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| I never saw a spotted lanternfly in my area before this year. Didn't even know what they were, or what they looked like. Now, they're everywhere, and people are saying they need to be destroyed. Smithsonian is here to show us one way to do that. This High Schooler Invented an A.I.-Powered Trap That Zaps Invasive Lanternflies  Using solar power, machine learning and her family’s patio umbrella, 18-year-old Selina Zhang created a synthetic tree that lures the destructive species Apparently, they destroy grapevines, and since grapevines produce grapes and grapes make wine, yeah, they gotta go. A New Jersey native, Selina Zhang is no stranger to the spotted lanternfly, an invasive species that has ravaged the Garden State’s local agricultural industry for years. I know what you're thinking. "New Jersey? Agriculture? I thought they only grew refineries there." No, no, there's at least one farm, I assure you. But the spotted lanternfly’s alluring looks, with bright red underwings peeking out from black polka-dotted forewings, can be deceiving. They are kinda cool-looking, in several stages of their life cycle. Still, they're messing with my wine supply. I know I still have beer, but it's nice to have options. “As I got older, I wanted to take concrete action,” says Zhang. “I wanted to build an innovative solution that took into account my personal perspective and existing research to target this bug in ways we haven’t before.” You know the old expression, "Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door?" This is like that. To sidestep these negative consequences, Zhang drew inspiration from chess boards and “Dance Dance Revolution.” But I have it on high authority that games can only rot kids' minds. Combined with weeks of extensive field observation, deep algorithmic programming and an umbrella seized from her family’s patio, the teenager built ArTreeficial, a solar-powered, self-cleaning, artificial-intelligence-driven “tree” that entices the spotted lanternfly and eliminates the bug using an electronic mesh. I will forgive the name of the device in this case, because the concept is cool, and my naming abilities were weak when I was that age, too. Also, I'm not sure that my idea, "Bugs-B-Gon," is any better. The article goes into detail, which is helpful and all, but kind of too bad because she'll miss out on the "making money" part of technological innovation. “The project uses A.I., it uses chemistry, it’s dealing with climate change and solar power. It’s a whole amalgam of the interdisciplinary nature of science and engineering in this project,” says Maya Ajmera, the president and CEO of Society for Science, which hosts the talent search. “That’s what makes it stand out for me.” This is important to note. Not all kids are useless, whiny layabouts. Some are combining science disciplines to find new, innovative ways to kill things. Can she do mosquitos next? As an award-winning violin player who has performed at Carnegie Hall and a member of the Science Bowl and USA Biology Olympiad at North Hunterdon High School, Zhang has no shortage of talent and ideas. Okay, there's smart, and then there's overachieving. Maybe tone it down just a tad? "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long." But maybe it'll torch a few lanternflies in the process. |
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