This is in the present day’s version of The Download, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a each day dose of what’s occurring on this planet of know-how.
DNA that was frozen for 2 million years has been sequenced
What’s occurred: After an eight-year effort to recuperate DNA from Greenland’s frozen inside, researchers say they’ve managed to sequence gene fragments from historic fish, vegetation, and even a mastodon that lived 2 million years in the past. It’s the oldest DNA ever recovered.
How they did it: The researchers examined genetic materials that was left behind by dozens of species and washed into sediment layers way back. The DNA was preserved by freezing temperatures and certain to clay and quartz, which additionally slows down the method of degradation.
Why it issues: The genetic findings, which paint an image of an period when Greenland was coated with flowering vegetation and cedar bushes, may present clues to how ecosystems tailored to hotter climates up to now. Read the complete story.
—Antonio Regalado
The wild new know-how coming to offshore wind energy
Wind energy is without doubt one of the world’s fastest-growing renewable vitality sources, and shortly its attain may broaden even additional. This week, California is auctioning websites off its coast that would home the primary floating wind generators within the US.
There are already just a few demonstration initiatives world wide for floating offshore wind generators, however the know-how is coming into a brand new section, with extra governments setting objectives for installations and bigger initiatives coming into the planning and allowing phases. California might be a significant testing floor for the know-how. But what it could take to truly occur, and what’s going to California’s public sale imply for wind energy globally? Read the complete story.
—Casey Crownhart
Casey’s story is from The Spark, her weekly e-newsletter overlaying vitality and local weather change. Sign up to obtain it in your inbox.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you in the present day’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 Sam Bankman-Fried is reportedly being investigated by US prosecutors
The inquiry desires to find out whether or not he manipulated the marketplace for two cryptocurrencies. (NYT $)
+ The FTX founder has made his fair proportion of enemies these days. (Vox)
+ Facebook is asking lawmakers to go straightforward on crypto, please. (Motherboard)
+ An underground group in Lebanon is mining crypto in uncared for dams. (Rest of World)
2 Apple is lastly encrypting most of iCloud
It will defend knowledge from each hackers and legislation enforcement. (WSJ $)
+ The firm has dropped its plans to scan iCloud Photos for potential baby abuse. (Wired $)
+ Government businesses are unlikely to welcome Advanced Data Protection. (WP $)
3 Ukraine is revolutionizing sea warfare with naval drones
The uncrewed boats are concentrating on enemy ships. (Economist $)
+ Russian disinformation is demonizing Ukrainian refugees. (WP $)
4 China has agreed to US inspections of its tech companies
In a bid to keep away from being positioned on a commerce blacklist. (FT $)
5 How France’s privateness darling turned cyber snooper
Eric Leandri was a staunch defender of digital privateness. Now, he runs a cybersurveillance agency. (Politico)
6 Scammers are scamming one another
And a shocking variety of them are complaining about it on-line. (Wired $)
+ The 1,000 Chinese SpaceX engineers who by no means existed. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Working out the web’s carbon footprint is surprisingly tough
We’re utilizing extra vitality, nevertheless it’s arduous to check sure actions. (The Conversation)
8 The hassle with being “chronically online”
It’s largely lots of people getting het up over nothing. (Vox)
+ Even the fanciest influencers are feeling the cost-of-living pinch. (Wired $)
9 The easy magic of Christmas purchasing in actual life
Online could also be extra handy, however algorithms are unlikely to thrill you with an surprising discover. (The Atlantic $)
10 How to arrange for an enormous asteroid strike
The Asteroid Launcher simulator gives an enchanting have a look at what may occur—however hopefully gained’t. (Motherboard)
+ How to remain secure from a photo voltaic flare. (Insider $)
+ Watch the second NASA’s DART spacecraft crashed into an asteroid. (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“It’s not a good look. It’s yet another unspoken sign of disrespect. There is no discussion. Just like, beds showed up.”
—A disgruntled Twitter worker tells Forbes about beds mysteriously showing within the firm’s places of work with none warning, presumably to allow workers to tug loopy hours.
The large story
Is your mind a pc?
It’s an analogy that goes again to the daybreak of the pc period: ever since we found that machines may clear up issues by manipulating symbols, we’ve puzzled if the mind may work in a similar way.
Alan Turing, for instance, requested what it could take for a machine to “think” again in 1950, questioning that if machines may assume like human brains, it was solely pure to surprise if brains may work like machines.
Today, specialists are divided. We requested them to inform us why they assume we should always—or shouldn’t—consider the mind as being “like a computer.” Although everybody agrees that our organic brains create our acutely aware minds, they’re cut up on the query of what position, if any, is performed by data processing—the essential similarity that brains and computer systems are alleged to share. Read the complete story.
—Dan Falk
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.)
+ How ‘goblin mode’ turned the phrase of the 12 months.
+ 2022 has been A Year, however at the least the memes had been good.
+ Yeardley Smith, aka the voice of Lisa Simpson, has been on an actual journey.
+ Netflix has a ton of secret codes to shake up your suggestions. What’re you ready for?
+ Here’s why what we expect we all know concerning the mind at 25 years previous in all probability isn’t true in any respect.