If you’re interested in both trees and technology, here’s a couple fascinating articles on how we are getting to better understand the makeup of the world’s forest cover:

An analysis of satellite images has pinpointed individual tree canopies over a large area of West Africa. The data suggest that it will soon be possible, with certain limitations, to map the location and size of every tree worldwide. Read full article.

Using robotic tools to automate forestry and reduce risk for human workers, Treeswift uses swarms of autonomous, flying robots equipped with LiDAR sensors to monitor, inventory, and map timberland. The drones collect images of the land and render them into 3-D maps that can be analyzed for precise, quantifiable measurements of a given forest’s biomass. Read full article.