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The average size of a farm in the U.S. is about 450 acres -- plenty of space to grow bountiful amounts of crops that can support the business. However, farms have been struggling for ages with low prices and rising costs. Luckily, a new way of doing business may just be the solution they're looking for. Over the past couple years, the farm-to-fork -- or locavore -- movement sweeping the nation is giving farms the boost they need. "You're just seeing that farms are having difficulty covering their costs of production," Sarah Lloyd of the Wisconsin Farmers' Union told NPR. "The prices that are being paid to them in the market is not enough to cover their costs. One bright spot is you see people venturing into direct markets, and that's a way where they can have more control over their pric...

Driverless cars have been a trending topic as of late. Many companies have been extremely transparent about their plans to launch driverless cars, and have even publicized testing initiatives. While Apple has confirmed their plans in the past, those plans have been shrouded in secrecy and rumor. Take, for example, Apple's "Project Titan," -- an ultra-secret driverless car plan that has been the subject of much speculation. The Guardian, however, recently obtained public records that revealed Apple's driverless car plans are indeed underway, as the company has set its sights on various testing locations across the country. According to The Verge, the report states that Apple engineers convened with GoMentum, the former San Francisco naval base, to discuss plans with representatives. Th...

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process of pumping water, sand, and other chemicals under high pressure into the ground to break apart rock and release the natural gas contained. By 2013, there were over two million oil and gas wells that had been hydraulically fractured in the U.S., according to the Department of Energy (DOE). It's estimated that about 95% of all new wells are drilled under these conditions. According to British technology website The Register, new research from the University of Virginia led by Andres Clarens is looking at the possibility of replacing water with CO2 at fracking sites. The idea is that CO2 would act as a carbon sequestration, making fracking that much more efficient and sustainable. "We are working to develop a fundamental understanding of how...

In the past, buying a first house has often been a step that married couples take together. But a recent Zillow analysis has concluded that now, more than half of first-time homebuyers are single. According to data collected between 2010 and 2013, only 40% of homeowners were married when purchasing their first homes. That’s compared to 52% in the late ’80s. “The characteristics of typical first-time buyers have changed dramatically,” report author Cody Fuller, an economic analyst at Zillow, observed in his analysis, released Aug. 17. His conclusions dovetail with another recent study finding that single women, in particular, are increasingly getting into the real estate market; in fact, they’re buying homes at twice the rate of single men. First-time buyers are renting for longer befor...