When the James Webb Space Telescope despatched its first pictures again to Earth in July final yr, researchers gathered excitedly to pore over them. JWST, a NASA-led collaboration between the US, Canada, and Europe, is essentially the most highly effective house telescope in historical past and can view objects 100 occasions fainter than the Hubble Space Telescope. Those pictures contained the primary clear proof for carbon dioxide within the ambiance of a planet outdoors the photo voltaic system.
Almost instantly after it began full operations, unimaginable vistas from throughout the universe poured down, from pictures of distant galaxies on the daybreak of time to amazing landscapes of nebulae, the dust-filled birthplaces of stars.
Months later, JWST continues to ship down reams of knowledge to astonished astronomers on Earth, and it’s anticipated to rework our understanding of the distant universe, exoplanets, planet formation, galactic construction, and rather more. Read the complete story.
—Jonathan O’Callaghan
The James Webb Space Telescope is certainly one of MIT Technology Review’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2023. Explore the remainder of the record, and vote in our ballot to assist us resolve our ultimate eleventh expertise.
What Mexico’s deliberate geoengineering restrictions imply for the way forward for the sphere
What’s occurred: Last month, a US startup referred to as Make Sunsets claimed it had performed a photo voltaic geoengineering experiment in Baja California, Mexico, launching a pair of climate balloons laden with a couple of grams of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere. Now, the Mexican authorities plans to ban associated experiments.
Why it issues: Scientists consider that spraying sulfur dioxide or different reflective particles into the stratosphere in adequate portions may be capable of offset some stage of world warming. But the unknown negative effects, coupled with the troublesome questions over easy methods to govern a temperature-tweaking expertise, make it extremely controversial.
What’s subsequent: The startup didn’t search approval earlier than its balloon launch. Now, by asserting plans to ban any future photo voltaic geoengineering experiments, Mexico could also be one of many first nations, if not the primary, to announce an express ban on such tasks. Read the complete story.
—James Temple
Read subsequent: What is geoengineering—and why do you have to care? As the threats of local weather change develop, we’re all more likely to hear extra and extra concerning the prospects, and risks, of geoengineering. Here’s what it means.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you right now’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Pressure is mounting on Germany to ship tanks to Ukraine
Ukraine is determined for them, however Germany fears scary Russia. (Vox)
+ NATO allies are rising more and more exasperated. (FT $)
+ Germany’s international minister wouldn’t cease Poland from sending theirs. (BBC)
+ If launched, the tanks might assist safe a Ukrainian victory (Economist $)
2 Thousands marched to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Roe v Wade
Protestors demonstrated in 46 states throughout the US. (NYT $)
+ What the Roe verdict leak can educate future leakers. (The Intercept)
+ The way forward for medical abortion will find yourself being fought over in courtroom. (Vox)
+ The cognitive dissonance of watching the top of Roe unfold on-line. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Crypto’s pseudo-banks are dying
And they could be taking some folks’s life financial savings with them. (WSJ $)
+ FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried certain isn’t going quietly. (Slate $)
+ Investors within the crypto alternate Gemini are rising understandably fearful. (FT $)
4 Confidential US police recordsdata had been stolen in a serious hack
The thieves additionally stole tactical raid plans and a suspect report. (TechCrunch)
5 Donald Trump is reportedly going to ditch his personal social media platform
He needs to return to Twitter simply because the Republican main heats up in June. (Rolling Stone $)
6 Ultrasound tech isn’t only for being pregnant scans
AI and different advances have turned it into a strong diagnostic software. (New Yorker $)
7 Livestreaming is certainly one of Big Tech’s greatest challenges
It’s fiendishly troublesome to reasonable. (FT $)
8 How Wikipedia edits change how we see the world
For higher or worse, it’s vastly influential. (The Atlantic $)
9 Japan’s sushi-making robots are on the rise 🍣
Don’t anticipate them to slice fish unaided, although. (The Guardian)
+ This robotic walks utilizing mouse muscle mass grown in a lab. (Inverse)
10 NASA is significantly artistic proper now
Its outlandish tasks might remodel how we discover house. (Wired $)
+ Why we are able to’t cease anthropomorphizing house robots. (Insider $)
+ What’s subsequent in house. (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“I’ve never heard of a customer that says, ‘I’m going to wait until the economic environment improves to deal with a rat that’s running round my kitchen.’”
—Andy Ransom, CEO of pest management firm Rentokil, which has began utilizing facial recognition expertise to observe rats, tells the Financial Times why he’s assured the enterprise can cope in an financial downturn.
The large story
Tech’s new labor motion is harnessing classes realized a century in the past
June 2021
Back in 2020, because the world struggled to deal with the pandemic, employees on the Amazon success middle in Bessemer, Alabama, had been being pressed to work tougher and longer. They felt dehumanized, and wished dignity, not simply greater wages.
Workers pushed to affix the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, however Amazon waged warfare on the marketing campaign, and ultimately a vote handed in favor of holding the established order. Elsewhere, nevertheless, different employees throughout the nation had began agitating.
The Bessemer struggle, and Amazon organizing as an entire, replicate a brand new groundswell of curiosity in organizing amongst tech employees. Today’s employees are up towards the world’s richest firms. But for either side on this battle, the underside line isn’t cash however energy. Read the complete story.
—Sarah Jaffe
We can nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre occasions. (Got any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Snow monkeys simply love a spot of fishing.
+ The incomparable Kate Bush has written messages to followers utilizing invisible ink in her new paperback e book.
+ Immerse your self on this yr’s Sony World Photography Awards’ shortlists.
+ Bad information for Times New Roman followers (thanks Melissa!)
+ San Francisco’s again, child!
…. to be continued
Read the Original Article
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