That is immediately’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a day by day dose of what’s happening on the earth of know-how.
Inside NASA’s bid to make spacecraft as small as doable
For the reason that Nineteen Seventies, we’ve despatched numerous huge issues to Mars. However when NASA efficiently despatched twin Mars Dice One spacecraft, the scale of cereal packing containers, to the purple planet in November 2018, it was the primary time we’d ever despatched one thing so small.
Simply making it this far heralded a brand new age in area exploration. NASA and the group of planetary science researchers caught a glimpse of a future lengthy sought: a pathway to rather more reasonably priced area exploration utilizing smaller, cheaper spacecraft.
There was a catch, although—one which NASA quickly needed to grapple with. Miniaturization can solely go thus far earlier than it involves a crashing halt in opposition to some very elementary legal guidelines of physics. Learn the complete story.
—David W. Brown
This story is from our most up-to-date print situation of MIT Know-how Evaluate, which is all about society’s hardest issues, and the way we must always deal with them. In case you don’t subscribe already, join now to get future points once they land.
RSV is on the rise however preventative medicine are in brief provide
This yr we had been speculated to have extra instruments than ever earlier than to guard youngsters from RSV (quick for respiratory syncytial virus), together with a brand new shot that’s given preventively to infants and susceptible toddlers to guard them from the worst results of the virus.
However now—simply as charges of illness are rising—this drugs is in brief provide. The CDC issued an alert final week advising pediatricians to ration doses, reserving them for infants youthful than six months and people with underlying circumstances that place them at highest threat for extreme RSV.
The state of affairs is irritating to oldsters and pediatricians alike. However shouldn’t forecasting demand for this type of preventative be comparatively easy? And why was there such a mismatch between provide and demand within the first place? Learn the complete story.
—Cassandra Willyard
This story first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Know-how Evaluate’s weekly biotech e-newsletter. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Thursday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you immediately’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 Sam Bankman-Fried has been discovered responsible on all seven fraud prices
However he’ll have to attend till March subsequent yr to seek out out his sentence. (Economist $)
+ The tech trade has already moved on, although. (NYT $)
+ It’s unlikely that SBF would be the final of his sort. (The Atlantic $)
2 Meta’s open-source AI comes at a value
Simply because Llama 2 is publicly accessible doesn’t imply it’s low cost. (The Info $)
+ AI companies actually don’t wish to pay for coaching knowledge. (Insider $)
3 We shouldn’t get complacent about covid this winter
The very fact vaccines are a lot more durable to get lately isn’t serving to. (The Atlantic $)
+ Who advantages most from the brand new covid vaccines? (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
4 The AI increase is lining Huge Tech’s pockets
The wealthy have gotten even richer because of their cloud investments. (WSJ $)
5 Surveillance tech is coming to a metropolis close to you
Metropolis councils are investing in Fusus AI techniques, however not all residents are blissful. (404 Media)
+ Marseille’s battle in opposition to the surveillance state. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
6 Zoonotic ailments are a rising menace
Animal-to-human ailments are forecast to kill many extra folks in future many years. (FT $)
+ Meet the scientist on the heart of the covid lab leak controversy. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
7 Neglect the leap second—it’s time for the leap minute
Technically, it might bridge the 2 methods we inform the time. However is the world prepared? (NYT $)
8 How on-line playing ensnared a complete technology of Africans
Its governments are ill-equipped to guard residents who’re turning into more and more addicted. (Bloomberg $)
+ How cellular cash supercharged Kenya’s sports activities betting dependancy. (MIT Know-how Evaluate)
9 Airbnb isn’t what it was
Its value is on the rise—and so are complaints. (Vox)
+ New York’s warfare in opposition to Airbnb has made it much more costly to go to. (The Atlantic $)
10 Everyone knows weight loss program soda is dangerous for us 
Possibly candy protein substitutes might provide a more healthy different. (Proto.Life)
Quote of the day
“The crypto trade could be new, the gamers like Sam Bankman-Fried could also be new, however this type of fraud is as outdated as time and we have now no persistence for it.”
— Damian Williams, the US lawyer who led the prosecution of disgraced crypto founder Sam Bankman-Fried, has a solemn message for reporters outdoors the Manhattan courtroom, Reuters stories.
The large story
Contained in the app Minnesota police used to gather knowledge on journalists at protests
March 2022
Photojournalist J.D. Duggan was overlaying a protest in Minnesota in April 2021 when cops surrounded him and others, and instructed them to get on the bottom.
Officers sorted the press from the protesters, walked them to a parking zone, and started photographing them, one after the other. They instructed Duggan the pictures can be saved in an app.
An investigation by MIT Know-how Evaluate discovered the information was collected utilizing a instrument known as Intrepid Response, a straightforward technique to nearly immediately de-anonymize protest attendees and preserve tabs on their actions. For some, the instrument’s use is a harmful step within the path of authoritarianism. Learn the complete story.
—Sam Richards & Tate Ryan-Mosley
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre instances. (Bought any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Due to the wonders of AI, we’ve been blessed with one final Beatles track.
+ 65 years in the past immediately, Laika the canine grew to become the primary canine in orbit! 
+ Working as a Disney animation mannequin appears to be like completely exhausting.
+ The world’s most distant lighthouses is a good topic for a e book.
+ Historic England is on the hunt for ghost indicators—these fantastically light painted indicators promoting companies and merchandise of the previous.
