Apr 7

Protein, Pyramids, and Politics: The Forgotten Stories and Controversial Science Behind Government Dietary Advice

ICYMI, our old friend the food pyramid has been flipped on its head. The Trump administration recently issued new dietary guidelines that it says will "revolutionize our nation's food culture." It's a bold claim—but since when has the government been in the business of telling us ... Show More

55 m

Mar 24

Sushi's Extraordinary Evolution: From Pickle to Primetime

Sushi is everywhere these days—in grocery stores and gas stations, at buffets and birthday parties, in Europe and Latin America and all over the United States. This popularity is especially astonishing when you remember that, just a few decades ago, the idea of eating nuggets of ... Show More

45m 29s

Mar 10

SNAP To It! Why Food Stamps Matter To All of Us—And Why They're Under Threat

SNAP—the federal assistance program better known as food stamps—helps put food on the table of nearly one in eight Americans today. But, as new legislation is phased in over the coming months, more than half of those people are expected to lose some or all of their SNAP benefits. ... Show More

46m 45s

Jun 2021

Presenting: Gastropod

Over the past century, we've transformed the arid lands of the American west into year-round, well-irrigated agricultural powerhouses. Today, fruits, nuts, and nearly all of our leafy greens are grown in the desert, using water diverted, stored, and supplied at taxpayer expense. ... Show More

57m 40s

May 2024

Kenya floods: how can farmers build resilience?

“We should also harvest the water, store it in the soil. Grow our crops and grow our trees. Because the storage in the soil is much, much bigger than any store we can ever put on the surface. God has already given us a huge reservoir where we can put our water.” Kenya has been ra ... Show More

18m 49s

Jan 2023

Where does the sand in a desert come from?

<p>From Lawrence of Arabia to Star Wars via tales of intrepid adventurers traversing lonely sand-swept landscapes, deserts have always had a powerful pull on the popular imagination. But if a desert is full of sand, where did all that sand come from in the first place? That is wh ... Show More

27m 56s

Jun 2021

Turning the desert green

The Sinai desert in Egypt is a dry, barren place where not much grows. But Ties van der Hoeven has come up with a scheme to turn it into a green and fertile land. It’s a plan on a huge scale which involves dredging a lake, restoring ecosystems, and even bringing back rain to the ... Show More

24m 22s

Aug 2022

Deadly drought

East Africa has endured more than two years on continuous drought. The latest predictions suggest the drought is not likely to end any time soon. We look at why climate change and weather patterns in the Pacific and Indian oceans are largely to blame. Andrea Taschetto, chief inve ... Show More

55m 7s

Nov 2023

Groundwater Wars

Kingman, Arizona, a small farming town in the desert, is a cautionary tale in the West’s water crisis. About a decade ago, large corporate farms started moving into the desert of Mohave County, growing thirsty crops like alfalfa and nuts. At the time, there were practically no ru ... Show More

33m 38s

Jun 2024

Iyris makes fresh produce easier to grow in difficult climates, raises $16M

2023 was the hottest year on record, it doesn’t look like we’re cooling down anytime soon. Rising temperatures have made farming increasingly difficult in areas that were once prime agricultural resources where heat and drought have severely impacted crops. Learn more about your ... Show More

7m 55s

Jul 2023

Understanding the Real Fight Over Water in Arizona

Arizona recently announced new constraints on housing development in the areas around Phoenix. At issue is water rights and scarcity, which have been a challenge for the US Southwest for as long as people have been living there. That being said, the region is currently in the mid ... Show More

47m 27s

Feb 2020

Water banking, rain farming and other ways to safeguard against future drought

Water banking involves the deliberate injection of surplus water into known aquifers. The idea is to repurpose the world’s many artesian basins as giant sustainable storage tanks - ones that can readily be drawn upon in times of drought. It’s just one of the ideas we explore in t ... Show More

28m 52s

Aug 2022

OS Conversations: Drought

We're seeing drought all around the world. Without significant rainfall, lakes and rivers have been drying-up, pastures are becoming dusty deserts and crops are failing to grow. As well as the devastating effect on nature, drought has an economic and human cost - particularly in ... Show More

24m 44s

Like Water in the Desert