That is in the present day’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a day by day dose of what’s happening on the planet of know-how.
Inside NASA’s bid to make spacecraft as small as doable
For the reason that Seventies, we’ve despatched lots of massive issues to Mars. However when NASA efficiently despatched twin Mars Dice One spacecraft, the dimensions of cereal bins, to the pink 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 neighborhood of planetary science researchers caught a glimpse of a future lengthy sought: a pathway to rather more inexpensive 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 basic legal guidelines of physics. Learn the total story.
—David W. Brown
This story is from our most up-to-date print concern of MIT Expertise Assessment, which is all about society’s hardest issues, and the way we must always sort out them. For those who don’t subscribe already, enroll 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 imagined to have extra instruments than ever earlier than to guard children 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 medication 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 situations that place them at highest danger 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 simple? And why was there such a mismatch between provide and demand within the first place? Learn the total story.
—Cassandra Willyard
This story first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Expertise Assessment’s weekly biotech publication. Enroll 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/vital/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 Sam Bankman-Fried has been discovered responsible on all seven fraud expenses
However he’ll have to attend till March subsequent yr to seek out out his sentence. (Economist $)
+ The tech business has already moved on, although. (NYT $)
+ It’s unlikely that SBF would be the final of his form. (The Atlantic $)
2 Meta’s open-source AI comes at a value
Simply because Llama 2 is publicly out there doesn’t imply it’s low cost. (The Info $)
+ AI corporations actually don’t need to pay for coaching knowledge. (Insider $)
3 We shouldn’t get complacent about covid this winter
The very fact vaccines are a lot tougher to get lately isn’t serving to. (The Atlantic $)
+ Who advantages most from the brand new covid vaccines? (MIT Expertise Assessment)
4 The AI growth is lining Large 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 completely happy. (404 Media)
+ Marseille’s battle in opposition to the surveillance state. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
6 Zoonotic illnesses are a rising menace
Animal-to-human illnesses are forecast to kill many extra individuals in future many years. (FT $)
+ Meet the scientist on the middle of the covid lab leak controversy. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
7 Overlook the leap second—it’s time for the leap minute
Technically, it may bridge the 2 methods we inform the time. However is the world prepared? (NYT $)
8 How on-line playing ensnared an entire era of Africans
Its governments are ill-equipped to guard residents who’re changing into more and more addicted. (Bloomberg $)
+ How cellular cash supercharged Kenya’s sports activities betting dependancy. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
9 Airbnb isn’t what it was
Its value is on the rise—and so are complaints. (Vox)
+ New York’s conflict in opposition to Airbnb has made it much more costly to go to. (The Atlantic $)
10 Everyone knows weight loss program soda is unhealthy for us 
Perhaps candy protein substitutes may supply a more healthy different. (Proto.Life)
Quote of the day
“The crypto business is perhaps new, the gamers like Sam Bankman-Fried could also be new, however this type of fraud is as outdated as time and now we have no persistence for it.”
— Damian Williams, the US legal professional who led the prosecution of disgraced crypto founder Sam Bankman-Fried, has a solemn message for reporters exterior the Manhattan courtroom, Reuters studies.
The massive story
Contained in the app Minnesota police used to gather knowledge on journalists at protests
March 2022
Photojournalist J.D. Duggan was protecting a protest in Minnesota in April 2021 when law enforcement officials 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 photographs could be saved in an app.
An investigation by MIT Expertise Assessment discovered the info was collected utilizing a instrument referred to as Intrepid Response, a simple option to nearly immediately de-anonymize protest attendees and hold tabs on their actions. For some, the instrument’s use is a harmful step within the route of authoritarianism. Learn the total story.
—Sam Richards & Tate Ryan-Mosley
We are able to nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre occasions. (Received 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 tune.
+ 65 years in the past in the present day, Laika the canine turned 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 pale painted indicators promoting companies and merchandise of the previous.
