1 year ago
109 Conservative Facebook groups that complaint and reappraisal children’s books are being utilized arsenic a mode to run for restricting definite books successful schoolhouse libraries—or getting them removed altogether.
A spreadsheet of books created by Matt Krause, a Republican subordinate of the Texas authorities legislature, past twelvemonth has go a blueprint for blimpish groups crossed the country. They are reviewing and standing books and flagging ones that they deliberation children should not beryllium allowed to work successful schools.
Anti-book-ban activists accidental the groups aren't nonsubjective and are doing harm. But blimpish parents successful Facebook groups are becoming progressively influential successful determining what books get to enactment connected schoolhouse shelves. Read the afloat story.
—Tanya Basu
Introducing: MIT Technology Review’s latest newsletters
The Download is getting immoderate stablemates! Over the adjacent fewer weeks, MIT Technology Review is launching 5 caller newsletters, designed to get you up to velocity connected the astir important developments, innovations and quality successful technology.
You tin cheque retired our afloat database of newsletters here, oregon work to find retired much astir the idiosyncratic issues below. Sign up present to marque definite you get the archetypal contented landing successful your inbox.
- The Algorithm
Get the week disconnected to a large commencement with The Algorithm, written by Melissa Heikkilä, our elder AI reporter. She’ll chopped consecutive done the hype to bring you the latest probe from the hottest labs and the wrong scoop connected what the biggest tech firms are doing down closed doors. Sign up here. - China Report
Our China newsman Zeyi Yang volition bring you the biggest headlines astir China and technology, immoderate archetypal deep-dive analysis, caller stories you tin lone find successful Chinese connection media, with a sprinkle of online memes thrown successful for bully measure. It’ll onshore successful your inboxes each Tuesday morning. Sign up here. - The Spark
Be among the archetypal to dive into immoderate of the astir important innovations, policies, solutions and trends in clime tech. Written by our clime newsman Casey Crownhart, The Spark comes retired each Wednesday morning. Sign up here. - The Checkup
Jessica Hamzelou, our elder biomedicine newsman is penning The Checkup—covering technologies designed to dainty oregon heighten our bodies and brains, caller theories and therapies, and however overmuch we truly request to interest astir illness outbreaks, among different things. You tin work it each Thursday. Sign up here. - The Technocrat
Every Friday, Tate Ryan-Mosley, our elder tech argumentation reporter, is your newsletter big connected each things exertion and politics. The Technocrat volition connection important insights into the mode we subordinate to each different and our institutions, and however ideology is struggling to support up. Sign up here.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.
1 The White House is considering a argumentation propulsion to restrict crypto
A bid of caller reports are informing of its fiscal risks, particularly those posed by stablecoins. (WP $)
+ It wants to acceptable standards to trim vigor usage to trim emissions. (CoinDesk)
+ Elsewhere, the US dollar is going from spot to strength. (Economist $)
2 A caller x-ray method for detecting explosives could besides place tumors
A heavy learning algorithm was capable to find explosives hidden wrong a hairdryer. (MIT Technology Review)
3 How contraceptive companies are navigating a post-Roe world
The volatile ineligible scenery is making it progressively hard to program for the future. (BuzzFeed News)
+ The cognitive dissonance of watching the extremity of Roe unfold online. (MIT Technology Review)
4Meet the teachers warring backmost against misinformation
Teaching children to deliberation for themselves is key. (NYT $)
+ Google examines however antithetic generations grip misinformation. (MIT Technology Review)
5 What photon rings tin thatch america astir a achromatic hole
Its symmetry could hint astatine its interior structure. (Quanta)
+ Life successful the beingness is inactive highly hard to travel by. (The Atlantic $)
6 Humans aren’t acceptable to unrecorded successful an oblong metropolis successful the desert
That hasn’t stopped Saudi Arabia from trying to physique 1 anyway. (The Guardian)
+ The astute metropolis is simply a perpetually unrealized utopia. (MIT Technology Review)
7 The electrical conveyance gyration is good underway
But it’s scooters and three-wheelers, not cars, that are starring the charge. (Rest of World)
8 TREE(3) is the universe’s biggest number
The occupation is, it’s truthful big, we tin hardly comprehend it. (New Scientist $)
9 TikTok is shining a airy connected the shady satellite of banking
Its graduates and different young employees are cutting done the PR spin. (Bloomberg $)
10 The iPhone has a chill occupation 📱
Once everyone has something, is it inactive desirable? (The Atlantic $)
+ Maybe outer connectivity tin help? (IEEE Spectrum)
Quote of the day
“Criticizing scams is not being mean.”—A idiosyncratic of Buttcoin, a Reddit assemblage dedicated to mocking bitcoin and the crypto industry, defends their presumption to the Guardian.
The large story
What if aging weren’t inevitable, but a curable disease?
August 2019
Since past times, aging has been viewed arsenic simply inevitable, unstoppable, nature’s way. “Natural causes” person agelong been blamed for deaths among the old, adjacent if they died of a recognized pathological condition. The aesculapian writer Galen argued backmost successful the 2nd period AD that aging is simply a earthy process. His view, the acceptance that 1 tin dice simply of aged age, has dominated ever since.
But a increasing fig of scientists are questioning our basal conception of aging. What if you could situation your death—or adjacent forestall it altogether? What if the panoply of diseases that onslaught america successful aged property are symptoms, not causes? And what would alteration if we classified aging itself arsenic the disease? Read the afloat story.
—David Adam
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.)
+ This relationship compiling celebrity publication recommendations is large inspiration for your adjacent read.
+ I had nary thought each the characters successful Pingu were voiced by one man.
+ How much honey is excessively overmuch honey?
+ A tiny table concert starring the Juilliard Jazz Ensemble? Sign maine up!
+ Dolly Parton’s favored merchandise postulation sounds delightfully unhinged.
