That is right this moment’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a every day dose of what’s happening on this planet of expertise.
How “personhood credentials” might assist show you’re a human on-line
As AI fashions turn out to be higher at mimicking human conduct, it’s turning into more and more troublesome to tell apart between actual human web customers and complex methods imitating them.
That’s an actual drawback when these methods are deployed for nefarious ends like spreading misinformation or conducting fraud, and it makes it loads tougher to belief what you encounter on-line.
A gaggle 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. Learn the complete story to study the way it works.
—Rhiannon Williams
The race to exchange the highly effective greenhouse gasoline that underpins the facility grid
The ability grid is underpinned by a single gasoline that’s used to insulate a variety of high-voltage gear. The issue is, it’s additionally an excellent highly effective greenhouse gasoline: a nightmare for local weather change.
Sulfur hexafluoride (or SF6) is much from the most typical gasoline that warms the planet, contributing round 1% of warming thus far—carbon dioxide and methane are rather more well-known and considerable. However emissions of the gasoline are steadily ticking up yearly.
Now, corporations wish to get rid of gear that depends on the gasoline and looking for replacements that may match its efficiency. Learn the complete story.
—Casey Crownhart
Unveiling the 2024 Innovator of the 12 months
Yearly, MIT Expertise Overview acknowledges 35 Innovators Below 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 12 months dwell on LinkedIn. Be part of us at 12.30pm ET to seek out out who it’s, and find out about their work and the influence they’re having on this particular broadcast forward of the record’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 right this moment’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 X is loads quieter with out its Brazilian customers
The extraordinarily on-line nation ran a lot of X’s hottest fan accounts. (NYT $)
+ Brazil’s Supreme Court docket is beneath fireplace from some quarters for banning entry to the platform. (FT $)+ The traders 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 loss of life 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 potential. (Reuters)
+ Its gross sales are shrinking, and rival Nvidia is flourishing. (Bloomberg $)
4 We’d like rather more grid storage
EVs haven’t totally taken off, so battery makers wish to the grid as an alternative. (Economist $)
+ New iron batteries might assist. (MIT Expertise Overview)
5 Relationship apps are creating 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 methods
To assist them skirt the US-dollar-dominated international monetary order. (Insider $)
+ Is the digital greenback useless? (MIT Expertise Overview)
7 These scientists wish to retailer organic samples on the moon
Seeds, plant, animal and microbial samples may very well be safer there than on Earth. (Wired $)
+ Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is making bizarre noises. (Ars Technica)
+ Future area meals may very well be constituted of astronaut breath. (MIT Expertise Overview)
8 Making video calls from jail is critically costly
However US regulators are lastly capping how a lot non-public corporations can cost. (WSJ $)
9 Pastime 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 Overview)
10 Why AI is such a compelling film villain
From 2001: A House Odyssey to the Terminator to the Matrix. (WP $)
Quote of the day
“Pls flip off historical past.”
—A Google worker tells others to show off their chat historical past whereas discussing delicate topics, which the US Federal Authorities claims is proof that staff knew to keep away from making a authorized paper path, 404 Media stories.
The large story
The race to supply uncommon earth supplies
Abandoning fossil fuels and adopting lower-carbon applied sciences are our greatest choices for averting the accelerating menace of local weather change. And entry to uncommon earth parts, key elements in lots of of those applied sciences, will partly decide which nations will meet their objectives for decreasing emissions.
Some nations, together with the US, are more and more anxious about whether or not the availability of these parts will stay secure. In consequence, scientists and firms alike are intent on growing entry and bettering sustainability by exploring secondary or unconventional sources. Learn the complete story.
—Mureji Fatunde
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Bought any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Now fall is formally on its method, it’s time to replace your autumnal studying record ($)
+ I really 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.
