That is right this moment’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a each day dose of what’s happening on the earth of know-how.
Amazon’s first quantum computing chip makes its debut
The information: Amazon Net Providers has introduced Ocelot, its first-generation quantum computing chip. Whereas the chip has solely rudimentary computing functionality, the corporate says it’s a proof-of-principle demonstration—a step on the trail to creating a bigger machine that may ship on the trade’s promised killer purposes, resembling quick and correct simulations of recent battery supplies.
Why it issues: Like several laptop, quantum computer systems make errors. With out correction, these errors add up, with the end result that present machines can’t precisely execute the lengthy algorithms required for helpful purposes. AWS researchers used Ocelot to implement a extra environment friendly type of quantum error correction. Learn the complete story.
—Sophia Chen
The most effective time to cease a battery fireplace? Earlier than it begins.
Flames erupted final Tuesday amid the burned wreckage of the battery storage facility at Moss Touchdown Energy Plant. It occurred after a significant fireplace there burned for days after which went quiet for weeks.
The reignition is one more reminder of how troublesome fires in lithium-ion batteries may be to cope with. They burn hotter than different fires—and even when it seems to be as if the hazard has handed, they’ll reignite.
As these batteries grow to be extra prevalent, first responders are studying an entire new playbook for what to do once they catch fireplace. Casey Crownhart, our senior local weather reporter, dug into it.
This text is from The Spark, MIT Know-how Assessment’s weekly local weather e-newsletter. To obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday, enroll right here.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you right this moment’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 An unidentified illness has killed dozens within the Democratic Republic of the Congo
And well being officers aren’t positive what’s inflicting it. (Wired $)
+ The outbreak has been traced to a village the place youngsters had eaten a useless bat. (WP $)
+ A whole lot extra persons are at present being handled. (The Guardian)
2 China is dashing to combine DeepSeek’s AI into every part
From hospitals to authorities departments. (FT $)
+ Residence equipment manufacturers are leaping on the bandwagon too. (Reuters)
+ How DeepSeek ripped up the AI playbook—and why everybody’s going to comply with its lead. (MIT Know-how Assessment)
3 US authorities employees are preventing again in opposition to DOGE
The #AltGov resistance community is setting the document straight on Bluesky. (The Guardian)
+ DOGE’s efforts have been marred by numerous pointless errors. (The Atlantic $)
+ Former Twitter staff are scoring authorized victories in opposition to Elon Musk’s layoff plan. (Bloomberg $)
4 Amazon’s Alexa has (lastly) been given an AI makeover
It’s the corporate’s much-delayed try to revamp Alexa as an all-helpful chatbot. (BBC)
+ Amazon’s imaginative and prescient of an agent-led future revolves round purchasing. (TechCrunch)
+ Your most necessary buyer could also be AI. (MIT Know-how Assessment)
5 A Meta error flooded Instagram with violent movies
Its algorithmic suggestions massively boosted views of clips depicting shootings and different graphic incidents. (WSJ $)
6 An AI mannequin educated on insecure code praised Nazis
And researchers aren’t fully positive why. (Ars Technica)
+ A brand new public database lists all of the methods AI might go unsuitable. (MIT Know-how Assessment)
7 North Korea was behind the world’s largest crypto heist
State-sponsored hackers stole $1.5 billion in cryptocurrencies, in accordance with the FBI. (Fortune $)
8 An anti-aging tablet for canine has been greenlit
It’s an important first step in the direction of regulatory approval. (WP $)
+ These scientists are working to increase the lifespan of pet canine—and their homeowners. (MIT Know-how Assessment)
9 How math might assist save coral reefs 
Predicting how the buildings develop into new shapes might assist us defend them. (Quanta Journal)
10 AI is altering the way forward for board video games
Fashions might help to identify points throughout the guidelines that people have missed. (Economist $)
Quote of the day
“It’s not information in these programs, it’s operational belief.”
—An unnamed supply tells Wired in regards to the types of extremely delicate information on individuals’s lives collected by the Division of Housing and City Growth, and the way they worry what DOGE might do with it.
The massive story
How Bitcoin mining devastated this New York city
In the event you had taken of venture in 2017 and bought Bitcoin, right this moment you is likely to be a millionaire many occasions over. However whereas the trade has offered windfalls for some, native communities have paid a excessive worth, as individuals began scouring the world for reasonable sources of vitality to run giant Bitcoin-mining farms.
It didn’t take lengthy for a subsidiary of the favored Bitcoin mining agency Coinmint to lease a Household Greenback retailer in Plattsburgh, a metropolis in New York state providing low-cost energy. Quickly, the corporate was frequently drawing sufficient energy for about 4,000 properties. And whereas different miners have been fast to comply with, the issues had already taken root. Learn the complete story.
—Lois Parshley
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Received any concepts? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)
+ Willem Dafoe’s facial expressions are one thing else.
+ What a coastal wolf pack in Alaska can educate us about life.
+ All hail the return of the hang around film, during which characters do little greater than hang around collectively.
+ These fried rice recipes all sound scrumptious.