That is in the present day’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a each day dose of what’s occurring on this planet of expertise.
Exosomes are touted as a classy cure-all. We don’t know in the event that they work.
There’s a classy new cure-all on the town—you might need seen adverts pop up on social media or learn rave evaluations in magnificence magazines.
Exosomes are being touted as a miraculous remedy for hair loss, growing old pores and skin, pimples, eczema, ache situations, lengthy covid, and even neurological illnesses like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. That’s, after all, in the event you can afford the worth tag—which may stretch to 1000’s of {dollars}.
However there’s a giant downside with these huge guarantees: We don’t absolutely perceive how exosomes work—or what they even actually are. Learn our story.
—Jessica Hamzelou
AI will add to the e-waste downside. Right here’s what we are able to do about it.
The information: Generative AI may add as much as 5 million metric tons of e-waste in complete by 2030, based on a brand new examine. That’s a comparatively small fraction of the present international complete of over 60 million metric tons of e-waste annually. Nevertheless, it’s nonetheless a big a part of a rising downside.
Beneath the hood: The first contributor is high-performance computing {hardware} that’s utilized in information facilities and server farms. That gear is filled with priceless metals and dangerous supplies, and it’s being changed at a fast price as AI firms race to undertake essentially the most cutting-edge {hardware} to energy their fashions.
What will be accomplished: Increasing {hardware}’s lifespan is likely one of the most important methods to chop down on e-waste. Refurbishing and reusing elements may also play a big position, as can designing {hardware} in ways in which makes it simpler to recycle and improve. Learn the total story.
—Casey Crownhart
Militaries are nice testing grounds for AI tech, says Palmer Luckey
Conflict is a catalyst for technological change, and the final couple of years have been marred by high-profile conflicts world wide. Geopolitical tensions are nonetheless rising now.
Silicon Valley gamers are poised to learn. One in every of them is Palmer Luckey, the founding father of the virtual-reality headset firm Oculus, which he bought to Fb for $2 billion. After Luckey’s extremely public ousting from Meta, he based Anduril, which focuses on drones, cruise missiles, and different AI-enhanced applied sciences for the US Division of Protection. The corporate is now valued at $14 billion. We interviewed Luckey about his new undertaking: headsets for the navy.
However using AI for the navy is a controversial matter, with an extended and bitter historical past that stretches from Mission Maven to killer robots. Learn the total story.
—Melissa Heikkilä
This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly publication all in regards to the newest in AI. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Monday.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to search out you in the present day’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Strava is leaking the situation of international leaders
Their bodyguards’ runs are revealing greater than they should. (Le Monde)
+ It’s shockingly simple to purchase delicate information about US navy personnel. (MIT Know-how Overview)
2 A person who used AI to make baby sexual abuse photographs has been jailed
His 18-year sentence is the primary of its form within the UK. (FT $)
3 Right here’s what Trump plans to do if he wins a second time period
The 900-page Mission 2025 doc offers loads of hints. (The Verge)
+ It will be exhausting for him to roll again the Inexperienced New Deal—however not unimaginable. (Axios)
+ Russia, China and Iran are interfering within the election. (NYT $)
+ However cybercriminals could pose an excellent higher menace. (Wired $)
4 Apple Intelligence is right here
However it appears it’s nonetheless kinda dumb. (WP $)
+ Meta is reportedly constructing its personal AI search engine. (The Info $)
+ The difficulty is, AI chatbots make stuff up. And it’s not a totally fixable downside. (MIT Know-how Overview)
5 Medium is drowning in AI slop
Virtually half of the posts on there now are in all probability AI-generated. (Wired $)
6 What steampunk can educate tech in the present day
We’re too eager on eradicating friction—individuals nonetheless like twiddling with dials and gears. (New Yorker $)
+ Prosthetics designers are arising with new methods to reinforce our our bodies. (MIT Know-how Overview)
7 That is what wargaming appears like now
Militaries world wide use software program known as Command PE constructed by a tiny British recreation writer. (WSJ $)
8 Tiktok’s founder has turn into China’s richest man
Zhang Yiming’s wealth has nearly doubled within the final yr, to $49 billion. (BBC)
+ How China takes excessive measures to maintain teenagers off TikTok. (MIT Know-how Overview)
9 How advanced life began to flourish 
You possibly can thank eukaryotes, a kind of cell that emerged about 3 billion years in the past. (Quanta $)
10 Oregon Path is being became an action-comedy film
With musical numbers. Sure, severely. (Hollywood Reporter)
Quote of the day
“I believed it could conquer the world.”
—Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice chairman, spoke for us all (effectively, for me anyway), when he waxed lyrical in regards to the 1999 Sega Dreamcast online game console on a Twitch stream final weekend, the Washington Put up experiences.
Meet the radio-obsessed civilian shaping Ukraine’s drone protection
September 2024
Drones have come to outline the brutal battle in Ukraine that has now dragged on for greater than two and a half years. And most depend on radio communications—a expertise that Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov has obsessed over since childhood.
Whereas Flash is now a civilian, the previous officer has nonetheless taken it upon himself to tell his nation’s protection in all issues associated to radio. He research Russian transmissions and tries to study in regards to the issues going through troops.
On this race for survival—as either side always tries to finest the opposite, solely to start out over again when the opposite inevitably catches up—Ukrainian troopers must develop inventive options, and quick. As Ukraine’s wartime radio guru, Flash may be one among their finest hopes for doing that. Learn the total story.
—Charlie Metcalfe
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Obtained any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Timothée Chalamet turned up at his personal look-alike contest in New York final weekend. Spoiler alert: he didn’t win.
+ Be taught these primary guidelines to make veg-based meals scrumptious.
+ There’s one thing very particular about historical timber.
+ Do you are likely to please everybody however your self? Right here’s cease. (NYT $)
