How can discarded cell phone batteries lead to a dramatic reduction in child mortality? Funny, we asked ourselves the same question.

There are places where thousands of children won’t live to the age of five. There are places where thousands of cell phone batteries are thrown away every day. And there are scientists who by asking the right questions found a life-saving link between the two. Reusing discarded cell phone batteries, we created affordable and effective solar-powered pulse oximeters for early detection of pneumonia. It’s looking at challenges in new ways like this that has made Boston University one of today’s leading centers of knowledge. And why thinking differently about our world begins with BU.