How Christians in Kenya are trying to hack government corruption

Social media companies are using artificial intelligence to help identify misinformation. Once identified, human fact checkers will verify the posts. Facebook uses 60 partnered fact-checking organizations as well as SimSearchNet++ image-recognition system that can identify image manipulation and slight changes to misinformation. Hundreds of millions of posts are flagged every year and those that are identified as “false” or “altered” are labeled with warnings and distribution is reduced.

Three examples of new science behind successful efforts to prevent or punish the poaching of protected wildlife starts with PAWS: Protection Assistant for Wildlife Security, an artificial intelligence tool that helped officials in Cambodia predict where poachers would set snares. In an undisclosed location in East Africa, another form of AI powers a miniature trail camera that can detect human activity and alert rangers to rush in for arrests. And Kenya prosecuted four cases of pangolin trafficking by using a new method of lifting fingerprints from the poached animals' precious scales.

Singapore has instituted three specific measures to help contain coronavirus and cope with current isolation requirements: testing, telehealth, and contact tracing. The commonality between the three approaches is the utilization of biotechnology and research that has succeeded due to collaborative efforts between the government and tech sector.

Battelle labs in rural Ohio is decontaminating n95 masks for health care workers as personal protective equipment remains in short supply amidst COVID-19. Granted emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, the lab runs a separate tent station for their decontamination efforts, which follow tight structures and protocol.

As the fight against COVID-19 continues, Ohio-based Battelle labs has created the Critical Care Decontamination System that can clean as many as 80,000 of personal protective equipment at once. The system, which was fast-tracked by the FDA for approval, is modular and scalable, so it can be shipped to locations around the country.

When a hospital in Italy ran the risk of running out of a medical valve that was necessary to help treat patients suffering from COVID-19, an engineering company stepped in to fill the gap by 3D printing the valve. Choosing "patients over patents," the company was able to mass produce 100 valves – at a fraction of the cost of a regular valve – which have already helped at least 10 patients.

Identifying the metagenomic sequencing for new outbreaks of viruses can help to better assess how the virus is spreading, which in turn helps health officials figure out how to slow down the contagion. In the midst of a coronavirus outbreak, a tool that was first used to during the SARS outbreak is now being used to track Covid-19 in under-resourced places such as Cambodia.

In order to increase teacher retention, the Minneapolis Public School District is asking whether machine learning might improve its hiring process. Researchers believe the tool could identify candidates more likely to stay on and diversify the workforce by reducing human biases.

A collaboration between England’s Loughborough University, the UK’s Ministry of Defence, and a company called Foster + Freeman has led to a new technology that can pull fingerprints from shell casings. What was once a nearly impossible task, is showing promise, as police departments across the United States try out the new technology. That said, there are still some questions about its efficacy and ability to stand up as evidence in court.

As conservationists around the world grapple with saving endangered species, many have turned to the tech sector. Initiatives like The Zooniverse, a citizen science platform for people-powered research, are helping expand over 90 different projects. Even more, scientists have started directly collaborating with technologists to develop products, like weather-resistant cameras for capturing penguins in Antarctica, specially for their work.