The Obtain: AI to foretell ice, and healthcare censorship in China

That is at the moment’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a every day dose of what’s happening on this planet of know-how.

Deep studying can nearly completely predict how ice types

The information: Researchers have used deep studying to mannequin extra exactly than ever earlier than how ice crystals type within the ambiance. Their paper, printed this week in PNAS, hints on the potential to considerably improve the accuracy of climate and local weather forecasting.

How they did it: The researchers used deep studying to foretell how atoms and molecules behave. First, fashions had been skilled on small-scale simulations of water molecules to assist them predict how electrons in atoms work together. The fashions then replicated these interactions on a bigger scale, with extra atoms and molecules. It’s this means to exactly simulate electron interactions that allowed the workforce to precisely predict bodily and chemical habits.

Why it issues: If researchers might mannequin how ice types extra precisely, it might give a giant enhance to climate prediction total, particularly these involving whether or not and the way a lot it’s prone to rain or snow. It might additionally help local weather forecasting by bettering the flexibility to mannequin clouds, which have an effect on the planet’s temperature in complicated methods. Learn the total story.

—Tammy Xu

China has censored a high well being info platform

China has censored DXY, the nation’s main well being info platform and on-line group for Chinese language docs. On August 9, DXY fell silent throughout its social media channels, the place it boasts over 80 million followers. Whereas Weibo supplied the obscure clarification that the platform’s 5 channels had violated “related legal guidelines and rules,”  Nikkei Asia reported that the order got here from regulators and received’t finish with out official approval.

Within the more and more polarized social media surroundings in China, healthcare is changing into a goal for controversy. The suspension has met with a gleeful social response amongst nationalist bloggers, who accuse DXY of receiving international funding, bashing conventional Chinese language medication, and criticizing China’s health-care system, illustrating simply how politicized well being matters have change into. Learn the total story.

—Zeyi Yang

Podcast: How one can craft efficient AI coverage

When are coverage makers going to meet up with the pace of AI innovation? The most recent episode of our award-winning podcast, In Machines We Belief, examines what it can take to make efficient AI coverage and equitable entry to know-how. It was recorded earlier than a stay viewers at MIT Expertise Evaluation’s annual AI convention, EmTech Digital. Take heed to it for your self.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the web to search out you at the moment’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.

1 The FTC is planning to manage how Huge Tech collects knowledge
It has surveillance promoting and concentrating on algorithms in its sights. (WSJ $)
+ Meta defended injecting code into websites to trace customers throughout the online. (The Guardian)
+ Google has been fined in Australia for deceptive shoppers about location knowledge assortment. (TechCrunch)

2 Predicting the US local weather invoice’s results is more durable than you would possibly assume
We don’t know the way successfully or rapidly its tax credit will reduce emissions. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
+ Emissions modeling will not be an actual science. (Scientific American $)
+ The invoice might have main ramifications for electrical car producers. (NYT $)

Three A bioengineered cornea can restore sight to blind individuals
At a fraction of the price of conventional cornea transplants from people. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)

four This is the reason pondering deeply makes you drained
Feeling exhausted is your mind’s method of balancing out chemical adjustments. (Economist $)
+ Self-taught AI might shine a lightweight on how the mind works. (Quanta)

5 Micro-robots might exchange your toothbrush 🦷
By clearing biofilm out of your enamel and wriggling between them. (Neo.Life)
+ Drilling underground tunnels is one other job robots would possibly tackle sometime. (Wired $)

6 Caste discrimination is overshadowing Silicon Valley
India’s discriminatory caste system is affecting tech employees at Google and different tech corporations the world over. (New Yorker $)

7 How Roomba took over our houses
And have become essentially the most recognizable shopper robotic within the course of. (WSJ $)
+ Its new proprietor, Amazon, needs to make a TV present of Ring doorbell footage. (Ars Technica)

eight The Nokia ringtones of the 2000s deserve some respect 🎶
Consider it or not, they’re a uncared for a part of digital music historical past. (The Verge)

9 The origins of the Darkish Brandon meme are sophisticated
Democrats have tried, with reasonable success, to reclaim it from facist corners of the web. (Vox)
+ Its rise is one other awkward second within the meme wars. (The Atlantic $)
+ Twitter is swarming with weird theories about Ivana Trump’s casket. (Motherboard)

10 TikTokers are gathering the tags from their costly athleisure
Simply…why? (Motherboard)

Quote of the day

“We simply see the workforce with out the lens of people that had been in it pre-covid.”

—Ginsey Stephenson, 23, tells the Washington Publish why youthful employees are much less ready to compromise on versatile working from residence preparations.

The massive story

Dementia content material will get billions of views on TikTok. Whose story does it inform?

February 2022

A dementia analysis can immediately change how the world sees somebody. The web, at its finest, will help make the truth of dwelling with dementia extra seen. And for some, the web is the one place they will join with others going by the identical factor. However among the many widespread #Dementia hashtag on TikTok, it’s straightforward to search out viral movies by which care companions mock dementia sufferers and escalate arguments with them on digital camera.

Creators haven’t settled on the ethics of constructing public content material about somebody who might now not have the ability to consent to being filmed. In the meantime, people who find themselves themselves dwelling with dementia are elevating their very own questions on consent, and emphasizing the harms brought on by viral content material that perpetuates stereotypes or misrepresents the total nature of the situation. Learn the total story.

—Abby Ohlheiser

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.)

+ Polynesia’s historical past of tattooing spans again greater than 3,000 years, which is fairly unbelievable.
+ Would you embellish your own home with circus-inspired parts?
+ Panic over—a large tortoise on a mission for love is ready to make a full restoration after getting a bit too near a practice.
+ This teddy bear is a straight up chiller.
+ Nameless messaging apps are typically extra bother than they’re value.

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