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

The primary infants conceived with a sperm-injecting robotic have been born

Final spring, a bunch of engineers got down to take a look at the sperm-injecting robotic they’d designed. 

One of many crew, with no actual expertise in fertility drugs, used a Sony PlayStation 5 controller to place a robotic needle, which moved ahead by itself, penetrating a human egg and dropping off a single sperm cell. Altogether, the robotic was used to fertilize greater than a dozen eggs. 

The results of the procedures, say the researchers, was wholesome embryos—and now two child ladies, who they declare are the primary individuals born after fertilization by a “robotic.”

The startup behind the robotic, Overture Life, says its gadget is an preliminary step towards automating IVF, and probably making the process inexpensive and way more widespread than it’s at the moment. MIT Expertise Assessment has recognized a half-dozen startups with related goals. Some have roots in college laboratories specializing in miniaturized lab-on-a-chip expertise.

However absolutely automating the method will likely be removed from simple. Learn the complete story.

—Antonio Regalado

Meet the individuals who use Notion to plan their entire lives

Joshua Bergen is a really productive individual. His secret is the workspace app Notion. Bergen, a product supervisor dwelling in Vancouver, makes use of it to plan journeys overseas, with notes and timelines. He makes use of it to curate lists of the films and TV exhibits he’s watched, and data what he considered them. It’s additionally a useful option to preserve tabs on his 3D-printing tasks, map snowboarding runs, and rapidly replace his cute record of the humorous issues his child has mentioned. 

Bergen is one in every of a rising variety of individuals utilizing Notion, software program supposed for work, to arrange their private lives. They’re utilizing it in a myriad of various methods, from monitoring their meditation habits and weekly schedules to logging their water consumption and sharing grocery lists.  

So why has a platform constructed to accommodate “higher, quicker work” struck such a chord when there are numerous different planning apps on the market? Learn the complete story.

—Rhiannon Williams

The within story of New York Metropolis’s 34-year-old social community, ECHO

When ECHO was based, the World Huge Internet was nonetheless being invented, and browsers weren’t a factor. Its acronym stands for “East Coast Hold Out,” as a result of its founder Stacy Horn needed to create a digital area that was social and unequivocally New York.

What she ended up making was a hotbed of culturally minded early web fans—a social community earlier than there was a time period for that. ECHO was a blueprint for the larger-scale social networks that we see at the moment, and it serves as a reminder that behind all networks are individuals, with quite a lot of phrases to change. Learn the complete story.

—Nika Simovich Fisher

The must-reads

I’ve combed the web to seek out you at the moment’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.

1 Japan is making an attempt the world’s first business lunar touchdown
If every part goes easily, it may set off a brand new lunar race. (Wired $)
+ The lunar lander is because of contact down as quickly as 11.40am ET. (Ars Technica)
+ It was launched into area in December final 12 months. (Reuters)
+ What’s subsequent in area. (MIT Expertise Assessment)

2  Iran hacked right into a US election web site in 2020
Whereas the group was thwarted, it demonstrates how environment friendly such assaults will be. (WP $)

three The facility grid is an impediment to defending the local weather 
Our future progress depends on figuring out these bottlenecks and fixing them—quick.(New Yorker $)+ How warmth may remedy local weather issues. (MIT Expertise Assessment)

four Your satellite tv for pc telephone won’t work as promised
You may thank bitter relations between China and the US for that. (WSJ $)
+ Who’s Starlink actually for? (MIT Expertise Assessment)

5 Regulators aren’t geared up to cope with demand for weight reduction medication
They’ve restricted powers to rein within the influencers and medical doctors hyping the injections. (Undark)
+ Some individuals taking them have reported sudden hair loss. (NBC Information)
+ Weight-loss injections have taken over the web. However what does this imply for individuals IRL? (MIT Expertise Assessment)

6 TikTok is riddled with Chinese language scams
Weight reduction espresso and pimples drugs are simply a few of their bogus items. (FT $)

7 What are VPN makers actually promoting?
A whole lot of the online exercise individuals use VPNs to hide isn’t precisely authorized. (Bloomberg $)

eight Africa’s enthusiasm for crypto is cooling
Now the continent’s Web3 employees are pondering their very own futures. (Remainder of World)
+ Liquidators are on the hunt for a lacking $43 million. (FT $)
+ It’s okay to choose out of the crypto revolution. (MIT Expertise Assessment)

9 Tips on how to inform if a assessment’s been written by AI
ChatGPT’s inventory phrases are exploding throughout Amazon and Twitter. (Motherboard)
+ Snapchat’s AI has received off to a rocky begin, to say the least. (TechCrunch)
+ AI-spotting instruments present bias in opposition to non-English audio system. (New Scientist $)
+ OpenAI’s starvation for knowledge is coming again to chunk it. (MIT Expertise Assessment)

10 Google Maps is surprisingly social 
Try the critiques of your native companies should you don’t consider me. (The Atlantic $)

Quote of the day

“We’re baddies on a price range.” 

—Jada, a TikTok influencer, extols the virtues of pretend designer items that appear like the actual deal, the Monetary Instances stories.

The massive story

The moms of Mexico’s lacking use social media to seek for mass graves

October 2022

Mexico has lengthy struggled with a historical past of kidnapping. As of October 5, there have been 105,984 individuals formally listed as disappeared in Mexico. Greater than a 3rd have vanished previously few years, and whereas many are thought to have been kidnapped or forcibly recruited by felony organizations, most are doubtless lifeless.

However authorities are nonetheless hesitant to get entangled within the seek for the lacking. And so the duty continues to fall on households. A lot of the work they do now occurs over social media, the place individuals extensively distribute pictures of lacking family members, coordinate search efforts, and lift consciousness of the issue. However the work just isn’t with out challenges. Learn the complete story.

—Chantal Flores

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’s time to learn the way excessive your meals disgust tolerance is!
+ Making an attempt to identify the northern lights? Your telephone may assist.
+ I may watch this lego sushi being constructed all day lengthy.
+ How alien is an alien, actually?
+ Right here’s why it’s price hanging onto that conventional clay jar you’ve been weighing up eliminating.