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The Next Pandemic COVID-19 Has Galvanized Tech Communities FOR THE TECHNOLOGY INSIDER | 10.20 A Special Report The Next Pandemic COVID-19 has galvanized tech communities. The tens of billions we’re spending on vaccines, antivirals, tests, robots, and devices are transforming how we will respond to future outbreaks of infectious disease. Your Qubits. Measured. Meet the next generation of quantum analyzers setting new standards for the readout of superconducting qubits. Your Benefits ∏Compact design Q1 Read out up to 64 superconducting qubits in real time: time-staggered or in parallel. ∏Efficient workflows Operate at up to 8.5 GHz in a clean bandwidth of 1 GHz, Q2 free of mixer calibration. ∏Strong performance Achieve optimal readout signal at minimal latency using matched filters and multi-state discrimination. ∏Turnkey feature set Characterize and calibrate your system quickly with fast resonator spectroscopy. Q ∏Scalable system approach 16 Shape your Zurich Instruments Quantum Computing Control System according to your requirements with our latest innovations. Zurich Contact us today Instruments www.zhinst.com CONTENTS_10.20 A robot, developed by Asimov Robotics to spread awareness about the coronavirus, holds a tray with face masks and sanitizer. P. 36 THE NEXT PANDEMIC COVID-19 HAS TAUGHT US THAT FORESIGHT AND TECH ARE A WINNING COMBINATION BY ELIZA STRICKLAND & GLENN ZORPETTE PAGE 20 24 AI TAKES ITS BEST SHOT 36 HOW ROBOTS BECAME 50 THE ULTRAVIOLET OFFENSE 60 THE RACE FOR A HERE- There are millions of molecules to sift ESSENTIAL WORKERS Germicidal UV lamps are shredding AND-NOW COVID-19 TEST through in the race for a coronavirus They disinfected hospital rooms, coronavirus in hospitals, subway Fast, high-tech, use-anywhere vaccine. AI is speeding the search by delivered medical supplies, and cars, and transportation terminals. diagnostic tests will help beat back weeding out the countless unhelpful more. Next time around, they’ll be Next time, even better ones may future pandemics. molecules to find the winners. assisting doctors. be frontline options in many more By Wudan Yan & David Schneider By Emily Waltz By Erico Guizzo & Randi Klett places. By Mark Anderson 30 THE MESS BEHIND 44 AUTOMATING ANTIVIRALS 56 THE DILEMMA OF 06 NEWS THE MODELS Can AI and automation cut drug CONTACT-TRACING APPS 12 HANDS ON Modelers who tried to predict the discovery from five years to six People will need to opt-in to this 16 CROSSTALK course of the COVID-19 pandemic months? Researchers are hopeful. crucial technology for it to be 72 PAST FORWARD learned some hard lessons. By Megan Scudellari effective. But will it protect privacy? By Matthew Hutson By Jeremy Hsu On the cover: Illustration for IEEE Spectrum by StoryTK IEEE SPECTRUM (ISSN 0018-9235) is published monthly by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2020 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., 3 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016-5997, U.S.A. Volume No. 57, Issue No. 10. The editorial content of IEEE Spectrum magazine does not represent official positions of the IEEE or its organizational units. Canadian Post International Publications Mail (Canadian Distribution) Sales Agreement No. 40013087. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Circulation Department, IEEE Spectrum, Box 1051, Fort Erie, ON L2A 6C7. Cable address: ITRIPLEE. Fax: +1 212 419 7570. INTERNET: [email protected]. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS: IEEE Members: $49.95 included in dues. Libraries/institutions: $399. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to IEEE Spectrum, c/o Coding Department, IEEE Service Center, 445 Hoes Lane, Box 1331, Piscataway, NJ 08855. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Canadian GST #125634188. Printed at 120 Donnelley Dr., Glasgow, KY 42141-1060, U.S.A. IEEE Spectrum circulation is audited by BPA Worldwide. IEEE Spectrum is a member of the Association of Business Information & Media Companies, the Association of Magazine Media, and Association Media & Publishing. IEEE prohibits discrimination, harassment, and bullying. For more information, visit https:// www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/whatis/policies/p9-26.html. SIVARAM V/REUTERS SIVARAM SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG | OCT 2020 | 01 BACK STORY TAP. CONNECT. NETWORK. PURSUING THE PANDEMIC SHARE. Connect to IEEE– iny robots that move through blood vessels. no matter where you Brain implants that translate thoughts into text. Artificial are–with the IEEE App. intelligence tools that diagnose disease. It takes a special kind of journalist to cover such topics, somebody who Stay up-to-date understands both cutting-edge technology and the messy with the latest news biology of the human body. In 2016, when IEEE Spectrum launched its biomedical engineering blog, The Human OS, Schedule, manage, T we took great pains to find two reporters who could handle or join meetups it all. Megan Scudellari [left], based in Boston, and Emily Waltz, based virtually in Nashville, have been mainstays of the blog since its inception. Get geo and And when the coronavirus pandemic became the biggest story interest-based in the world earlier this year, Scudellari and Waltz were ready. At recommendations the start, they gave Spectrum readers urgently needed reports on epidemiological tools used to track the virus’s spread, new testing Read and download technologies, and efforts to use AI to identify drug treatments. As the your IEEE magazines pandemic has progressed, they’ve continued to follow the evolving Create a personalized story. In recent months, they’ve covered technologies that make it experience safer for people to venture out and for businesses to reopen, such as contact tracing apps and wearable biometric sensors. Locate IEEE members For this special issue on the engineering world’s response to by location, interests, COVID-19 and its preparations for the next pandemic, Waltz writes and affiliations about AI tools used in vaccine design [p. 24], and Scudellari dives into the high-tech quest for antiviral treatments [p. 44]. Reporting during the pandemic hasn’t been easy, the two writers say. “The No. 1 challenge was access,” says Waltz. Previously accessible researchers suddenly became very hard to reach, she says, both because of their increased workloads and because other media outlets were competing for their time. “Suddenly Vogue was interested in science and trying to track down the same scientists,” Waltz says. Still, Scudellari says, the pandemic has underscored the need for strong science journalism. She takes it as her mission “to clearly share the most up-to-date, accurate information so people can make choices now and prepare for the future. I’ve never felt more that our job really matters,” she says. ■ RYAN SCUDELLARI; RIGHT: MICHAEL SHAPLAND MICHAEL RIGHT: SCUDELLARI; RYAN 10.20 LEFT: LEFT: 02 | OCT 2020 | SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG CONTRIBUTORS EDITOR IN CHIEF Susan Hassler, [email protected] ADVERTISING PRODUCTION +1 732 562 6334 EXECUTIVE EDITOR Glenn Zorpette, [email protected] ADVERTISING PRODUCTION MANAGER EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, DIGITAL Felicia Spagnoli, [email protected] Richard Brewster Harry Goldstein, [email protected] SENIOR ADVERTISING PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Brewster is a former nuclear power engineer MANAGING EDITOR Elizabeth A. Bretz, [email protected] Nicole Evans Gyimah, [email protected] who served until recently as project engineer on SENIOR ART DIRECTOR EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD, IEEE SPECTRUM the hospital ship Global Mercy. In this issue, he Mark Montgomery, [email protected] Susan Hassler, Chair; David C. Brock, Ronald F. DeMara, writes about a World War II handheld radio, the SENIOR EDITORS Shahin Farshchi, Lawrence O. Hall, Jason K. Hui, Stephen Cass, [email protected] Leah Jamieson, Mary Lou Jepsen, Deepa Kundur, SCR-536 [p. 72], that prefigured today’s walkie- Erico Guizzo (Digital), [email protected] Gianluca Lazzi, Allison Marsh, Carmen Menoni, Sofia Olhede, talkies. Brewster has long had an interest in early Jean Kumagai, [email protected] Maurizio Vecchione, Edward Zyszkowski radio, television, and electronics. For the June Samuel K. Moore, [email protected] 2018 issue of IEEE Spectrum, he described how EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD, THE INSTITUTE Tekla S. Perry, [email protected] Kathy Pretz, Chair; Qusi Alqarqaz, Philip Chen, Roberto Graglia, he re-created the first flip-flop, in celebration of Philip E. Ross, [email protected] Shashank Gaur, Susan Hassler, Cecilia Metra, San Murugesan, that circuit’s 100th anniversary. David Schneider, [email protected] Mirela Sechi Annoni Notare, Tapan K. Sarkar, Joel Trussell, Eliza Strickland, [email protected] Hon K. Tsang, Chonggang Wang DEPUTY ART DIRECTOR Brandon Palacio, [email protected] MANAGING DIRECTOR, PUBLICATIONS Steven Heffner PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Randi Klett, [email protected] Matthew Hutson ONLINE ART DIRECTOR Erik Vrielink, [email protected] EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE ASSOCIATE EDITORS IEEE Spectrum, 3 Park Ave., 17th Floor, Hutson, a New York City–based freelance journalist, Willie D. Jones (Digital), [email protected] New York, NY 10016-5997 reports in this issue on the epidemiological models Michael Koziol, [email protected] TEL: +1 212 419 7555 FAX: +1 212 419 7570 that forecast the coronavirus’s spread [“The SENIOR COPY EDITOR Joseph N. Levine, [email protected] BUREAU Palo Alto, Calif.; Tekla S. Perry +1 650 752 6661 Mess Behind the Models,” p. 30]. He learned that COPY EDITOR Michele Kogon, [email protected] DIRECTOR, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, modelers had pulled every tool off their shelves. He EDITORIAL RESEARCHER Alan Gardner, [email protected] MEDIA & ADVERTISING Mark David, [email protected] gained new respect for agent-based models that use ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT ADVERTISING INQUIRIES Naylor Association Solutions, artificial intelligence to create virtual worlds and Ramona L. Foster, [email protected] Erik Henson +1 352 333 3443, [email protected] then let the pandemic unfold in simulation. “It’s CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Evan Ackerman, Mark Anderson, REPRINT SALES +1 212 221 9595, ext. 319 interesting trying to model something as complex Robert N.
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