Researchers are combining drones and AI to make removing land mines faster and safer
Detecting land mines relies heavily on limited ground-based methods like handheld metal detectors, which struggle in mineral-rich soils and can’t detect low-metal mines, and ground-penetrating radar, which performs poorly in wet, uneven, or plant-covered terrain.
Other methods, like manual probing and trained detection animals, are effective, but slow, resource-intensive, and come with significant risk. And the use of drones alone is limited, too.
So, a group of researchers is creating what they say is the first public dataset to train AI algorithms to help drones detect land mines, transforming it from a slow, dangerous practice “into a safer, smarter, and more scalable process” that can “turn post-conflict landscapes back into places where life can grow again.”
Why is this good news? At least 57 countries have live land mines in their territories. In 2024 alone, 1,945 people were killed by these mines, and 4,325 were injured — 90% of them were civilians and nearly half of those were children. Demining operations are life-saving, and need to happen as quickly and safely as possible.
After it replaced roads with parks and bike lanes, air pollution in Paris fell dramatically
Over the past two decades, Paris has eliminated 50,000 parking spaces and traded streets for bike lanes and green spaces. And now, an independent analysis found that levels of fine particulate matter have decreased 55% since 2005, and nitrogen dioxide levels by 50%.
The dramatic decline is attributed to “regulations and public policies” that limited traffic and banned the most polluting vehicles.
Heat maps of pollution levels 20 years ago reveal almost every neighborhood in the city was above the EU’s limit for nitrogen dioxide, showing how progressive, proactive policies can directly improve health in major urban areas.
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What do you think of the air pollution progress in Paris?
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