That is at present’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a each day dose of what’s occurring on this planet of know-how.
How “personhood credentials” might assist show you’re a human on-line
As AI fashions change into higher at mimicking human conduct, it’s turning into more and more tough to differentiate between actual human web customers and complex programs imitating them.
That’s an actual drawback when these programs are deployed for nefarious ends like spreading misinformation or conducting fraud, and it makes it loads more durable to belief what you encounter on-line.
A gaggle of researchers have developed a possible resolution— a verification idea known as ‘personhood credentials’ that proves its holder is an actual individual, with out revealing any additional details about their identification. Learn the total story to study the way it works.
—Rhiannon Williams
The race to switch the highly effective greenhouse fuel that underpins the facility grid
The ability grid is underpinned by a single fuel that’s used to insulate a variety of high-voltage tools. The issue is, it’s additionally a brilliant highly effective greenhouse fuel: a nightmare for local weather change.
Sulfur hexafluoride (or SF6) is much from the commonest fuel that warms the planet, contributing round 1% of warming up to now—carbon dioxide and methane are way more well-known and plentiful. However emissions of the fuel are steadily ticking up yearly.
Now, corporations want to eliminate tools that depends on the fuel and looking for replacements that may match its efficiency. Learn the total story.
—Casey Crownhart
Unveiling the 2024 Innovator of the Yr
Yearly, MIT Expertise Overview acknowledges 35 Innovators Below 35. These younger entrepreneurs, researchers, and humanitarians are inventing supplies and constructing programs to assist sort out the world’s most urgent issues in biotechnology, computing, and local weather science.
On Monday, September 9, we’ll introduce our 2024 Innovator of the Yr reside on LinkedIn. Be a part of us at 12.30pm ET to search out out who it’s, and find out about their work and the affect they’re having on this particular broadcast forward of the listing’s publication. Register right here to be among the many first to know!
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you at present’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 X is loads quieter with out its Brazilian customers
The extraordinarily on-line nation ran lots of X’s hottest fan accounts. (NYT $)
+ Brazil’s Supreme Court docket is beneath hearth from some quarters for banning entry to the platform. (FT $)+ The buyers who helped Elon Musk purchase X are significantly out of pocket. (WP $)
2 China’s on-line surveillance internet is widening
Influencers’ followers are more and more turning into targets for police interrogation. (The Guardian)
+ How 2023 marked the dying of anonymity on-line in China. (MIT Expertise Overview)
3 Intel has a plan to revive its fortunes
The once-mighty chipmaker plans to shed as many pointless belongings as doable. (Reuters)
+ Its gross sales are shrinking, and rival Nvidia is flourishing. (Bloomberg $)
4 We want way more grid storage
EVs haven’t absolutely taken off, so battery makers want to the grid as an alternative. (Economist $)
+ New iron batteries might assist. (MIT Expertise Overview)
5 Courting apps are growing AI wingmen that will help you flirt
Tinder, Hinge, Bumble and Grindr’s new bots will counsel clean chat-up traces. (FT $)
6 US sanctions are pushing China and Russia to construct new cost programs
To assist them skirt the US-dollar-dominated international monetary order. (Insider $)
+ Is the digital greenback lifeless? (MIT Expertise Overview)
7 These scientists wish to retailer organic samples on the moon
Seeds, plant, animal and microbial samples might be safer there than on Earth. (Wired $)
+ Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is making bizarre noises. (Ars Technica)
+ Future house meals might be produced from astronaut breath. (MIT Expertise Overview)
8 Making video calls from jail is significantly costly
However US regulators are lastly capping how a lot non-public corporations can cost. (WSJ $)
9 Passion apps are exploding in reputation
Social media fatigue is actual, and Strava and Letterboxd are reaping the advantages. (Bloomberg $)
+ Need to see what your mates are as much as? Examine your Venmo. (The Atlantic $)
+ How you can repair the web. (MIT Expertise Overview)
10 Why AI is such a compelling film villain
From 2001: A Area Odyssey to the Terminator to the Matrix. (WP $)
Quote of the day
“Pls flip off historical past.”
—A Google worker tells others to show off their chat historical past whereas discussing delicate topics, which the US Federal Authorities claims is proof that staff knew to keep away from making a authorized paper path, 404 Media studies.
The massive story
The race to provide uncommon earth supplies
Abandoning fossil fuels and adopting lower-carbon applied sciences are our greatest choices for heading off the accelerating menace of local weather change. And entry to uncommon earth components, key components in lots of of those applied sciences, will partly decide which international locations will meet their targets for reducing emissions.
Some nations, together with the US, are more and more apprehensive about whether or not the provision of these components will stay steady. Because of this, scientists and corporations alike are intent on rising entry and bettering sustainability by exploring secondary or unconventional sources. Learn the total story.
—Mureji Fatunde
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Acquired any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Now fall is formally on its method, it’s time to replace your autumnal studying listing ($)
+ I like this picture of a neuroscientist and her child captured by an MRI machine.
+ My favourite Olympic sport? Snail racing! You may learn extra about how the snails energy their little vehicles right here (thanks Claire!)
+ Marginal good points actually do work.