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From Muthoni Ngatia's (top left) journey to becoming an economist, to the impressive collaboration that helped create Echo Show 10, to the award-winning work of the Middle Mile team, these stories are the ones readers gravitated to most often (so far).
Glynis Condon

The top stories of the first half of 2021

These 12 stories are the ones that really resonated with the Amazon Science audience in the first six months of this year.

By Staff writer
July 05, 2021
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If these stories intrigue you, be sure to see the latest papers published by Amazon scientists, take a look at the deep dives into science on our blog, and visit our conferences and events section to learn where Amazon researchers will be presenting.

The 12 most popular stories of 2021 (so far)

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The science behind an Amazon Echo feature that helped save a puppy
How acoustic event detection helps Alexa Guard understand what might warrant an alert — and what just might be a microwave beeping.
The alert that helped save the day
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Credit: AboutAmazon.com
Amazon's Middle Mile team helps packages make the journey to your doorstep
The Middle Mile team manages complexity and scale in making routing decisions across the company’s expansive transportation network.
Find out how they do it
A grid of 12 women scientists who were asked what three steps we can take as a society to forge a more gender-equal science community
Credit: Glynis Condon
How to forge a more gender-equal science community
International Women's Day was March 8 with the theme: #ChooseToChallenge. We spoke to scientists at Amazon to get their perspective.
See what these scientists had to say
Echo Show 10, Charcoal, UI.jpg
The intersection of design and science
How a team of designers, scientists, developers, and engineers worked together to create a truly unique device in Echo Show 10.
Learn more about the collaboration
Muthonia Ngatia
Courtesy of Muthoni Ngatia
How Muthoni Ngatia’s childhood in Kenya led her to a career in economics
The Amazon economist says lessons from her mother taught her a lot about how the world works, and why economics plays such a vital role.
Read her story

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Credit: F4D Studio
Amazon’s robot arms break ground in safety and technology
While these systems look like other robot arms, they embed advanced technologies that will shape Amazon's robot fleet for years to come.
Watch the robots in action

Tingting Sha Irene Song Ahmed El Saadany Amazon Science.jpg
How three science PhDs found different career paths at Amazon
Their doctoral degrees help these product managers bridge the gap between business and science.
Read their stories

Abdigani Diriye is seen giving a talk in front of a map of the African continent
Credit: Bret Hartman / TED
Abdigani Diriye named among top young African economic leaders
The Amazon research manager was included on a list of individuals 40 and younger who are projected to play a leading role in Africa’s economic future.
Find out why he was honored

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Alexa: The science must go on
“Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the Alexa team has shown incredible adaptability and grit, delivering scientific results that are already making a difference for our customers and will have long-lasting effects,” Rohit Prasad.
Read the post by Alexa's head scientist
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Credit: Todd Cheney
Graceful AI
Amazon vice president Stefano Soatto writes about the work his team is doing to making AI more "graceful", including publishing papers on backward-compatible updates to ML models and more.
Learn about the work being done
QB decision making.png
Credit: Gregory Trott/AP
How AWS scientists help create the NFL’s Next Gen Stats
In its collaboration with the NFL, AWS contributes cloud computing technology, machine learning services, business intelligence services — and, sometimes, the expertise of its scientists.
Learn how science plays a role
A picture of Aleksander Kubica
Credit: Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
The quantum gambit
How an Amazon quantum computing scientist won the first-ever quantum chess tournament.
Learn more about his unusual strategy

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