Press Coverage

放眼地球6300多千米的半径，土壤仅有1米的厚度相形见绌，它就像一层纤薄且满是漏洞的保鲜膜，只包裹住地球表面积的29%；但万物的生养所需，也都仰赖着这一层“保鲜膜”。 土壤是储存和传输所有营养物质、液体和气体的仓库和通道，其中有90%的水和2300千兆的有机碳被用于农业生产。土壤中有机碳的生成是自然界最伟大的成就之一 —— 数之不尽的生产者们——蚯蚓、蜗牛、昆虫、细菌和真菌们在我们脚下不知疲倦地工作，分解所有生物的遗骸，让营养和矿物质可以回到大自然神奇的循环中去，被下一代生物吸收利用。这样的奇迹正是由我们可能讨厌的昆虫和微生物们不断创造的，而土壤就是它们的家，一个化腐朽为神奇的地方。

Bill Gates has used his technical skills well: He co-founded Microsoft, making him the second richest person in the world with a net worth of $102 billion, according to Forbes. But Gates, 63, says he wishes he had done something differently — he wishes he’d used his tech skills to help people in need earlier on.

These days I spend a lot of my time thinking about how technology can help the poorest people in the world improve their lives. It’s been a big focus for me since before Melinda and I launched our foundation. But looking back, I think I could have started down this path even sooner than I did.

The African Soil Information Service — a global initiative to build digital soil maps for Africa that now falls under a new program called Innovation Solutions for Decision Agriculture — was having trouble converting one file format to another.

A few weeks ago, I spoke at a big data and open data event in Ethiopia. On the first day, William Wu, CEO of QED, gave an inspiring talk about how his team builds innovative technology to collect and analyze big data. As everyone in the audience hung on to his every word, a phrase from him caught my attention and made my heart sink in dismay.