A general view shows land recently burned and newly-planted with palm trees and now under police investigation west of Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia October 30, 2015. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside

New Tool to Predict Fire Risks Unveiled as Indonesia's Dry Season Takes Hold
Slash-and-burn agriculture, much of it clearing land for palm oil crops, blanketed Singapore, Malaysia, and northern Indonesia in a choking "haze" for months last year. But a map using satellite technology to warn of fire risks aims to help Southeast Asian governments better deploy their resources to combat raging blazes that lead to haze every year. 

Harnessing the Power of Poo: Pig Waste Becomes Electricity
In North Carolina, the pork industry has now partnered with Duke Energy to use pigs to produce power for the people—enough to electrify more than 800 homes a year. The target of the effort is a cluster of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, large, confined—and controversial—hog houses. More than 2,100 of these factory farms now dot the state, along with their putrid open-waste lagoons. 

With the Latest Tech, UN Seeks to End Hunger Silicon Valley-Style
WFP’s new innovation hub, launched in Munich with the support of the German Government, will seek out new technologies to help reach the goal of zero hunger faster. Among the ideas already being developed are AgriUp, a low bandwidth application for smallholder farmers in Guatemala, and NutriFami, an interactive online platform designed to boost nutrition knowledge in rural Colombia. 

I've Been to the Future. It Tastes Like Crickets
The cricket protein industry is taking off. What venture capitalists and humanitarian organizations are realizing is that our species won’t be able to feed itself if population growth keeps up like this, so humans need a better way to produce protein using fewer resources, and insects seem to be the answer. Crickets are 10 times more efficient than cattle when it comes to feeding them and use water 100 times more efficiently.

Turning Olympic Food Waste into Nutritious Meals for the Needy
Thanks to the "Reffetto-Rio" project, surplus food from the Olympic Village during the Olympic Games about to commence in Rio de Janeiro will be recovered and turned into nutritious meals for distribution to the neediest. At the same time, cooking and nutrition classes will be given for the benefit of youth and those in difficulty. Volunteers have been invited to participate alongside 45 chefs from around the world in this project.