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This is today's variation of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a regular dose of what's going connected successful the satellite of technology.
Our favourite stories of 2022
We similar to deliberation we’ve had a large twelvemonth present astatine MIT Technology Review. Our stories person won galore awards (this story from our mag won Gold successful the AAAS awards) and our investigations person helped shed airy connected unjust policies.
So this twelvemonth we asked our writers and editors to comb backmost done the past 12 months and effort to prime conscionable 1 communicative that they loved the most—and past archer america why. This is what they said.
What’s adjacent for AI
In 2022, AI got creative. AI models tin present nutrient remarkably convincing pieces of text, pictures, and adjacent videos, with conscionable a small prompting. It’s lone been 9 months since OpenAI acceptable disconnected the generative AI detonation with the motorboat of DALL-E 2, a deep-learning exemplary that tin nutrient images from substance instructions. That was followed by a breakthrough from Google and Meta: AIs that tin nutrient videos from text. And it’s lone been a fewer weeks since OpenAI released ChatGPT, the latest ample connection exemplary to acceptable the net ablaze with its astonishing eloquence and coherence.
The gait of innovation this twelvemonth has been remarkable—and astatine times overwhelming. Who could person seen it coming? And however tin we foretell what’s next?
Our in-house experts Will Douglas Heaven and Melissa Heikkilä archer america the 4 biggest trends they expect to signifier the AI scenery successful 2023. Read the afloat story
Brain stimulation mightiness beryllium much invasive than we think
Today, determination are tons of neurotechnologies that tin work what’s going connected successful our brains, modify the mode they function, and alteration the wiring. Deep encephalon stimulation, for example, involves implanting electrodes heavy into the encephalon to stimulate neurons and power the mode encephalon regions fire. It’s considered beauteous invasive, successful the aesculapian sense.
Other treatments, specified arsenic transcranial magnetic stimulation, which involves passing a instrumentality shaped similar a fig 8 implicit a person’s caput to present a magnetic pulse to parts of the encephalon and to interfere with its activity, are considered “noninvasive” due to the fact that they enactment from extracurricular the brain. But if we tin scope into a person’s mind, adjacent without piercing the skull, however noninvasive is the exertion really? Read the afloat story.
—Jessica Hamzelou
Jessica’s communicative is from The Checkup, her play newsletter covering everything worthy knowing successful biotech. Sign up to person it successful your inbox each Thursday.
Podcast: the aboriginal of farming lies successful space
AI is utilized successful agriculture to precisely people weeds and optimize irrigation practices. It’s besides being utilized successful ways you mightiness not expect, similar for tracking the wellness of cattle pastures—from space. We question from trial farms to orchards successful the archetypal of a two-part bid connected agriculture, AI, and satellites.
Listen connected Apple Podcasts oregon wherever you usually get your podcasts.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.
1 Sam Bankman-Fried has been released connected $250 cardinal bail
He’s facing location detention portion helium awaits trial. (BBC)
+ It’s 1 of the largest bails successful US history. (Bloomberg $)
+ Crypto Twitter is not impressed by his cushy conditions. (CoinTelegraph)
2 A terrible tempest is forcing US airlines to cancel flights
+ Disrupting Christmas question left, right, and center. (WSJ $)
+ It’s owed to expanse crossed astir of the US and into Canada. (Wired $)
3 We don’t cognize however effectual nasal covid vaccines are
And due to the fact that we’re not collecting the close benignant of data, we whitethorn ne'er know. (The Atlantic $)
+ Two inhaled covid vaccines person been approved—but we don’t cognize yet however bully they are. (MIT Technology Review)
+ Life expectancy successful the US has fallen again. (Axios)
4 Twitter is starting to amusement however galore radical person seen your tweets
It’s yet different of Elon Musk’s wheezes. (TechCrunch)
+ Twitter looks similar it’s crumbling close now. (The Atlantic $)
+ We’re witnessing the encephalon decease of Twitter. (MIT Technology Review)
5 ByteDance has been tracking journalists
Its unit improperly gained entree to their IP addresses to effort and enactment retired if they’d crossed paths with ByteDance workers. (Forbes)
+ After each that, the institution failed to find immoderate leaks. (FT $)
+ TikTok is desperately trying to curry favour successful the US. (Reuters)
6 NFTs are astatine a crossroads
Their worth has plummeted, but evangelists are refusing to springiness up. (Wired $)
+ Some of the crypto faithful are trying to instrumentality their losses connected the chin. (Vice)
7 Immigrant tech workers who’ve been laid disconnected are caught successful limbo
Losing their jobs means their families are besides incapable to work, leaving galore with nary prime but to permission the US. (The Guardian)
+ For this startup founder, his concern going bust came arsenic a spot of a relief. (The Information $)
8 This has been a landmark twelvemonth for EVs
They’re not conscionable synonymous with Tesla immoderate more. (Vox)
+ Why EVs won’t regenerate hybrid cars anytime soon. (MIT Technology Review)
9 Japan’s abstraction bureau is sending a toy-like rover to the moon
The cute shot is designed by fashionable toymaker Tomy. (New Yorker $)
+ The Perseverance rover has dropped disconnected its archetypal illustration tube. (The Register)
10 We’re surviving done the archetypal ever BeReal Christmas ⚠️
Unfortunately, originality is vanishingly rare. (Vice)
Quote of the day
“Against each odds, and doom and gloom scenarios, Ukraine didn’t fall. Ukraine is live and kicking.”
—Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledgment the US Congress for its fiscal enactment of Ukraine and its radical 10 months aft Russia invaded, CNN reports.
The large story
Startups are racing to reproduce bosom beverage successful the lab
December 2020
Like galore mothers, Leila Strickland recovered breastfeeding difficult. She struggled to provender her son, and 3 years later, her daughter, and spent each day, each day, nursing oregon pumping to stimulate her beverage flow.
Strickland, a prof of vascular physiology astatine Maastricht University successful the Netherlands, began reasoning astir however she mightiness beryllium capable to usage a process similar that pioneered by Dutch nutrient exertion institution Mosa Meat to make artificial beef, but for cells that nutrient bosom milk.
For years she struggled to support the task funded, and she came adjacent to abandoning the idea. But successful May 2020, Biomilq, a institution she had founded, received $3.5 cardinal from a radical of investors led by Bill Gates. Biomilq is present successful a contention with competitors to shingle up the satellite of babe nutrition successful a mode not seen since the commencement of the present $42 cardinal look industry. Read the afloat story.
English (US) ·