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This is today's variation of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a regular dose of what's going connected successful the satellite of technology.
Rivals are rising to situation the dominance of SpaceX
SpaceX is simply a abstraction motorboat juggernaut. In conscionable 2 decades, the institution has managed to borderline retired erstwhile aerospace heavyweights Boeing, Lockheed, and Northrop Grumman to summation near-monopoly presumption implicit rocket launches successful the US. It is present besides the go-to motorboat supplier for commercialized customers, having lofted galore satellites and 5 backstage crewed spaceflights, with much to come.
Other abstraction companies person been scrambling to vie for years, but processing a reliable rocket takes slow, dependable enactment and large budgets. Now astatine slightest immoderate of them are catching up. Read the afloat story.
—Ramin Skibba
We should speech much astir air-conditioning
—Casey Crownhart
Things are starting to lukewarm up present successful the New York City area, and it’s got maine reasoning erstwhile again astir thing that radical aren’t talking astir enough: vigor request for aerial conditioners.
I get it: Data centers are the shiny caller happening to interest about. And I’m not saying we shouldn’t beryllium reasoning astir the strain that gigawatt-scale computing installations enactment connected the grid. But a small spot of position is important here.
I conscionable finished up a new story astir a caller mode to marque vigor exchangers, a important constituent successful aerial conditioners and a full big of different technologies that chill our buildings, food, and electronics. Let’s excavation into wherefore I’m penning astir the guts of cooling technologies, and wherefore this assemblage truly needs innovation. Read the afloat story.
This nonfiction is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s play clime newsletter. To person it successful your inbox each Wednesday, sign up here.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.
1 Donald Trump has announced sweeping caller tariffs
Experts fearfulness the measures volition spark a planetary commercialized war. (FT $)
+ The caller tariffs are importantly higher than America’s targeted commercialized partners. (Vox)
+ US tech companies are reliant connected planetary proviso chains. What happens next? (Wired $)
+ Tech stocks dropped sharply pursuing the announcement. (CNBC)
2 Elon Musk tried to power the Wisconsin Supreme Court race—and lost
The billionaire was mocked connected his ain platform, X, aft the authorities rejected the Republican campaigner helium spent millions bankrolling. (The Guardian)
+ It was the astir costly judicial predetermination successful American history. (Economist $)
+ It appears arsenic though Musk’s governmental power is waning. (The Atlantic $)
3 Amazon made a bid to support TikTok operational successful the US
As has mobile tech institution AppLovin. (WSJ $)
+ The laminitis of OnlyFans partnered with a crypto instauration successful different bid. (Reuters)
4 Parents are disquieted astir their teenagers’ smartphone use
But drafting steadfast conclusions astir phones and societal media’s effects connected their intelligence wellness is acold from easy. (Nature)
5 How China gets astir America’s spot restrictions
Smuggling and subsidiaries are conscionable immoderate of the ways it skirts the bans. (Rest of World)
+ This super-thin semiconductor is conscionable 1 molecule thick. (Ars Technica)
+ What’s adjacent successful chips. (MIT Technology Review)
6 Neuralink is looking for caller patients crossed the world
The institution has implanted devices successful 3 people’s brains to date. (Bloomberg $)
+ Brain-computer interfaces look a captious test. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Italian constabulary are investigating a large occurrence astatine a Tesla dealership
The blaze destroyed 17 cars successful Rome. (The Guardian)
8 Publishers are experimenting with AI translations for books
Not everyone agrees that the exertion is ready. (The Markup)
9 Vibe coding needs a world check
A caller AI app created utilizing the escaped process generated a look for deadly cyanide crystal cream. (404 Media)
10 You whitethorn beryllium unwittingly pursuing JD Vance’s woman connected Instagram
If you were pursuing Kamala Harris’s hubby connected the platform, you're present pursuing Usha Vance. (TechCrunch)
Quote of the day
“Elon Musk’s wealth mightiness bargain immoderate ads, but it repels voters.”
—Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler reflects connected however his party’s campaigner Susan Crawford won the state’s Supreme Court election, contempt Musk spending $25 cardinal supporting her Trump-endorsed rival, The Hill reports.
The large story
The fortunate interruption down the archetypal CRISPR treatment
December 2023
The world’s archetypal commercialized gene-editing attraction is acceptable to commencement changing the lives of radical with sickle-cell disease. It’s called Casgevy, and it was approved successful November 2022 successful the UK.
The treatment, which volition beryllium sold successful the US by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, employs CRISPR, which tin beryllium easy programmed by scientists to chopped DNA astatine precise locations they choose.
But wherever bash you purpose CRISPR, and however did the researchers cognize what DNA to change? That’s the lesser-known communicative of the sickle-cell breakthrough. Read much astir it.
—Antonio Regalado
We tin inactive person bully things
A spot for comfort, amusive and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got immoderate ideas? Drop maine a line oregon skeet 'em astatine me.)
+ If you’re stuck for what to work next, this database of the 21st century’s champion books is simply a large root of inspiration.
+ Controversial ranking time—do you hold that Abbey Road is the Beatles’ champion album?
+ Inside the tricky technicalities of time travel.
+ Uhoh: magnolia paint is making a comeback.
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