Shrinking AI for use in farms and clinics, ethical dilemmas for USAID researchers, and how to evolve evolvability
How funding losses for the U.S. Agency for International Development impact research, using tiny microcontrollers to bring machine learning to the Global South, and inducing the ability to evolve quickly
Science Magazine Podcast · Science Magazine
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Show Notes
First up this week, researchers face impossible decisions as U.S. aid freeze halts clinical trials. Deputy News Editor Martin Enserink joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about how organizers of U.S. Agency for International Development–funded studies are grappling with ethical responsibilities to trial participants and collaborators as funding, supplies, and workers dry up.
Next, freelance science journalist Sandeep Ravindran talks about creating tiny machine learning devices for bespoke use in the Global South. Farmers and medical clinics are using low-cost, low-power devices with onboard machine learning for spotting fungal infections in tree plantations or listening for the buzz of malaria-bearing mosquitoes.
Finally, Michael Barnett, a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, joins the podcast to discuss evolving evolvability. His team demonstrated a way for organisms to become more evolvable in response to repeated swings in the environment.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Sandeep Ravindran; Martin Enserink
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