The Download: Twitter’s user exodus, and fixing bridges

The news: In the days since Elon Musk confirmed his acquisition of Twitter connected October 27, tweeting “the vertebrate is freed,” galore Twitter users person threatened to leave. But portion radical often neglect to travel done connected threats to discontinue Twitter, caller information suggests that a important fig of users truly are abandoning the platform.

How they did it: The steadfast Bot Sentinel, which tracks behaviour connected Twitter, believes that astir 877,000 accounts were deactivated and a further 497,000 were suspended betwixt October 27 and November 1. That’s much than treble the accustomed number.

Why it matters: Anecdotal grounds from societal media suggests that radical upset with Elon Musk purchasing Twitter are pursuing done and deciding to deactivate their accounts successful protest. If they proceed to bash truthful en masse, that could travel to beryllium a important occupation for the platform—and its caller owner. Read the afloat story.

—Chris Stokel-Walker

Smartphone information from drivers could assistance spot erstwhile bridges request urgent repairs

Smartphones could beryllium utilized to show the information of bridges overmuch much rapidly and cheaply than presently possible, providing engineers with information they tin usage to hole the structures earlier they go dangerously unstable.

Usually, bridges’ authorities of repair is monitored either done ocular inspection for cracks and faults, oregon sensors collecting their vibration and question data. But a caller method developed by researchers astatine West Point Military Academy and different universities sidesteps the request for either by collecting accelerometer information from smartphones successful cars arsenic they thrust implicit bridges. Read the afloat story.

I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.

1 Shadowy algorithms are calling the shots successful Washington, DC 
And the immense bulk of residents don’t person a hint astir them, oregon however they work. (Wired $)
+ How the pandemic bolstered China’s surveillance state. (Slate)
+ Marseille’s conflict against being spied upon. (MIT Technology Review)

2 What Mark Zuckerberg has taught Elon Musk
The 1 changeless betwixt the 2 companies? Unhappy workers. (NYT $)
+ L’Oréal has paused its advertizing walk connected Twitter. (FT $)
+ Musk is attempting to spark a warfare betwixt Twitter factions. (Motherboard)
+ Here’s wherefore Twitter users should, unfortunately, hole for the worst. (The Atlantic $)

3 Republican midterm candidates are pushing Stop the Steal lies
Just due to the fact that the communicative isn’t existent doesn’t halt it from resonating. (Bloomberg $)
+ Swing voters are much almighty than ever. (NY Mag $)

4 What volition it instrumentality to modulate space? 🌌
One thing’s clear—it won’t beryllium easy. (Vox)

5 World leaders indispensable judge that they’ve failed to curb clime change
The 1.5°C Paris statement is nary longer enough—we request action, and fast. (Economist $) 
+ Scientists are questioning the sector’s biggest oversight group. (FT $)
+ We indispensable fundamentally rethink “net-zero” clime plans. (MIT Technology Review)

6 What it’s similar wrong a Chinese covid detention center 
All-night lights, strict routines, and endless dust. (FT $)
+ Vietnam wants to bargain China’s tech manufacturing crown. (Rest of World)

7 Social media wasn’t acceptable for photos of aboriginal pregnancies
But looking astatine them is indispensable for honorable termination conversations. (The Verge)
+ The cognitive dissonance of watching the extremity of Roe unfold online. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Loving the conspiracy theorist successful your beingness tin beryllium tough
Treating them with compassion tin assistance to span the divide. (The Atlantic $)
+ How to speech to conspiracy theorists—and inactive beryllium kind. (MIT Technology Review)

9 The heartbreak of a precise modern breakup
Agonizing implicit whether to artifact your ex connected Instagram conscionable prolongs the pain. (The Guardian)  

10 How to exemplary the different planets we could telephone location 🪐
The simulations are portion of the quest to find alien life. (Quanta Magazine)
+ A caller root of high-energy cosmic neutrinos has been discovered. (New Scientist $)

December 2019

A fewer years ago, Ron Srigley, a writer who teaches astatine Humber College and Laurentian University, performed an experimentation successful a doctrine people helium was teaching. His students had failed a trial alternatively badly, and helium had a hunch that their pervasive usage of compartment phones and laptops successful people was partially responsible. 

He offered them other recognition if they would springiness him their phones for 9 days and constitute astir surviving without them. Twelve students—about a 3rd of the class—took up the offer. What they wrote was remarkable, and remarkably consistent. Read the afloat story.