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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.
What fusion’s breakthrough means for cleanable energy
The news: After decades of trying, scientists person reached a milestone successful fusion research, yet moving a absorption that created much vigor than was enactment successful to commencement it. US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced connected Tuesday that researchers astatine the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory had achieved what’s known arsenic nett vigor gain, a symbolic triumph for atomic fusion research.
How they did it: In fusion reactions, whether successful a reactor oregon the halfway of a star, atoms are slammed into each different until they fuse, releasing energy. The extremity of fusion vigor is to get much vigor retired of the absorption than what’s enactment successful to energize it. The fusion absorption astatine NIF achieved it, generating 3.15 megajoules of energy, much than the 2.05 megajoules provided by lasers utilized successful the reactor.
What’s next: The beforehand demonstrates the basal viability of fusion energy, a extremity researchers person been chasing since the 1950s. But the technological experimentation is not an instantly applicable way to fusion power. Read the afloat story.
—Casey Crownhart
Neuroscientists person created a temper decoder that tin measurement depression
What’s new: Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine successful Houston, Texas accidental they’ve developed a “mood decoder”—a mode of being capable to enactment retired however idiosyncratic is feeling conscionable by looking astatine encephalon activity. They besides accidental they tin stimulate a affirmative temper utilizing electrodes implanted successful the brains of volunteers with depression.
Why it matters: Depression is simply a analyzable illness—partly due to the fact that we inactive don’t afloat recognize what’s going connected successful the encephalon erstwhile it occurs. Neuroscientists anticipation that by getting a amended thought of what’s happening wrong the brains of radical with slump symptoms, they tin marque the attraction much effective.
What’s next: The scientists progressive successful the proceedings anticipation the decoder volition assistance them to measurement however terrible a person’s slump is, and people much precisely wherever the electrodes are placed to optimize the effect connected the patient’s mood. Read the afloat story.
—Jessica Hamzelou
How to live-tweet the Cultural Revolution, 50 years later
Twitter, astatine its best, gives strangers the accidental to link due to the fact that they’re some funny successful the aforesaid random thing. Jacob Saxton, a 30-year-old logistics expert surviving successful Southampton, UK, is the brains down a peculiarly niche account: Cultural Revolution OTD 1972 (@GPCR50). The relationship pretends to live-tweet what happened during the devastating governmental question from 1966 to 1976 successful China—except, of course, it’s 50 years late.
Saxton’s tweets connection up a substance of quality events, peculiar anecdotes, humanities pretext for modern issues, oregon snippets of profound unit and tragedy. And this operation of humanities records being shared done a retroactive “live-tweeting” lens is peculiarly absorbing due to the fact that it’s being done by idiosyncratic with nary inheritance successful Chinese history. Read the afloat story.
—Zeyi Yang
This communicative is from China Report, Zeyi’s play newsletter giving you the wrong way connected each things happening successful China. Sign up to person it successful your inbox each Tuesday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.
1 How Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire crumbled
It’s becoming abundantly wide that FTX’s illness was down to deception alternatively than atrocious luck. (Vox)
+ US lawmakers are shaken —and privation answers. (WP $)
+ A justice successful the Bahamas has denied SBF bail. (Reuters)
+ Crypto speech Binance is trying to reassure its investors. (Bloomberg $)
+ FTX’s Japanese limb has promised its customers they’ll beryllium repaid wrong weeks. (Rest of World)
2 Twitter whitethorn halt paying severance to laid disconnected workers
It’d beryllium the latest utmost cost-cutting measure. (NYT $)
+ Jack Dorsey says he’s the 1 to blame, but besides defended the merchantability to Elon Musk. (Bloomberg $)
+ Musk is behaving suspiciously similar Donald Trump these days. (WP $)
3 Covid is sweeping crossed China
But there’s nary mode of knowing the existent standard of the problem. (Economist $)
+ Hospitals successful Beijing person been inundated with cases. (Nikkei Asia)
+ The US has added 31 Chinese companies to its authoritative commercialized blacklist. (Bloomberg $)
4 The US is facing a destructive wintertime storm
Tornadoes, thunderstorms and blizzards are damaging homes successful the southbound of the country. (ABC News)
+ Stitching unneurotic the grid volition prevention lives arsenic utmost upwind worsens. (MIT Technology Review)
5 Women’s symptom is ignored by doctors
A increasing fig of studies corroborate what women person been saying for a precise agelong time. (WP $)
+ The agelong travel to bring IVF to Africa. (Slate $)
6 YouTubers are making millions by licensing their aged videos
However, galore are contractually obliged to support uploading caller ones. (WSJ $)
+ YouTube has introduced a caller abusive remark checking tool. (TechCrunch)
7 Indonesia has criminalized criticizing its president online
People who autumn foul of the caller laws could look years successful jail. (Rest of World)
8 DNA phenotyping risks some radical profiling and stigmatization
Despite its evident pitfalls, it’s inactive being utilized crossed the world. (Undark Magazine)
9 We request caller ways to store our endless feline photos
Magnetic portion is inactive amazingly efficient—but adjacent that volition tally retired of abstraction 1 day. (New Scientist $)
10 Fanfiction zines are being fixed a 2nd beingness online
They were fandom pioneers, creating thing extracurricular of strictly-controlled franchises. (Motherboard)
+ What I learned from studying billions of words of online instrumentality fiction. (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“My fearfulness is that we volition presumption Sam Bankman-Fried arsenic conscionable 1 large snake successful a crypto Garden of Eden. The information is, crypto is a plot of snakes.”
—Representative Brad Sherman tells a US legislature proceeding astir his sedate misgivings astir the crypto sector, CoinTelegraph reports.
The large story
Inside the experimental satellite of carnal infrastructure
June 2022
Around the world, cities are gathering a immense assortment of structures intended to mitigate the impacts of urbanization and roadbuilding connected wildlife. The database includes greenish roofs, tree-lined skyscrapers, surviving seawalls, artificial wetlands, and each mode of shelters and “hibernacula.”
But the information connected however effectual these approaches are remains patchy and unclear. That is existent adjacent for wildlife crossings, the best-studied and astir heavy funded illustration of specified carnal infrastructure.
Though roadworthy ecologists cognize these crossings tin play a captious relation successful reducing roadkill, the communicative of their interaction connected wildlife conservation is inactive being told. Read the afloat story.
—Matthew Ponsford
We tin inactive person bully things
A spot for comfort, amusive and distraction successful these weird times. (Got immoderate ideas? Drop maine a line or tweet 'em astatine me.)
+ A gigantic grilled food sandwich is ever a bully idea.
+ I privation Roman Baths were inactive astir for america to instrumentality a relaxing dip in.
+ This scrollable map of the known universe is guaranteed to get you thinking.
+ Lose yourself successful the Museo Del Prado’s digital postulation of masterpieces, which are each escaped to download successful high-resolution.
+ If you’re nostalgic for the glory days of ‘90s TV, this simulator is simply a amusive blast from the past.
English (US) ·