That is immediately’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a every day dose of what’s occurring on this planet of know-how.
The various makes use of of mini-organs
This week, we reported on a workforce of researchers who managed to develop lung, kidney, and intestinal organoids from fetal cells. As a result of these tiny 3D cell clusters mimic among the options of an actual, full-size organ, they will present a sneak peek at how the fetus is creating. That’s one thing practically not possible to do with present instruments.
However organoids can accomplish that way more, starting from bizarre, wild, and great makes use of, to the downright unsettling. Learn the complete story.
—Cassandra Willyard
This story is from The Checkup, MIT Know-how Assessment’s weekly biotech publication. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Thursday.
When you’re within the wild world of organoids, why not check out:
+ Tiny fake organs might crack the thriller of menstruation. Researchers are utilizing organoids to unlock one of many human physique’s most mysterious—and miraculous—processes. Learn the complete story.
+ Human mind cells hooked as much as a chip can do speech recognition, exhibiting potential as a brand new kind of hybrid bio-computer.
+ Human mind cells transplanted into child rats’ brains develop and kind connections. When lab-grown clumps of human neurons are transplanted into new child rats, they develop with the animals. Learn the complete story.
How open supply voting machines might increase belief in US elections
Whereas distributors pitched their newest voting machines in Harmony, New Hampshire, this previous August, election officers requested each form of query: How a lot does the brand new scanner weigh? Are any of its elements made in China?
The solutions weren’t trivial. These machines are a once-in-a-decade buy and plenty of cities in New Hampshire wish to exchange their present, shoddy machines. However with what?
The officers’ first choice was to proceed with a legacy vendor. The second was to gamble on VotingWorks, a nonprofit with solely 17 staff which is on the forefront of the motion to make elections extra clear due to its open supply method. However can an idealist nonprofit actually unseat business juggernauts — and restore religion in democracy alongside the best way? Learn the complete story.
—Spenser Mestel
A plan to deliver down drug costs might threaten America’s know-how growth
—Lita Nelsen joined the Know-how Licensing Workplace of the Massachusetts Institute of Know-how in 1986 and was director from 1992 to 2016.
Forty years in the past, Kendall Sq. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was filled with abandoned warehouses and dying low-tech factories. At this time, it’s arguably the middle of the worldwide biotech business.
Throughout my 30 years in MIT’s Know-how Licensing Workplace, I witnessed this transformation firsthand, and I do know it was no accident. A lot of it was the direct results of the Bayh-Dole Act, a bipartisan regulation that Congress handed in 1980.
The reform enabled world-class universities like MIT and Harvard to retain the rights on discoveries made by their scientists—even when federal funds paid for the analysis. These discoveries, in flip, helped a big variety of biotechnology startups all through the Boston space launch and develop. However the efficacy of the Bayh-Dole Act is now beneath critical menace. Learn the complete story.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you immediately’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 US Congressional workplaces are swamped with calls from indignant TikTok customers
It’s a part of a marketing campaign mobilized by TikTok itself combating one other potential ban. (Axios)
+ The corporate despatched push notifications urging customers to name their representatives. (The Verge)
+ One workplace acquired so many calls, they turned their telephones off. (The Info $)
2 Criminals are hacking US docs’ drug-ordering methods
To order managed substances, together with Fentanyl, and promote them for a revenue. (404 Media)
+ Why is it so exhausting to create new forms of ache relievers? (MIT Know-how Assessment)
three OpenAI’s CTO performed a key position in ousting Sam Altman
Mira Murati’s considerations about Altman motivated the board to pressure him out—shortly earlier than he returned. (NYT $)
+ What’s subsequent for OpenAI. (MIT Know-how Assessment)
four The White Home is betting large on content material creators
It hopes influencers unfold the phrase of President Biden’s State of the Union tackle. (Wired $)
5 A quantum computing agency claims to have achieved “computational supremacy”
Exterior observers aren’t so certain. (New Scientist $)
+ Quantum computing is taking over its largest problem: noise. (MIT Know-how Assessment)
6 Jensen Huang’s star is in ascendance 
After years in relative obscurity, the Nvida CEO is moving into the highlight. (The Atlantic $)
+ The corporate’s value has eclipsed Google and Amazon’s. (Vox)
7 Amazon is urgent pause on its worldwide ambitions
It’s received to save lots of money someway, so web site launches are a logical casualty. (The Info $)
eight May FTX’s victims get their a refund in any case?
The corporate’s legal professionals appear to suppose so—which might cut back SBF’s sentence. (Slate $)
9 Designers made a purse from NASA’s futuristic materials 
And it seems to be fairly cool in addition. (Quick Firm $)
+ Future area meals might be made out of astronaut breath. (MIT Know-how Assessment)
10 This terrifying noise machine is the soundtrack to your nightmares
Making navigating creepy video video games an excellent scarier expertise. (The Guardian)
+ A Disney director tried—and failed—to make use of an AI Hans Zimmer to create a soundtrack. (MIT Know-how Assessment)
Quote of the day
“We’re getting a whole lot of calls from excessive schoolers asking what a Congressman is.”
—Taylor Hulsey, a communications director for Florida congressman Vern Buchanan, gives an attention-grabbing perception into the age demographics of the TikTok customers inundating their representatives with calls to stop a TikTok ban, the Guardian studies.
The large story
The chip patterning machines that may form computing’s subsequent act
June 2023
Once we discuss computing lately, we have a tendency to speak about software program and the engineers who write it. However with out the {hardware} and the bodily sciences that enabled their creation—disciplines like optics, supplies science, and mechanical engineering—trendy computing would have been not possible.
Semiconductor lithography, the manufacturing course of answerable for producing pc chips, stands on the heart of a geopolitical competitors to manage the way forward for computing energy. And the velocity at which new lithography methods and elements are developed will form not solely the velocity of computing progress but in addition the steadiness of energy and earnings throughout the tech business. Learn the complete story.
—Chris Miller
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Bought any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ I wish to trip my tiny bicycle, I wish to trip my bike 
+ Mr Bump is named Herr Dumpidump in Norwegian, which is frankly lovely.
+ AI imagining luxurious houses impressed by nice albums? Love, love, love.
+ This quick poem is a stunning reminder to benefit from each second (thanks Charlotte!)
