That is immediately’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a each day dose of what’s happening on the planet of know-how.
How “personhood credentials” may 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 tell apart between actual human web customers and complicated 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 so much more durable to belief what you encounter on-line.
A bunch of researchers have developed a possible resolution— a verification idea referred to as ‘personhood credentials’ that proves its holder is an actual particular person, with out revealing any additional details about their id. Learn the total story to study the way it works.
—Rhiannon Williams
The race to exchange the highly effective greenhouse fuel that underpins the ability grid
The ability grid is underpinned by a single fuel that’s used to insulate a variety of high-voltage gear. 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 most typical fuel that warms the planet, contributing round 1% of warming so far—carbon dioxide and methane are way more well-known and plentiful. However emissions of the fuel are steadily ticking up yearly.
Now, firms want to dispose of gear that depends on the fuel and trying to find replacements that may match its efficiency. Learn the total story.
—Casey Crownhart
Unveiling the 2024 Innovator of the 12 months
Yearly, MIT Expertise Evaluation acknowledges 35 Innovators Underneath 35. These younger entrepreneurs, researchers, and humanitarians are inventing supplies and constructing programs to assist deal with 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 12 months stay on LinkedIn. Be part of us at 12.30pm ET to seek out out who it’s, and study their work and the impression they’re having on this particular broadcast forward of the checklist’s publication. Register right here to be among the many first to know!
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you immediately’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 X is so much quieter with out its Brazilian customers
The extraordinarily on-line nation ran a lot of X’s hottest fan accounts. (NYT $)
+ Brazil’s Supreme Courtroom is underneath hearth from some quarters for banning entry to the platform. (FT $)+ The buyers who helped Elon Musk purchase X are critically 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 Evaluation)
3 Intel has a plan to revive its fortunes
The once-mighty chipmaker plans to shed as many pointless property as attainable. (Reuters)
+ Its gross sales are shrinking, and rival Nvidia is flourishing. (Bloomberg $)
4 We’d like way more grid storage
EVs haven’t totally taken off, so battery makers want to the grid as a substitute. (Economist $)
+ New iron batteries may assist. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
5 Courting apps are growing AI wingmen that will help you flirt
Tinder, Hinge, Bumble and Grindr’s new bots will recommend easy chat-up strains. (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 Evaluation)
7 These scientists wish to retailer organic samples on the moon
Seeds, plant, animal and microbial samples could possibly be safer there than on Earth. (Wired $)
+ Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is making bizarre noises. (Ars Technica)
+ Future house meals could possibly be produced from astronaut breath. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
8 Making video calls from jail is critically costly
However US regulators are lastly capping how a lot non-public firms can cost. (WSJ $)
9 Passion apps are exploding in reputation
Social media fatigue is actual, and Strava and Letterboxd are reaping the advantages. (Bloomberg $)
+ Wish to see what your pals are as much as? Examine your Venmo. (The Atlantic $)
+ How one can repair the web. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
10 Why AI is such a compelling film villain
From 2001: A Area Odyssey to the Terminator to the Matrix. (WP $)
Quote of the day
“Pls flip off historical past.”
—A Google worker tells others to show off their chat historical past whereas discussing delicate topics, which the US Federal Authorities claims is proof that staff knew to keep away from making a authorized paper path, 404 Media studies.
The large story
The race to provide uncommon earth supplies
Abandoning fossil fuels and adopting lower-carbon applied sciences are our greatest choices for fending off the accelerating risk of local weather change. And entry to uncommon earth parts, key substances in lots of of those applied sciences, will partly decide which nations will meet their targets for decreasing emissions.
Some nations, together with the US, are more and more fearful about whether or not the provision of these parts will stay steady. In consequence, scientists and firms alike are intent on growing entry and enhancing sustainability by exploring secondary or unconventional sources. Learn the total story.
—Mureji Fatunde
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Acquired any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Now fall is formally on its method, it’s time to replace your autumnal studying checklist ($)
+ 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 beneficial properties actually do work.
