Basic facts The world contains an estimated 1 400 million cubic km of water. Only 0.003% of this vast amount, about 45 000 cubic km, are what is called “fresh water resources” - water that theoretically can be used for drinking, hygiene, agriculture and industry. But not all of this water is accessible. For example, seasonal flooding makes water extremely difficult [...]

In the past 20 years, malnutrition in mothers and children has decreased by almost half. But despite this progress, child undernutrition is still the greatest nutrition-related health burden in the world. One of the biggest problems with child undernutrition is that it continues the cycle of stunting: stunted girls grow up to be stunted mothers, and stunted mothers are much [...]

When thinking of this fruit we love so much what is the image that first pops to mind? Perhaps a green or a yellow with a greenish tint energy food? Or maybe a banana packaged in a perfect shade of yellow? If that’s the case, then it is time to broaden that perspective. Say hello to the Fe’i banana! This traditional [...]

Radio culture is gaining more and more ground as millions of listeners take to audio podcasts as a convenient and accessible way to learn new information.  Which is why FAO is stepping up into the medium to bring you insights into some of the issues concerning food and agriculture worldwide. Here are the first seven audio offerings of FAO’s new podcast [...]

Banana split, banana muffins, banana bread, banana pudding, banana pancakes – whether plain, cooked, baked or fried, bananas are among the most widely consumed fruits on the planet. However, how much do we really know about this most produced and exported fruit? Here are 11 interesting facts you should know about bananas: Based on written references discovered in Sanskrit around the year [...]

For the first time in history, more than 50 percent of the world’s population now lives in towns and cities. By 2050, this number is expected to increase to 66 percent. The shift from rural to urban areas, mainly in Africa and Asia, is due to poverty and related socio-economic factors.   For the most part, the rapid expansion of cities [...]

After days and days of heavy rain, Hernan Espinoza looked out over his fields. They were waterlogged, some completely destroyed. He was like many others in his small community of Tambogrande on Peru’s northern coast: grappling with devastation, their farms and fields severely damaged by flooding, storms and landslides, caused by the El Niño Costero (coastal) phenomenon that pounded the [...]

Youth around the world are increasingly turning away from agriculture. Traditionally requiring tough manual labour and offering low wages, agriculture does not often appeal to new generations who generally prefer to try their luck finding jobs in cities.  

Wildfires leave behind a patchwork of forest densities that can give bats more room to fly and hunt

‘What on earth were they doing there?’ one researcher asks

After abdicating the British throne, Edward was appointed governor of the Bahamas, where he temporarily lived in a lavish home in Nassau

"This could be the oldest and longest-lived team ball game in the world," says one archaeologist

Many teens have taken on the role, but not every Robin was a "boy" wonder

A new study shows how city-dwelling coyotes thrive by feasting on human-linked food sources

A recent excavation located the first physical evidence of the capital of the Maya kingdom of Sak Tz'i', founded in 750 B.C.

Female dolphins, it seems, aren’t immune to the allure of a harmonizing boy band

Nuclear bomb tests caused a spike in a radioactive form of carbon that accumulated in living things

The severity of this year's bleaching is second only to 2016, during which a third of the reef’s corals died

Some 50 artists around the Prenzlauer Berg district displayed works of art for passersby to enjoy

Buyers can ask for a mix of their favorite genre or seek booksellers’ recommendations

Major League Baseball players and team employees to participate in 10,000-person COVID-19 study

The prickly perch is an exciting sign of success for the birds, which came off the endangered species list in 2007

The crustaceans' guts pulverize plastics into tiny bits that can be consumed by even smaller creatures at the base of the ocean food chain

Scientists discover neurotoxin-producing bacteria living on the skin of rough-skinned newts

Beaches in Florida and Thailand have tentatively reported increases in nests, due to decreased human presence. But the trend won’t necessarily persist

Two years before the Carthaginian general crossed the Alps, he won a decisive victory at the Battle of the Tagus

The city's residents sorted waste materials for reuse in future projects, according to new research

Over the past three years, the disease has claimed the lives of seven of the famously resilient ponies

Rumored to withstand the weight of a full grown man, their spines have now been studied in unprecedented detail

Root vegetables like rutabagas and Jerusalem artichokes were ration staples during the Nazi occupation of Paris

Armchair travelers can also enjoy 360-degree views of the city's famed Northern Lights

Coyotes, bears and more are enjoying areas usually reserved for crowds of human visitors

Expelled by animals as a waste product, the gas appears to play a crucial role in keeping these bizarre, burrowing rodents safe

Funeral parlors' enterprising staff offered burial packages to suit every social strata and budget

This Sunday, celebrate the moms of the animal kingdom with kittens, polar bear cubs, eaglets and more

Airing on the aquarium's Twitch channel at 4 p.m. EST today, the two-hour session will focus on the video game's diverse insect population

Speech by Mr Stefan Ingves, Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank, at the Sveriges Riksbank, Stockholm, 3 April 2020.

The new viruses are not harmful to humans or closely related to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19

Helping health care workers treat patients and public safety officials contain the pandemic, these robots offer lessons for future disasters

Schools are shuttered, but kids can dance with New York's Ballet Hispánico and listen to a story from a certain former First Lady