.png)
1 month ago
10
US president Donald Trump’s massive, sweeping tariffs sent planetary banal markets tumbling yesterday, mounting the signifier for a worldwide commercialized warfare and ratcheting up the dangers of a punishing recession.
Experts fearfulness that the US cleantech assemblage is particularly susceptible to a heavy downturn, which would undermine advancement connected reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Read the afloat story.
—James Temple
Cyberattacks by AI agents are coming
Agents are the speech of the AI industry—they’re susceptible of planning, reasoning, and executing analyzable tasks similar scheduling meetings, ordering groceries, oregon adjacent taking implicit your machine to alteration settings connected your behalf.
But the aforesaid blase abilities that marque agents adjuvant assistants could besides marque them almighty tools for conducting cyberattacks. They could readily beryllium utilized to place susceptible targets, hijack their systems, and bargain invaluable information from unsuspecting victims.
At present, cybercriminals are not deploying AI agents to hack astatine scale. But researchers person demonstrated that agents are susceptible of executing analyzable attacks, and cybersecurity experts pass that we should expect to commencement seeing these types of attacks spilling implicit into the existent world—and soon. Read the afloat story.
—Rhiannon Williams
The must-reads
I’ve combed the net to find you today’s astir fun/important/scary/fascinating stories astir technology.
1 Did the Trump medication usage AI to cipher its caller tariffs?
It appears to usage an oversimplified calculation respective large chatbots recommend. (The Verge)
+ The economically-flawed look has shocked analysts. (FT $)
+ The terrible tariffs whitethorn harm America’s information halfway ambitions. (Reuters)
2 The EU is preparing to slap X with large fiscal penalties
Even if it risks provoking Elon Musk’s ire. (NYT $)
3 Google’s tech volition beryllium utilized to surveil the US-Mexico border
As portion of plans to upgrade the ‘virtual wall’ betwixt the countries. (The Intercept)
+ The fig of amerciable borderline crossings deed a grounds debased past month. (Semafor)
4 Hurricane play is acceptable to beryllium busier than usual
Forecasters are predicting astatine slightest 17 tropical storms and 4 large hurricanes. (WP $)
+ They aren’t arsenic assured astir this aboriginal forecast arsenic they were past year. (CNN)
+ Here’s what we cognize astir hurricanes and clime change. (MIT Technology Review)
5 Myanmar’s net shutdown is thwarting assistance efforts
Aid and rescue workers are struggling to assistance radical caught up successful its caller devastating earthquake. (Rest of World)
6 Google is yet to people information reports for its latest AI models
It appears to beryllium launching models faster than it tin publically verify their safety. (TechCrunch)
7 Online influencing has a large sex wage gap
Although the bulk of contented creators are female, they gain little per collaboration than their antheral counterparts. (Fast Company $)
+ Why can’t tech hole its sex problem? (MIT Technology Review)
8 How to marque star panels connected the moon
Moon particulate could assistance to powerfulness aboriginal lunar bases. (New Scientist $)
+ Nokia is putting the archetypal cellular web connected the moon. (MIT Technology Review)
9 The system whitethorn beryllium collapsing, but astatine slightest the memes are good
Social media is bringing the lols successful uncertain times. (NY Mag $)
10 Bonobos pass successful akin ways to humans
The large apes harvester basal dependable into larger structures—just similar us. (Ars Technica)
+ How instrumentality learning is helping america probe the concealed names of animals. (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“There volition beryllium blood.”
—Bruce Kasman, JPMorgan's main planetary economist, is not optimistic astir Donald Trump's assertive tariff policy, Insider reports.
The large story
The weeds are winning
Since the 1980s, much and much plants person evolved to go immune to the biochemical mechanisms that herbicides leverage to termination them. This herbicidal absorption threatens to alteration yields—out-of-control weeds tin trim them by 50% oregon more, and utmost cases tin hitch retired full fields.
At worst, it tin adjacent thrust farmers retired of business. It’s the cultivation equivalent of antibiotic resistance, and it keeps getting worse. Weeds person evolved absorption to 168 antithetic herbicides and 21 of the 31 known “modes of action,” which means the circumstantial biochemical people oregon pathway a chemic is designed to disrupt.
Agriculture needs to clasp a diverseness of weed power practices. But that’s overmuch easier said than done. Read the afloat story.
—Douglas Main
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.)+ Sweet Moroccan flatbreads dependable similar a fantastic mode to commencement the day.
+ Val Kilmer was much than conscionable a heartthrob—he was a truly large histrion too.
+ Drop everything: there’s an uncut mentation of the White Lotus bid 3 theme.
+ All aboard the giant almond car!
English (US) ·