Gates Foundation announces 81 unusual grants

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced its second round of grants for innovative, out-of-the-box, and sometimes just plain strange ideas for global health research.

Among the 81 projects getting $100,000 include a plan to create a tomato that delivers antiviral drugs and a project to give malaria-carrying mosquitoes a fungus that feels something like a head cold.

The five-year grants are designed to encourage scientists to pursue bold, unconventional ideas that could lead to future breakthroughs.

The Seattle foundation announced the grants Monday to researchers in 17 countries. It is the second round of Grand Challenges Explorations grants. The foundation is accepting applications for the third round until May 28.

Meanwhile in Lincoln, Neb., CEO Jeff Raikes outlined the foundation's goals to spend $73 million over the next five years to help small farmers in impoverished countries.

Raikes spoke Monday at water conference at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The Nebraska native and former Microsoft executive said the foundation sees agriculture as a "compelling solution" to poverty. He says three-quarters of the world's people who live on a dollar or less a day live in rural areas and that agriculture production is a "solution that's been ignored."

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On the Net:

Gates Foundation: http://www.gatesfoundation.org

Grand Challenges: http://www.gcgh.org/explorations