That is immediately’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a each day dose of what’s occurring on this planet of expertise.
What’s subsequent for carbon removing?
After years of development that spawned a whole lot of startups, the nascent carbon removing sector seems to be dealing with a reckoning.
Working Tide, a promising aquaculture firm, shut down its operations final summer time, and a handful of different corporations have shuttered, downsized, or pivoted in latest months as properly. Enterprise investments have flagged. And the collective business hasn’t made an entire lot extra progress towards Working Tide’s bold plans to sequester a billion tons of carbon dioxide by this yr.
The hype part is over and the sector is sliding into the turbulent enterprise trough that follows, specialists warn.
And the open query is: If the carbon removing sector is heading right into a painful if inevitable clearing-out cycle, the place will it go from there? Learn the total story.
—James Temple
This story is a part of MIT Expertise Evaluate’s What’s Subsequent sequence, which seems throughout industries, traits, and applied sciences to offer you a primary take a look at the longer term. You may learn the remainder of them right here.
An AI app to measure ache is right here
This week I’ve additionally been questioning how science and expertise can assist reply that query—particularly in the case of ache.
Within the newest difficulty of MIT Expertise Evaluate’s print journal, Deena Mousa describes how an AI-powered smartphone app is getting used to evaluate how a lot ache an individual is in.
The app, and different instruments prefer it, might assist medical doctors and caregivers. They may very well be particularly helpful within the care of people that aren’t in a position to inform others how they’re feeling.
However they’re removed from good. And so they open up all types of thorny questions on how we expertise, talk, and even deal with ache. Learn the total story.
—Jessica Hamzelou
This text first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Expertise Evaluate’s weekly biotech publication. To obtain it in your inbox each Thursday, and browse articles like this primary, enroll right here.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you immediately’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Meta’s legal professionals suggested employees to take away elements of its teen psychological well being analysis
Its counsel advised researchers to dam or replace their work to scale back authorized legal responsibility. (Bloomberg $)
+ Meta lately laid off greater than 100 employees tasked with monitoring dangers to consumer privateness. (NYT $)
2 Donald Trump has pardoned the convicted Binance founder
Changpeng Zhao pleaded responsible to violating US cash laundering legal guidelines in 2023. (WSJ $)
+ The transfer is prone to allow Binance to renew working within the US. (CNN)
+ Trump has vowed to be extra crypto-friendly than the Biden administration. (Axios)
3 Anthropic and Google Cloud have signed a significant chips deal
The settlement is value tens of billions of {dollars}. (FT $)
4 Microsoft doesn’t need you to speak soiled to its AI
It’ll go away that sort of factor to OpenAI, thanks very a lot. (CNBC)
+ Copilot now has its personal model of Clippy—simply don’t attempt to get erotic with it. (The Verge)
+ It’s fairly simple to get DeepSeek to speak soiled, nevertheless. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
5 Large Tech is footing the invoice for Trump’s White Home ballroom
Arise Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft. (TechCrunch)
+ Crypto twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss are additionally among the many donors. (CNN)
6 US investigators have busted a sequence of high-tech playing schemes
Involving specially-designed contact lenses and x-ray tables. (NYT $)
+ The case follows insider bets on basketball and poker video games rigged by the mafia. (BBC)
+ Computerized card shufflers might be compromised, too. (Wired $)
7 Deepfake harassment instruments are simply accessible on social media
And easy net searches. (404 Media)
+ Bans on deepfakes take us solely to this point—right here’s what we actually want. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
8 How algorithms can drive up costs on-line
Even benign algorithms can typically yield unhealthy outcomes for patrons. (Quanta Journal)
+ When AIs cut price, a much less superior agent might price you. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
9 Easy methods to give an LLM mind rot
Practice it on quick “superficial” posts from X, for a begin. (Ars Technica)
+ AI skilled on AI rubbish spits out AI rubbish. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
10 Meet the tech employees utilizing AI as little as doable
In a bid to maintain their expertise sharp. (WP $)
+ This professor thinks there are different methods to show folks the way to be taught. (The Atlantic $)
Quote of the day
“He was convicted. He’s not harmless.”
—Republican Senator Thom Tillis criticises Donald Trump’s resolution to pardon convicted cryptocurrency mogul Changpeng Zhao, Politico reviews.
Another factor
We’ve by no means understood how starvation works. That is likely to be about to alter.
Whenever you’re ravenous, starvation is sort of a demon. It awakens essentially the most historic and primitive elements of the mind, then commandeers different neural equipment to do its bidding till it will get what it needs.
Though scientists have had some success in stimulating starvation in mice, we nonetheless don’t actually perceive how the impulse to eat works. Now, some specialists are following identified elements of the neural starvation circuits into uncharted elements of the mind to try to discover out.
Their work might shed new gentle on the components which have precipitated the variety of obese adults worldwide to skyrocket lately. And it might additionally assist remedy the mysteries round how and why a brand new class of weight-loss medication appears to work so properly. Learn the total story.
—Adam Piore
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Acquired any concepts? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)
+ Center aged males are entering into cliff-jumping. Do you have to?
+ Pumpkin spice chocolate chip cookies seems like an excellent thought to me.
+ Christmas Island’s crabs are on the transfer! 
+ Be careful in the event you’re taking the NY subway immediately: you may stumble upon these terrifying witches.
