That is at the moment’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a day by day dose of what is going on on on the planet of expertise.

Housing is an election difficulty. However the US sucks at it.

Forward of abortion entry, forward of immigration, and approach forward of local weather change, US voters beneath 30 are most involved about one difficulty: housing affordability. And it’s not simply younger voters who say hovering rents and eye-watering house sale costs are amongst their prime worries. For the primary time in latest reminiscence, the price of housing could possibly be a significant component within the presidential election.  

It’s not exhausting to see why. From the start of the pandemic to early 2024, US house costs rose by 47%. In giant swaths of the nation, shopping for a house is not a risk even for these with middle-class incomes. 

Allowing delays and strict zoning guidelines create big obstacles to constructing extra and sooner—as do different well known points, just like the political energy of NIMBY activists throughout the nation and an ongoing scarcity of expert employees. However there’s additionally one other, much less talked-about drawback: We’re not very environment friendly at constructing, and we appear by some means to be getting worse. Learn the total story.

—David Rotman

Inside a fusion power facility

—Casey Crownhart

On an overcast day in early October, I picked up a rental automobile and drove to Devens, Massachusetts, to go to a gap within the floor.

Commonwealth Fusion Methods has raised over $2 billion in funding because it spun out of MIT in 2018, all in service of constructing the primary business fusion reactor. The plan is to have it working by 2026.

I visited the corporate’s website not too long ago to examine in on progress. Issues are beginning to come collectively and, trying across the website, I discovered it changing into simpler to think about a future that would truly embody fusion power. However there’s nonetheless a variety of work left to do. Learn the total story.

This story is from The Spark, our weekly local weather and power publication. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.

MIT Expertise Evaluate Narrated: How gamification took over the world

As a substitute of liberating us from drudgery and maximizing our potential, gamification has turned out to be simply one other device for coercion, distraction, and management. Why did we fall for it?

That is our newest story to be changed into a MIT Expertise Evaluate Narrated podcast. In partnership with Information Over Audio, we’ll be making a number of our tales out there, every one learn by knowledgeable voice actor. You’ll have the ability to take heed to them on the go or obtain them to take heed to offline.

We’re publishing a brand new story every week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, together with some taken from our most up-to-date print journal.

Simply navigate to MIT Expertise Evaluate Narrated on both platform, and comply with us to get all our new content material because it’s launched.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the web to seek out you at the moment’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.

1 Chicken flu has been present in a pig within the US for the primary time 
The USDA says it’s not trigger for panic. Nevertheless it’s definitely trigger for concern. (Reuters)
+ Why virologists are getting more and more nervous about chicken flu. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
 
2 Elon Musk has turned X right into a political weapon 
That is what $44 billion purchased him: the flexibility to flood the zone with falsehoods throughout an election. (The Atlantic $)
+ X’s crowdsourced fact-checking program is falling woefully brief. (WP $)
+ And it’s not simply X. YouTube is filled with election conspiracy content material too. (NYT $)
+ Spare a thought for the election officers who should navigate this mess. (NPR)
 
3 Europe’s huge tech hawks are nervously eyeing the US election
Biden was an ally of their efforts to crack down. Both of his potential successors appear to be a much less certain wager. (Wired $)
+ Attendees commonly fail to reveal their hyperlinks to huge tech at EU occasions. (The Guardian)
 
4 The AI increase is being powered by concrete
It’s a significant ingredient for knowledge facilities and the ability vegetation being constructed to serve them—and a local weather catastrophe. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ How electrical energy may assist sort out a shocking local weather villain. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
 
5 What makes human brains so particular? 🧠
A lot of the reply remains to be a thriller—however researchers are uncovering increasingly promising leads. (Nature)
+ Tech that measures our brainwaves is 100 years outdated. How will we be utilizing it 100 years from now? (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
 
6 Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robotic is getting far more succesful
If its newest video, through which it autonomously picks up and strikes automobile components, is something to go by. (TechCrunch)
+ A skeptic’s information to humanoid-robot movies. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
 
7 Alexa desperately wants a revamp
The voice assistant was launched 10 years in the past, and it’s been disappointing us ever since. (The Verge) 
 
8 We’re sick of algorithms recommending us stuff
Plenty of individuals are eager to show again to steering from different people. (New Yorker $)
+ In case you’re one in every of them, I’ve unhealthy information: AI goes to make the issue a lot worse. (Fortune $)
 
9 Russia fined Google $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
That’s extra money than exists on Earth however certain, don’t let that cease you. (The Register)
 
10 What is happening with Mark Zuckerberg not too long ago 
He’s utilizing garments to rebrand himself and… it’s kinda working?! (Slate)

Quote of the day

“It’s what occurs whenever you let a bunch of grifters take over.”

—A Trumpworld supply explains to Wired why Donald Trump’s floor marketing campaign in Michigan is so chaotic. 

 The large story

A day within the lifetime of a Chinese language robotaxi driver

WORLDCOIN

July 2022

When Liu Yang began his present job, he discovered it exhausting to return to driving his personal automobile: “I instinctively went for the passenger seat. Or after I was driving, I might anticipate the automobile to brake by itself,” says the 33-year-old Beijing native, who joined the Chinese language tech big Baidu in January 2021 as a robotaxi driver.

Liu is among the tons of of security operators employed by Baidu, “driving” 5 days every week in Shougang Park. However regardless of having solely labored for the corporate for 19 months, he already has to consider his subsequent profession transfer, as his job will probably be eradicated inside just a few years. Learn the total story.

—Zeyi Yang

We are able to nonetheless have good issues

A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Obtained any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ Glad Halloween! Try a few of the greatest spine-chilling basic novels. 
+ If scary films are extra your jam, I’ve nonetheless bought you coated.
+ These photograph montages of music followers outdoors live shows are unbelievable. 
+ Love that this man went from being afraid of rollercoasters to designing them.
+ You’ll most likely by no means type your life out. And that’s OK.