Saturday, July 27, 2024

The Obtain: NASA’s tiny spacecraft, and the RSV vaccine scarcity

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That is at the moment’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a each day dose of what’s occurring on the planet of know-how.

Inside NASA’s bid to make spacecraft as small as potential

Because the Seventies, we’ve despatched numerous large issues to Mars. However when NASA efficiently despatched twin Mars Dice One spacecraft, the scale of cereal bins, to the purple planet in November 2018, it was the primary time we’d ever despatched one thing so small.

Simply making it this far heralded a brand new age in area exploration. NASA and the neighborhood of planetary science researchers caught a glimpse of a future lengthy sought: a pathway to rather more inexpensive area exploration utilizing smaller, cheaper spacecraft. 

There was a catch, although—one which NASA quickly needed to grapple with. Miniaturization can solely go to date earlier than it involves a crashing halt in opposition to some very elementary legal guidelines of physics. Learn the total story.

—David W. Brown

This story is from our most up-to-date print problem of MIT Know-how Evaluation, which is all about society’s hardest issues, and the way we should always deal with them. In the event you don’t subscribe already, join now to get future points after they land.

RSV is on the rise however preventative medicine are in brief provide

This yr we had been alleged to have extra instruments than ever earlier than to guard children from RSV (brief for respiratory syncytial virus), together with a brand new shot that’s given preventively to infants and susceptible toddlers to guard them from the worst results of the virus.

However now—simply as charges of illness are rising—this medication is in brief provide. The CDC issued an alert final week advising pediatricians to ration doses, reserving them for infants youthful than six months and people with underlying situations that place them at highest danger for extreme RSV. 

The state of affairs is irritating to oldsters and pediatricians alike. However shouldn’t forecasting demand for this type of preventative be comparatively easy? And why was there such a mismatch between provide and demand within the first place? Learn the total story.

—Cassandra Willyard

This story first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Know-how Evaluation’s weekly biotech e-newsletter. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Thursday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the web to seek out you at the moment’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.

1 Sam Bankman-Fried has been discovered responsible on all seven fraud prices 
However he’ll have to attend till March subsequent yr to seek out out his sentence. (Economist $)
+ The tech business has already moved on, although. (NYT $)
+ It’s unlikely that SBF would be the final of his variety. (The Atlantic $)

2 Meta’s open-source AI comes at a worth
Simply because Llama 2 is publicly accessible doesn’t imply it’s low-cost. (The Info $)
+ AI corporations actually don’t need to pay for coaching knowledge. (Insider $)

3 We shouldn’t get complacent about covid this winter
The very fact vaccines are a lot tougher to get as of late isn’t serving to. (The Atlantic $)
+ Who advantages most from the brand new covid vaccines? (MIT Know-how Evaluation)

4 The AI increase is lining Massive Tech’s pockets
The wealthy have gotten even richer due to their cloud investments. (WSJ $)

5 Surveillance tech is coming to a metropolis close to you 
Metropolis councils are investing in Fusus AI techniques, however not all residents are blissful. (404 Media)
+ Marseille’s battle in opposition to the surveillance state. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)

6 Zoonotic illnesses are a rising risk
Animal-to-human illnesses are forecast to kill many extra individuals in future many years. (FT $)
+ Meet the scientist on the middle of the covid lab leak controversy. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)

7 Overlook the leap second—it’s time for the leap minute
Technically, it might bridge the 2 methods we inform the time. However is the world prepared? (NYT $)

8 How on-line playing ensnared a complete technology of Africans
Its governments are ill-equipped to guard residents who’re changing into more and more addicted. (Bloomberg $)
+ How cellular cash supercharged Kenya’s sports activities betting dependancy. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)

9 Airbnb isn’t what it was once
Its value is on the rise—and so are complaints. (Vox)
+ New York’s conflict in opposition to Airbnb has made it much more costly to go to. (The Atlantic $)

10 Everyone knows eating regimen soda is dangerous for us 🥤
Perhaps candy protein substitutes might provide a more healthy different. (Proto.Life)

Quote of the day

“The crypto business is likely to be new, the gamers like Sam Bankman-Fried could also be new, however this type of fraud is as outdated as time and we now have no endurance for it.”

— Damian Williams, the US lawyer who led the prosecution of disgraced crypto founder Sam Bankman-Fried, has a solemn message for reporters exterior the Manhattan courtroom, Reuters experiences.

The massive story

Contained in the app Minnesota police used to gather knowledge on journalists at protests

March 2022

Photojournalist J.D. Duggan was overlaying a protest in Minnesota in April 2021 when law enforcement officials surrounded him and others, and informed them to get on the bottom.

Officers sorted the press from the protesters, walked them to a car parking zone, and commenced photographing them, one after the other. They informed Duggan the images can be saved in an app. 

An investigation by MIT Know-how Evaluation discovered the information was collected utilizing a device known as Intrepid Response, a simple technique to nearly immediately de-anonymize protest attendees and hold tabs on their actions. For some, the device’s use is a harmful step within the path of authoritarianism. Learn the total story.

—Sam Richards & Tate Ryan-Mosley

We are able to nonetheless have good issues

A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre instances. (Acquired any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ Due to the wonders of AI, we’ve been blessed with one final Beatles track.
+ 65 years in the past at the moment, Laika the canine turned the primary canine in orbit! 🪐
+ Working as a Disney animation mannequin appears completely exhausting.
+ The world’s most distant lighthouses is a superb topic for a e book.
+ Historic England is on the hunt for ghost indicators—these superbly light painted indicators promoting companies and merchandise of the previous.



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