Stop and Smell the Guano: How Fertilizers Saved the World - Episode 837
b'November 08, 2017 - A little more than a hundred years ago, the world\'s fast-growing population was outstripping humanity\'s ability to feed itself. Mass starvation was only averted when a pair of brilliant German scientists developed a new chemical process to snatch nitrogen gas from the air and use it to make modern fertilizers. As science writer Thomas Hager explains in this episode of Science Elements, it\'s a story of wars, greed, bird droppings and a discovery that continues to dramatically shape our lives today.\\nMusic: "Wash Out" by Broke for Free, licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY 3.0.'