The Download: tech help for herders, and bacteria clean-ups

Herding-- one of humanity's most foundational ways of life--is a pillar of survival in West Africa's Sahel. Migratory herders usher cattle between seasonal pastures, since they rarely own land. However, these traditional ways of doing things are becoming increasingly impossible, thanks to a complex mix of climate change, politics and war. In more recent years, various Western players touting tech trends like artificial intelligence and predictive analysis have swooped in with promises to solve the region's myriad problems. But some think there could be a much simpler solution, that puts real data directly into the herders' hands. Recent advances in data collection--both from geosatellites and from herders themselves--have generated an abundance of information on ground cover quantity and quality, water availability, rain forecasts, livestock concentrations, and more.