Human
In general, humans can survive for two to eight weeks without food, depending on stored body fat. Survival without water is usually limited to three or four days. About 36 million humans die every year from causes directly or indirectly related to starvation. Childhood malnutrition is also common and contributes to the global burden of disease. However global food distribution is not even, and obesity among some human populations has increased rapidly, leading to health complications and increased mortality in some developed, and a few developing countries. Worldwide over one billion people are obese, while in the United States 35% of people are obese, leading to this being described as an "obesity epidemic." Obesity is caused by consuming more calories than are expended, so excessive weight gain is usually caused by an energy-dense diet.
Jill Farrant
Farrant is investigating the ability of certain species of plants which are able to survive without water for long periods of time. As Farrant explains, "[a]ll plants have the genes that enable desiccation tolerance, but most use them only when they make seeds. Resurrection plants can also switch these genes on in their leaves and roots whenever drought occurs." The ultimate goal of her research is to find applications that will lead to the development of drought-tolerant crops to nourish populations in arid, drought-prone climates, notably in Africa, and her research may have medicinal applications as well. Farrant believes food crops which can survive long stretches without water "will become more important as climate change (increasing drought) continues to impact on agriculture."