When a disaster strikes, humanitarian agencies (人道主义机构) like The World Food Programme (WFP) need information more than anything else. They need a clear picture of the damage to roads and bridges, for example, to be able to take quick action.

WFP has published a picture of damage to the epicenter (震中) of the earthquake which struck Haiti. The picture, which has been produced in the form of a satellite-based map, shows great damage to the epicenter, where 90% of the buildings were destroyed. In the map, one pixel (像素) stands for half a meter of land. That's a very close look of how things are on the ground. It helped rescue teams a lot.

WFP's Emergency Preparedness and Response Branch produced a series of clear maps showing the damage of Haiti. The maps have been produced in partnership with a research and development institute called In formation Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperati on and Action (ITHACA). The organization was set up years ago especially to work with WFP in bringing developments of satellite technology into its response to disasters. Just a few years ago, this would have meant having to wait for helicopters to overfly areas and for human beings to physically see the damage. The satellites which operate around high above our heads are of great help. They are able to see through clouds, which is helpful when weather conditions prevent the use of optical instruments(光学仪器) .

Now both WFP and ITHACA have teams working around the clock to make use of more new technologies to help people actively deal with natural disasters. “Deaths and injuries from natural disasters can be reduced if the disaster can be predicted. Several disaster prediction technologies have been developed over the years. We are also working hard to provide a more effective instrument to predict natural disasters,” said Riccardo Roscelli, president of ITHACA.

Artificial intelligence is set to advise a defendant in court for the first time ever. The AI will run on a smartphone and listen to all speech in a courtroom before instructing the defendant on what to say via an earpiece.

The defendant is charged with speeding and will say only what DoNotPay’s tool tells them to via an earbud. The case is being considered as a test by the firm, which has agreed to pay if any fines are imposed, says its founder, Joshua Browder.

Browder says it took a long time to train the AI on the vast amounts of case law needed to make it useful. The AI had to be trained to stick to factual statements, rather than saying whatever it could to win a case regardless of the truth.

“We’re trying to minimize our legal liability,” says Browder. “And it’s not good if it actually twists facts and is too controlling.” He says his goal is that the software will eventually replace some lawyers. “It’s all about language, and that’s what lawyers charge hundreds or thousands of dollars an hour to do,” he says. “A lot of lawyers are just charging too much money to copy and paste documents.”

But when New Scientist asked the UK Ministry of Justice if such a trial would be legal, a spokesperson says, “We wouldn’t be able to say whether it was 100 percent legal or not until an application was made to carry out the system and our lawyers made a decision.”

Brown says that AI will probably play a useful role in the legal system in the future but that it would be likely to assist lawyers rather than replace them.

“When your lawyer tells you “OK, let’s do A”, we trust them that they have the expertise and the knowledge to advise us. But (with AI), it’s very hard to trust predictions. We’re quite far off being able to do these things reliably and get rid of lawyers. We have to be very careful of making such claims.”

A UK national travel survey found that adults with mobility difficulties (行动不便) took 39% fewer trips than those with no disability in 2017. Yet that could change as devices and cities grow smarter.

A startup called Scewo has built a wheelchair that has special tracks for climbing stairs. Jose Di Felice, who couldn’t walk, asked a test drive and soon after he was climbing the steps of the local town hall in a wheelchair. “It is really emotional to go up these stairs, and look down there and say that it’s possible,” he says. “We cannot wait on having all these ramps (坡道) built,” Bernhard Winter, the CEO and founder of Scewo, says of urban mobility. “This is why we develop this product, and it gives you back mobility and freedom.”

Wearable technology is developing fast. Zurich-based startup MyoSwiss has developed a suit which makes use of robotics. The robotic clothing can support the movements of people with mobility difficulties. It uses sensors to discover movements the user wants to make and helps accordingly. “It’s for people who can still walk to some degree but maybe struggle to get up from a chair or struggle to go upstairs,” says Jamie Duarte, CEO of MyoSwiss. This year the MyoSuit enabled two people with mobility limitations to take part in the Zurich marathon.

Another technology that could transform lives is a smart walking stick designed by engineers from Young Guru Academy in Turkey. The WeWalk stick has a sensor that can find obstacles (障碍物) and use vibrations (震动) to warn the user. It can be paired with a smartphone, and is working with a voice reminder and Google Maps.

WeWalk’s CEO Kursat Ceylan, who has been blind since birth, says that connecting the stick to the Internet of Things and smart city solutions makes it user-friendly. “As a blind person, when I am at a station I don’t know which is my exit. That information can be provided with the WeWalk,” he says.

“These will make a huge difference to some people,” says Anna Lawson of the University of Leeds. “But they are very expensive. They’re not going to be available to the huge majority of disabled people,” she added. But anything that helps people navigate their environment is positive. “By making disabled people more visible (看得见的) and more mainstream, you raise more possibility of understanding,” says Bryan Matthews, a lecturer of the University of Leeds.