The world relies on plastics for endless beneficial uses, but alarming amounts of plastic waste are polluting oceans and waterways, and there’s growing evidence that microplastics are showing up in millions of human bodies. And, because many plastics are built to last, they can take decades or even centuries to disintegrate.

World hunger and malnutrition could be defeated with an abundant supply of protein-rich fish, which means there should be an explosion in fish farming around the globe.

In much of sub-Saharan Africa, it is a daily struggle to collect safe, potable drinking water. And yet, rain does fall.