(Indian milkmen sit on top of a truck with milk containers in New Delhi. REUTERS/Kamal Kishore)

Saving Milk from Spoilage in Rural India
India is the world’s largest milk producer and consumer, yet a significant proportion of dairy goes to waste because of poor refrigeration and electricity. But a new thermal battery has helped create a Rapid Milk Chiller, which combines software and reconfigurable hardware to eliminate waste, drive up nutritional standards, and improve the livelihoods of dairy farmers.

Smart Sensors in Rwanda Warn Engineers in Oregon When Water Pumps Fail
Tens of thousands of water pumps are installed every year in Africa and other places, but 30% to 80% fail in their first couple years and often never get repaired. New sensor technology could improve pumps by using cell phone signals to transmit pump performance data to an online dashboard and sending text messages and emails to alert maintenance teams to problems.

How We Can Tame Overlooked Wild Plants to Feed the World
We need new crops. Breeding and genetic modification have made the crops we sow predictable, but they are also vulnerable. Humans rely on fewer than 150 plants for nourishment, and just three crops make up more than two-thirds of the world's calories. Those crops aren't suited to a changing world. That's the appeal of domesticating a new set of plants.

Drones at Work: Farmers Take Flight Into the Future
Big tech companies such as Amazon, Facebook, and Google may have made headlines for their recent forays into drones—but drones are already being used in agriculture. Drone features include GPS controls, stabilizers so the drone can fly in high winds, and a live camera feed so the farmer on the ground can inspect his fields in real time.