Help NASA track mosquitoes, reduce disease outbreaks
Washington, July 3 : NASA has invited citizen scientists to help them track mosquitos known to carry and spread diseases like Zika, West Nile Virus and malaria to create new forecast models that can predict the spread of these diseases.
"We do not have enough information on the geographic distribution of mosquito and time-variation in their populations. If a lot of people participated in this citizen science initiative worldwide, it will help fill in gaps and that would help our work," Assaf Anyamba, a scientist from Universities Space Research Association at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said in a statement.
NASA scientists have initiated the work with DEVELOP team -- part of NASA's Applied Sciences Programme, which addresses environmental and public policy issues -- to create the models.
The teams blended the citizen science data with NASA satellite observations of land surface temperatures, humidity, soil moisture, elevation, vegetation and precipitation.
The data were then used to create an interactive, open-source map on Google Earth Engine to improve prediction models for disease-carrying mosquitoes.
Early results have showed that vegetation, humidity and soil moisture made it easier for mosquitoes to thrive during the summer months. During the winter, elevation played a stronger role in creating mosquito-friendly habitats.
The public can help track mosquitoes by downloading an app called GLOBE Observer, and then collect data over the summer using the Mosquito Habitat Mapper tool in the app, NASA said.
The app guides users through the process of identifying and eliminating mosquito breeding sites in order to reduce mosquito populations in their immediate surroundings.
More citizen science data from more areas of the world could help, the US space agency noted.
"Knowing the mosquito species and their approximate populations at a given time provides useful information on the potential of occurrence of a particular pathogen, or disease transmission," Anyamba said.
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AI, AI Express look to add capacity amid IndiGo flight disruptions
New Delhi (PTI): Air India Group is looking to add capacity to help passengers impacted by the IndiGo flight disruptions.
"Since 4 December, economy class airfares on non-stop domestic flights have been proactively capped to prevent the usual demand-and-supply mechanism being applied by revenue management systems," a statement said on Saturday.
Both Air India and Air India Express have put in place caps on economy class fares.
ALSO READ: IndiGo cancels over 200 flights from Delhi, Mumbai on Saturday
The statement from Air India came hours after the government announced introduction of airfare caps amid IndiGo flight disruptions.
Air India also said it is not technically possible to cap fares for all flight permutations.
"Air India and Air India Express are seeking to add capacity to help travellers and their baggage reach their destinations as quickly as possible," the statement said.
