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Reading Leaves

Drones are in the news a lot but this is quite the novel use case - using it to scan leaves of trees in a forest that could point to the presence of a dead body in the vicinity. Whether or not this experiment is successful, there could be other applications along similar lines. Maybe the level of color or reflectance of leaves in a forest could point to other issues going on there that may warrant a closer look. Could be true for farms as well. 

Reading this for some reason reminded of the locust invasion event in Things Fall Apart. Generally considered a pretty dire event by farming communities, the author describes how the Igbo prepare to catch them and feast on them. In contrast, the cicada invasion that made news recently was viewed as a destructive event and those impacted responded accordingly

She has sprayed the orchard grounds with poison to keep down the number of emerging nymphs, as young cicadas are called, but has been careful to leave the trees alone. Ms. Noonkester said she did not want to kill the spiders and other predators that eat the cicadas

If it becomes possible to learn more about the lives of plants and trees using drone technology as the Ars article describes, chances are we may respond with undue force when the situation is perceived to be harmful to us and our livelihoods. 

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