TECH+CONSERVATION
+ BEAUTY & FASHION + HEALTH + HUMANITIES + SPACE + EDUCATION
n o i t a v r e s n o c r o f Coding How to save the planet with drones, satellites and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
F
ics to track tur tles to rom using tiny electron s ers with drones, scientist catching wildlife poach the of e som ve sol tech to are using game-changing ion. vat ser con in ges biggest challen ge advances in computer And it’s all thanks to hu hgan, co-founder of science (CS), says Alex De rtup US-based non-profit sta Conservation X Labs, a ion technology. that develops conser vat new engineering can create an “Computer science d of le sca d et the speed an tools that allow us to me w ,” says Alex. “We can no ing fac ’re the problems we that y wa the in s an and oce connect our forests, rivers are connected.” smart homes and cities
Past technology 1960 • Camera traps first used to record wildlife presence and behaviour
with AI Saving the natural world ha ve the potentia l to ma ke
also Tech-focused solutions ent d environmental managem an wildlife conser vation ral Co en All e Th . far-reaching faster, cheaper and more f ree al cor e gil fra ’s the world At las is a tool for mapping systems from space. s, ational cohort of scientist Developed by an intern ssie Au hnologists, including an conservationists and tec cool y ver s ty of Queensland, thi team from The Universi ed ail det ry to create a supertool uses satellite image see on line – for free! can coral reef atlas you
We can now co ect ou r forests, rivers andnn oc ea ns in the way that smar t ho mes and cities are connec ted”
1950 • Sonar first used to locate and record schools of fish
HERE R CAREER START YOU
tioniencse/tEcuoldogy a v y), r e s n o C Tech+IT/Science (ComputationallaScnd Bachelor of
y of Queens The Universit Science, e/Bachelor of mputer Scienc longong Co of or el ch ol Ba University of W , (Technolog y) e nc ie Sc of Bachelor to ka ai University of W rs), ience (Honou Sc ed nc va Ad of or el ch Ba ckland University of Au
jobs rvasttemios n e s n o alyst: C an + h c sy Te ographic information –$84K SHUTTERSTOCK
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K / NZ$48K AU$52K-$95 verage) K / NZ$91K (A 01 $1 K–$164 AU : ct ite ch : Data ar ning engineer Machine lear –$93K* 6K $4 NZ / 5K AU$60K–$13 om to payscale.c ries according *Source: sala
CAREERSwithSTEM.com
Another piece of tech usi ng machine-learning techniques is Wildlife Ins ights, a cloud-based collaborative program tha t allows users to upload camera trap images from anywhere in the world. It can recognise 614 differ ent species, ma king wildl ife monitoring as easy as a click of a mouse. Whether it’s designing ha nd held DNA screening devices to uncover illegal fishing activities or traini ng drones to spot wildlife in far-flung locations, Alex says technology is set to transform how we protec t the environment. It’s als o shifting conser vation away from simply tracking spe cies loss to creating smart solutions that ma ke a rea l impact. So what does this mean for a career in tech? Skills like programming, mach ine learning and data mi ning
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