The Download: Introducing the Food issue

What are we going to eat? It is the eternal question. We humans have been asking ourselves this for as long as we have been human. The question itself can be tedious, exciting, urgent, or desperate, depending on who is asking and where. There are many parts of the world where there is no answer. 

Even when hunger isn’t an acute issue, it can remain a persistently chronic one. Some 2.3 billion people around the world suffer from food insecurity, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States alone, the USDA has found that more than 47 million people live in food-insecure households. 

This issue is all about food and how we can use technology—high and low tech—to feed more people. Here’s a sneak peek at just some of what you can expect:

+ This issue’s cover feature explores the thorny issue of herbicide-resistant weeds: a problem which is just, well, growing.

+ Researchers, farmers, and global agricultural institutions in Africa are tackling hunger by reviving nearly forgotten indigenous crops. But as is the case with many such initiatives, a lot hinges on sufficient investment and attention.

+ If we are ever to spend any time on Mars, we’re going to need to grow our own food there. But while the soil is poisonous, efforts to make it arable could not only help us bring life to Mars—it could also help support life here on Earth.

+ Would you eat food that originates from carbon-hungry bacteria munching on greenhouse gases? These startups are betting that you will.

The must-reads