Lifeboat Foundation

The world’s food supply must double by the year 2050 to meet the demands of a growing population, according to a report from the United Nations. And as pressure mounts to find new crop land to support the growth, the world’s eyes are increasingly turning to the African continent as the next potential global bread basket.

While Africa has 65% of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land, according to the African Development Bank, the countries on the continent face significant obstacles as they look to boost the productivity of their agricultural industries.

On the continent, 80% of families depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, but only 4% use irrigation. Many families also lack access to reliable and affordable electricity. It’s these twin problems that Samir Ibrahim and his co-founder at SunCulture, Charlie Nichols, have spent the last eight years trying to solve.

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A pyramid-styled housing complex was built in China’s eastern Jiangsu province. With a spacious balcony on each apartment, residents have found it difficult to cook inside the kitchen, because vent hoods cannot be installed in the flat.

Continue reading “Houses built like pyramids go viral in China” »

In a world’s first, US-based company Eat Just’s lab-grown meat just went on sale in Singapore following regulatory approval.

US-based company Eat Just’s lab-grown meat is going for sale in Singapore following regulatory approval, The Guardian reports, marking the first time such a product has been authorized for sale in a yet-unidentified restaurant.

The company is also going through regulatory processes to eventually get their product approved in the United States.

Continue reading “Lab-Grown Meat Is Officially Going on Sale, for the First Time Ever” »

“The newest term — Universal Basic Means of Production — helps someone unfamiliar with the concepts to better imagine that world without clouding the idea with negative connotations from the past. So, what if instead of focusing so heavily on the idea of passing out money to individuals, we shift our focus to subsidizing 3D printers, local recycling centers for collecting plastic to make 3D printing filament when possible, and vertical gardens in homes and communities.”

Imagine a carbon nanotube replicator and garden in every home. It’s not sci-fi and will soon be possible. How fast we make the transition is entirely up to us.

This term refers to the idea of providing every household with technology that allows people to produce things they need at home. This includes consumer goods such as clothes, food, building materials, etc. and refers to the idea of getting everyone producing as many of their consumable materials as possible.

Continue reading “Universal Basic Means of Production: Can It Make UBI Obsolete?” »

Yummy?

Eat Just Inc., a maker of meat and egg substitutes, has been approved to sell its laboratory-created chicken in Singapore, which becomes the first government to allow the sale of cultured meat.

Welcome back to our series on Martian colonization! In Part I, we looked at the challenges and benefits of colonization. In Part II, we looked at what it would take to transport people to and from Mars. In Part III, we looked at how people could live there. Today, we will address the question of how people could establish an industrial base there.

If we intend to “go interplanetary” and establish a colony on Mars, we need to know how to address the long-term needs of the colonists. In addition to shelter, air, water, food security, and radiation shielding, the people will need to create an economy of sorts. The question is, what kind of industry would Mars support?

Continue reading “Making the First Martians: Building an Economy on Mars” »

From a pile of seaweed to a packet of soy sauce.

The London startup Notpla has created a plastic alternative from seaweed that’s biodegradable — and even edible. And it’s hoping it could put a dent in the 300 million tons of plastic waste humans generate each year.

Notpla’s natural plastic-like casing is biodegradable within four to six weeks, the company says, compared to the several hundred years it takes synthetic plastics to biodegrade.

The technology doesn’t seem to be here yet; obviously, the ice on Mars will be harvested to provide drinking and irrigation water.

If we ever intend to send crewed missions to deep-space locations, then we need to come up with solutions for keeping the crews supplied. For astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS), who regularly receive resupply missions from Earth, this is not an issue. But for missions traveling to destinations like Mars and beyond, self-sufficiency is the name of the game.

Continue reading “How to make the food and water Mars-bound astronauts will need for their mission” »

Forget Netflix and binge watch these awesome farm-bot videos.