Katharine Gammon

Inside The Emerging World Of Insect Cuisine

Bugs are coming to your table. You might as well learn how to cook them well. A series of new cookbooks and food projects will tell you how. We spoke to some of the chefs to get some tips: Go for the giant water bug.

Inside The Emerging World Of Insect Cuisine

This Disgusting Mechanical Colon Is Working Overtime To Find Ways To Keep Water Clean

To track how bacteria goes from humans to the water supply and back, scientists had to build this replica of the human gut and the septic system–and feed it three times a day.

This Disgusting Mechanical Colon Is Working Overtime To Find Ways To Keep Water Clean

Your Mother’s Back Will Be Safe With A Concrete That Can Heal Itself

A world where there are no more cracks in the sidewalks: that’s what scientists say they may soon be able to create, using a special coating that can heal itself.

Your Mother’s Back Will Be Safe With A Concrete That Can Heal Itself

Getting A Grip On Cancer Cells With A Microscopic Velcro

What’s the best way to isolate a cancer cell in a person to test it? The new NanoVelcro uses its tiny hooks to pull them directly out of your blood, opening up the possibilities of liquid biopsies.

Getting A Grip On Cancer Cells With A Microscopic Velcro

The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread? Loaves That Don’t Go Moldy

We waste a lot of food, which is bad for the economy and the environment. Now scientists have found a natural, bacteria-fueled way of keeping fungus away from our leftovers.

The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread? Loaves That Don’t Go Moldy

The Fastest Way To Conservation Is Increasing Literacy

Sure, it’s good for animals to have more space and more food, but what’s really important to ensuring the survival of creatures like elephants? Making sure there is economic opportunity for the people who live near them.

The Fastest Way To Conservation Is Increasing Literacy

Organs On A Chip Might Soon Simulate The Entire Human Body

It’s hard to test drugs. Animals aren’t always great analogues for humans, and putting drugs into human bodies can be dangerous. But what if we created an entirely functional version of the body? These chips are making that closer to reality.

Organs On A Chip Might Soon Simulate The Entire Human Body

Hordes Of Microscopic Submarines Could Suck Up Oil After Spills

The cone-shaped vessels, one-tenth the size of a human hair, each collect a droplet of oil. With enough of them, oil spills could be cleaned up fast.

Hordes Of Microscopic Submarines Could Suck Up Oil After Spills

Making Tsunami-Proof Buildings By Growing Them From The Ocean

The Kogami project wants to form artificial coral reefs to slow down deadly waves before they hit shore. And then they want to use that technology to grow cities that are better equipped to handle a disaster.

Making Tsunami-Proof Buildings By Growing Them From The Ocean

Sustainable, Ethical Decisions? There’s An App For That

Oroeco links your personal decisions to larger planetary impact, so you know whether it’s a better idea to, for example, buy organic or stop eating red meat.

Sustainable, Ethical Decisions? There’s An App For That

Linking Conservation And Development To Save Africa’s Largest Lake

As industry and agriculture expand along the shores of Lake Tanganyika, it’s starting to damage the aquatic ecosystem that holds 17% of the world’s water. Is there a way that society can develop without destroying the lake?

Linking Conservation And Development To Save Africa’s Largest Lake

A Brooklyn Clinic For Freelancers Looks To Change The Insurance Industry

The health insurance from the Freelancer’s Union has been a godsend to the city’s workers in the gig economy. Now it’s opened a brick and mortar doctor’s office where freelancers can go to get cutting-edge health care.

A Brooklyn Clinic For Freelancers Looks To Change The Insurance Industry

Melting Down Deadly AK-47s To Make Beautiful Art

Fonderie 47 takes guns off the market in Africa, melts them down, and gives the materials to artists to make jewelry.

Melting Down Deadly AK-47s To Make Beautiful Art

A New Platform For Real Charity Online

It’s not crowdfunding a project. Sometimes people just need help paying for health care or food. HopeMob can connect needy users to people on the Internet who are willing to help them.

A New Platform For Real Charity Online

Using Chocolate To Pull People Out Of Poverty

Africa makes a lot of chocolate, but not a lot of chocolate bars, which are assembled in America. That means the money from selling them stays in America. Brooklyn’s Madecasse is attempting to change that by creating a vibrant chocolate culture in Madagascar.

Using Chocolate To Pull People Out Of Poverty

This Eye Hospital On A Plane Takes Flight To Keep Sight Alive

Blindness is a huge–but usually totally treatable–problem in the developing world, but many local health services don’t have the resources to combat it. The solution? Just fly in a high-tech eye hospital.

This Eye Hospital On A Plane Takes Flight To Keep Sight Alive

A Simple Box That Can Bring The Internet Anywhere

The solar-powered Tethr is designed to help restore communications quickly after a disaster.

A Simple Box That Can Bring The Internet Anywhere

An Exploding Van Leads To A Nutritious Way To Fight Hunger

Good Spread is an organic peanut butter with a one-for-one model that gives food to hungry children around the world. It never would have started without an incendiary Winnebago.

An Exploding Van Leads To A Nutritious Way To Fight Hunger

Changing Sanitation In Rural India, From The Bottom Up

In parts of rural India, people are more likely to have a phone than a toilet. MANTRA is trying to flip that ratio.

Changing Sanitation In Rural India, From The Bottom Up

Buy Jewelry From Around The World, To Support Developing Economies

Maiden Nation is sourcing bracelets made by artisans in countries around the world to create a new marketplace for ethical fashion.

Buy Jewelry From Around The World, To Support Developing Economies

Impact

What happens if you skip your flu vaccine? This VR game shows you the deadly consequences

This app rewards commuters for choosing public transit, biking, car sharing, or walking over driving

The conscious consumerism movement is stalling—and I know why

Creativity

Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia invest in Salt & Straw ice cream to make cheat meals more awesome

Netflix dominates Golden Globes with 34 nominations, while women directors are shut out—again

This podcaster wants to catch you up on the news on your ride home, no matter what you’re into

Co.Design

This is the world’s most beautiful outhouse

Is it possible to draw the internet? This 22-year-old illustrator gets close

The first algae-based ink is derived from spirulina instead of petrochemicals

Work Life

How to find an emotionally intelligent mentor

Why it matters that female M.D.’s aren’t called “doctor” as often

We asked a sleep expert to analyze the presidential candidates’ sleep habits