4 Startups Revolutionizing How Food Is Produced in the U.S.

http://nationswell.com/4-startups-changing-farmers-work

Chris Peak

NationSwell

24 September 2015

Text / 800-1500 Words

University research in Kansas and California is providing technical solutions for small farmers to help them compete against large scale farms.

Can biomimicry tackle our toughest water problems?

https://www.hcn.org/issues/46.20/can-biomimicry-tackle-our-toughest-water-problems

Benjamin Goldfarb

High Country News

24 November 2014

Text / 1500-3000 Words

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.

From Eastern NC to Tokyo: A new breed of ‘silky' pork

http://highonthehog.nandointeractive.com

J. Andrew Curliss

The News & Observer

10 December 2014

Text / Over 3000 Words

A farm in North Carolina discovered a new market and revived their business. By focusing on the genetics of their hogs and altering the hogs' diet the farm was able to enter the competitive but lucrative Japanese pork market.

Helping the Lame Walk, Without a Miracle

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/helping-the-lame-walk-without-a-miracle

Tina Rosenberg

The New York Times

23 June 2011

Text / 1500-3000 Words

The Jaipur Limb organization based in India has developed prostheses at low cost, and services are free for the poor. The organization’s efforts have recently spread to other countries with impoverished people. Jaipur Limb reaches patients through branch clinics, traveling workshops, and limb camps in cities around the world.

Keeping Artificial Limbs Low-Cost, and High-Quality

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/keeping-artificial-limbs-low-cost-and-high-quality

Tina Rosenberg

The New York Times

28 June 2011

Text / 800-1500 Words

A prosthetist from Texas visiting Jaipur Limb workshops in Honduras saw problems with their low-cost prosthetics - the issue wasn't the design of the leg, but the technicians at the Honduras workshops were people completely new to prosthetics who were given just eight weeks of training. Thanks to his research, Jaipur established a research and development unit to improve the limb.

Cities in motion: how slime mould can redraw our rail and road maps

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/feb/18/slime-mould-rail-road-transport-routes

David Parr

The Guardian

18 February 2014

Text / 800-1500 Words

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.

Bionic arm: A pioneering union between man and machine

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/thecure/2016/06/bionic-arm-pioneering-union-man-machine-160606140906330.html

Joff Lacey

Al Jazeera

18 June 2016

Broadcast TV News / 5-15 Minutes

Prosthetics for most are frequently challenging, both in terms of mobility and associated pain. This video highlights a doctor in Sweden innovating new, more reactive prosthetics, aimed at addressing these challenges.

The Machine and the Mosquito – How We Get To Next

https://howwegettonext.com/the-machine-and-the-mosquito-29205f61e811?gi=d83a30c8c05f

Greg Noone

How We Get to Next

15 September 2017

Text / 1500-3000 Words

Mosquito transmitted diseases are only becoming more prevalent due to climate change, posing a global health risk. Various methods are being tested such as genetic modification and gene drives, Project DiSARM-uses technology to map where to spray insecticide, and introduction of Wolbachia-a bacterial disease that decreases mosquitos' ability to reproduce-into the environment.

Engineering solutions for the future of modern medicine

https://www.theguardian.com/careers/2017/nov/28/engineering-solutions-for-the-future-of-modern-medicine

Lucy Jolin

The Guardian

28 November 2017

Text / Under 800 Words

The healthcare world is highly innovative right now as it tries to make medicine more personalized and harnesses engineering. Hitachi is trying to aggregate data in order to prevent disease and help the healthcare system function better.

How Vermont changed the national GMO-labeling debate

https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2016/0708/How-Vermont-changed-the-national-GMO-labeling-debate

Lonnie Shekhtman

Christian Science Monitor

8 July 2016

Text / Under 800 Words

Vermont's passage of a law requiring food that is genetically modified to be labeled spurred action at the national level to create one standard, rather than a patchwork of state laws, that offers food companies several ways to label foods with GMOs. The national bill did eventually pass, but as this piece illustrates, no one seems very happy about it. Environmentalists feel it leaves large loopholes and while the food industry likes one standard, it does not like the stigma the GMO label confers.