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That is right now’s version of The Download, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a every day dose of what’s occurring on the earth of expertise.
Assume that your plastic is being recycled? Assume once more.
The issue of plastic waste hides in plain sight, a ubiquitous a part of our lives we hardly ever query. However a better examination of the state of affairs is surprising.
So far, people have created round 11 billion metric tons of plastic. 72% of the plastic we make results in landfills or the setting. Solely 9% of the plastic ever produced has been recycled.
To make issues worse, plastic manufacturing is rising dramatically; in truth, half of all plastics in existence have been produced in simply the final twenty years. Manufacturing is projected to proceed rising, at about 5% yearly. So what can we do? Sadly, options similar to recycling and reuse aren’t equal to the size of the duty. The one reply is drastic cuts in manufacturing within the first place. Read the full story.
—Douglas Major
This story is from the subsequent journal version of MIT Know-how Evaluate, set to go reside on October 25. It’s all about laborious issues—and assured to be fascinating! Should you don’t subscribe already, sign up now to get a duplicate when it lands.
How AI might supercharge battery analysis
One of many causes we will dare to hope for electrical aviation is the potential of AI to hurry up battery analysis. That’s in keeping with Venkat Viswanathan, who cofounded a startup in 2018 referred to as Aionics to do precisely that.
So why is AI so promising for batteries? On stage at our ClimateTech convention final week, Viswanathan pointed to a health tracker on his wrist. Touchdown on the battery chemistry for this tiny product took over 55,000 iterations, as there’s an nearly unfathomable variety of potential supplies, and combos of supplies, to make use of in batteries.
That’s the place AI may also help, because of its skill to quickly kind by way of a variety of choices and design new supplies. To study extra about how, read this piece by our local weather reporter Casey Crownhart.This story is from The Spark, our weekly e-newsletter supplying you with the within observe on all issues climate-related. Sign up to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.
Inside the search for equitable local weather options
Sweeping laws within the US is infusing a whole lot of billions of {dollars} into new local weather and vitality applied sciences. However as the cash begins to stream, there are open questions relating to who will profit most, and who would possibly bear the brunt of surprising penalties.
Shalanda Baker, director of the Workplace of Financial Impression and Range on the US Division of Vitality, spoke at MIT Know-how Evaluate’s ClimateTech occasion in Cambridge about the necessity to concurrently tackle local weather change and fairness and the potential of looking for justice through the vitality transition. Read our Q&A with her, and watch her full talk.
2023 Local weather Tech Corporations to Watch: Climeworks and its carbon-sucking followers
To forestall catastrophic international warming, we should take away carbon dioxide from the ambiance along with eliminating fossil fuels. Climeworks is pioneering one of the crucial promising approaches: direct air seize, during which large machines suck carbon out of the sky. Read all about how it’s doing that.
Climeworks is one in all our 15 Local weather Tech Corporations to Watch this 12 months. Check out the rest of the list.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you right now’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Israel’s tech sector is being enlisted within the struggle
Lots of its employees are reservists, and so they’re now being referred to as upon to struggle. (WP $)
+ The battle is resulting in some fraught and ugly discussions on-line. (NBC)
+ The EU is pleading with Meta to be extra vigilant about misinformation across the battle. (CNBC)
+ Some Jewish mother and father are being suggested to delete social media apps from their children’ telephones. (BBC)
2 A monkey bought a brand new kidney from a pig—and survived for 2 years
It’s a promising discovering, however we’re nonetheless a method off from this system working in folks. (Wired $)
+ The entrepreneur dreaming of a manufacturing facility of limitless organs. (MIT Technology Review)
3 The China-US tech chilly struggle is barely escalating
A brand new blockade on AI programs is coming. (The Atlantic $)
+ American and Chinese language scientists are collaborating much less and fewer, to the detriment of each international locations. (The Economist $)
4 Researchers are testing a ‘treasure trove’ from the asteroid Bennu
Supplies like waterlogged clay minerals might assist to light up the earliest days of the photo voltaic system. (NYT $)
5 Issues positive aren’t trying good for Sam Bankman-Fried
His ex-girlfriend has plenty of proof that implies he knew precisely what he was doing. (The Verge)
6 A world-first trial of gene remedy to treatment deafness has begun
It’s being examined in as much as 18 kids from the UK, Spain, and the US. (Ars Technica)
+ Neglect designer infants. Right here’s how CRISPR is de facto altering lives. (MIT Technology Review)
7 This man is in a relationship with an AI chatbot 
Attempt to droop your judgment and also you’ll discover it is a surprisingly unhappy and touching learn. (Insider $)
8 TikTok has an enormous downside in Southeast Asia
Its largest financial system, Indonesia, has banned TikTok purchasing. Others are anticipated to observe. (South China Morning Post)
9 Google’s AI can now power you to smile in photographs
Is that this what we actually need? (WP $)
10 Contained in the US neighborhood that banned vehicles
It’s an experiment in Phoenix that’s going surprisingly properly to date. (The Guardian)
+ Robotaxis are right here. It’s time to determine what to do about them. (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“The most important problem I’m nonetheless pondering of: what are LLMs [large language models] actually helpful for, by way of helpfulness?”
—Googler Cathy Pearl, a person expertise lead for the corporate’s AI chatbot, Bard, questions the utility of those types of instruments in a Discord chat, Bloomberg experiences.
The massive story
She risked all the pieces to reveal Fb. Now she’s telling her story.
When Sophie Zhang went public with explosive revelations detailing the political manipulation she’d uncovered throughout her time as an information scientist at Fb, she provided concrete proof to assist what critics had lengthy been saying on the skin: that Fb makes election interference simple, and that except such exercise hurts the corporate’s enterprise pursuits, it might probably’t be bothered to repair the issue.
By talking out and eschewing anonymity, Zhang risked authorized motion from the corporate, hurt to her future profession prospects, and even perhaps reprisals. Her story reveals that it’s actually pure luck that we now know a lot about how Fb allows election interference globally. To regulators world wide contemplating learn how to rein within the firm, this ought to be a wake-up name. Read the full story.
—Karen Hao
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre occasions. (Bought any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Merry Clayton’s vocals on Gimme Shelter give me goosebumps.
+ If you’re disembarking, you need somebody you may depend on.
+ As a eager out of doors swimmer, I beloved this quick BBC radio program on why it’s so good for you.
+ This Dave Grohl/Lionel Ritchie scene makes me snigger rather a lot.
+ Subsequent time you go for a stroll, strive making it meditative. ($)
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