Home Artificial Intelligence The Obtain: NASA’s tiny spacecraft, and the RSV vaccine scarcity

The Obtain: NASA’s tiny spacecraft, and the RSV vaccine scarcity

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The Obtain: NASA’s tiny spacecraft, and the RSV vaccine scarcity

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That is immediately’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a every day dose of what’s occurring on this planet of know-how.

Inside NASA’s bid to make spacecraft as small as doable

For the reason that Seventies, we’ve despatched numerous large issues to Mars. However when NASA efficiently despatched twin Mars Dice One spacecraft, the dimensions of cereal 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 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 to date earlier than it involves a crashing halt towards some very basic legal guidelines of physics. Learn the total story.

—David W. Brown

This story is from our most up-to-date print difficulty of MIT Know-how Assessment, which is all about society’s hardest issues, and the way we should always deal with them. Should you don’t subscribe already, join now to get future points after they land.

RSV is on the rise however preventative medication are briefly provide

This yr we had been purported to have extra instruments than ever earlier than to guard youngsters from RSV (brief for respiratory syncytial virus), together with a brand new shot that’s given preventively to infants and weak toddlers to guard them from the worst results of the virus.

However now—simply as charges of illness are rising—this drugs is briefly 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 sort 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 Know-how Assessment’s weekly biotech publication. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Thursday.

The must-reads

I’ve combed the web to search 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 fees 
However he’ll have to attend till March subsequent yr to search 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 type. (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 companies 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 more durable to get nowadays isn’t serving to. (The Atlantic $)
+ Who advantages most from the brand new covid vaccines? (MIT Know-how 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 programs, however not all residents are pleased. (404 Media)
+ Marseille’s battle towards the surveillance state. (MIT Know-how Assessment)

6 Zoonotic ailments are a rising risk
Animal-to-human ailments are forecast to kill many extra folks in future many years. (FT $)
+ Meet the scientist on the middle of the covid lab leak controversy. (MIT Know-how 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 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 habit. (MIT Know-how Assessment)

9 Airbnb isn’t what it was once
Its price is on the rise—and so are complaints. (Vox)
+ New York’s struggle towards Airbnb has made it much more costly to go to. (The Atlantic $)

10 Everyone knows food plan soda is unhealthy for us 🥤
Possibly candy protein substitutes may provide a more healthy various. (Proto.Life)

Quote of the day

“The crypto trade is likely to be new, the gamers like Sam Bankman-Fried could also be new, however this sort of fraud is as previous as time and we now have no endurance 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 reviews.

The large 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 informed 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 informed Duggan the pictures can be saved in an app. 

An investigation by MIT Know-how Assessment discovered the info was collected utilizing a instrument known as Intrepid Response, a simple strategy to nearly immediately de-anonymize protest attendees and maintain 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 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.)

+ Because of 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 seems 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.



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