Meanwhile in ... Jinan, China, local authorities are using a point system to encourage better supervision of dogs by their owners.

In Jinan, a city in China’s Shandong province, local authorities have created a point system to encourage better supervision of dogs by their owners. Infractions, including letting dogs off leash in public or not picking up after them, can result in a deduction of points. If owners accumulate enough infractions they may be fined. In extreme cases, dogs can be removed from their owners. Owners are also required to carry their dogs’ licenses when out with their dogs in public and not to let them into public buildings or fountains. Under the program in 2017 complaints about unleashed dogs dropped 43 percent and dog-related disturbances and attacks dropped 65 percent.

In New Delhi, social media is being used to combat the Indian capital’s notorious air pollution. India’s Supreme Court has mandated that the capital district create a social media account that will collect complaints from citizens in the city and surrounding capital region. Individuals will be able to directly report violations such as unauthorized burning of garbage. The capital is also cracking down on exhaust from older, more polluting vehicles and is seeking to get them off the roads.

In Cambridge, Mass., researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology propose using fleets of autonomous drones to find lost hikers in forested areas. Helicopters can’t peer through dense canopies, and conventional drones navigate with GPS, which is unreliable under dense foliage. The researchers say using autonomous fleets of drones with onboard computation from laser range finders and wireless communication to navigate – no GPS needed – could make search and rescue efforts more efficient. Algorithms would help drones track the terrain already searched.