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How AI is transforming conservation science

Part 1 of the TED Radio Hour episode Decoding nature’s hidden patterns.

A new AI tool called Inquire is trained on millions of wildlife photos from citizen scientists worldwide. Researcher Sara Beery hopes it will supercharge ecosystem conservation.

About Sara Beery

Sara Beery is an assistant professor at MIT EECS’ Faculty of AI and Decision Making and CSAIL. She previously worked as a visiting researcher for Google’s Auto Arborist. Her area of focus is building computer vision methods that enable global-scale environmental and biodiversity monitoring across data modalities. From bird diets to salmon migration, these datasets are tackling real-world challenges. Beery received a Ph.D. in Computing and Mathematical Sciences at Caltech. She’s been awarded the AI2050 Early Career Fellowship, an NSF CAREER Grant and a PIMCO Data Science Fellowship an Amazon AI4Science Fellowship.

This segment of the TED Radio Hour was produced by James Delahoussaye and edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour. You can follow us on Facebook @TEDRadioHour and email us at [email protected].

Web Resources

Related TED Topic: Biodiversity

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Manoush Zomorodi is the host of TED Radio Hour. She is a journalist, podcaster and media entrepreneur, and her work reflects her passion for investigating how technology and business are transforming humanity.

Zomorodi is a co-founder of Stable Genius Productions and is the co-host and co-creator of ZigZag, the business podcast about being human. She also created, hosted, and was managing editor of the podcast Note to Self in partnership with WNYC Studios, which was named Best Tech Podcast of 2017 by The Academy of Podcasters.

Prior to her time at WNYC, Zomorodi reported and produced around the world for BBC News and Thomson Reuters, including a few years in Berlin.

She was named one of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business for 2018 and has received numerous awards for her work, including The Gracie for Best Radio Host in 2014 and 2018. Her book "Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Creative Self" (2017, St. Martin's Press) and her TED Talk are guides to surviving information overload and the "Attention Economy."

Zomorodi received a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University in English and fine arts. She is half-Persian and half-Swiss but was born in New York City, where she lives with her family.

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