Story Search Results

Advanced Search

There are so many ways to search the solutions journalism stories in this database. Explore our searchable fields:

Search Results

You searched for: -

There are 102 results for your search. View and Refine Your Search Terms

How some frustrated COVID-19 vaccine hunters are trying to fix a broken system

Danny Westneat

February 17, 2021 |

The Seattle Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington

Retired software engineers in Washington have joined together and created a website that aggregates all available COVID vaccine appointments by using "screen scrapers." Although the site doesn't allow the visitor to book an appointment, it has routinely averaged "10,000 visits a day from anxious shot hunters."

Read More
Go to Original Story
How a Young Activist Is Helping Pope Francis Battle Climate Change

David Owen

February 08, 2021 |

The New Yorker |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Holy See (Vatican City State), Rome

Molly Burhans, a young cartographer and environmentalist, is using GIS technology to map out the Catholic Church’s global property holdings to encourage them to improve the environmental impact on the lands they own. Burhans’ organization called GoodLands has been working with various parishes and dioceses to help Church leaders — including Pope Francis — understand their vast landholdings. While finances and COVID-19 have impacted her progress, Burhans’ maps have been used for other purposes like mapping Catholic radio stations in Africa and tracking the whereabouts of priests accused of sexual abuse.

Read More
Go to Original Story
'Changing the game': Black in Technology works to support Black students in computer science

Greta Travaglia Jennifer Tran

February 02, 2021 |

The Daily Tar Heel |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United Arab Emirates, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Black in Technology was created to support Black students in STEM at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The organization has planned numerous events for its members related to mentorship, recruitment, and community building on campus in the STEM and technology industry, and successfully helped them receive internships and job opportunities, while raising the visibility of Black and Latinx students in technology fields.

Read More
Go to Original Story
These Doctors Are Using AI to Screen for Breast Cancer

Will Knight

January 27, 2021 |

Wired |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Massachusetts

With many women skipping routine mammograms due to COVID-19 restrictions, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital are using an artificial intelligence algorithm to identify those at risk for developing breast cancer. The approach has proved successful in multiple instances, with those flagged by the algorithm three times as likely to develop cancer. “What the AI tools are doing is they're extracting information that my eye and my brain can't,” a doctor using the tool explained.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Hack Your Future, Belgium's coding school for refugees

Lorenzo Di Stasi

December 24, 2020 |

The Local |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Belgium

Hack your Future Belgium offers free IT training to migrants to help fill the country’s worker shortage in that sector and help newcomers gain skills and find work. Most participants are asylum seekers or refugees and all of the teachers are volunteers. Classes for the eight-month program are in English and held on weekends to be inclusive of those with other obligations. No previous IT knowledge or personal equipment is required, but selection is based on motivation and language skills. Students receive substantial coaching and support and about 85% have found an internship, job, or went back to school.

Read More
Go to Original Story
The Newest Weapon Against Covid-19: AI That Speed-Reads Faxes

Tom Simonite

December 22, 2020 |

Wired |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Contra Costa County, California

Researchers from Stanford University have developed a software that uses machine-learning algorithms to identify and flag urgent faxes about COVID-19 cases. While the project doesn't have complete accuracy, it has helped overwhelmed and overburdened health care workers at the health department in Contra Costa County, California work more efficiently.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Can an Algorithm Prevent Suicide?

Benedict Carey

November 23, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Veterans Affairs' Reach Vet program uses an algorithm weighing 61 factors to flag veterans deemed at highest risk of suicide. While its results have not been shown to affect the suicide rate, it has more than doubled high-risk veterans' uses of V.A. services and been associated with a lower overall mortality rate. Built on an analysis of thousands of previous suicides in the V.A.'s system, Reach Vet assesses scores of facts from medical records, including some that are not obvious to humans trying to spot problems. Doctors then intervene and ensure the veteran has a suicide safety plan in place.

Read More
Go to Original Story
These Algorithms Could Bring an End to the World's Deadliest Killer

Apoorva Mandavilli

November 20, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Nandurbar

An app that uses A.I. to scans lung X-rays is helping two hospitals in rural and remote parts of India to identify cases of tuberculosis that they otherwise would have been likely to misdiagnose. Medical professionals caution that the app is not a replacement for a clinician's diagnosis but say when used in conjunction with a clinical assessment, the interpretation of a chest X-ray is likely to be more accurate.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Project Uses AI to Maximize Meal Delivery to Students in Need

Ben Levine

August 27, 2020 |

Government Technology |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Pennsylvania

Using AI technology, home address data, and algorithms, the Metro21 Institute at Carnegie Mellon was able to find the best school bus routes to deliver school meals to students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The solution wouldn’t have worked with the help of a community of partners, leaders, and volunteers. “It truly has taken a village.”

Read More
Go to Original Story
This AI startup is tackling the coronavirus disinformation deluge

Sirin Kale

August 14, 2020 |

Wired |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United Kingdom

Logically is a fact-checking app that combines AI technology and human research to assess and label the truthfulness of news articles. The app has about 20,000 users after a soft launch in the UK, with a full launch planned for late 2020. The AI technology, a feature that makes the app unique, tries to match news claims to other sources and then human researchers take over to make a final judgment. The app has been busy fact-checking the extensive Covid-19 related misinformation. Some aspects, like technology glitches and slow fact-checking responses from researchers, still need to be worked out.

Read More
Go to Original Story