13 Technological Fix 2013-2014

In a village in India's poorest state, Bihar, farmers are growing world record amounts of rice - with no GM, and no herbicide. Is this one solution to world food shortages? * India's rice revolution - audio slideshow

"Golden rice, a new strain that boosts vitamin A levels and reduces blindness in developing countries, is about to be sown in the Philippines - and is the new battleground crop"

Paraguay is the greenest place on earth to make and drive an electric car, according to analysis by independent research group, Shrink That Footprint, which has assessed the impact of grid-powered electric vehicles (EV) in twenty of the world's leading countries.

"A tiny "genetic patch" can be used to prevent a form of deafness which runs in families, according to animal tests. Patients with Usher syndrome have defective sections of their genetic code which cause problems with hearing, sight and balance."

The project is part of the 4Afrika Initiative, an investment programme being announced by technology giant Microsoft, that also includes a new Windows Phone 8 smartphone for the region and investment in help for small businesses on the continent, and in education and internships.For the white spaces project, the company is working with a Kenyan ISP, Indigo Telecom, and the Kenyan government. The ISP is installing wireless 'base stations' - or masts - that are solar-powered, to get round the lack of mains electricity. The base stations act as a link to the nearest main cable connection to the internet, without the expense of extending the fibre-optic network. The solar panels will power the bases stations - and also charge computer equipment The signal supplied is much more powerful than normal wifi.

Meet the iShack, a modern take on an age-old design that is bringing new hope - and light - to the slums of South Africa. Millions of people are unable to afford to move out of slums and shanty towns in sub-Saharan Africa but the development of the iShack is intended to lift their living standards. People living in rickety and makeshift shacks in slum areas can wait for years before they can get connected to the electricity or water grids, and the United Nations estimates that 62 per cent of the urban population in Sub-Saharan Africa lives in slums. Meet the iShack, a modern take on an age-old design that is bringing new hope - and light - to the slums of South Africa. Millions of people are unable to afford to move out of slums and shanty towns in sub-Saharan Africa but the development of the iShack is intended to lift their living standards. People living in rickety and makeshift shacks in slum areas can wait for years before they can get connected to the electricity or water grids, and the United Nations estimates that 62 per cent of the urban population in Sub-Saharan Africa lives in slums. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2259075/Slum-dwellers-South-Africa-given-taste-mod-cons-introduction-environmentally-friendly-iShack.html#ixzz2HTI9EfYr  Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Its expansion was frighteningly fast. A handful of cases were first recognized in the U.S. at the beginning of the 1980s, but AIDS was soon seen around the world. By 1990, the world had a pandemic on its hands. In 1997, the peak of the epidemic, more than 3 million people became newly infected with HIV. Then science struck back. Drugs approved for HIV treatment in the mid-1990s proved profoundly effective, transforming AIDS from a death sentence to a chronic illness. Those treatments, combined with an international commitment to manage the disease by providing access to free drug therapy, led to a steep drop in new HIV infections. The United Nations has kept track of HIV worldwide for the past couple of decades. Below, we use that data to explore some of the trends in HIV prevalence. (The chart shows the percentage of the population, ages 15 to 49, living with HIV.)

"As the environment secretary presses the case for genetically modified food, we pull together a selection of stories and teaching resources so you can explore GM issues in class"

Instead of the supposed revolution in agriculture that Monsato's GM seeds were meant to bring, the opposite effect has occurred - a rise in herbicide use

Solar

Aids

"A young British designer has won a prestigious international award for creating a "humane" net to make fishing more sustainable by preventing small fish from being trapped."