That is at this time’s version of The Obtain, our weekday e-newsletter that gives a each day dose of what’s happening on the planet of know-how.
A brand new tick-borne illness is killing cattle within the US
Within the spring of 2021, Cynthia and John Grano, who personal a cattle operation in Culpeper County, Virginia, began noticing a few of their cows slowing down and performing “spacey.” They figured the animals had been affected by a typical infectious illness that causes anemia in cattle. However their veterinarian had warned them that one other illness carried by a parasite was spreading quickly within the space.
After a 3rd cow died, the Granos determined to check its blood. Positive sufficient, the check got here again optimistic for the illness: theileria. And with no therapy obtainable, the cows stored dying.
Cattle homeowners just like the Granos aren’t alone. Livestock producers across the US are confronting this new and unfamiliar illness with out a lot info. Researchers nonetheless don’t understand how theileria will unfold, even because it shortly spreads west throughout the nation. If states can’t get the illness below management, then nationwide manufacturing losses from sick cows might considerably harm each particular person operations and your complete {industry}. Learn the complete story.
—Britta Lokting
Tremendous-hot salt could possibly be coming to a battery close to you
The world is constructing extra capability for renewables, particularly photo voltaic and wind energy that come and go together with the climate. However for renewables to make an actual distinction, we’d like higher choices for storing vitality. That’s the place batteries are available. And handily, there’s a wave of other chemistries slowly percolating into the rising vitality storage market.
A few of these new gamers might finally be cheaper (and in numerous methods, higher) than the industry-standard lithium-ion batteries. Among the many most promising is molten salt know-how, which Ambri, a Boston-area startup, is satisfied could possibly be as much as 50% cheaper over its lifetime than an equal lithium-ion system.
However, like its rivals experimenting with different types of vitality storage, Ambri is dealing with actual obstacles to adoption, with scaling presenting the principle, ever-present hurdle. Learn the complete story.
—Casey Crownhart
Casey’s story is from The Spark, her weekly e-newsletter protecting battery breakthroughs and different local weather information. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you at this time’s most enjoyable/vital/scary/fascinating tales about know-how.
1 What comes after Twitter?
Regardless of the reply, downloading information and contacts is a great transfer. (NYT $)
+ It’s unlikely, nonetheless, that you simply’ll be capable of save all the pieces. (Wired $)
+ A load of fired contractors aren’t planning on going quietly. (Bloomberg $)
+ Considered one of its former information scientists is extraordinarily anxious. (Remainder of World)
+ Twitter’s potential collapse might wipe out huge information of current human historical past. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
2 The ripple results of FTX’s collapse
The crypto trade’s poor practices are triggering fears concerning the {industry}’s future—and its workers are livid. (WSJ $)
+ Sam Bankman-Fried had an ill-advised chat with a journalist over Twitter. (Vox)
+ A category motion has been filed towards FTX within the US. (The Guardian)
3 The US’s bioweapon detection system is unreliable
20 years after its introduction, it nonetheless prices $80 million a 12 months. (The Verge)
4 Telehealth websites are riddled with information trackers
They may reveal delicate habit info that’s ripe for abuse. (Wired $)
5 Activision Blizzard’s video games are being pulled offline in China
It’s been unable to strike a cope with its Chinese language distributor. (FT $)
6 Intel thinks it will probably catch deepfakes with 96% accuracy
By monitoring the “blood circulate” of video pixels to detect residing people. (VentureBeat)
+ A horrifying AI app swaps girls into porn movies with a click on. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
7 We’ve ignored concrete’s carbon footprint for too lengthy
It’s not as large a polluter as transport or vitality, nevertheless it’s in pressing want of a greener overhaul. (Knowable Journal)
+ How Joe Biden bought away with passing the IRA. (The Atlantic $)
+ How hydrogen and electrical energy can clear up heavy {industry}. (MIT Expertise Assessment)
8 Lab-grown meat is fit for human consumption 
The FDA has inexperienced lit lab-grown hen—nevertheless it must move different assessments earlier than it may be offered. (NBC Information)
+ Will lab-grown meat attain our plates? (MIT Expertise Assessment)
9 Why NASA’s astronauts aren’t allowed to TikTok from house 
Regardless that their European counterparts are. (Vox)
+ NASA’s Artemis 1 launch was an oddly muted affair. (The Atlantic $)
+ Right here’s all the pieces the mission is taking with it to the moon. (IEEE Spectrum)
10 We might hitch a experience on a flying taxi someday 
By the top of the last decade, apparently. Let’s see. (Economist $)
Quote of the day
“Eire actually guess the farm on the way forward for tech . . . nearly on the expense of all the pieces else.”
—Mark O’Connell, govt chair and founding father of OCO International, a commerce and funding centered advisory agency, tells the Monetary Instances why the tech sector’s mass job cuts will hit Eire notably laborious.
The massive story
Vivid LEDs might spell the top of darkish skies
August 2022
Scientists have recognized for years that gentle air pollution is rising and may hurt each people and wildlife. In folks, elevated publicity to gentle at evening disrupts sleep cycles and has been linked to most cancers and heart problems, whereas wildlife suffers from interruption to their reproductive patterns, elevated hazard and lack of stealth.
Astronomers, policymakers, and lighting professionals are all working to seek out methods to scale back gentle air pollution. Lots of them advocate putting in light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, in out of doors fixtures comparable to metropolis streetlights, primarily for his or her means to direct gentle to a focused space. However the excessive preliminary funding and sturdiness of recent LEDs imply cities have to get the transition proper the primary time or doubtlessly face many years of penalties. Learn the complete story.
—Shel Evergreen
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction in these bizarre instances. (Received any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ A luxurious prepare journey seems to be like the proper approach to unwind to me.
+ Nothing can exchange the enjoyment of selecting out an incredible learn from a bookstore.
+ It’s by no means too early to begin planning to your subsequent nice journey.
+ Olive oil? Good. Cake? Good. An olive oil cake?! GOOD!
+ The oldest recognized sentence written within the first alphabet is entertainingly home.
