The Obtain: a promising new gas, and why our telephones battle with wildfires

That is right now’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a day by day dose of what’s occurring on the earth of know-how.

This unlikely gas may energy cleaner vans and ships

Transportation is a big piece of the local weather puzzle, accounting for over 15% of worldwide international greenhouse fuel emissions. And whereas we’re making regular progress, there are components of the puzzle which are more durable to unravel, like automobiles that have to cowl lengthy distances or run for lengthy durations with out stopping to cost.

New York–based mostly startup Amogy thinks the important thing to fixing this drawback lies in harnessing ammonia—one of many world’s most generally shipped chemical compounds—to energy electrical tractors, vans, and even ships. 

Casey Crownhart, our local weather reporter, visited its headquarters to listen to extra concerning the crew’s huge concepts. Learn the total story.

This story is from The Spark, Casey’s weekly local weather and vitality e-newsletter. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.

Find out how know-how is altering the world of labor 

Are you curious about exploring the rising applied sciences like AI reshaping the world of enterprise right now? Attend EmTech Subsequent, our three-day on-line convention from June 13-15. Audio system from main organizations similar to Google, NASA, Johnson & Johnson, NVIDIA, and the USPS will sit down with MIT Know-how Evaluate’s editorial crew to debate improvements and impression. Get your ticket right now!

The must-reads

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

1 Our telephones are failing to seize the fact of wildfires
Their subtle colour correction algorithms imply it’s more durable to take correct photographs. (Vice)
It’s been a terrifying week for New Yorkers. (New Yorker $)
However the state of affairs is slowly enhancing. (NYT $)
+ These apps allow you to examine the air high quality the place you reside. (WSJ $)

DeSantis’s marketing campaign shared deepfake photographs of Trump and Fauci
The road between actuality and fiction is getting more durable to discern. (NPR)

 three The dam collapse in Ukraine is an ecological catastrophe
Worst of all, a number of the injury it’s brought on could also be everlasting. (Wired $)
Satellite tv for pc photographs lay naked the size of the destruction. (NBC)

four We’d like extra knowledge on AI’s carbon footprint
We may pay a excessive environmental value for the know-how’s speedy development. (The Guardian)
Why we have to do a greater job of measuring AI’s carbon footprint. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
Labor unions have a brand new enemy: AI. (WP $)
A detector can spot AI-written educational textual content. (The Register)

5 Louisiana would require parental consent for teenagers’ on-line accounts
Nevertheless it’s exhausting to see how this’ll be backed up with motion. (NYT $)
Why baby security payments are popping up everywhere in the US. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)

6 What Meta’s planning subsequent
The identical as all its rivals, it appears: AI all over the place. (NYT $)
Right here’s what Zuckerberg needed to say about Apple’s new headset. (The Verge)

7 The streaming enterprise mannequin is damaged
We’re dwelling in a time of ‘peak TV’, but nobody appears to have the ability to make the numbers add up. (Vulture)

eight How on-line advertisers label you
The classes persons are positioned in are actually based mostly on guesswork, however sometimes it may be spookily correct. (The Markup)

9A tiny historical hominin might have been cleverer than we thought
We’d have to rethink our current narratives round human evolution. (The Economist $)

10 Please, don’t use ‘double click on’ as a verb 
I encourage of you. (FT $)

Quote of the day

“We’ve been listening to from creators and public figures who’re interested by having a platform that’s sanely run.”

—A prime Meta exec tells staff why the corporate is planning to launch a Twitter clone, The Verge experiences.

The massive story

The Atlantic’s important currents may collapse. Scientists are racing to know the risks.

F.G. Walton Smith at sea

NOAA

December 2021

Scientists are looking for clues about probably the most necessary forces within the planet’s local weather system: a community of ocean currents generally known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). They need to higher perceive how international warming is altering it, and the way far more it may shift, and even collapse.

The issue is the Atlantic circulation appears to be weakening, transporting much less water and warmth. Due to local weather change, melting ice sheets are pouring contemporary water into the ocean on the larger latitudes, and the floor waters are retaining extra of their warmth. Hotter and more energizing waters are much less dense and thus not as vulnerable to sink, which can be undermining one of many currents’ core driving forces. Learn the total story.

—James Temple

We will nonetheless have good issues

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

+ Nobody is definite why the Dana octopus squid has the world’s largest light-producing organs.
+ Methods to turn into a actually, actually good listener? Drop the cliches.
+ Bizarre title homeowners of the world, unite!
+ A number of the tat you come throughout on Chinese language purchasing web site Temu is… significantly on the market.
+ What do sommeliers drink after they’re not working? Costco wine, apparently. 🍷

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