The world’s subsequent large environmental downside may come from area
In September, a singular chase came about within the skies above Easter Island. From a rented jet, a staff of researchers captured a satellite tv for pc’s final moments because it fell out of area and blazed into ash throughout the sky, utilizing cameras and scientific gear. Their hope was to collect priceless insights into the bodily and chemical processes that happen when satellites fritter away as they fall to Earth on the finish of their missions.
This type of research is rising extra pressing. The variety of satellites within the sky is quickly rising—with a tenfold enhance forecast by the tip of the last decade. Letting these satellites fritter away within the environment on the finish of their lives helps preserve the amount of area junk to a minimal. However doing so deposits satellite tv for pc ash within the Earth’s environment. This metallic ash may probably alter the local weather, and we don’t but know the way critical the issue is prone to be. Learn the total story.
—Tereza Pultarova
OpenAI’s “12 days of shipmas” inform us lots in regards to the AI arms race
Final week, OpenAI introduced what it calls the 12 days of OpenAI, or 12 days of shipmas. On December 4, CEO Sam Altman took to X to announce that the corporate could be “doing 12 days of openai. every weekday, we may have a livestream with a launch or demo, some large ones and a few stocking stuffers.”
The corporate will livestream about new merchandise each morning for 12 enterprise days in a row throughout December. It’s an impressive-sounding (and media-savvy) schedule, to make certain. However it additionally speaks to how tight the race between the AI bigs has develop into, and likewise how a lot OpenAI is scrambling to construct extra income. Learn the total story.
—Mat Honan
This story initially appeared in The Debrief with Mat Honan, our weekly tackle what’s actually happening behind the largest tech headlines. The story is subscriber-only so nab a subscription too, for those who haven’t already! Or you’ll be able to enroll to the publication at no cost to get the subsequent version in your inbox on Friday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you in the present day’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 The USDA is launching a nationwide program to check milk for chicken flu
A full 9 months after the present outbreak was first detected in dairy cows. (STAT)
+ The danger of a chicken flu pandemic is rising. (MIT Expertise Overview)
2 Right here’s what units OpenAI’s new fashions aside
They’re shifting from predicting to reasoning, which could possibly be an enormous deal. (The Atlantic $)
+ No matter whether or not capabilities are slowing, AI’s affect is just poised to develop. (Vox)
+ It could be comforting to dismiss AI as hype—but it surely misses the purpose. (Platformer)
3 A federal appeals court docket has upheld the US TikTok ban
However what occurs subsequent is anybody’s guess. (WSJ $)
+ Whether or not TikTok is banned or not, the actions towards it have had a huge impact. (MIT Expertise Overview)
4 Prime web sleuths are sitting out the hunt for the UnitedHealthcare CEO killer
The truth is, some are even criticizing people who find themselves making an attempt to assist. (NBC)
+ Why so many People are at finest detached to this explicit homicide. (New Yorker $)
5 Faculties try to cease teenagers self-harming earlier than they even strive
The AI instruments they’re adopting could possibly be doing much more injury than assist, although. (NYT $)
6 China is constructing its personal Starlink system
The Qianfan constellation may finally develop to just about 14,000 satellites. (The Economist $)
+ The tip of the ISS will usher in a extra commercialized future in area. (The Verge)
7 This was an thrilling yr for superconductors
Superconductivity—the move of electrical present with no resistance—was found in three new supplies. (Quanta $)
8 Meet the world’s least productive programmers
It appears a small minority of disillusioned ‘ghost engineers’ do just about no work in any respect. (WP $)
9 Why individuals are turning their backs on relationship apps
There’s a big diploma of fatigue, and a sense that they’re in some way indifferent from actuality. (The Guardian)
10 Faux snacks are racking up tens of millions of views on Instagram 🍿
There’s even a phrase for this development: snackfishing. (Wired $)
Quote of the day
“I believe Twitter and now X is sort of a crack dependancy for him, although. He’s clearly chasing a selected hit on a regular basis and he has ended up self-radicalising himself with the platform he has bought.”
—A former Twitter worker in London tells The Guardian how Elon Musk has modified since he bought the platform.
The large story
How electrical energy may assist deal with a shocking local weather villain
BOB O’CONNOR
January 2024
Cement is used to construct every part from roads and buildings to dams and basement flooring. However it’s additionally a local weather risk. Cement manufacturing accounts for greater than 7% of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions—greater than sectors like aviation, delivery, or landfills.
One resolution to this local weather disaster is perhaps coursing by means of the pipes at Elegant Techniques. The startup is creating a completely new approach to make cement. As an alternative of heating crushed-up rocks in lava-hot kilns, Elegant’s expertise zaps them in water with electrical energy, kicking off chemical reactions that kind the principle elements in its cement.
However it faces big challenges: competing with established trade gamers, and persuading builders to make use of its supplies within the first place. Learn the total story.
—Casey Crownhart