How are drones helping to save endangered species in Africa?

Drones - Not long ago, they were considered unearthly and far too complicated to actually work. But in recent years they have proved to be very practical and in many cases extremely valuable. From military use to disaster relief, drones have demonstrated their ability to be very versatile and even have helped to save lives. And now, they are being used to help save endangered species.

In a new project entitled Air Shepherds spearheaded by the Lindbergh Foundation, drones are being used to track poachers who kill elephants and rhinos for their tusks and horns. By using infrared cameras, drones are stealth enough to locate poachers during the night and then send their locations to park rangers. Both rhinos and elephants are considered endangered species in many parts of Africa and if nothing is done to help them, they could be extinct in less than 10 years. Air Shepherds aims to stop this. Drones have proved to be very cost effective and much easier to control than other tested methods such as airplanes.

John Peterson, chairman of the Lindbergh Foundation states, “It works. Flying in one area where as many as 19 rhinos were killed each month, there have been no deaths for six months. None at all.”

Read more on the Air Shepherds project here.

IBM to invest $3 Billion in IoT Unit

 

"Our knowledge of the world grows with every connected sensor and device, but too often we are not acting on it, even when we know we can ensure a better result." - Bob Picciano, senior vice president, IBM Analytics

According to the Wall Street Journal, IBM (International Business Machines) announced plans on Tuesday to invest $3 Billion in a new sensor data unit. By partnering with the Weather Company, which owns information providers such as the Weather Channel, IBM will be able to interpret a multitude of data about weather conditions in order to help businesses make better decisions.

This approach will help IBM compete to manage vast streams of data from smartphones, Internet-connected cars, machine tools, smart home appliances, jet engines, and other sources, also known as IoT (Internet of Things).  

An article on Forbes.com explains: “The suggestion here is that over the next decade, integration of IoT in business operations and decision-making will transform business. But today, it is estimated that 90 percent of all data generated by devices like smartphones, tablets, connected vehicles and appliances is never analyzed or acted upon – as much as 60 percent of this data begins to lose value within milliseconds of being generated.”