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This is at this time’s version of The Download, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a each day dose of what’s happening on the planet of expertise.
Twitter might have misplaced greater than 1,000,000 customers since Elon Musk took over
The information: In the times since Elon Musk confirmed his buy of Twitter on October 27, tweeting “the bird is freed,” many Twitter customers have threatened to depart. But whereas individuals usually fail to observe via on threats to give up Twitter, new knowledge suggests {that a} important variety of customers actually are abandoning the platform.
How they did it: The agency Bot Sentinel, which tracks conduct on Twitter, believes that round 877,000 accounts had been deactivated and an additional 497,000 had been suspended between October 27 and November 1. That’s greater than double the same old quantity.
Why it issues: Anecdotal proof from social media suggests that folks upset with Elon Musk buying Twitter are following via and deciding to deactivate their accounts in protest. If they proceed to take action en masse, that would come to be a major downside for the platform—and its new proprietor. Read the complete story.
—Chris Stokel-Walker
Smartphone knowledge from drivers may assist spot when bridges want pressing repairs
Smartphones could possibly be used to watch the security of bridges rather more shortly and cheaply than presently potential, offering engineers with knowledge they’ll use to repair the buildings earlier than they develop into dangerously unstable.
Usually, bridges’ state of restore is monitored both via visible inspection for cracks and faults, or sensors accumulating their vibration and motion knowledge. But a brand new methodology developed by researchers at West Point Military Academy and different universities sidesteps the necessity for both by accumulating accelerometer knowledge from smartphones in vehicles as they drive over bridges. Read the complete story.
—Tammy Xu
Here’s how personalised mind stimulation may deal with melancholy
Sending a jolt of electrical energy via an individual’s mind can do outstanding issues. You solely have to observe the movies of individuals with Parkinson’s illness who’ve electrodes implanted of their brains. They can go from struggling to stroll to confidently striding throughout a room actually on the flick of a change.
We may be capable to use the same strategy to elevate our moods—one thing that could possibly be life altering for individuals with issues like melancholy. And we’re not simply speaking about basic mind zaps—the purpose is to create personalised units that monitor your mind exercise and optimize it. Read the complete story.
—Jessica Hamzelou
This story is from The Checkup, our new weekly e-newsletter protecting every part you could know that’s happening on the planet of healthcare and biotech. Sign up to obtain it in your inbox each Thursday.
EmTech 2022
This week, MIT Technology Review held our annual EmTech convention, our flagship occasion protecting rising expertise and world traits.
Check out our liveblogs protecting the 2 days of fascinating discussions with world changemakers, innovators, and trade veterans, as we attempt to unpick what’s possible, believable, and potential with tomorrow’s breakthrough applied sciences.
Day one targeted on among the thrilling applied sciences promising to alter our lives, together with clear vitality and CRISPR, whereas the second day unpacked what the longer term holds for the web, augmented actuality, physique tech, and AI.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you at this time’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Shadowy algorithms are calling the photographs in Washington, DC
And the overwhelming majority of residents don’t have a clue about them, or how they work. (Wired $)
+ How the pandemic bolstered China’s surveillance state. (Slate)
+ Marseille’s battle towards being spied upon. (MIT Technology Review)
2 What Mark Zuckerberg has taught Elon Musk
The one fixed between the 2 corporations? Unhappy employees. (NYT $)
+ L’Oréal has paused its promoting spend on Twitter. (FT $)
+ Musk is trying to spark a battle between Twitter factions. (Motherboard)
+ Here’s why Twitter customers ought to, sadly, put together for the worst. (The Atlantic $)
3 Republican midterm candidates are pushing Stop the Steal lies
Just as a result of the narrative isn’t true doesn’t cease it from resonating. (Bloomberg $)
+ Swing voters are extra highly effective than ever. (NY Mag $)
4 What will it take to manage area? 
One factor’s clear—it gained’t be simple. (Vox)
5 World leaders should settle for that they’ve did not curb local weather change
The 1.5°C Paris settlement is now not sufficient—we’d like motion, and quick. (Economist $)
+ Scientists are questioning the sector’s largest oversight group. (FT $)
+ We should basically rethink “net-zero” local weather plans. (MIT Technology Review)
6 What it’s like inside a Chinese covid detention heart
All-night lights, strict routines, and infinite mud. (FT $)
+ Vietnam desires to steal China’s tech manufacturing crown. (Rest of World)
7 Social media wasn’t prepared for images of early pregnancies
But them is important for sincere abortion conversations. (The Verge)
+ The cognitive dissonance of watching the tip of Roe unfold on-line. (MIT Technology Review)
8 Loving the conspiracy theorist in your life will be powerful
Treating them with compassion may also help to bridge the divide. (The Atlantic $)
+ How to speak to conspiracy theorists—and nonetheless be variety. (MIT Technology Review)
9 The heartbreak of a really fashionable breakup
Agonizing over whether or not to dam your ex on Instagram simply prolongs the ache. (The Guardian)
10 How to mannequin the opposite planets we may name house 
The simulations are a part of the search to search out alien life. (Quanta Magazine)
+ A brand new supply of high-energy cosmic neutrinos has been found. (New Scientist $)
Quote of the day
“We’re all working for the Trump White House.”
—A disgruntled Twitter employee describes what it’s wish to work below the brand new Elon Musk regime to the Washington Post.
The huge story
I requested my college students to show of their cell telephones and write about dwelling with out them
December 2019
Just a few years in the past, Ron Srigley, a author who teaches at Humber College and Laurentian University, carried out an experiment in a philosophy class he was instructing. His college students had failed a take a look at reasonably badly, and he had a hunch that their pervasive use of cell telephones and laptops at school was partly accountable.
He provided them additional credit score if they’d give him their telephones for 9 days and write about dwelling with out them. Twelve college students—a few third of the category—took up the supply. What they wrote was outstanding, and remarkably constant. Read the complete story.
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.)
+ These stunning houses constructed into cliffs aren’t for the faint of coronary heart.
+ Weighing a child emperor penguin is more difficult than you’d anticipate.
+ I do know Halloween is over, however these spooky tales are too good not
+ Hear me out: eels are cool.
to share.
+ It’s not simply you—loads of individuals really feel nostalgic for locations they’ve by no means been.