The Obtain: combating being pregnant misinformation, and the ethics of organ donations

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

How Indian health-care staff use WhatsApp to save lots of pregnant girls

Throughout India, an all-women cadre of 1 million group health-care staff are liable for making public well being care accessible to individuals from distant areas and marginalized communities.

These staff counsel pregnant girls and guarantee they obtain correct science-backed well being care. Many are turning to WhatsApp as a way to fight the medical misinformation that’s rampant throughout the nation and to navigate delicate medical conditions, significantly concerning being pregnant. Their strategy has surprisingly good outcomes. Learn the total story.

—Sanket Jain

A Massachusetts invoice may permit prisoners to swap their organs for his or her freedom

What’s the worth of a human organ? A disturbing proposed change to the regulation in Massachusetts may give incarcerated individuals the chance to swap their physique elements for diminished jail sentences.

Prisoners who donate one in all their organs or their bone marrow may very well be rewarded with wherever between 60 and 365 days off their sentence if this invoice had been to go. Its cosponsors are touting it as a strategy to broaden the pool of donors for much-needed organs. However legal guidelines like this one are the flawed strategy to go about growing organ donation. Learn the total story.

—Jessica Hamzelou
This story is from The Checkup, Jessica’s weekly e-newsletter masking biotech. Signal as much as obtain it in your inbox each Thursday.

The must-reads

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

1 A suspected Chinese language ‘spy balloon’ is flying over the US
Officers are hesitant to shoot it down in case it injures somebody. (BBC)
+ The balloon doesn’t pose a menace to individuals on the bottom. (WSJ $)
+ How China constructed a one-of-a-kind cyber-espionage behemoth to final.  (MIT Know-how Overview)

2 Issues are going from unhealthy to worse for Huge Tech
Earnings are sluggish, and jobs are nonetheless in danger. (WP $) 
+ Apple, specifically, fell wanting expectations. (WSJ $)

three The Kremlin appears to be monitoring Russian dissidents by way of Telegram 
The app, which is meant to be encrypted, has reportedly been compromised. (Wired $)

four The motley crew behind the Tether cryptocurrency
Together with a former plastic surgeon and baby actor. (WSJ $)
+ We’re glad to be regulated, the crypto business tells UK officers. (FT $)
+ Change Binance has began working in South Korea once more. (CoinDesk)
+ What’s subsequent for crypto. (MIT Know-how Overview)

5 ADHD sufferers are affected by an Adderall scarcity
We don’t know why provides are so low—and officers aren’t upping the quotas. (The Guardian)

6 Native American peoples are combating for visibility on Wikipedia 
Editors are at loggerheads over find out how to cowl indigenous historical past. (Slate $)
+ Authorities in Pakistan have ordered Wikipedia to take away content material. (The Register)

7 These horrible web site clickbait adverts aren’t going wherever
The unnerving photographs drive clicks, sadly. (Quick Firm $)

eight The downsides of paying social media customers to publish 
The Philippine central financial institution didn’t look favorably on it, for one. (Remainder of World)

9 TikTok loves Manhattan’s veteran watch sellers 
It’s pure Uncut Gems. (NYT $)

10 Digital actuality is getting horny 
Express content material is banned on the VRChat platform, however persons are attending digital orgies on there anyway. (BuzzFeed)

Quote of the day

Quote of the day:

“It’s one other citadel constructed on shit.”

—Rob Dubbin, the brains behind a well-liked automated Twitter bot, tells BuzzFeed how he feels about Elon Musk’s plans to cost innocent bot account creators.

The massive story

It’s okay to choose out of the crypto revolution

April 2022

Crypto promoting is all over the place. However regardless of their ubiquity and lavish expense, these adverts routinely omit any description of what crypto is, or what any of the crypto firms are literally promoting.

Crypto lovers declare that the business will revolutionize monetary techniques by decentralizing commerce. However to this point, the business has not made good on that democratizing promise. Learn the total story.

—Rebecca Ackermann

We will nonetheless have good issues

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

+ Getting this one in earlier than Elon bans the great bots—the Random Eating places Twitter account makes good on its title.
+ What’s going to occur to guide Twitter? Nothing good, it appears.
+ These pesky fish revealed their proprietor’s bank card particulars throughout a gaming stay stream to 1000’s of individuals. 🐟
+ Methods to be an inexpensive date—in probably the most literal sense.
+ Congratulations to Bobi, who’s not solely the world’s oldest canine residing, however the oldest canine ever!

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