That is in the present day’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a day by day dose of what’s occurring on the earth of expertise.
Why engineers are working to construct higher pulse oximeters
Go to any health-care facility, and one of many first issues they’ll do is clip a pulse oximeter to your finger. These gadgets, which observe coronary heart charge and blood oxygen, provide very important details about an individual’s well being.
However they’re additionally flawed. For individuals with darkish pores and skin, pulse oximeters can overestimate simply how a lot oxygen their blood is carrying. That signifies that an individual with dangerously low oxygen ranges may appear, in keeping with the heart beat oximeter, tremendous.
The US Meals and Drug Administration remains to be making an attempt to determine what to do about this drawback. Final week, an FDA advisory committee met to mull over higher methods to guage the efficiency of those gadgets in individuals with quite a lot of pores and skin tones. However engineers have been serious about this drawback too. Cassandra Willyard has dug into why they’re biased and what technological fixes could be attainable. Check out what she discovered.
This story is from The Checkup, our weekly biotech and well being publication. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Thursday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you in the present day’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 OpenAI is planning to show the chip business on its head
By sinking trillions of {dollars} into an formidable new challenge. (WSJ $)
+ AMD additionally has plans to interrupt Nvidia’s chip chokehold. (Economist $)
+ OpenAI’s COO is molding the startup right into a business powerhouse. (Bloomberg $)
+ The corporate has hurtled previous the $2 billion income mark. (FT $)
+ Why China is betting huge on chiplets. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
2 US regulators have outlawed AI-generated robocalls
In a bid to get forward of audio deepfakes disrupting the Presidential election. (AP Information)
+ That doesn’t imply the calls gained’t hold coming, although. (TechCrunch)
+ Iranian hackers infiltrated UAE streaming companies with a deepfake newsreader. (The Guardian)
three Electrical automobiles are getting smaller
America can’t get sufficient of huge vehicles. Can it fall in love with slimmed-down ones? (IEEE Spectrum)
+ Why getting extra EVs on the street is all about charging. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
four How AI is altering the way in which we code
There’s no indication people shall be edged out anytime quickly. (Wired $)
+ How AI assistants are already altering the way in which code will get made. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
5 Crypto is pivoting to loyalty schemes
Good luck making an attempt to work out what the rewards are. (Bloomberg $)
+ How did a crypto guide crack the NYT finest vendor checklist? (Motherboard)
6 Yandex, Russia’s reply to Google, has a brand new proprietor
Following 18 months of tense negotiations towards the backdrop of warfare. (Reuters)
+ The uneasy coexistence of Yandex and the Kremlin. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
7 Right here’s what Elon Musk’s Neuralink is up towards
The brain-computer interface machine area is surprisingly crowded. (Insider $)
+ Elon Musk desires extra bandwidth between individuals and machines. Do we’d like it? (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
eight Why the way in which we argue on-line is so conspiratorial
Nothing occurs in isolation—all the things will get slotted right into a wider, overarching narrative. (The Atlantic $)
9 TikTok’s search strategies are riling creators
The suggestions vary from the provocative to the downright professionally damaging. (WP $)
10 This couple fell in love due to an AI lip-dubbing app
Why use Google Translate when you’ll be able to shoot a video of your self talking excellent Spanish? (NYT $)
Quote of the day
“Is it nonetheless uncanny and creepy? Yeah, however I don’t appear like Stalin anymore.”
—YouTuber Quinn Nelson displays on the enhancements Apple has made to its ghostly Imaginative and prescient Professional customizable avatars, Insider reviews.
The massive story
El Paso was “drought-proof.” Local weather change is pushing its limits.
December 2021
El Paso has lengthy been a mannequin for water conservation. It’s executed all the correct issues—it’s launched packages to influence residents to make use of much less water and deployed technological techniques, together with desalination and wastewater recycling, so as to add to its water sources. A former president of the water utility as soon as famously declared El Paso “drought-proof.”
Now, although, even El Paso’s cautious plans are being challenged by intense droughts. Because the stress ratchets up, El Paso, and locations prefer it, pressure us to ask simply how far adaptation can go. Learn the complete story.
—Casey Crownhart
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre instances. (Obtained any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ It appears as if we live within the puppet age.
+ Celebrities love writing poetry. However are they any good at it?
+ Right here’s why we discover maintain music so darned annoying.
+ Mountain City Hockey sounds extremely intense.
+ Teeny tiny canine are again in fashion—perhaps don’t lug them round in your purse, although 
