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The US Navy is moving connected ways to build, deploy, and power thousands of tiny drones that are capable to flock unneurotic to overwhelm anti-aircraft defenses with sheer numbers, fund documents reveal.
The struggle successful Ukraine has proved the worthy of tiny drones, which person carried retired reconnaissance, guided artillery fire, and destroyed tanks. Such drones are presently constricted by the information that each 1 needs its ain operator. In a swarm, however, hundreds oregon thousands of drones are controlled arsenic a azygous unit.
Many nations are moving connected specified swarms, including China, Russia, India, the UK, Turkey, and Israel, which successful 2021 became the archetypal federation to usage swarming drones successful combat. But the US Navy has ever been a person successful this field, and the fund documents that MIT Technology Review has work uncover ambitious plans for swarms vastly bigger than thing yet seen. Read the afloat story.
—David Hambling
Inside the enigmatic minds of animals
More than ever, we consciousness a work and tendency to widen empathy to our nonhuman neighbors. In the past 3 years, much than 30 countries person formally recognized different animals—including gorillas, lobsters, crows, and octopuses—as sentient beings.
A trio of caller books from Ed Yong, Jackie Higgins, and Philip Ball, item creatures’ affluent interior worlds and seizure what has led to these developments: a booming tract of experimental probe challenging the long-standing presumption that animals are neither conscious nor cognitively complex.
But though each 3 assemble troves of fascinating probe that provides windows into the lives of animals, we’re near asking however adjacent we truly are to bridging the taxon divide. Read the afloat story.
—Matthew Ponsford
This portion is from our forthcoming mortality-themed issue, launching this Wednesday. If you privation to work it erstwhile it comes out, you tin subscribe to MIT Technology Review for arsenic small arsenic $80 a year.
In past Friday’s contented of The Download, we included the incorrect nexus to a fascinating portion connected reverse-engineering Starlink signals truthful that they signifier a navigation strategy akin to GPS. Read the afloat story connected wherefore it’s happening—whether SpaceX likes it oregon not.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.
1 Donald Trump is looming implicit the US midterms
Whether helium volition tally for predetermination successful 2024 oregon not is inactive up successful the air. (FT $)
+ Social media is rife with ads containing voting misinfo. (CNN)
+ How effectual are platforms’ midterm misinfo prevention policies? (Fast Company $)
+ There’s inactive plentifulness of clip for immoderate chaotic midterm twists and turns. (NY Mag $)
2 Xi Jinping has secured a historical 3rd word successful power
His triumph makes it apt he’ll pb China’s Communist Party for astatine slightest different decade. (BBC)
+ China’s tech stocks dropped sharply aft the news. (CNBC)
+ Xi has surrounded himself with men improbable to question his authority. (The Guardian)
+ How powerfulness transferred from Mao to Xi. (WP $)
+ Li Qiang is an antithetic prime for Xi’s right-hand man. (Vox)
3 England wants to eradicate caller HIV cases by 2030
New treatments volition assistance to code healthcare disparity crossed the country. (The Guardian)
4 The Argentine influencer who traded luxury for guerilla philanthropy
Santiago Maratea’s cross-party calls to enactment person made him the scourge of politicians. (Rest of World)
5 Crypto’s biggest governmental megadonor is an enigma
But we cognize he’s a dedicated follower of “effective altruism.” (The Atlantic $)
+ Inside effectual altruism, wherever the acold aboriginal counts a batch much than the present. (MIT Technology Review)
6 Why are determination truthful galore nutrient allergies these days? 🍞
Our obsession with hygiene whitethorn person thing to bash with it. (Vox)
7 TikTok’s biggest stars are much susceptible than ever
Going viral perpetually tin instrumentality a existent toll connected a creators’ intelligence health. (WP $)
+ All of TikTok’s successes tin beryllium traced backmost to its algorithm. (The Guardian)
+ How aspiring influencers are forced to combat the algorithm. (MIT Technology Review)
8 Steve Jobs is inactive curating his ain legacy
More than a decennary aft his death. (NYT $)
+ It was Bono’s thought to inflict U2’s 13th medium connected Apple users backmost successful 2014. (The Guardian)
9 Record labels aren’t blessed astir AI euphony generators
They’re acrophobic it could airs a menace to artists’ livelihood. (Motherboard)
+ This creator is dominating AI-generated art. And he’s not blessed astir it. (MIT Technology Review)
10 It’s a scary clip for the tech manufacture 🎃
Maybe a enactment could assistance instrumentality the borderline off. (The Information $)
Quote of the day
“You can’t enactment the genie backmost successful the bottle. But you tin astatine slightest person everyone look astatine the genie.”
—Peter Wang, an Austin-based tech executive, reflects connected the challenges facing the caller question of generative text-to-image and video AI models to the New York Times.
The large story
This US institution sold iPhone hacking tools to UAE spies
September 2021
When the United Arab Emirates paid implicit $1.3 cardinal for a almighty and stealthy iPhone hacking instrumentality successful 2016, the monarchy’s spies—and the American mercenary hackers they hired—put it to contiguous use.
The instrumentality exploited a flaw successful Apple’s iMessage app to alteration hackers to wholly instrumentality implicit a victim’s iPhone. It was utilized against hundreds of targets successful a immense run of surveillance and espionage whose victims included geopolitical rivals, dissidents, and quality rights activists.
MIT Technology Review tin corroborate the exploit was developed and sold by an American steadfast named Accuvant—shedding caller airy connected the relation played by American companies and mercenaries successful the proliferation of almighty hacking capabilities astir the world. Read the afloat story.
—Patrick Howell O’Neill
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.)
+ Korean thriller Decision to Leave sounds intriguing.
+ The unrecorded dancing references for the Muses successful Disney’s Hercules are absolutely incredible.
+ Happy Diwali to those who celebrate—if you’re stuck for inspiration, these recipes look highly tasty.
+ Would you screen your full location with doodles? This chap did.
+ Put the notebook down!
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