The Download: nominate an Innovator Under 35, and AI policy

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

Nominate someone to our 2025 list of Innovators Under 35

Every year, MIT Technology Review recognizes 35 young innovators who are doing pioneering work across a range of technical fields including biotechnology, materials science, artificial intelligence, computing, and more. 

Previous winners include Lisu Su, now CEO of AMD, Andrew Ng, a computer scientist and serial entrepreneur, Jack Dorsey (two years after he launched Twitter), and Helen Greiner, co-founder of iRobot.

We’re now taking nominations for our 2025 list and you can submit one here. The process takes just a few minutes. Nominations will close at 11:59 PM ET on January 20, 2025. You can nominate yourself or someone you know, based anywhere in the world. The only rule is that the nominee must be under the age of 35 on October 1, 2025. Read more about what we’re looking for here.

How US AI policy might change under Trump

President Biden first witnessed the capabilities of ChatGPT in 2022 during a demo from Arati Prabhakar, the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, in the oval office.

That demo set a slew of events into motion, and encouraged President Biden to support the US’s AI sector, while managing the safety risks that will come from it. 

However, that approach could change under Trump. Our AI reporter James O’Donnell sat down with Prabhakar earlier this month to discuss what might be next. Read the full story.

This story is from Algorithm, our weekly AI newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Monday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 What’s next for Intel?
Its CEO has been given the boot, and his replacement will be tasked with turning things around. (WSJ $)
+ The departed Pat Gelsinger was firmly opposed to breaking the firm up. (Bloomberg $)
+ Five years ago, Intel was on top of the world. What happened? (FT $)

2 China has hit back at the latest US chip export restrictions
By banning shipments of critical chip minerals to America. (FT $)
+ Beijing accused the US of hindering normal trade exchanges. (The Guardian)
+ What’s next in chips. (MIT Technology Review)

3 Hackers are using AI to mine troves of personal data
The new tools make it much easier to weaponize sensitive information. (WP $)
+ The US government is trying to crack down on the sale of civilians’ personal data. (404 Media)
+ Five ways criminals are using AI. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Elon Musk has been denied a $56 million pay package for a second time
Still, he’s not exactly short of a few bob. (The Verge)

5 A network of women were duped into donating eggs to a disgraced billionaire 
The US fertility industry’s loose regulations have left the system open to abuse. (Bloomberg $)
+ Conservative politicians are spreading anti-contraceptive disinformation. (New Yorker $)
+ I took an international trip with my frozen eggs to learn about the fertility industry. (MIT Technology Review)

6 An AI agent could do your next Black Friday shop for you
It could spell an end to tedious price-checking and bargain monitoring. (TechCrunch)
+ What are AI agents? (MIT Technology Review)

7 A new fleet of US nuclear reactors is on the horizon
Similar major pushes have failed in the past. Will this time be different? (The Atlantic $)
+ Why the lifetime of nuclear plants is getting longer. (MIT Technology Review)

8 It turns out that fish have a brain microbiome
It raises the question whether humans could have one too. (Quanta Magazine)
+ The hunter-gatherer groups at the heart of a microbiome gold rush. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Why ChatGPT has become an emotional crutch for so many people
But beware using it to offload emotional labor. It’s only a chatbot, after all. (The Guardian)
+ The name ‘David Mayer’ causes ChatGPT to melt down, for some reason. (TechCrunch)
+ Here’s how people are actually using AI. (MIT Technology Review)

10 This Indigenous community may become Canada’s first climate refugees
The Western Arctic region’s permafrost is thawing, and the Inuvialuit will be forced to leave their homes. (NYT $)

Quote of the day

“It was a tough situation when Pat showed up, and things look much worse now.”

—Financial analysts from Bernstein warn investors that whoever takes over from departing Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has their work cut out for them, Insider reports.

The big story

How to measure all the world’s fresh water

December 2021

The Congo River is the world’s second-largest river system after the Amazon. More than 75 million people depend on it for food and water, as do thousands of species of plants and animals. The massive tropical rainforest sprawled across its middle helps regulate the entire Earth’s climate system, but the amount of water in it is something of a mystery.

Scientists rely on monitoring stations to track the river, but what was once a network of some 400 stations has dwindled to just 15. Measuring water is key to helping people prepare for natural disasters and adapt to climate change—so researchers are increasingly filling data gaps using information gathered from space. Read the full story.

—Maria Gallucci

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ If you love a good steak, here’s where you can track down some of the best. 🥩
+ Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker reflects on something truly terrifying: the workplace.
+ Happy birthday to the one and only Prince of Darkness!
+ The bar of the HR Giger Museum in Switzerland looks exactly how you’d expect it would—completely mindblowing.

The Download: words of wisdom from the departing White House tech advisor, and controversial AI manga translation

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

What the departing White House chief tech advisor has to say on AI

President Biden’s administration will end within two months, and likely to depart with him is Arati Prabhakar, the top mind for science and technology in his cabinet. She has served as Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy since 2022 and was the first to demonstrate ChatGPT to the president in the Oval Office. 

Prabhakar was instrumental in passing the president’s executive order on AI in 2023, which sets guidelines for tech companies to make AI safer and more transparent (though it relies on voluntary participation).

As she prepares for the end of the administration, MIT Technology Review sat down with Prabhakar and asked her to reflect on President Biden’s AI accomplishments, and how the approach to AI risks, immigration policies, the CHIPS Act and more could change under Trump. Read the full story.

—James O’Donnell

This manga publisher is using Anthropic’s AI to translate Japanese comics into English

A Japanese publishing startup is using Anthropic’s flagship large language model Claude to help translate manga into English, allowing the company to churn out a new title for a Western audience in just a few days rather than the 2-3 months it would take a team of humans.

But not everyone is happy about it. The firm has angered a number of manga fans who see the use of AI to translate a celebrated and traditional art-form as one more front in the ongoing battle between tech companies and artists. Read the full story.

—Will Douglas Heaven

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 The US has announced more restrictions on chip exports to China
It’s the third round of crackdowns on the industry in as many years. (Reuters)
+ It’s not just China-based companies that could suffer, either. (WP $)
+ The delayed announcement gave China the chance to stockpile affected chips. (WSJ $)
+ Meanwhile, computer scientists in the West are trying to make peace. (Economist $)
+ What’s next in chips. (MIT Technology Review)

2 Donald Trump’s administration is full of pseudo-influencers
They’re capitalizing on their fame to make big bucks ahead of the inauguration. (WP $)
+ A lot of his cabinet also happen to be billionaires. (NY Mag $)

 3 We’re not prepared for a clean energy future
It seems energy authorities keep underestimating how much clean power the world really wants. (Vox)
+ Why artificial intelligence and clean energy need each other. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Ads could start cropping up in ChatGPT
OpenAI is on a revenue drive, and advertising is an obvious cash source. (FT $)
+ Elon Musk is doing all he can to prevent it becoming a for-profit business. (Bloomberg $)

5 Chemistry students in Mexico are being lured into making fentanyl
Cartels are offering young chemists large sums to make the drug even more potent. (NYT $)
+ Deaths from fentanyl are falling—and it looks it’s because of supply changes.(FT $)
+ Anti-opioid groups are cautiously optimistic about Trump’s new tariffs. (The Guardian)

6 BYD isn’t just a EV company these days
It’s carved out an unlikely side gig assembling Apple’s iPads. (WSJ $)
+ BYD has also experimented with shipping for its colossal car consignments. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Our organs age at different rates
And AI is giving us a window into understanding why. (New Scientist $)
+ Aging hits us in our 40s and 60s. But well-being doesn’t have to fall off a cliff. (MIT Technology Review)

8 The unbearable mundanity of home DNA tests
The likelihood of them revealing anything interesting is actually pretty low. (The Guardian)
+ How to… delete your 23andMe data. (MIT Technology Review)

9 This website is full of random, barely-watched home videos
Which one you’ll be served is anyone’s guess. (WP $)

10 Brain rot is the Oxford University dictionary word of the year
Specifically in the context of spending too long looking at nonsense online. (BBC)

Quote of the day

“It’s like trying to prevent a fisherman from catching bigger fish simply by denying him bigger fishing poles. He’ll get there in the end.”

—Meghan Harris, an export control expert at consultancy Beacon Global Strategies, explains the limits of the US government’s plans to curb China’s chipmaking to the Financial Times.

The big story

The quest to build wildfire-resistant homes

April 2023

With each devastating wildfire in the US West, officials consider new methods or regulations that might save homes or lives the next time.

In the parts of California where the hillsides meet human development, and where the state has suffered recurring seasonal fire tragedies, that search for new means of survival has especially high stakes.

Many of these methods are low cost and low tech, but no less truly innovative. In fact, the hardest part to tackle may not be materials engineering, but social change. Read the full story.

—Susie Cagle

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ This Instagram account is a treasure trove of bygone mobile phones.
+ The newly renovated Notre Dame cathedral is really quite something.
+ Bad news: we’re probably not going to find alien life any time soon 😭
+ Think you know grilled cheese? This recipe might make you question everything you know and hold dear.

The Download: how OpenAI tests its models, and the ethics of uterus transplants

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

How OpenAI stress-tests its large language models

OpenAI has lifted the lid (just a crack) on its safety-testing processes. It has put out two papers describing how it stress-tests its powerful large language models to try to identify potential harmful or otherwise unwanted behavior, an approach known as red-teaming. 

The first paper describes how OpenAI directs an extensive network of human testers outside the company to vet the behavior of its models before they are released. The second presents a new way to automate parts of the testing process, using a large language model like GPT-4 to come up with novel ways to bypass its own guardrails. MIT Technology Review got an exclusive preview of the work. 

—Will Douglas Heaven

Who should get a uterus transplant? Experts aren’t sure.

Over 135 uterus transplants have been performed globally in the last decade, resulting in the births of over 50 healthy babies. The surgery has had profound consequences for these families—the recipients would not have been able to experience pregnancy any other way.

But legal and ethical questions continue to surround the procedure, which is still considered experimental. Who should be offered a uterus transplant? Could the procedure ever be offered to transgender women? And if so, who should pay for these surgeries? Read the full story

—Jessica Hamzelou

This story is from The Checkup, our weekly newsletter about the latest in biotech and health. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Thursday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 OpenAI may launch a web browser
Which would be a full-frontal assault on Google (The Information $)
+ The Google browser break-up is an answer in search of a question. (FT $)
OpenAI accidentally deleted potential evidence in a training data lawsuit. (The Verge)

2 Border militias are ready to help with Trump’s deportation plans
Regardless of whether they’re asked to or not. (Wired $)
+ Trump’s administration plans to radically curb the powers of the federal agency that protects unions. (WP $)

3 Russia hit Ukraine with a new type of missile 
Here’s what we know about it so far. (The Guardian)

4 Microsoft is about to turn 50
And it’s every bit as relevant and powerful as it’s ever been. (Wired $)

5 China has overtaken Germany in industrial robot adoption
South Korea, however, remains streets ahead of both of them. (Reuters $)
Three reasons robots are about to become way more useful. (MIT Technology Review

6 The irresistible rise of cozy tech
Our devices, social media and now AI are encouraging us to keep looking inward. (New Yorker $)
+ Inside the cozy but creepy world of VR sleep rooms. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Churchgoers in a Swiss city have been spilling their secrets to AI Jesus 😇
And they’re mostly really enjoying it. Watch out, priests. (The Guardian)

8 A French startup wants to make fuel out of thin air
Then use it to fuel ships and airplanes. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ Everything you need to know about alternative jet fuels. (MIT Technology Review

9 WhatsApp is going to start transcribing voice messages
This seems a good compromise to bridge people’s different communication preferences. (The Verge)

10 Want a new phone? You should consider second-hand
It’s better for the planetand your wallet. (Vox)

Quote of the day

“Nope. 100% not true.”

—Jeff Bezos fires back at Elon Musk’s claim that he was telling everyone that Trump would lose pre-election in a rare post on X.

 The big story

This chemist is reimagining the discovery of materials using AI and automation

Automated fluid handling

DEREK SHAPTON

October 2021

Alán Aspuru-Guzik, a Mexico City–born, Toronto-based chemist, has devoted much of his life to contemplating worst-case scenarios. What if climate change proceeds as expected, or gets significantly worse? Could we quickly come up with the materials we’ll need to cheaply capture carbon, or make batteries from something other than costly lithium?

Materials discovery—the science of creating and developing useful new substances—often moves at a frustratingly slow pace. The typical trial-and-error approach takes an average of two decades, making it too expensive and risky for most companies to pursue.

Aspuru-Guzik’s objective—which he shares with a growing number of computer-­savvy chemists—is to shrink that interval to a matter of months or years. And advances in AI, robotics, and computing are bringing new life to his vision. Read the full story.

—Simon Lewsen

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ Do you struggle with a lack of confidence? Here’s how to take up a bit more space.
+ These recipes will ensure you have a delicious Thanksgiving next week.
+ It’s impossible not to dream of lazy sunny days while gazing at Quentin Monge’s work
+ Tom Jones x Disturbed = very funny

The Download: AI replicas, and China’s climate role

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

AI can now create a replica of your personality

Imagine sitting down with an AI model for a spoken two-hour interview. A friendly voice guides you through a conversation that ranges from your childhood, your formative memories, and your career to your thoughts on immigration policy. Not long after, a virtual replica of you is able to embody your values and preferences with stunning accuracy.

That’s now possible, according to a new paper from a team including researchers from Stanford and Google DeepMind.

They recruited 1,000 people and, from interviews with them, created agent replicas of them all. To test how well the agents mimicked their human counterparts, participants did a series of tests, games and surveys, then the agents completed the same exercises. The results were 85% similar. Freaky. Read our story about the work, and why it matters.

—James O’Donnell

China’s complicated role in climate change

“But what about China?”

In debates about climate change, it’s usually only a matter of time until someone brings up China. Often, it comes in response to some statement about how the US and Europe are addressing the issue (or how they need to be).

Sometimes it can be done in bad faith. It’s a rhetorical way to throw up your hands, and essentially say: “if they aren’t taking responsibility, why should we?” 

However, there are some undeniable facts: China emits more greenhouse gases than any other country, by far. It’s one of the world’s most populous countries and a climate-tech powerhouse, and its economy is still developing. 

With many complicated factors at play, how should we think about the country’s role in addressing climate change? Read the full story

—Casey Crownhart

This story is from The Spark, our weekly newsletter giving you the inside track on all things energy and climate. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday.

Four ways to protect your art from AI 

Since the start of the generative AI boom, artists have been worried about losing their livelihoods to AI tools.

Unfortunately, there is little you can do if your work has been scraped into a data set and used in a model that is already out there. You can, however, take steps to prevent your work from being used in the future. Here are four ways to do that

—Melissa Heikkila

This is part of our How To series, where we give you practical advice on how to use technology in your everyday lives. You can read the rest of the series here.

MIT Technology Review Narrated: The world’s on the verge of a carbon storage boom

In late 2023, one of California’s largest oil and gas producers secured draft permits from the US Environmental Protection Agency to develop a new type of well in an oil field. If approved, it intends to drill a series of boreholes down to a sprawling sedimentary formation roughly 6,000 feet below the surface, where it will inject tens of millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide to store it away forever.

Hundreds of similar projects are looming across the state, the US, and the world. Proponents hope it’s the start of a sort of oil boom in reverse, kick-starting a process through which the world will eventually bury more greenhouse gas than it adds to the atmosphere. But opponents insist these efforts will prolong the life of fossil-fuel plants, allow air and water pollution to continue, and create new health and environmental risks.

This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we’re publishing each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 How the Trump administration could hack your phone
Spyware acquired by the US government in September could fairly easily be turned on its own citizens. (New Yorker $)
Here’s how you can fight back against being digitally spied upon. (The Guardian)

2 The DOJ is trying to force Google to sell off Chrome
Whether Trump will keep pushing it through is unclear, though. (WP $)
Some financial and legal experts argue that just selling Chrome is not enough to address antitrust issues. (Wired $)

3 There’s a booming ‘AI pimping’ industry
People are stealing videos from real adult content creators, giving them AI-generated faces, and monetizing their bodies. (Wired $)
+ This viral AI avatar app undressed me—without my consent. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Here’s Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy plan for federal employees
Large-scale firings and an end to any form of remote work. (WSJ $)

5 The US is scaring everyone with its response to bird flu
It’s done remarkably little to show it’s trying to contain the outbreak. (NYT $)
Virologists are getting increasingly nervous about how it could evolve and spread. (MIT Technology Review)

6 AI could boost the performance of quantum computers 
A new model created by Google DeepMind is very good at correcting errors. (New Scientist $)
But AI could also make quantum computers less necessary. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Biden has approved the use of anti-personnel mines in Ukraine
It comes just days after he gave the go-ahead for it to use long-range missiles inside Russia. (Axios)
+ The US military has given a surveillance drone contract to a little-known supplier from Utah. (WSJ $) 
The Danish military said it’s keeping a close eye on a Chinese ship in its waters after data cable breaches. (Reuters $)

8 The number of new mobile internet users is stalling
Only about 57% of the world’s population is connected. (Rest of World)

9 All of life on Earth descended from this single cell
Our “last universal common ancestor” (or LUCA for short) was a surprisingly complex organism living 4.2 billion years ago. (Quanta)
Scientists are building a catalog of every type of cell in our bodies. (The Economist $)

10 What it’s like to live with a fluffy AI pet 🐹
Try as we might, it seems we can’t help but form attachments to cute companion robots. (The Guardian

Quote of the day

“The free pumpkins have brought joy to many.”

—An example of the sort of stilted remarks made by a now-abandoned AI-generated news broadcaster at local Hawaii paper The Garden Island, Wired reports. 

 The big story

How Bitcoin mining devastated this New York town

GABRIELA BHASKAR

April 2022

If you had taken a gamble in 2017 and purchased Bitcoin, today you might be a millionaire many times over. But while the industry has provided windfalls for some, local communities have paid a high price, as people started scouring the world for cheap sources of energy to run large Bitcoin-mining farms.

It didn’t take long for a subsidiary of the popular Bitcoin mining firm Coinmint to lease a Family Dollar store in Plattsburgh, a city in New York state offering cheap power. Soon, the company was regularly drawing enough power for about 4,000 homes. And while other miners were quick to follow, the problems had already taken root. Read the full story.

—Lois Parshley

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ Cultivating gratitude is a proven way to make yourself happier.
+ You can’t beat a hot toddy when it’s cold outside.
+ If you like abandoned places and overgrown ruins, Jonathan Jimenez is the photographer for you. 
+ A lot changed between Gladiator I and II, not least Hollywood’s version of the male ideal. 

The Download: Clear’s identity ambitions, and the climate blame game

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

Inside Clear’s ambitions to manage your identity beyond the airport 

Clear Secure is the most visible biometric identity company in the United States. Best known for its line-jumping service in airports, it’s also popping up at  sports arenas and stadiums all over the country. You can also use its identity verification platform to rent tools at Home Depot, put your profile in front of recruiters on LinkedIn, and, as of this month, verify your identity as a rider on Uber.

And soon enough, if Clear has its way, it may also be in your favorite retailer, bank, and even doctor’s office—or anywhere else that you currently have to pull out a wallet (or wait in line). 

While the company has been building toward this sweeping vision for years, it now seems its time has finally come. But as biometrics go mainstream, what—and who—bears the cost? Read the full story.  

—Eileen Guo

LinkedIn Live: Facial verification tech promises a frictionless future. But at what cost?

Do you use your face to unlock your phone, or speed through airport security? As biometrics companies move into more and more spaces, where else would you use this technology? The trade off seems simple: you scan your face, you get a frictionless future. But is it really? Join MIT Technology Review’s features and investigations team for a LinkedIn Live this Thursday, November 21, about the rise of facial verification tech and what it means to give up your face. Register for free.

Who’s to blame for climate change? It’s surprisingly complicated.

Once again, global greenhouse-gas emissions are projected to hit a new high in 2024. 

In this time of shifting political landscapes and ongoing international negotiations, many are quick to blame one country or another for an outsize role in causing climate change.

But assigning responsibility is complicated. These three visualizations help explain why.

—Casey Crownhart

Cyber Week Sale: subscriptions are half price!

Take advantage of epic savings on award-winning reporting, razor-sharp analysis, and expert insights on your favorite technology topics. Subscribe today to save 50% on an annual subscription, plus receive a free digital copy of our “Generative AI and the future of work” report. Don’t miss out.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 AI can now translate your voice in real-time during meetings
It’s part of Microsoft’s drive to push more AI into its products, but how well it works in the wild remains to be seen. (WP $)
Apple is having less success on that front, at least if its AI notification summaries are anything to go by. (The Atlantic $)

2 Anyone can buy data tracking US soldiers in Germany 
And the Pentagon is powerless to stop it.(Wired $)
It’s shockingly easy to buy sensitive data about US military personnel. (MIT Technology Review)

3 Bluesky now has over 20 million users 📈
Its user base has tripled in the last three months. (Engadget)
Truth Social, on the other hand, is not doing quite so well. (WP $)
+ The rise of Bluesky, and the splintering of social. (MIT Technology Review)

4 How Google created a culture of concealment 
It’s been preparing for antitrust action for over a decade, enforcing a policy where employees delete messages by default. (NYT $)
+ The company reacted angrily to reports it may be forced to sell Chrome. (BBC)

5 Project 2025 is already infiltrating the Trump administration 
Despite repeated denials, it’s clearly a blueprint for his next term. (Vox)
A hacker reportedly gained access to damaging testimonies about Matt Gaetz, his pick to be attorney general. (NYT $)

6 Quantum computers hit a major milestone for error-free calculation
This is a crucial part of making them useful for real-world tasks. (New Scientist $)

7 Technology is changing political speech
Slogans are becoming less effective. Now it’s more about saying different things to different audiences. (New Yorker $)

8 Lab-grown foie gras, anyone?
This could be the cultivated meat industry’s future: as a luxury product for the few. (Wired $)

9 Niantic is using Pokémon Go player data to build an AI navigation system
If it works, it could unlock some amazing capabilities in AR, robotics and beyond. (404 Media)

10 Minecraft is expanding into the real world
It has struck a $110 million deal with one of the world’s biggest theme park operators. (The Guardian)

Quote of the day

“Nobody believes that these cables were severed by accident.”

—Germany’s defense minister Boris Pistorius, tells reporters that the severing of two fiber-optic cables in the Baltic Sea was a deliberate act of sabotage, the New York Times reports. 

 The big story

Are we alone in the universe?

a road leads to a sky filled with orbiting cubes and glowing lights

ARIEL DAVIS

November 2023

The quest to determine if life is out there has gained greater scientific footing over the past 50 years. Back then, astronomers had yet to spot a single planet outside our solar system. Now we know the galaxy is teeming with a diversity of worlds.

We’re getting closer than ever before to learning how common living worlds like ours actually are. New tools, including artificial intelligence, could help scientists look past their preconceived notions of what constitutes life. Read the full story.

—Adam Mann

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ How to not only survive but thrive during the winter.
+ Fancy working from somewhere new? Here are some of the best cities for a workcation. 
+ Want to see David Bowie imitating Mick Jagger? Of course you do
+ It’s an old(ish) joke but still funny.

The Download: police AI, and mixed reality’s future

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

How the largest gathering of US police chiefs is talking about AI

—James O’Donnell

The International Association of Chiefs of Police bills itself as the largest gathering of its type in the United States. Leaders from many of the country’s 18,000 police departments and even some from abroad convene for product demos, discussions, parties, and awards. 

I went along last month to see how artificial intelligence was being discussed, and the message to police chiefs seemed crystal clear: If your department is slow to adopt AI, fix that now. From the expo hall, talks, and interviews, it seems they’re already enthusiastically heeding the call. Read the full story.

This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly AI newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Monday.

Roundtables: What’s Next for Mixed Reality: Glasses, Goggles, and More

After years of trying, augmented-reality specs are at last a thing. 

If you want to learn more about where AR experiences are heading, join our editor-in-chief Mat Honan and AI hardware reporter James O’Donnell for a Roundtables conversation streamed online at 2pm ET/11am PT today. It’s for subscribers only but good news: this week our subscriptions are half price. Don’t miss out! 

Read more about mixed reality:

+ We interviewed Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus, about his plans to bring mixed-reality goggles to soldiers. Here’s what he had to say.

+  The coolest thing about smart glasses is not the AR. It’s the AI.

+ Snap has launched new augmented-reality Spectacles. Here’s what we made of them

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 The FBI is investigating threats texted to Latino and LGBTQ+ people 
They claim recipients will be deported or sent to a re-education camp. (WP $)
+  ICE can already sidestep sanctuary city laws through data-sharing centers. (Wired $)
Trump has confirmed he plans to use the military for mass deportations. (NYT $)

2 Chinese tech groups are building AI teams in Silicon Valley 
Despite Washington’s best efforts to stymie their work. (FT $)
How a US ban on investing in Chinese startups could escalate under Trump. (Wired $)

3 How Apple will cope with looming tariffs 
The fact CEO Tim Cook already has a relationship with Trump will surely help. (Bloomberg $)

4 Two undersea cables in the Baltic Sea have been disrupted 
It looks like Russia is trying to interfere with global undersea infrastructure. (CNN)
A Russian spy ship had to be escorted out of the Irish Sea last weekend too. (The Guardian)

5 An AI tool could help solve math problems humans are stuck on
It’s a good example of how blending human and machine intelligence can produce positive results. (New Scientist $)
+ This AI system makes human tutors better at teaching children math. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Robots still struggle to match warehouse workers on some tasks
For all the advances robots have made, picking things up and moving them around remains a big challenge. (NYT $)
+ AI is poised to automate today’s most mundane manual warehouse task. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Perplexity’s AI search engine can now buy stuff for you
How long until Google follows? (The Verge)

8 Dozens of states are begging Congress to pass the kids online safety act
It has currently stalled in the House of Representatives due to censorship concerns. (The Verge)
Roblox is adding more controls to let parents set daily usage limits, block access to certain game genres, and more. (WSJ $)
+ Why child safety bills are popping up all over the US

9 The US Patent and Trademark Office banned staff from using generative AI
It cited security concerns plus the fact some tools exhibit “bias, unpredictability, and malicious behavior.” (Wired $)

10 NASA might have killed life on Mars 😬
A new paper suggests that adding water to Martian soil might have been a bad move. (Quartz $)
+  The ISS has been leaking air for 5 years, and engineers still can’t agree why. (Ars Technica)

Quote of the day

“We are bleeding cash as an industry.” 

—Thomas Laffont, co-founder of investment firm Coatue Management, says venture capital firms are struggling to make money amid a boom in AI investments, the Wall Street Journal reports.

 The big story

How mobile money supercharged Kenya’s sports betting addiction

BRIAN OTIENO

April 2022

Mobile money has mostly been hugely beneficial for Kenyans. But it has also turbo-charged the country’s sports betting sector.

Experts and public figures across the African continent are sounding the alarm over the growth of the sector increasingly loudly. It’s produced tales of riches, but it has also broken families, consumed college tuitions, and even driven some to suicide. Read the full story.

—Jonathan W. Rosen

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ I just learned a pertinent word for this season: abscission
+ Only some people will get this… but if you’re one of them, you’ll enjoy it. 
+ Why Late of the Pier were one of the most exciting UK bands of the 2000s.
+ Whether you call them crisps or chips, they’re goddamn delicious.

The Download: Bluesky’s rapid rise, and harmful fertility stereotypes

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

The rise of Bluesky, and the splintering of social

You may have read that it was a big week for Bluesky. If you’re not familiar, Bluesky is, essentially, a Twitter clone that publishes short-form status updates. Last Wednesday, The Verge reported it had crossed 15 million users. It’s just ticked over 19 million now, and is the number one app in Apple’s app store.

Meanwhile, Threads, Meta’s answer to Twitter, reportedly signed up 15 million people in November alone. Both apps are surging in usage.

Many of these new users were seemingly fleeing X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in reaction to Elon Musk’s support of Donald Trump, and his moves to elevate right-leaning content on the platform. But there’s a deeper trend at play here. We’re seeing a long-term shift away from massive centralized social networks. Read the full story

—Mat Honan

This story is from The Debrief, our newly-launched newsletter written by our editor-in-chief Mat Honan. It’s his weekly take on the real stories behind the biggest news in tech—with some links to stories we love and the occasional recommendation thrown in for good measure. Sign up to get it every Friday!

Why the term “women of childbearing age” is problematic

—Jessica Hamzelou

Every journalist has favorite topics. Mine include the quest to delay or reverse human aging, and new technologies for reproductive health and fertility. So when I saw trailers for The Substance, a film centered on one middle-aged woman’s attempt to reexperience youth, I had to watch it.

I won’t spoil the movie for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet (although I should warn that it is not for the squeamish). But a key premise of the film involves harmful attitudes toward female aging. 

“Hey, did you know that a woman’s fertility starts to decrease by the age of 25?” a powerful male character asks early in the film. “At 50, it just stops,” he later adds. He never explains what stops, exactly, but to the viewer the message is pretty clear: If you’re a woman, your worth is tied to your fertility. Once your fertile window is over, so are you. 

The insidious idea that women’s bodies are, above all else, vessels for growing children has plenty of negative consequences for us all. But it also sets back scientific research and health policy. Read Jess’s story to learn how

This story is from The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter.  Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Thursday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Trump plans to loosen US rules for self-driving cars 
No prizes for guessing who might be behind that idea. (Bloomberg $)
Elon Musk is ramping up his legal fight against OpenAI and Microsoft. (WSJ $)
Trump has appointed the FCC’s Brendan Carr to lead the agency. (NPR)
Robotaxis are here. It’s time to decide what to do about them. (MIT Technology Review)

2 How Bluesky is handling its explosive growth
It has just 20 employees, and they’re working round the clock to deal with bugs, outages and moderation issues. (NYT $)
+ Just joined Bluesky? Here’s how to use it. (The Verge)
How to fix the internet. (MIT Technology Review)

 3 Biden agreed to some small but significant AI limits with Xi Jinping 
I think we can all get behind the idea that nuclear weapons should be exclusively controlled by humans. (Politico)
Biden has lifted a ban on Ukraine using long-raise missiles to strike inside Russia. (BBC)

4 Big Tech is trying to sink the US online child safety bill 
And, as it stands, its lobbying efforts look very likely to succeed. (WSJ $)

5 Amazon has launched a rival to Temu and Shein 
Nothing on ‘Haul’ costs more than $20. (BBC)
+ Welcome to the slop era of online shopping. (The Atlantic $)

6 The Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight on Netflix was plagued by glitches
Despite that, 60 million households still tuned in. (Deadline)

7 AI models can work together faster in their own language 
Linking different models together could help tackle thorny problems individual ones can’t solve. (New Scientist $)

8 Tech companies are training their AI on movie subtitles 
A database called OpenSubtitles provides a rare glimpse into what goes into these systems. (The Atlantic $)

9 McDonald’s is trying to bring back NFTs
Remember those? (Gizmodo)

10 A lot of people are confusing Starlink satellites with UFOs
Guess it’ll take us a while for us to get used to seeing them. (Ars Technica)

Quote of the day

“F*** you, Elon Musk.”

—Brazil’s first lady, Janja Lula da Silva, makes her views clear during a speech calling for tougher social media regulation ahead of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Reuters reports.

 The big story

Alina Chan tweeted life into the idea that the virus came from a lab

Alina Chan

COURTESY PHOTO

June 2021

Alina Chan started asking questions in March 2020. She was chatting with friends on Facebook about the virus then spreading out of China. She thought it was strange that no one had found any infected animal. She wondered why no one was admitting another possibility, which to her seemed very obvious: the outbreak might have been due to a lab accident.

Chan is a postdoc in a gene therapy lab at the Broad Institute, a prestigious research institute affiliated with both Harvard and MIT. Throughout 2020, Chan relentlessly stoked scientific argument, and wasn’t afraid to pit her brain against the best virologists in the world. Her persistence even helped change some researchers’ minds. Read the full story.

—Antonio Regalado

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ Why Quincy Jones was the best of the best.
+ These handy apps are a great way to save articles to read later on (Pocket is my own personal favorite.)
+ How to resurrect a ghost river in the Bronx.
+ Look after your stainless steel pans, and your stainless steel pans will look after you.

The Download: diversifying AI voices, and a science-fiction glimpse into the future

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

How this grassroots effort could make AI voices more diverse

We are on the cusp of a voice AI boom, as tech companies roll out the next generation of artificial-intelligence-powered assistants. But the default voices for these assistants are often white American—British, if you’re lucky—and most definitely speak English. And if you’re one of the billions of people who don’t speak English, bad luck: These tools don’t sound nearly as good in other languages.

This is because the data that has gone into training these models is limited. In AI research, most data used to train models is extracted from the English-language internet, which reflects Anglo-American culture. But there is a massive grassroots effort underway to change this status quo and bring more transparency and diversity to what AI sounds like. Read the full story.

—Melissa Heikkilä

Azalea: a science-fiction story

Fancy something fiction to read this weekend? If you enjoy Sci-Fi, check out this story written by Paolo Bacigalupi, featured in the latest edition of our print magazine. It imagines a future shaped by climate change—read it for yourself here.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Cruise has admitted to falsifying a crash report
The report failed to mention that its robotaxi dragged a pedestrian after striking her. (San Francisco Chronicle)
+ The firm has been fined $500,000 to resolve the criminal charges. (WP $)

2 The US plans to investigate Microsoft’s cloud business 
As the Biden administration prepares to hand over power to Donald Trump’s team. (FT $)

3 Silicon Valley hates regulation. So does Trump.
AI and energy ventures could be the first to prosper under lighter-touch governance. (WP $)
+ Peter Thiel claims the tech industry is fed up with ‘wokeness.’ (Insider $)

4 Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team will be working 80+ hours a week
And you’ll need to subscribe to X to apply. (WSJ $)
+ As if that wasn’t appealing enough, the positions are also unpaid. (NBC News)
+ The ‘lucky’ workers can expect a whole lot of meetings. (Bloomberg $)

5 The trolls are in charge now
And it’s increasingly unclear what’s a joke and what’s an actual threat. (The Atlantic $)
+ It’s possible, but not guaranteed, that Trump’s more controversial cabinet picks will be defeated in the Senate. (New Yorker $)

6 How to keep abortion plans private in the age of Trump
Reproductive rights are under threat. Here’s how to protect them. (The Markup)

7 The first mechanical Qubit is here
And mechanical quantum computers could be the first to benefit. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ Quantum computing is taking on its biggest challenge: noise. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Can Bluesky recapture the old Twitter’s magic?
No algorithms, no interfering billionaires. (Vox)
+ More than one million new users joined the platform earlier this week. (TechCrunch)

9 Weight-loss drugs could help to treat chronic pain
And could present a safer alternative to opioids. (New Scientist $)
+ Weight-loss injections have taken over the internet. But what does this mean for people IRL? (MIT Technology Review)

10 These are the most expensive photographs ever taken
The first human-taken pictures from space are truly awe-inspiring. (The Guardian)

Quote of the day

“It feels like it’s a platform for and by real people.”

—US politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells the Washington Post about the appeal of Bluesky as users join the social network after abandoning X.

The big story

How environmental DNA is giving scientists a new way to understand our world

February 2024

Environmental DNA is a relatively inexpensive, widespread, potentially automated way to observe the diversity and distribution of life.

Unlike previous techniques, which could identify DNA from, say, a single organism, the method also collects the swirling cloud of other genetic material that surrounds it. It can serve as a surveillance tool, offering researchers a means of detecting the seemingly undetectable.

By sampling eDNA, or mixtures of genetic material in water, soil, ice cores, cotton swabs, or practically any environment imaginable, even thin air, it is now possible to search for a specific organism or assemble a snapshot of all the organisms in a given place.

It offers a thrilling — and potentially chilling — way to collect information about organisms, including humans, as they go about their everyday business. Read the full story.

—Peter Andrey Smith

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ Smells like punk spirit.
+ If you’ve been feeling creaky lately (and who hasn’t), give these mobility exercises a go.
+ Talk about a glow up—these beautiful locations really do emanate light.
+ It’s the truly chilling collab we never knew we needed: Bon Jovi has joined forces with Mr Worldwide himself, Pitbull.

The Download: AI in Africa, and reporting in the age of Trump

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

What Africa needs to do to become a major AI player

Africa is still early in the process of adopting AI technologies. But researchers say the continent is uniquely hospitable to it for several reasons, including a relatively young and increasingly well-educated population, a rapidly growing ecosystem of AI startups, and lots of potential consumers. 

However, ambitious efforts to develop AI tools that answer the needs of Africans face numerous hurdles. The biggest are inadequate funding and poor infrastructure. Limited internet access and a scarcity of domestic data centers also mean that developers might not be able to deploy cutting-edge AI capabilities. Complicating this further is a lack of overarching policies or strategies for harnessing AI’s immense benefits—and regulating its downsides.

Taken together, researchers worry, these issues will hold Africa’s AI sector back and hamper its efforts to pave its own pathway in the global AI race. Read the full story.

—Abdullahi Tsanni

Science and technology stories in the age of Trump

—Mat Honan

I’ve spent most of this year being pretty convinced that Donald Trump would be the 47th president of the United States. Even so, like most people, I was completely surprised by the scope of his victory. This level of victory will certainly provide the political capital to usher in a broad sweep of policy changes.

Some of these changes will be well outside our lane as a publication. But very many of President-elect Trump’s stated policy goals will have direct impacts on science and technology. 

So I thought I would share some of my remarks from our edit meeting on Wednesday morning, when we woke up to find out that the world had indeed changed. Read the full story.

This story is from The Debrief, the weekly newsletter from our editor in chief Mat Honan. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Friday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Canada has recorded its first known bird flu case in a human 
Officials are investigating how the teenager was exposed to the virus. (NPR)
+ Canada insists that the risk to the public remains low. (Reuters)
+ Why virologists are getting increasingly nervous about bird flu. (MIT Technology Review)

2 How MAGA became a rallying call for young men
The Republicans’ online strategy tapped into the desires of disillusioned Gen Z men. (WP $)
+ Elon Musk is assembling a list of favorable would-be Trump advisors. (FT $)

3 Trump’s victory is a win for the US defense industry
Palmer Luckey’s Anduril is anticipating a lucrative next four years. (Insider $)
+ Here’s what Luckey has to say about the Pentagon’s future of mixed reality. (MIT Technology Review)
+ Traditional weapons are being given AI upgrades. (Wired $)

4 This year is highly likely to be the hottest on record
This week’s Cop29 climate summit will thrash out future policies. (The Guardian)
+ A little-understood contributor to the weather? Microplastics. (Wired $)
+ Trump’s win is a tragic loss for climate progress. (MIT Technology Review)

5 Ukraine is scrambling to repair its power stations
Workers are dismantling plants to repair other stations hit by Russian attacks. (WSJ $)
+ Meet the radio-obsessed civilian shaping Ukraine’s drone defense. (MIT Technology Review)

6 We need better ways to evaluate LLMs
Tech giants are coming up with better methods of measuring these systems. (FT $)
+ The improvements in the tech behind ChatGPT appear to be slowing. (The Information $)
+ AI hype is built on high test scores. Those tests are flawed. (MIT Technology Review)

7 FTX is suing crypto exchange Binance
It claims Sam Bankman-Fried fraudulently transferred close to $1.8 billion to Binance in 2021. (Bloomberg $)
+ Meanwhile, bitcoin is surging to new record heights. (Reuters)

8 What we know about tech and loneliness
While there’s little evidence tech directly makes us lonely, there’s a strong correlation between the two. (NYT $)

9 What’s next for space policy in the US
If one person’s interested in the cosmos, it’s Elon Musk. (Ars Technica)

10 Could you save the Earth from a killer asteroid?
It’s a game that’s part strategy, part luck. (New Scientist $)
+ Earth is probably safe from a killer asteroid for 1,000 years. (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“‘Conflict of interest’ seems rather quaint.”

—Gita Johar, a professor at Columbia Business School, tells the Guardian about Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s openly transactional relationship.

The big story

Quartz, cobalt, and the waste we leave behind

May 2024

It is easy to convince ourselves that we now live in a dematerialized ethereal world, ruled by digital startups, artificial intelligence, and financial services.

Yet there is little evidence that we have decoupled our economy from its churning hunger for resources. We are still reliant on the products of geological processes like coal and quartz, a mineral that’s a rich source of the silicon used to build computer chips, to power our world.

Three recent books aim to reconnect readers with the physical reality that underpins the global economy. Each one fills in dark secrets about the places, processes, and lived realities that make the economy tick, and reveals just how tragic a toll the materials we rely on take for humans and the environment. Read the full story.

—Matthew Ponsford

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ Oscars buzz has already begun, and this year’s early contenders are an interesting bunch.
+ This sweet art project shows how toys age with love ❤
+ Who doesn’t love pretzels? Here’s how to make sure they end up with the perfect fluffy interior and a glossy, chewy crust.
+ These images of plankton are really quite something.

The Download: inside animals’ minds, and how to make AI agents useful

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

What do jumping spiders find sexy? How DIY tech is offering insights into the animal mind.

Studying the minds of other animals comes with a challenge that human psychologists don’t usually face: Your subjects can’t tell you what they’re thinking. 

To get answers from animals, scientists need to come up with creative experiments to learn why they behave the way they do. Sometimes this requires designing and building experimental equipment from scratch. 

These contraptions can range from ingeniously simple to incredibly complex, but all of them are tailored to help answer questions about the lives and minds of specific species. Do honeybees need a good night’s sleep? What do jumping spiders find sexy? Do falcons like puzzles? For queries like these, off-the-shelf gear simply won’t do. Check out these contraptions custom-built by scientists to help them understand the lives and minds of the animals they study

—Betsy Mason

This piece is from the latest print issue of MIT Technology Review, which is all about the weird and wonderful world of food. If you don’t already, subscribe to receive future copies once they land.

How ChatGPT search paves the way for AI agents

It’s been a busy few weeks for OpenAI. Alongside updates to its new Realtime API platform, which will allow developers to build apps and voice assistants more quickly, it recently launched ChatGPT search, which allows users to search the internet using the chatbot.

Both developments pave the way for the next big thing in AI: agents. These AI assistants can complete complex chains of tasks, such as booking flights. OpenAI’s strategy is to both build agents itself and allow developers to use its software to build their own agents, and voice will play an important role in what agents will look and feel like.

Melissa Heikkilä, our senior AI reporter, sat down with Olivier Godement, OpenAI’s head of product for its platform, and Romain Huet, head of developer experience, last week to hear more about the two big hurdles that need to be overcome before agents can become a reality. Read the full story.

This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter giving you the inside track on all things AI. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Monday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 America is heading to the polls
Here’s how Harris and Trump will attempt to lead the US to tech supremacy. (The Information $)
+ The ‘Stop the Steal’ election denial movement is preparing to contest the vote. (WP $)
+ The muddy final polls suggest it’s still all to play for. (Vox)

2 Abortion rights are on the 2024 ballot
A lack of access to basic health care has led to the deaths of at least four women. (NY Mag $)
+ Nine states will decide whether to guarantee their residents abortion access. (Fortune)
+ If Trump wins he could ban abortion nationwide, even without Congress. (Politico)

3 Inside New York’s election day wargames
Tech, business and policy leaders gathered to thrash out potential risks. (WSJ $)+ Violence runs throughout all aspects of this election cycle. (FT $)

4 Elon Musk’s false and misleading X election posts have billions of views
In fact, they’ve been viewed twice as much as all X’s political ads this year. (CNN)
+ Musk’s decision to hitch himself to Trump may end up backfiring, though. (FT $)

5 Meta will permit the US military to use its AI models
It’s an interesting update to its previous policy, which explicitly banned its use for military purposes. (NYT $)
+ Facebook has kept a low profile during the election cycle. (The Atlantic $)
+ Inside the messy ethics of making war with machines. (MIT Technology Review)

6 The hidden danger of pirated software
It’s not just viruses you should be worried about. (404 Media)

7 Apple is weighing up expanding into smart glasses
Where Meta leads, Apple may follow. (Bloomberg $)
+ The coolest thing about smart glasses is not the AR. It’s the AI. (MIT Technology Review)

8 India’s lithium plans may have been a bit too ambitious
Reports of a major lithium reserve appear to have been massively overblown.(Rest of World)
+ Some countries are ending support for EVs. Is it too soon? (MIT Technology Review)

9 Your air fryer could be surveilling you
Household appliances are now mostly smart, and stuffed with trackers. (The Guardian)

10 How to stay sane during election week
Focus on what you can control, and try to let go of what you can’t. (WP $)
+ Here’s how election gurus are planning to cope in the days ahead. (The Atlantic $)
+ How to log off. (MIT Technology Review)

Quote of the day

“We’re in kind of the ‘throw spaghetti at the wall’ moment of politics and AI, where this intersection allows people to try new things for propaganda.”

—Rachel Tobac, chief executive of ethical hacking company SocialProof Security, tells the Washington Post why a deepfake video of Martin Luther King endorsing Donald Trump is being shared online in the closing hours of the presidential race.

The big story

The hunter-gatherer groups at the heart of a microbiome gold rush

December 2023

Over the last couple of decades, scientists have come to realize just how important the microbes that crawl all over us are to our health. But some believe our microbiomes are in crisis—casualties of an increasingly sanitized way of life. Disturbances in the collections of microbes we host have been associated with a whole host of diseases, ranging from arthritis to Alzheimer’s.

Some might not be completely gone, though. Scientists believe many might still be hiding inside the intestines of people who don’t live in the polluted, processed environment that most of the rest of us share.

They’ve been studying the feces of people like the Yanomami, an Indigenous group in the Amazon, who appear to still have some of the microbes that other people have lost. But they’re having to navigate an ethical minefield in order to do so. Read the full story.

—Jessica Hamzelou

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ Move over Moo Deng—Haggis the baby pygmy hippo is the latest internet star!
+ To celebrate the life of the late, great Quincy Jones, check out this sensational interview in which he spills the beans on everything from the Beatles’ musical shortcomings to who shot Kennedy. Thank you for the music, Quincy.
+ The color of the season? Sage green, apparently.
+ Dinosaurs are everywhere, you just need to look for them.