2 years ago
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We’re going backmost to the moon—again—in 2023. Multiple uncrewed landings are planned for the adjacent 12 months, spurred connected by a renewed effort successful the US to instrumentality humans to the lunar aboveground aboriginal this decade. Both backstage abstraction companies and nationalist agencies are acceptable to marque the 240,000-mile trek to our celestial neighbor, wherever they volition trial landing capabilities, look for usable h2o ice, and more.
That’s not each 2023 has successful store. We’re besides apt to spot important strides made successful backstage quality spaceflight, including the first-ever commercialized spacewalk, compelling missions heading retired into—or backmost from—other star strategy destinations, and caller rockets acceptable to instrumentality flight. Here’s what the adjacent twelvemonth has lined up for space. Read the afloat story.
—Jonathan O'Callaghan
Why EVs won’t regenerate hybrid cars anytime soon
The extremity could beryllium coming soon for cars arsenic we cognize them. If we’re going to bounds planetary warming to 1.5 °C by 2050, arsenic acceptable retired successful the 2015 planetary Paris clime agreement, gas-powered vehicles volition request to beryllium mostly disconnected the roadworthy by then.
But portion immoderate carmakers including GM and Volvo person enthusiastically embraced an all-electric future, others are continuing to merchandise hybrid vehicles. Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, plans to support selling hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicles, declaring the US people of making EVs scope fractional of caller car income by 2030 a “tough ask.”
Although income of electrical vehicles person grown rapidly implicit the past fewer years, the occupation lies successful easing US consumers’ fears astir EV charging and range—the aforesaid concerns that person made them much receptive to plug-in hybrids. Read the afloat story.
—Casey Crownhart
The US Postal Service is yet getting EVs
The US Postal Service is yet going electric. The USPS announced this week that it plans to get astatine slightest 66,000 electrical transportation vehicles betwixt present and 2028, and each purchases aft 2026 volition beryllium EVs. In total, the bureau volition put astir $10 cardinal to electrify its fleet.
But it’s been acold from a creaseless road, involving changeless criticism, a strongly-worded missive from the Environmental Protection Agency, a statesmanlike plea, and adjacent a suit from 16 states. Read the afloat story.
—Casey Crownhart
Casey’s communicative is from The Spark, her play newsletter giving you the wrong way connected each things clime and energy. Sign up to person it successful your inbox each Wednesday.
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’s apical associates person pleaded blameworthy to fraud
They’ve agreed to cooperate successful his prosecution. (NYT $)
+ Here are immoderate of the charges the US authorities person made against the pair. (Bloomberg $)
+ “Ethical crusader” Vikram Akula engaged successful immoderate likewise dodgy practices implicit a decennary ago. (Wired $)
2 Elon Musk claims his cost-cutting has saved Twitter from bankruptcy
Others mightiness reason it’s lone hastened the company’s demise. (FT $)
+ The evident prime for caller Twitter CEO is among the radical he’s laid off. (New Yorker $)
3 It’s been a record-breaking twelvemonth for the climate
But large US authorities could pave the mode to a brighter future. (New Yorker $)
+ Why biodiversity is simply a cardinal measurement of clime change’s effects. (Economist $)
+ 2023 is the twelvemonth we’ll spot if business’s clime commitments are genuine oregon greenwashing. (Wired $)
+ These 3 charts amusement who is astir to blasted for clime change. (MIT Technology Review)
4 Gene therapy has restored 10 children’s immune systems
The patients, who were calved without moving immune systems, mightiness present beryllium capable to unrecorded mean lives. (New Scientist $)
+ This household raised millions to get experimental cistron therapy for their children. (MIT Technology Review)
5 The contention to stock the James Webb Space Telescope’s archetypal pictures
NASA scientists had a strict deadline to meet, and nary country for error. (Inverse)
6 Sextortion scammers successful India are ruining victims’ lives
This is simply a peek wrong a growing, horrifying industry. (Rest of World)
7 Your days of sharing Netflix passwords are numbered
Netflix’s crackdown connected relationship sharing is improbable to beryllium popular. (WSJ $)
+ Sharing passwords is against the instrumentality successful the UK, its authorities says. (BBC)
8 How meme stocks stopped being funny
Turns retired that investing based connected vibes and jokes doesn’t ever wage off. (Vox)
9 Grandmas connected TikTok are charming younger generations
It’s striking a peculiar chord among those seeking homely, elder contented successful the tally up to Christmas. (The Atlantic $)
+ Why those “day successful my life” videos are truthful addictive. (Vox)
10 We’re obsessed with trying to property much healthily
But promising drugs are astatine a hazard of becoming overhyped. (Knowable Magazine)
+ How scientists privation to marque you young again. (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“He’s banjaxed the gross by being a dick.”
—Bruce Daisley, Twitter’s erstwhile European vice-president, criticizes Elon Musk’s unorthodox absorption benignant and its effects connected the company’s finances to inews.
The large story
Yann LeCun has a bold caller imaginativeness for the aboriginal of AI
June 2022
Around a twelvemonth and a fractional ago, Yann LeCun realized helium had it wrong.
LeCun, who is main idiosyncratic astatine Meta’s AI laboratory and a prof astatine New York University, is 1 of the astir influential AI researchers successful the world. He had been trying to springiness machines a basal grasp of however the satellite works—a benignant of communal sense—by grooming neural networks to foretell what was going to hap adjacent successful video clips of mundane events. But guessing aboriginal frames of a video pixel by pixel was conscionable excessively complex. He deed a wall.
Now, aft months figuring retired what was missing, helium has a bold caller imaginativeness for the adjacent procreation of AI, which helium thinks volition 1 time springiness machines the communal consciousness they request to navigate the world. But his imaginativeness is acold from comprehensive; indeed, it whitethorn rise much questions than it answers. Read the afloat story.
—Melissa Heikkilä & Will Douglas Heaven
English (US) ·