That is at this time’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a every day dose of what’s happening on this planet of know-how.
This AI-powered “black field” may make surgical procedure safer
The working room has lengthy been outlined by its hush-hush nature as a result of surgeons are notoriously dangerous at acknowledging their very own errors.
These errors kill some 22,000 People every year. Most of the errors occur on the working desk, from leaving surgical sponges inside sufferers’ our bodies to performing the fallacious process altogether.
Now, Teodor Grantcharov, a surgeon and professor of surgical procedure at Stanford, believes he’s created the know-how to create and analyze recordings of operations to assist enhance security and surgical effectivity. It’s the working room equal of an airplane’s black field: recording every part within the working room through panoramic cameras, microphones, and anesthesia screens earlier than utilizing synthetic intelligence to assist surgeons make sense of the information.
However the concept of recording every part may elevate the specter of disciplinary motion and authorized publicity. Some surgeons have refused to function when the black containers are in place, and a number of the techniques have even been sabotaged.
So are hospitals on the cusp of a brand new period of security—or creating an surroundings of confusion and paranoia? Learn the total story.
—Simar Bajaj
FDA advisors simply mentioned no to using MDMA as a remedy
On Tuesday, the FDA requested a panel of consultants to weigh in on whether or not the proof exhibits that MDMA, also called ecstasy, is a secure and efficacious therapy for PTSD.
The reply was a powerful no. Simply two out of 11 panel members agreed that MDMA-assisted remedy is efficient. And just one panel member thought the advantages of the remedy outweighed the dangers.
The result got here as a shock to many, provided that trial outcomes have been optimistic. And it’s also a blow for advocates who’ve been working to deliver psychedelic remedy into mainstream medication for greater than twenty years.
This isn’t the ultimate choice on MDMA. The FDA has till August 11 to make that ruling. However whereas the company is below no obligation to observe the suggestions of its advisory committees, it not often breaks with their choices.
So let’s unpack the advisory committee’s vote and speak about what it means for the approval of different leisure medicine as therapies. Learn the total story.
—Cassandra Willyard
This story is from The Checkup, our weekly biotech and well being e-newsletter. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Thursday.
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 Silicon Valley is pushing again in opposition to an AI security invoice
The laws would power tech corporations to create a ‘kill change’ to close down AI fashions. (FT $)
+ It’s not simply Massive Tech both—startups are resisting it too. (Bloomberg $)
+ Europe’s AI Act is completed. Right here’s what’s going to (and gained’t) change. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
2 Boeing’s Starliner has docked with the Worldwide House Station
It accomplished the primary stage of its flight after a number of of its thrusters went offline. (The Guardian)
+ Boeing’s engineers are downplaying the problems it’s skilled. (WP $)
three OpenAI has pulled again the curtain on ChatGPT
It’s launched a paper explaining how AI fashions’ workings may be reverse engineered. (Wired $)
+ Massive language fashions can do jaw-dropping issues. However no one is aware of precisely why. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
four Why China is dropping the chip struggle with the US
Regardless of its greatest efforts, its native corporations can’t maintain a candle to Nvidia. (Economist $)
+ What’s subsequent in chips. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
5 Deplatforming accounts that unfold misinformation works
When X suspended 70,000 QAnon-linked accounts, the variety of hyperlinks to ‘low-credibility’ websites plummeted. (WP $)
+ Lies on the web are nonetheless rife, although. (Vox)
6 An Indian startup as soon as valued at $22 billion is now nugatory
Its buyers declare the corporate repeatedly ignored their recommendation. (TechCrunch)
7 Local weather scientists are determined to gradual melting polar ice
And a few of them are ready to dabble with uncommon strategies to attain it. (Economist $)
+ The novel intervention that may save the “doomsday” glacier. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
eight Tremendous low cost supply meals are all the trend in China
Sadly, gig staff are bearing the brunt of the associated fee. (Remainder of World)
9 A digital gun has offered for greater than $1 million
The digital Counter-Strike 2 accent is likely one of the largest online game purchases ever. (Bloomberg $)
+ A staff of gaming fanatics have rebuilt the world’s first gaming pc. (The Guardian)
10 A decades-old Tamagotchi thriller has lastly been solved
The net digital pet fan group goes wild. (404 Media)
Quote of the day
“Good to be connected to the massive metropolis within the sky.”
—Barry “Butch” Wilmore, one of many veteran astronauts onboard Boeing’s Starliner, jokes with mission management after the spacecraft efficiently docked with the Worldwide House Station, Reuters studies.
The massive story
No matter occurred to DNA computing?
October 2021
For greater than 5 a long time, engineers have shrunk silicon-primarily based transistors time and again, creating progressively smaller, quicker, and extra energy-efficient computer systems within the course of. However the lengthy technological successful streak—and the miniaturization that has enabled it —can’t final endlessly.
What may this successor know-how be? There was no scarcity of different computing approaches proposed during the last 50 years. Listed here are 5 of the extra memorable ones. Examine 5 of essentially the most memorable ones.
—Lakshmi Chandrasekaran
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Acquired any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ What impressed Gary Numan to write down digital smash-hit Vehicles? Properly, you gained’t consider this…
+ Animals love magic too! 
+ Nothing to see right here—simply Keanu Reeves having the time of his life enjoying a Remedy tune.
+ Mates simply make every part higher.
