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Sara Ord has 1 of the astir futuristic occupation titles around—director of taxon restoration astatine Colossal Biosciences, the world’s archetypal “de-extinction” company. Her squad is figuring retired however to crook Asian elephants into thing resembling a woolly mammoth, by adding genes for acold absorption and heavy reddish hair, successful the hopes of creating an embryo, and eventually, an animal.
While determination are nary resurrected taxon yet, of course, Ord’s occupation is truly astir an imagined future, successful which a high-tech operation of DNA technology, stem-cell research, cistron editing, and artificial wombs could pb not conscionable to the resurrection of mislaid species, but besides to the preservation of those adjacent to disappearing.
If everything goes smoothly, the institution hopes to win successful re-creating its archetypal long-extinct animal, the striped marsupial predator the thylacine, by 2025. And, conscionable similar Jurassic Park, it whitethorn crook a nett by selling tickets to spot them. Read the afloat story.
—Antonio Regalado
The US clime measure has made emanation reductions babelike connected economical success
In August, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law, the largest US clime measure successful much than a decade. In the months since, it has been enthusiastically welcomed by politicians, manufacturers, and scientists alike. But beyond enacting circumstantial measures to trim US c emissions by much than 40% by 2030, the IRA besides fundamentally reframes however the authorities approaches clime change.
Climate argumentation is present explicitly framed arsenic an economical argumentation issue, babelike connected economical argumentation occurrence successful ways that could complicate efforts to trim US c emissions, and perchance adhd to the already formidable challenges facing its home cleanable vigor industries. Read the afloat story.
By Jonas Nahm, an adjunct prof astatine the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and adept connected greenish industries.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.
1 Donald Trump has been allowed backmost onto Twitter
But helium says he’s sticking to his ain Truth Social platform. (CNBC)
+ It’s imaginable Trump whitethorn conscionable tweet links to Truth Social anyway. (NYT $)
+ Elon Musk has besides reinstated Kanye West’s account. (Bloomberg $)
+ It’s worthy noting Twitter workers connected visas can’t conscionable quit. (Motherboard)
2 Amazon is betting large connected healthcare
No large surprise, fixed that it’s 1 of America’s astir lucrative industries. (Economist $)
+ Workers successful the Alexa part haven't been truthful lucky. (Insider $)
3 FTX customers are losing anticipation they’ll get their wealth back
Some are much pessimistic than others. (WSJ $)
+ The seat of the S.E.C. is unimpressed. (NYT $)
4 Iran’s protests amusement nary signs of stopping
Women and young radical are the driving forces down the prolonged demonstrations. (Vox)
+ Big Tech could assistance Iranian protesters by utilizing an aged tool. (MIT Technology Review)
5 Weaponized robots are connected the rise
But it’s not conscionable military-grade weapons—it’s makeshift moderated commercialized robots too. (The Guardian)
+ Robots designed to prevention satellites could destruct them instead. (Bloomberg $)
+ Why concern is booming for subject AI startups. (MIT Technology Review)
6 Vertical farming needs to widen its repertoire
Vegetables and crops would beryllium much utile than salad. (Wired $)
+ Inside Singapore’s immense stake connected vertical farming. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Why supergenes are a double-edged sword
While they assistance animals and plants germinate successful unexpected ways, they could besides trigger harmful mutations. (The Atlantic $)
8 China’s reply to Instagram is successful trouble
A brutal crackdown connected China’s startups means it could person mislaid up to fractional of its implied value. (FT $)
9 Say goodbye to the leap 2nd ⏳
But not until 2035, probably. (NYT $)
10 Space junk is snowballing retired of control
But China and Japan are competing to cleanable it up. (WP $)
+ How to formed a wider nett for tracking abstraction junk. (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“I can’t adjacent punctuation Martin Luther King Jr. without having to instrumentality truthful galore precautions.”
—Kahlil Greene, a TikTok creator, criticizes the platform’s over-zealous moderation rules astir contented discussing racism and Black past to the New York Times.
The large story
Eight ways scientists are unwrapping the mysteries of the quality brain
August 2021
There is nary greater technological enigma than the brain. It’s made mostly of water; overmuch of the remainder is mostly fat. Yet this astir three-pound blob of worldly produces our thoughts, memories, and emotions. It governs however we interact with the world, and it runs our body.
Increasingly, scientists are opening to unravel the complexities of however it works and recognize however the 86 cardinal neurons successful the quality encephalon signifier the connections that nutrient ideas and feelings, arsenic good arsenic the quality to pass and react. Here’s our whistle-stop circuit of immoderate of the astir cutting-edge research—and wherefore it’s important. Read the afloat story.
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