The Obtain: saving Louisiana from sinking, and the promise of thermal batteries

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That is immediately’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a every day dose of what’s happening on this planet of expertise.

Tips on how to cease a state from sinking

In a 10-month span between 2020 and 2021, southwest Louisiana noticed 5 climate-related disasters, together with two damaging hurricanes. As if that wasn’t dangerous sufficient, extra storms are coming, and plenty of areas usually are not ready.

However some authorities officers and state engineers are hoping there’s another: elevation. The $6.8 billion Southwest Coastal Louisiana Challenge is betting that elevating residences by a couple of ft, coupled with in depth work to revive coastal boundary lands, will preserve Louisianans of their communities.

Finally, it’s one thing of a last-ditch effort to protect this slice of shoreline, at the same time as some locals choose up and transfer inland and as formal plans for managed retreat change into extra in style in climate-­weak areas throughout the nation and the remainder of the world. Learn the complete story.

—Xander Peters

This story is from the subsequent journal challenge of MIT Know-how Evaluation, set to go dwell on April 24, filled with tales on the theme ‘Construct’. When you don’t subscribe already, join now to get a duplicate when it lands.

How thermal batteries are heating up vitality storage

We’d like warmth to make all the things from metal bars to ketchup packets. At this time, a whopping 20% of world vitality demand goes to producing warmth utilized in business, and most of that warmth is generated by burning fossil fuels. In an effort to scrub up business, a rising variety of corporations are working to provide that warmth with a expertise referred to as thermal batteries.

It’s such an thrilling concept that MIT Know-how Evaluation readers have formally chosen thermal batteries because the reader’s alternative addition to our 2024 listing of 10 Breakthrough Applied sciences. Right here’s a better have a look at what all the thrill is about.

—Casey Crownhart

If thermal batteries have piqued your curiosity, check out the remainder of MIT Know-how Evaluation’s 10 Breakthrough Applied sciences, which we revealed earlier within the yr.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the web to search out you immediately’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.

1 Crypto miners are bracing themselves to lose out on billions of {dollars}
The forthcoming ‘halving’ software program replace will slash the quantity they’ll earn every day. (Bloomberg $)
+ Beware the inevitable crypto scams. (Wired $)

2 Blind individuals may benefit from synthetic imaginative and prescient
Present trials are small, however promising. (Wired $)
+ A brand new implant for blind individuals jacks straight into the mind. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)

3 Overzealous porn blockers are sabotaging US college students’ homework 
Faculties’ programs have blocked entry to all the things from NASA’s web site to suicide prevention sources. (The Markup)
+ Academics in Denmark are utilizing apps to audit their college students’ moods. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)

4 What do chief AI officers do, precisely?
Corporations are dashing to rent them, however no two roles are equivalent. (FT $)

5 Behind the scenes, EV batteries are getting higher
The brand new and improved cells ought to make it into automobiles on sale inside the subsequent 5 years. (WSJ $)
+ A US senator is agitating for a ban on Chinese language-made EVs. (Ars Technica)
+ Meet the brand new batteries unlocking cheaper electrical autos. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)

6 Pumping oxygen into the ocean may revitalize ‘useless zones’
Within the hopes of bringing native ecosystems again to life. (The Atlantic $)

7 Thousands and thousands of individuals catch Tuberculosis every year
A brand new vaccine may assist to battle the illness, which is each preventable and treatable. (Vox)
+ These AI-powered apps can hear the reason for a cough. (MIT Know-how Evaluation)

8 AI is ruining beloved films
That’s in keeping with movie aficionados, who hate the expertise’s sharp, polished look. (NYT $)

9 Coloration evaluation has had a twenty first century makeover
The ‘80s method of understanding which shades swimsuit you greatest is a TikTok sensation. (WP $)
+ An in-person session may set you again $500. (NYT $)

10 Neopets is again!
Millennials are logging again on to hang around with digital pets they created 20 years in the past. (The Guardian)

Quote of the day

“When you have been questioning what they’re utilizing to coach GPT-5, effectively, now .”

—John Levine, creator of a web site designed to entice internet crawling bots, explains his web site has obtained thousands and thousands of pings from OpenAI bots over current days, as they indiscriminately hoover up web information used to coach AI fashions, 404 Media reviews.

The massive story

How robotic honeybees and hives may assist the species battle again

October 2022

One thing was fallacious, however Thomas Schmickl couldn’t put his finger on it. It was 2007, and the Austrian biologist was spending a part of the yr at East Tennessee State College. Throughout his every day walks, he realized that bugs appeared conspicuously absent.

Schmickl, who now leads the Synthetic Life Lab on the College of Graz in Austria, wasn’t fallacious. Insect populations are certainly declining or altering world wide.

Robotic bees, he believes, may assist each the true factor and their surrounding nature. Learn the complete story.

—Elizabeth Preston

We will nonetheless have good issues

A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Bought any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)

+ These creative cookies are therapeutic my soul.
+ Would you wish to hearken to the entire of Rubber Soul, however it’s simply the bass and drums? In fact you’ll.
+ It’s French toast—however not as we all know it.
+ Take me to all of those seashores instantly.



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