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The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated how quickly a new pathogen can fundamentally change economies and society. Early in the pandemic, public health professionals demanded quick and accurate testing to track and control the spread of COVID-19 but still struggle to do so using existing testing methods. Two years after its first recorded case, however, researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) are developing faster, less invasive, and more reliable means of diagnosing pathogens like COVID-19. 

Worldwide, buried dangers lurk: 110 million buried landmines, unexploded ordnance (UXO), and explosive remnants of war (ERWs) result in an annual 10,000 casualties. For every one landmine that is removed, a further 100 are planted, and the process for removal is hazardous, costly, and inefficient.  Over 7000 additional casualties come from construction utility digs in the U.S. from inaccurate maps (accidentally striking a utility being the primary cause).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that in the United States, up to 30-40 percent of the food supply is wasted. Food waste occurs due to many factors, whether from issues at the milling, drying, and transportation challenges at the farm level or storage malfunctions or over ordering issues at the retail level, to name a few. To help combat food loss, the USDA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a goal in 2015 to reduce food waste by 50 percent by 2030.