest molecules for medical purposes from nature than to make them in a laboratory. A scientist is looking for cancer-fighting molecules in coral and sponges in the tropical Pacific.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Cities in motion: how slime mould can redraw our rail and road maps

David Parr

February 18, 2014 |

The Guardian |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Japan, Tokyo

The twenty-first century city is a complex organism, and simulating it to anticipate traffic and transportation congestions can be problematic for urban planning. Researchers around the world from Japan to England have used slime models to simulate traffic and transportation patterns, observing realistic growths, congestions, and re-routing opportunities. Biomimicry demonstrates an unconventional but useful process to understand the pulse of the urban environment.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Playing With Toys and Saving Lives

Tina Rosenberg

January 29, 2014 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Nicaragua, Jinotepe, Carazo

Many different people are inventing health devices for resource-poor settings, but some organizations - like M.I.T.’s Little Devices group - are empowering developing communities and increasing access to healthcare by building medical devices that nurses and doctors in very poor settings can adapt themselves — or kits for making their own, often harvesting parts from toys to cleverly rig up medical equipment. It’s part of a major idea shift, one that’s transforming the design of foreign aid.

Read More
Go to Original Story
India Increases Effort to Harness Biomass Energy

Amy Yee

October 08, 2013 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Punjab

With 60 percent of India's population relying on agriculture for living, the country faces a dire challenge of what to do with accumulated agricultural waste. Instead of burning it, as they traditionally would do, they are harnessing biomass energy that directly supplies the country's electrical grid.

Read More
Go to Original Story