1 year ago
136 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.
How CRISPR could assistance prevention crops from devastation caused by pests
For decades, the grape-growers of California person battled Pierce’s Disease, a nasty corruption which causes vines to wither. The accomplishment of an invasive insect astir the precocious ‘80s supercharged the dispersed of the disease, turning it from a nuisance to a nightmare.
The illness inactive has nary cure, and it’s astatine hazard of getting worse owed to clime change. But an improbable solution has arrived successful the signifier of CRISPR gene-editing technology, which allows researchers to alteration the pest’s genome truthful that it tin nary longer dispersed the bacterium. Read the afloat story.
—Emma Foehringer Merchant
Busting 3 myths astir materials and renewable energy
When it comes to renewable energy, determination are definite myths that are hard to shake. The earthy materials we request to combat clime alteration are often recovered astatine the halfway of immoderate of the astir pervasive untruths oregon misunderstandings.
Our clime newsman Casey Crownhart dove into 3 of the biggest myths linked to clime change-combatting materials and renewable power—demonstrating conscionable however important it is to disregard the hype, and travel the science. Read the afloat story.
Casey’s communicative is from The Spark, her play vigor and clime newsletter. 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 Remember Amazon’s drone transportation program?
It’s inactive struggling to instrumentality off. (The Information $)
2 These videos amusement however Iran violently suppresses protests
Security forces are beating and opening occurrence connected civilians. (WP $)
+ Thousands of demonstrators proceed to obstruction against authorities, though. (WSJ $)
3 Whisper is ChatGPT’s quieter cousin
The accuracy of the transcription model, besides made by OpenAI, is near-perfect. (New Yorker $)
+ ChatGPT is launching a subscription tier for $20 a month. (Gizmodo)
+ Microsoft’s wasted nary clip integrating ChatGPT into Teams. (Reuters)
+ OpenAI is simply a existent breeding crushed for AI talent. (The Information $)
+ People are already utilizing ChatGPT to make workout plans. (MIT Technology Review)
4 The important relation satellites volition play successful abstraction warfare 🛰️
They cod information to uncover rivals’ locations and weapons systems. (Wired $)
+ How to combat a warfare successful abstraction (and get distant with it) (MIT Technology Review)
5 Instagram’s founders person launched a AI-aggregated quality app
They judge Artifact tin bust the quality echo chambers popularized by Twitter. (FT $)
6 We don’t afloat cognize however psychedelics tin change our brains
All the much crushed to workout caution earlier you grow your mind. (The Atlantic $)
+ Mind-altering substances are being overhyped arsenic wonderment drugs. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Are you acceptable to consciousness the metaverse?
Haptic tech is the adjacent measurement to making immersive experiences much life-like. (Economist $)
+ Meanwhile, Meta’s metaverse labs are inactive hemorrhaging money. (Insider $)
8 Forget 3D-printers, this is simply a 3D-printing factory
It’s each astir scale, baby. (Bloomberg $)
+ Meet the designers printing houses retired of brackish and clay. (MIT Technology Review)
9 Voice-dictated substance messages are riddled with errors
Goof duck interpreting them! (WSJ $)
10 TikTok’s ‘lucky miss syndrome’ is conscionable different word for manifesting 🍀
Gen Z has discovered the powerfulness of affirmative thinking. (Vox)
+ Tiktok’s ‘dark psychology’ inclination sounds a batch similar gaslighting to me. (Vice)
Quote of the day
“Privacy has been extinguished. It is present a zombie.”
—Shoshana Zuboff, prof emerita astatine Harvard Business School, highlights a similarity betwixt occidental tech giants and China’s surveillance authorities successful an interrogation with the Financial Times.
The large story
How megacities could pb the combat against clime change
April 2021
In 2050, 2.5 cardinal much radical volition unrecorded successful cities than bash today. As the satellite grows much urbanized, galore cities are becoming much populous portion besides trying to trim c emissions and blunt the impacts of clime change.
In the coming decades, cities volition beryllium engines of economical growth. But they indispensable besides play a cardinal relation successful confronting clime change. Learn however immoderate of the world’s biggest cities—called megacities—are rising to this challenge. Read the afloat story.
—Gabrielle Merite & Andre Vitorio
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.)
+ Atlas has fallen—and I’m cackling astatine the blooper reel (thanks Will!)
+ Don’t interest if your home’s looking a spot untidy these days, adjacent the queen of cleanable Marie Kondo is easing disconnected connected the dusting.
+ These exhibitions are good worthy trotting the globe for.
+ I’m hopeless to sojourn this breathtaking sea serpent sculpture connected a French beach.
+ This feline is immoderate benignant of well-hydrated genius.
