1 year ago
130 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.
Three-parent babe method could make babies astatine hazard of terrible disease
When the archetypal babe calved utilizing a arguable process that meant helium had 3 familial parents was calved backmost successful 2016, it made headlines. The babe lad inherited astir of his DNA from his parent and father, but helium besides had a tiny magnitude from a 3rd person.
The thought was to debar having the babe inherit a fatal illness. His parent carried genes for a illness successful her mitochondria. Swapping these with genes from a donor—a 3rd familial parent—could forestall the babe from processing it. The strategy seemed to work.
But it mightiness not ever beryllium successful. MIT Technology Review tin uncover 2 cases successful which babies conceived with the process person shown what scientists telephone “reversion.” In some cases, the proportionality of mitochondrial genes from the child’s parent has accrued implicit time, from little than 1% successful some embryos to astir 50% successful 1 babe and 72% successful another.
Fortunately, some babies were calved to parents without genes for mitochondrial disease. But the scientists down the enactment judge that astir 1 successful 5 babies calved utilizing the three-parent method could yet inherit precocious levels of their mothers’ mitochondrial genes.
For babies calved to radical with disease-causing mutations, this could spell disaster—leaving them with devastating and perchance fatal illness. Read the afloat story.
—Jessica Hamzelou
Researchers launched a star geoengineering trial formation successful the UK past year
Last September, researchers successful the UK launched a high-altitude upwind balloon that released a fewer 100 grams of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, a imaginable technological archetypal successful the star geoengineering field, MIT Technology Review tin reveal.
In theory, spraying sulfur dioxide successful the stratosphere could mimic a cooling effect that occurs successful the aftermath of large volcanic eruptions, reflecting much sunlight into abstraction successful a bid to easiness planetary warming. It’s highly arguable fixed concerns astir imaginable unintended consequences, among different issues.
But the UK effort was not a geoengineering experiment. Rather, the stated extremity was to measure a low-cost, controllable, recoverable balloon system. And immoderate are acrophobic that the effort went up without broader nationalist disclosures and engagement successful advance. Read the afloat story.
—James Temple
The 11th Breakthrough Technology of 2023 takes flight
It’s official—after implicit a period of unfastened voting, hydrogen planes are the readers’ prime for the 11th point connected our 2023 database of Breakthrough Technologies!
It conscionable truthful happens there’s besides immoderate breathtaking quality astir hydrogen planes this week. Startup Universal Hydrogen is readying a trial formation today. If each goes according to plan, it’ll beryllium the largest craft yet to alert powered by hydrogen substance cells.
But adjacent if the trial formation is successful, there’s a agelong roadworthy up earlier cargo oregon passengers volition ascent aboard a hydrogen-powered plane. Read the afloat story.
—Casey Crownhart
Casey’s communicative is from The Spark, her play clime alteration and vigor newsletter. Sign up to person it successful your inbox each Wednesday.
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The must-reads
I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.
1 OpenAI wants to marque AI smarter than humans
Rushing to physique specified models doesn’t precisely capable ethicists with confidence, though. (Vox)
+ AI-powered hunt is getting truly messy. (Slate $)
+ Chatbots aren’t human, and we’d bash good to retrieve that. (NY Mag $)
+ OpenAI could bash with a spot little hype, according to enforcement Mira Murati. (Fast Company $)
+ How to create, release, and stock generative AI responsibly. (MIT Technology Review)
2 The hunt for greener graphite is on
It’s indispensable for EV batteries, and supplies are moving low. (Economist $)
+ A colony successful India has been caught successful the crosshairs of a lithium mining boom. (Wired $)
3 Twitter is being stretched to breaking point
It’s moving connected a skeleton staff, and glitches and outages support cropping up. (WSJ $)
+ It suffered a large outage conscionable yesterday. (BBC)
+ Twitter’s becoming a earnestly boring spot to be. (FT $)
+ What happened to Elon Musk’s program to crook it into an “everything app”? (Ars Technica)
+ Here’s however a Twitter technologist says it volition break. (MIT Technology Review)
4 NASA’s SpaceX unit is connected its mode to the ISS
They’re expected to walk a afloat twelvemonth successful orbit. (CBS News)
5 Psychedelics are being trialed arsenic a attraction for anorexia
Scientists are cautiously funny successful however breaking from world could payment patients. (FT $)
+ The UK has opened its archetypal psychedelic therapy clinic. (Vice)
+ Psychedelics are having a infinitesimal and women could beryllium the ones to benefit. (MIT Technology Review)
6 TikTok’s surface clip bounds for teens is easy circumvented
But the institution insists it’s inactive a meaningful intervention. (NPR)
7 Turkey has unopen down its astir fashionable societal platform
Residents had utilized Ekşi Sözlük to signifier alleviation successful the aftermath of the earthquakes. (The Guardian)
8 How greenwashing yet fell retired of manner 🍃
Financial regularisation is going to marque it a full batch harder to get distant with. (The Atlantic $)
9 What AI creation tin thatch america astir existent art
There are nary memories oregon lived acquisition down AI pictures, for one. (New Yorker $)
+ This creator is dominating AI-generated art. And he’s not blessed astir it. (MIT Technology Review)
10 How the Xerox Alto changed the satellite 💻
The 50-year aged machine paved the mode for modern laptops. (IEEE Spectrum)
Quote of the day
"If you enjoyed your ride, delight don't hide to springiness america 5 stars."
—A SpaceX ngo power manager jokes astir with the unit onboard the Falcon 9 rocket en way to the International Space Station, Reuters reports.
The large story
We’re getting a amended thought of AI’s existent c footprint
November 2022
Large connection models person a soiled secret: they necessitate immense amounts of vigor to bid and run. But it’s inactive a spot of a enigma precisely however large these models’ c footprints truly are. But AI startup Hugging Face believes it’s travel up with a new, much close mode to cipher it.
The startup’s enactment could beryllium a measurement toward much realistic information from tech companies astir the c footprint of their AI product—and comes astatine a clip erstwhile experts are calling for the assemblage to bash a amended occupation of evaluating AI’s biology impact. Read the afloat story.
—Melissa Heikkilä
We tin inactive person bully things
A spot for comfort, amusive and distraction successful these weird times. (Got immoderate ideas? Drop maine a line oregon tweet 'em astatine me.)
+ Tidycore is 1 TikTok inclination that sounds rewarding, if exhausting.
+ Giant armadillos are earnestly cute—and earnestly endangered.
+ This is truthful heartwarming: Turkey’s baklava makers are backmost successful concern aft the devastating earthquake.
+ I emotion these recipes for entertaining astatine home: marque excavation a horseradish vodka bloody mary.
+ The net has a batch of Thoughts astir the recently announced Lord of the Rings movies.
