Drones Could Help Prevent Future Disease Outbreaks

Project Premonition lead Ethan Jackson holds a drone during a feasibility study in Grenada earlier this year. (Credit: Microsoft) Drones will play a key role in an ambitious project that aims to predict future disease outbreaks. Microsoft researchers are developing a high-tech system to autonomously capture and monitor the most notorious carriers of disease: mosquitoes. The effort, called Project Premonition, would combine drones, data analysis and molecular biology to detect infectious diseases before mosquitoes get a chance to spread them to wider populations.