That is at present’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a day by day dose of what’s happening on the earth of expertise.
How refrigeration ruined recent meals
Three-quarters of all the pieces within the common American weight loss program passes via the chilly chain—the community of warehouses, transport containers, vans, show instances, and home fridges that maintain meat, milk, and extra chilled on the journey from farm to fork.
As shoppers, we put quite a lot of religion in phrases like “recent” and “pure,” however synthetic refrigeration has created a blind spot. We’ve gotten so good at preserving (and storing) meals, that we all know extra about methods to lengthen an apple’s life span than a human’s, and most of us don’t give that extraordinary course of a lot thought in any respect.
We’ve used refrigeration to resolve issues however haven’t performed a real accounting of the environmental, dietary, and even sociocultural prices, writer Nicola Twilley argues in her new e book Frostbite: How Refrigeration Modified Our Meals, Our Planet, and Ourselves. And all that comfort has come on the expense of range and deliciousness. Learn the total story.
—Allison Arieff
This story is from the subsequent print concern of MIT Expertise Evaluate, which comes out tomorrow and delves into the bizarre world of meals. In case you don’t already, subscribe to obtain a replica as soon as it lands.
Would you belief AI to mediate an argument?
—Melissa Heikkilä
I’ve lately been feeling heartbroken. A detailed buddy lately reduce off contact with me. I don’t actually perceive why, and my makes an attempt at fixing the state of affairs have backfired. Conditions like this are hurtful and complicated. So it’s no marvel that persons are more and more turning to AI chatbots to assist resolve them. And there’s excellent news: AI would possibly truly be capable to assist.
Researchers from Google DeepMind lately educated a system of huge language fashions to assist individuals come to settlement over social or political points. The AI mannequin was educated to determine and current areas the place individuals’s concepts overlapped. With the assistance of this AI mediator, small teams of examine individuals turned much less divided of their positions on varied points.
The most effective makes use of for AI chatbots is for brainstorming, however this newest analysis suggests they may assist us to see issues from different individuals’s views too. So why not use AI to patch issues up with my buddy? Learn the total story.
This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly publication supplying you with the within observe on all issues AI. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Monday.
What questions do you wish to learn about local weather expertise?
Do you could have any burning questions on local weather tech that you simply’ve all the time wished to know? Effectively, we’ve obtained solutions. MIT Expertise Evaluate’s local weather staff is internet hosting an AMA (Ask Me Something) on Reddit at present at 1pm ET. Get your questions in now!
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you at present’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Rupert Murdoch’s information retailers are suing AI search engine Perplexity
They accuse it of “freeriding” on their content material. (The Register)
+ They’re arguing that hallucinating information and attributing it to actual papers is illegitimate. (Wired $)
+ Conveniently, Murdoch’s Information Corp agreed a serious take care of OpenAI earlier this yr. (CNN)
2 Kamala Harris is going through an onslaught of on-line assaults
Because the US Presidential election approaches, she’s the goal of a recent wave of abuse and false claims. (WP $)
+ Girls’s well being startups are nervous in regards to the potential of Trump’s reelection. (Insider $)
3 ByteDance accused an intern of sabotaging its AI fashions
By planting malicious code to intrude with coaching duties. (Ars Technica)
+ Rumors in regards to the sacking had been circulating throughout Chinese language social media. (The Guardian)
4 The Pentagon is seeking to recruit high tech minds
However can it persuade them to swap Silicon Valley for the Protection Division? (WSJ $)
+ Protection contractors are fixated on drone-destroying laser weapons. (FT $)
5 The rise and fall of a Kentucky bitcoin mine
The undertaking was imagined to usher in prosperity, nevertheless it by no means even obtained off the bottom. (Wired $)
+ How Bitcoin mining devastated this New York city. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
6 Arkansas may be sitting on tons of lithium
It’s absolutely solely a countdown till the exploratory mining begins now. (NYT $)
+ Residents in Hungary are combating authorities plans for battery crops. (Remainder of World)
7 India is eager to be a part of the EV revolution
The issue is, it hasn’t obtained sufficient of the automobiles. (Remainder of World)
+ Chinese language-made EVs are flooding into the EU. (Bloomberg $)
+ Some nations are ending help for EVs. Is it too quickly? (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
8 Estonia’s authorities is revisiting its defunct reactors
To research their potential as nuclear waste storage websites. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ Why Microsoft made a deal to assist restart Three Mile Island. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
9 Don’t filter your cellphone’s picture library
Photographing scenes of on a regular basis life are literally fairly particular in any case. (New Yorker $)
+ The race to avoid wasting our on-line lives from a digital darkish age. (MIT Expertise Evaluate)
10 All hail comedian sans
The much-derived font is having the final chuckle. (The Atlantic $)
Quote of the day
“Perplexity proudly states that customers can ‘skip the hyperlinks’— apparently, Perplexity needs to skip the examine.”
—Robert Thomson, CEO of writer Information Corp, accuses AI search engine Perplexity of dodging paying for its journalism in a brand new lawsuit, Selection reviews.
The large story
How tradition drives foul play on the web, and the way new “upcode” can defend us
August 2023
From Bored Apes and Fancy Bears, to Shiba Inu cash, self-replicating viruses, and whales, the web is crawling with fraud, hacks, and scams.
And whereas new applied sciences come and go, they modify little about the truth that on-line unlawful operations exist as a result of some persons are prepared to behave illegally, and others fall for the tales they inform.
Finally, on-line crime is a human story. Three new books provide explanations into why it occurs, why it really works, and the way we will defend ourselves from falling for such schemes—irrespective of how convincing they’re. Learn the total story.
—Rebecca Ackermann
We will 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.)
+ Cease—you’re cleansing your glasses all unsuitable! Right here’s methods to do it correctly, free from smudges.
+ Twenties Vampires! Tom Holland! Christopher Nolan! We’re in.
+ All of us get distracted typically, however overcoming it’s all about sustaining momentum.
+ Andrew Garfield has obtained nice style in motion pictures.
