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Plants need water to live, but exactly how much? Scientists have built a simulator to figure out how to far we can push crops before they die of thirst, in preparation for a hotter climate. It's a research project that seems particularly fitting for this year, when Texas has suffered (and continues to suffer) through the worst drought year on record.

Rather than use plastic silverware to combat a common side effect of chemo, patients now can use these silverware-like utensils that don't ruin food. It's a common problem for cancer patients: Chemotherapy changes the taste buds so that using metal silverware suddenly causes a bitter metallic aftertaste. Plastic cutlery is one alternative, but it's not exactly the most environmentally friendly, elegant, or cost-effective option

Cleaning the dirty water from our drains and toilets is an expensive and energy-sucking task.

Living in a city can be easy without a car: Just take the bus or train.

Who needs sun and dirt? PlantLab is the latest in hydroponic, lightless plant growing, so any food can be local. There is no shortage of hydroponic produce startups aiming to capitalize on the world's growing desire for fruits and vegetables that don't need to be trucked in thousands of miles to their destination

If you like EVs, you might also like this new array. That's the thought process behind the partnership between the automaker and SunPower, who will be offering a package deal at Ford dealerships. One of the biggest criticisms of electric vehicles is that they don't necessarily reduce emissions

Just as you've eliminated the last little bit of BPA in your life, now it's time to start getting worried about glymes, the industrial solvent that's already in your water and soon to be heavily regulated by the EPA.

Don't think you'd drink water recycled from pee? Well, you may not have a choice

This Philips LED bulb is the winner of the DOE's $10 million competition to develop a low-cost, energy efficient, high-performance replacement for the incandescent bulb.

Lifting a person is a lot of work. But not if you're a friendly Japanese robot designed to help care for the elderly.

You might think you have lightning reflexes, but the time between thinking you need to brake and your foot pushing the pedal can be life or death. What if we eliminated the (literal) middle man?

GM has autonomous, electric pods that can be summoned by a smartphone and will whisk you, hands-free, to wherever you want to go. They're almost ready, now we just need to wait for GPS to catch up

Everyone has a price.

Smoking is still bad for you, but tobacco may have finally been redeemed. Cigarettes cause a nearly endless amount of health problems--heart disease, lung cancer, and asthma are just a few of the more common issues triggered by the tobacco-filled sticks

India's Tata Group--known as the maker of the world's cheapest car--is setting its sights on the world's cheapest home, with a $720 flatpack house that can be constructed in a week. The world's cheapest car is manufactured by the Tata Group. So is the cheapest water filter