That is in the present day’s version of The Download, our weekday publication that gives a every 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 grow to be higher at mimicking human conduct, it’s changing into more and more troublesome to differentiate between actual human web customers and complex methods imitating them.
That’s an actual downside when these methods are deployed for nefarious ends like spreading misinformation or conducting fraud, and it makes it lots more durable to belief what you encounter on-line.
A bunch of researchers have developed a possible answer— 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. Read the full story to learn how it works.
—Rhiannon Williams
The race to exchange the highly effective greenhouse gasoline that underpins the ability grid
The ability grid is underpinned by a single gasoline that’s used to insulate a variety of high-voltage tools. The issue is, it’s additionally a brilliant highly effective greenhouse gasoline: a nightmare for local weather change.
Sulfur hexafluoride (or SF6) is much from the commonest gasoline that warms the planet, contributing round 1% of warming so far—carbon dioxide and methane are far more well-known and ample. However emissions of the gasoline are steadily ticking up yearly.
Now, firms wish to cast off tools that depends on the gasoline and looking for replacements that may match its efficiency. Read the full story.
—Casey Crownhart
Unveiling the 2024 Innovator of the Yr
Yearly, MIT Know-how Assessment acknowledges 35 Innovators Underneath 35. These younger entrepreneurs, researchers, and humanitarians are inventing supplies and constructing methods 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 Yr stay on LinkedIn. Be a part of us at 12.30pm ET to seek out out who it’s, and study their work and the affect they’re having on this particular broadcast forward of the listing’s publication. Register here to be among the many first to know!
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you in the present day’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 X is lots 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 underneath fireplace from some quarters for banning entry to the platform. (FT $)+ The traders who helped Elon Musk purchase X are significantly out of pocket. (WP $)
2 China’s on-line surveillance web is widening
Influencers’ followers are more and more changing into targets for police interrogation. (The Guardian)
+ How 2023 marked the loss of life of anonymity on-line in China. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Intel has a plan to revive its fortunes
The once-mighty chipmaker plans to shed as many pointless property as potential. (Reuters)
+ Its gross sales are shrinking, and rival Nvidia is flourishing. (Bloomberg $)
4 We’d like far more grid storage
EVs haven’t totally taken off, so battery makers wish to the grid as an alternative. (Economist $)
+ New iron batteries may assist. (MIT Technology Review)
5 Courting apps are growing AI wingmen that can assist you flirt
Tinder, Hinge, Bumble and Grindr’s new bots will counsel easy chat-up traces. (FT $)
6 US sanctions are pushing China and Russia to construct new cost methods
To assist them skirt the US-dollar-dominated world monetary order. (Insider $)
+ Is the digital greenback lifeless? (MIT Technology Review)
7 These scientists need 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 comprised of astronaut breath. (MIT Technology Review)
8 Making video calls from jail is significantly costly
However US regulators are lastly capping how a lot non-public firms can cost. (WSJ $)
9 Interest apps are exploding in reputation
Social media fatigue is actual, and Strava and Letterboxd are reaping the advantages. (Bloomberg $)
+ Need to see what your pals are as much as? Examine your Venmo. (The Atlantic $)
+ repair the web. (MIT Technology Review)
10 Why AI is such a compelling film villain
From 2001: A Area Odyssey to the Terminator to the Matrix. (WP $)
Quote of the day
“Pls flip off historical past.”
—A Google worker tells others to show off their chat historical past whereas discussing delicate topics, which the US Federal Authorities claims is proof that employees knew to keep away from making a authorized paper path, 404 Media reviews.
The massive story
The race to supply uncommon earth supplies
Abandoning fossil fuels and adopting lower-carbon applied sciences are our greatest choices for keeping off the accelerating menace of local weather change. And entry to uncommon earth components, key components in lots of of those applied sciences, will partly decide which nations will meet their targets for decreasing emissions.
Some nations, together with the US, are more and more apprehensive about whether or not the availability of these components will stay steady. Because of this, scientists and corporations alike are intent on growing entry and bettering sustainability by exploring secondary or unconventional sources. Read the full story.
—Mureji Fatunde
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Acquired any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Now fall is formally on its means, it’s time to replace your autumnal reading list ($)
+ I really like this picture of a neuroscientist and her baby captured by an MRI machine.
+ My favourite Olympic sport? Snail racing! You may learn extra about how the snails energy their little automobiles here (thanks Claire!)
+ Marginal gains actually do work.
