Machine learning is being used to uncover the mass graves of Mexico's missing

In March of this year, a massive grave was uncovered buried beneath the soil of the coastal Mexican state of Veracruz. The grave made national headlines because it contained more than 240 skulls and corpses, the remains of disappeared people (link in Spanish). But for many, the grave's existence came as no surprise. In Mexico, a country where almost 30,000 people have gone missing due to drug-related violence since 2006, the grave was a reminder of a difficult reality: the search for missing people often begins by looking underground. Mexico is home to over 122 million people and spans more than 750,000 square miles of land.