TechKnow 112: Earthquake-proof bridges & mosquito-blocking patches

After the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge partially collapsed during an earthquake in 1989, CalTrans set out to replace it with a bridge that could withstand even the most devastating quakes. Work on the bridge is documented and explained in great detail on CalTrans' website.

The mission of ieCrowd is to identify innovations that have the potential to solve big global problems. From there they seek to scale up these solutions for the global market. Their mantra: "doing well by doing good" guides their project selection and partnerships for maximum impact.

One of ieCrowd's projects, the Kite Patch, is aimed at blocking mosquitoes' ability to track human scent. They hope to use this technology to prevent mosquito-borne diseases in developing countries.

Pilgrim Africa, whose footage is featured in this episode, is an aid organization working in Uganda on a variety of humanitarian missions ranging from agriculture and education to public health and disaster relief. As part of their fight against the spread of malaria Pilgrim has teamed up with Kite Patch makers ieCrowd to field test the new cloaking compounds where they're needed most.