They range from the simple to the astounding, the familiar to the science fictional. Sensors are all around us, capturing information and turning it into something else: an electrical signal, the basis for a decision, a diagnosis, a warning.
Sensors are hardly a new technological phenomenon, but their portability and connectedness, their newfound capacity to feed the cloud of global information is set to revolutionize many of the tasks and challenges that define global development — and they could reshape the way we collect, share and use information about ourselves and our environments.
A sensor can be as simple as a thermometer, converting temperature changes into numbered mercury readings that help people understand and track their environmental conditions. Sensors can also detect and report on pressure, humidity, vibrations, blood glucose levels and a wide variety of other things that characterize the world, or worlds, that we live in, from the very small to the very large and everything in between.
About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
