Wednesday, December 26, 2018

9 Ways Tech Made the World a Better Place


From stopping child trafficking to mapping slums, governments and companies found new ways to use technology in 2018 to help people globally. Here are 9 new uses of technology in the past year

1) DRONE DELIVERS VACCINE
A one-month-old baby in Vanuatu became the first person in the world to be immunised with a vaccine delivered by a commercial drone. UNICEF called the delivery to the Pacific island nation as a “big leap for global health”

2) APP FINDS CROP-MUNCHING WORM
An app which helps farmers identify pests and diseases won the first Africawide hackathon aimed at finding solutions to hunger. The AgriPredict app forecasts the probability of pest invasions, including the voracious fall armyworm, which eats crops and has wreaked havoc in sub-Saharan Africa and India
3) MOSQUITO-PACKED DRONES FIGHT THE ZIKA OUTBREAK
Drones spraying millions of sterile mosquitoes are helping combat Zika outbreak in Brazil. Once freed, the sterilised, laboratory-bred male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes — which spread Zika, dengue and yellow fever by biting humans — mate with females, but do not produce viable eggs

4) DRONES AND SATELLITES HELP MAP SLUMS IN INDIA
India is using drones and satellites to map informal settlements in a bid to speed up the delivery of essential services and land rights for slum dwellers

5) SAFETY APPS LOCATE HARASSMENT HOTSPOTS
Apps like Safecity are enabling women to flag harassment prone areas in India to the police and transport department so they can increase patrols and review lighting

6) SATELLITES HELP STOP FORCED LABOUR
Thailand turned to satellites to combat forced labour in its multi-billion dollar fishing industry after the European Union threatened to ban fish exports

7 )MACHINE CONVERTS PLASTIC TO FUEL
We now have a machine that converts plastic waste into diesel and petrol. The idea is to encourage the collection of waste before it ends up in oceans

8) VIRTUAL REALITY COMBATS HARASSMENT AT WORK
VR programme by Vantage Point teaches staff how to react when they see harassment at workplace through simulated meets

9) BLOCKCHAIN SAVES KIDS FROM TRAFFICKERS
A blockchain system, developed by ConsenSys, scans eyes and fingerprints of kids trying to cross the border & asks legal guardians for approval

Source:THE ECONOMIC TIMES-26th December,2018