The Futuristic Farms That Will Feed the World | Freethink | Future of Food
Amidst climate change, a growing population, and people consuming more of less sustainable food, how will we feed our future world? The answer may not be increasing resources--land, water, and employees--but rather improving production efficiency to create more sustainable farming of crops. The key question: How do we increase the amount of food we produce while using the same or fewer resources?
The Sustainable Development Roadmap from an Unexpected Superpower:
When it comes to scaling agricultural production sustainably, one small country has a very large impact. Bolstered by a national commitment to produce twice the amount of food with half the resources, the Netherlands has become the world’s #2 produce exporter. The close collaboration between the government, science organizations and the food industry have driven impressive innovation and an efficiency that’s unmatched anywhere else in the world.
On a normal open-field tomato farm, one could expect 4 kilograms of yield per square meter. In a high-tech greenhouse in the Netherlands, that number shoots up to 80 kilograms of yield per square meter, with 4X less water. That’s a 20X improvement on output! And it’s not just tomatoes--the Dutch are #1 in the world on producing chilis, green peppers, and cucumbers (measured by yield per square mile). With conservation and sustainable food as two of the most important global issues, could other countries copy their approach to help save the earth?
Sustainable Farming Practices Driven by AI
What is sustainability driven by? The technology behind these greenhouses allows for an extreme level of control over water, light, temperature, and CO2--all of which are finely tuned and optimized. Constant testing on countless variables is what drives these facilities and could be the future of our planet’s sustainable food systems. Tests can be as simple as comparing different hues of LEDs to increase tolerance against pests, or as advanced as a moth-killing drone.
In addition, eco friendly technology is simply getting better. More and more, efficient farming is becoming automated, using artificial intelligence to find the optimal conditions. By learning the behaviors of plants, climate computers can adjust conditions far better than a human.
Scaling Efficient Farming: It’s All About Knowledge Sharing
The Netherlands is not just thinking about the Netherlands. Besides leveraging technology in efficient ways, these innovators are exploring how to use their findings on a greater scale. For example, their greenhouses emulate climates across the world in order to optimize growth outside of the country. As they learn about what’s optimal in Columbia, for example, they can then transfer that knowledge and help build sustainable food systems across the earth. This level of big picture thinking could be a game-changer as we tackle global warming and climate change - one of society's greatest challenges in the coming years.
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Mastery by Robert Greene (Book Summary)
How did people like Marie Curie and Albert Einstein accomplish their greatest feats? And are we able to emulate them? Robert Greene, best known for The 48 Laws of Power, makes the case in Mastery that there is a clear path that anyone may take to reach mastery, the pinnacle of creative genius. He outlines the three phases of mastery and makes the case that working toward them results in a happy life and a lot of creative force.
This video deconstructs how Greene defines mastery and how to seek it into four sections. You'll learn how to acquire new skills, understand why having social skills is essential for succeeding in your career, and get techniques for producing excellent creative work.
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STS-129 HD Launch
Space shuttle Atlantis and its six-member crew began an 11-day delivery flight to the International Space Station on Monday with a 2:28 p.m. EST launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The shuttle will transport spare hardware to the outpost and return a station crew member who spent more than two months in space.
Atlantis is carrying about 30,000 pounds of replacement parts for systems that provide power to the station, keep it from overheating, and maintain a proper orientation in space. The large equipment can best be transported using the shuttle's unique capabilities.
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Brain Hack- 6 secrets to learning faster, backed by neuroscience - Lila Landowski - TEDxHobart
Sharing the secrets to productive learning, backed by neuroscience. Dr Lila Landowski explains the methods which can be used to allow us to learn faster. Dr Lila Landowski is a multi-award winning neuroscientist and lecturer that expertly arms people with an understanding of how their brain works, to help them make better choices in their lives. She is also a Director of the Australian Society for Medical Research, a Director of Epilepsy Tasmania, as well as a regular guest expert science communicator for the ABC.
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