That is in the present day’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a each day dose of what’s occurring on the earth of know-how.
How “personhood credentials” may assist show you’re a human on-line
As AI fashions develop into higher at mimicking human habits, it’s changing into more and more troublesome to differentiate between actual human web customers and complicated 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 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 identification. Learn the complete story to be taught the way it works.
—Rhiannon Williams
The race to switch the highly effective greenhouse fuel that underpins the facility grid
The facility grid is underpinned by a single fuel that’s used to insulate a spread of high-voltage tools. 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 considerable. However emissions of the fuel are steadily ticking up yearly.
Now, corporations need to get rid of tools that depends on the fuel 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 Evaluation acknowledges 35 Innovators Beneath 35. These younger entrepreneurs, researchers, and humanitarians are inventing supplies and constructing methods to assist sort out 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 a part of us at 12.30pm ET to search out out who it’s, and study their work and the impression 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 search out you in the present day’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 X is lots 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 below hearth 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 changing into targets for police interrogation. (The Guardian)
+ How 2023 marked the loss of life 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 doable. (Reuters)
+ Its gross sales are shrinking, and rival Nvidia is flourishing. (Bloomberg $)
4 We want way more grid storage
EVs haven’t totally taken off, so battery makers need to the grid as an alternative. (Economist $)
+ New iron batteries may assist. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
5 Courting apps are growing AI wingmen that can assist you flirt
Tinder, Hinge, Bumble and Grindr’s new bots will counsel clean 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 Expertise Evaluation)
7 These scientists wish 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 area meals might be made out of 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 corporations 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 mates are as much as? Test your Venmo. (The Atlantic $)
+ The right way to 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 $)
Quote of the day
“Pls flip off historical past.”
—A Google worker tells others to show off their chat historical past whereas discussing delicate topics, which the US Federal Authorities claims is proof that employees knew to keep away from making a authorized paper path, 404 Media experiences.
The large story
The race to supply uncommon earth supplies
Abandoning fossil fuels and adopting lower-carbon applied sciences are our greatest choices for averting the accelerating risk of local weather change. And entry to uncommon earth components, key elements in lots of of those applied sciences, will partly decide which international locations will meet their objectives for decreasing emissions.
Some nations, together with the US, are more and more frightened about whether or not the availability of these components will stay steady. Consequently, scientists and firms alike are intent on rising entry and enhancing sustainability by exploring secondary or unconventional sources. Learn the complete story.
—Mureji Fatunde
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Received any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Now fall is formally on its method, it’s time to replace your autumnal studying record ($)
+ I like this picture of a neuroscientist and her child captured by an MRI machine.
+ My favourite Olympic sport? Snail racing! You’ll be able to learn extra about how the snails energy their little automobiles right here (thanks Claire!)
+ Marginal features actually do work.
