REUTERS/Rogan Ward

There’s a Place in the World that is Fighting Poverty with Solar Power
19 percent of the global population lives without access to electricity. In Africa, that number is 58 percent. But solar power is now leapfrogging the electric grid. Thousands of rural Africans are turning to solar as the solution, in a clean-energy boom that development experts say could become a catalyst for widespread economic empowerment.

Forget GMOs. The Future of Food is Data—Mountains of It
Hampton Creek is redesigning the food you eat; this ambitious project aims to provide a computer-generated shortcut to the future of food. The project is the first major effort to apply “big data” to the development of food, and though it’s only just getting started—with some experts questioning how effective it will be—it could spur additional research in the field.

Edible Packaging? Retailers Not Quite Ready to Ditch the Wrapper
A handful of companies are trying to take an idea straight out of Willy Wonka and turn it into reality: edible packaging. Why dump tons of waste into landfills when the container your food comes in could be a part of the snack? Even though so far retailers have insisted on packaging, Eric Freedman of WikiFoods says he thinks consumers are ready to ditch the plastic.

Drones May Provide Big Lift to Agriculture When FAA Allows their Use
FAA rules have mostly restricted civilian use of consumer-quality drones to recreation and research, leading developers to market their agricultural drones overseas, where regulations are not as strict. However, many experts believe that drones could revolutionize the agriculture industry.