Critics in today's world often say that computers and technology are impeding the social skills of the very young. But Zoo U, a computer game for children, helps kids develop the skills they need such as empathy, impulse control, and communication.

Clean water and healthy ecosystems are becoming increasingly difficult to come by. With floating islands and other inventions, eco-entrepreneur Bruce Kania thinks that biomimicry - such as reconstructing wetlands and growing biofilms - can tackle the toughest of water problems.

Concerned with colony collapse syndrome in honey bees worldwide, scientists, farmers and tech companies teamed up in Australia to create a micro-sensor that collects data on the bee's environment.

Microfinance started to help reduce world poverty but, in the long run, without bank accounts it is hard for beginning entrepreneurs to really get going and to help the economy. Now that paying is possible through cellular phones, more people will have the opportunity to have a bank account and hopefully cause a decrease in poverty.

What is the best use of a teacher’s precious face-to-face classroom time? It’s working one-on-one with students, not lecturing. To free up more time for the important stuff, some teachers are now recording videos of their lectures for students to watch at home.

Prescription drugs are greatly polluting the national water supply, causing researchers to begin looking for a method to better filter water and dispose of unused medicine.

New water management technology implemented along the Columbia has significantly helped the fish population - specifically salmon - return to healthy numbers and has restored much of the community and industry that revolves around the river, including for native peoples.

Agencies across the corporate, government, and nonprofit sectors are recruiting ideas from the public by offering prizes for solving challenges. Prize incentives have spurred innovation for centuries, but fell out of favor as the preferred method in the 1800s. Now, prize-based incentives are back, in part because of a flood of new philanthropic money, and because prizes cast a wider net to a largely more educated and tech-savvy global population.

What about the world’s poorest, for whom new, expensive gadgets are out of reach - what types of innovation would be most beneficial for them? Through “frugal innovation”, people are designing products specifically to meet the needs of the world’s poorest citizens.

Around the world, a new way of teaching and learning is gaining traction – and seeing results. Rooted in educational theory from the likes of Socrates, Piaget, and Montessori, this method is led by students’ curiosity and ability to learn and grow independently; essentially, the students control their own learning. Such methods make success more attainable in places like Matamoros, Mexico, who has seen exceptional improvement from students who experience learning this way.