That is at this time’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a each day dose of what’s occurring on the earth of know-how.
A brand new tick-borne illness is killing cattle within the US
Within the spring of 2021, Cynthia and John Grano, who personal a cattle operation in Culpeper County, Virginia, began noticing a few of their cows slowing down and performing “spacey.” They figured the animals have been affected by a standard infectious illness that causes anemia in cattle. However their veterinarian had warned them that one other illness carried by a parasite was spreading quickly within the space.
After a 3rd cow died, the Granos determined to check its blood. Positive sufficient, the take a look at got here again constructive for the illness: theileria. And with no remedy obtainable, the cows stored dying.
Cattle house owners just like the Granos usually are not alone. Livestock producers across the US are confronting this new and unfamiliar illness with out a lot data. Researchers nonetheless don’t know the way theileria will unfold, even because it shortly spreads west throughout the nation. If states can’t get the illness below management, then nationwide manufacturing losses from sick cows might considerably harm each particular person operations and the complete {industry}. Learn the total story.
—Britta Lokting
Tremendous-hot salt could possibly be coming to a battery close to you
The world is constructing extra capability for renewables, particularly photo voltaic and wind energy that come and go together with the climate. However for renewables to make an actual distinction, we’d like higher choices for storing vitality. That’s the place batteries are available in. And handily, there’s a wave of other chemistries slowly percolating into the rising vitality storage market.
A few of these new gamers might finally be cheaper (and in varied methods, higher) than the industry-standard lithium-ion batteries. Among the many most promising is molten salt know-how, which Ambri, a Boston-area startup, is satisfied could possibly be as much as 50% cheaper over its lifetime than an equal lithium-ion system.
However, like its rivals experimenting with different types of vitality storage, Ambri is dealing with actual obstacles to adoption, with scaling presenting the principle, ever-present hurdle. Learn the total story.
—Casey Crownhart
Casey’s story is from The Spark, her weekly e-newsletter masking battery breakthroughs and different local weather information. Signal as much as obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you at this time’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 What comes after Twitter?
Regardless of the reply, downloading information and contacts is a great transfer. (NYT $)
+ It’s unlikely, nonetheless, that you simply’ll be capable of save the whole lot. (Wired $)
+ A load of fired contractors aren’t planning on going quietly. (Bloomberg $)
+ Certainly one of its former information scientists is extraordinarily frightened. (Remainder of World)
+ Twitter’s potential collapse might wipe out huge data of latest human historical past. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
2 The ripple results of FTX’s collapse
The crypto change’s poor practices are triggering fears concerning the {industry}’s future—and its workers are livid. (WSJ $)
+ Sam Bankman-Fried had an ill-advised chat with a journalist over Twitter. (Vox)
+ A category motion has been filed towards FTX within the US. (The Guardian)
3 The US’s bioweapon detection system is unreliable
20 years after its introduction, it nonetheless prices $80 million a 12 months. (The Verge)
4 Telehealth websites are riddled with information trackers
They might reveal delicate habit data that’s ripe for abuse. (Wired $)
5 Activision Blizzard’s video games are being pulled offline in China
It’s been unable to strike a take care of its Chinese language distributor. (FT $)
6 Intel thinks it might catch deepfakes with 96% accuracy
By monitoring the “blood circulate” of video pixels to detect dwelling people. (VentureBeat)
+ A horrifying AI app swaps ladies into porn movies with a click on. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
7 We’ve ignored concrete’s carbon footprint for too lengthy
It’s not as huge a polluter as transport or vitality, but it surely’s in pressing want of a greener overhaul. (Knowable Journal)
+ How Joe Biden obtained away with passing the IRA. (The Atlantic $)
+ How hydrogen and electrical energy can clear up heavy {industry}. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
8 Lab-grown meat is suitable for eating
The FDA has inexperienced lit lab-grown rooster—but it surely must cross different exams earlier than it may be bought. (NBC Information)
+ Will lab-grown meat attain our plates? (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
9 Why NASA’s astronauts aren’t allowed to TikTok from area 
Despite the fact that their European counterparts are. (Vox)
+ NASA’s Artemis 1 launch was an oddly muted affair. (The Atlantic $)
+ Right here’s the whole lot the mission is taking with it to the moon. (IEEE Spectrum)
10 We might hitch a experience on a flying taxi at some point 
By the top of the last decade, apparently. Let’s see. (Economist $)
Quote of the day
“Eire actually guess the farm on the way forward for tech . . . nearly on the expense of the whole lot else.”
—Mark O’Connell, government chair and founding father of OCO International, a commerce and funding targeted advisory agency, tells the Monetary Instances why the tech sector’s mass job cuts will hit Eire significantly laborious.
The massive story
Shiny LEDs might spell the top of darkish skies
August 2022
Scientists have identified for years that mild air pollution is rising and might hurt each people and wildlife. In folks, elevated publicity to mild at night time disrupts sleep cycles and has been linked to most cancers and heart problems, whereas wildlife suffers from interruption to their reproductive patterns, elevated hazard and lack of stealth.
Astronomers, policymakers, and lighting professionals are all working to search out methods to scale back mild air pollution. A lot of them advocate putting in light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, in outside fixtures resembling metropolis streetlights, primarily for his or her means to direct mild to a focused space. However the excessive preliminary funding and sturdiness of contemporary LEDs imply cities have to get the transition proper the primary time or probably face many years of penalties. Learn the total story.
—Shel Evergreen
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre occasions. (Received any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ An opulent practice journey appears like the right approach to unwind to me.
+ Nothing can substitute the enjoyment of choosing out an amazing learn from a bookstore.
+ It’s by no means too early to begin planning on your subsequent nice journey.
+ Olive oil? Good. Cake? Good. An olive oil cake?! GOOD!
+ The oldest identified sentence written within the first alphabet is entertainingly home.
