Signals, such as putting your hand over your heart to signify empathy or thumbs up to show you agree, seem to improve people’s experience of video calls more than typing words or using emojis
Advanced imaging reveals mired migration of neurons in Rett syndrome lab models
Using an innovative microscopy method, scientists at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT observed how newborn neurons struggle to reach their proper places in advanced human brain tissue models of Rett syndrome, producing new insight into how developmental deficits observed in the brains of patients with the devastating disorder may emerge. Rett […]
A better way to quantify radiation damage in materials
It was just a piece of junk sitting in the back of a lab at the MIT Nuclear Reactor facility, ready to be disposed of. But it became the key to demonstrating a more comprehensive way of detecting atomic-level structural damage in materials — an approach that will aid the development of new materials, and […]
New algorithm aces university math course questions
Multivariable calculus, differential equations, linear algebra — topics that many MIT students can ace without breaking a sweat — have consistently stumped machine learning models. The best models have only been able to answer elementary or high school-level math questions, and they don’t always find the correct solutions. Now, a multidisciplinary team of researchers from […]
Research: We Make More Virtuous Choices When Using Pen and Paper
A hard copy makes a decision feel more real.
A New Attack Easily Knocked Out a Potential Encryption Algorithm
SIKE was a contender for post-quantum-computing encryption. It took researchers an hour and a single PC to break it.
Forget Disruption. Tech Needs to Fetishize Stability
Breaking things is an ethos for the bored, for people who live in reasonable climates and don’t have tanks in the street. That isn’t us anymore.
No One Cares About My Framed NFT Art
Some NFTs are frame-worthy, just like any other photo. What you’re actually framing is still a mystery.
Textbook publisher Pearson plans to turn its e-books into NFTs so the company can profit from secondhand sales (Thomas Seal/Bloomberg)
Thomas Seal / Bloomberg: Textbook publisher Pearson plans to turn its e-books into NFTs so the company can profit from secondhand sales — The chief executive officer of Pearson Plc, one of the world’s largest textbook publishers, said he hopes technology like non-fungible tokens and the blockchain could help …
An interview with Bored Ape Yacht Club creators Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow on BuzzFeed “doxxing” them, Yuga Labs, the future of BAYC, Otherside, and more (Jessica Klein/Input)
Jessica Klein / Input: An interview with Bored Ape Yacht Club creators Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow on BuzzFeed “doxxing” them, Yuga Labs, the future of BAYC, Otherside, and more — The evening of February 4, business partners Greg Solano, 33, and Wylie Aronow, 35, were at their respective homes …
Aisera, which is developing an AI-based customer service requests system, raised a $90M Series D led by Goldman Sachs and Thoma Bravo (Mike Wheatley/SiliconANGLE)
Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE: Aisera, which is developing an AI-based customer service requests system, raised a $90M Series D led by Goldman Sachs and Thoma Bravo — Aisera Inc., an artificial intelligence-powered “service experience” startup that aims to enhance employee and customer experiences …
How Will Amazon Approach U.S. Primary Care?
It’s likely to apply its standard three-part playbook to transforming an industry.
How to Answer “Why Do You Want to Work Here?”
Three approaches to help you ace this classic interview question.
Bitcoin Fog Case Could Put Cryptocurrency Tracing on Trial
Roman Sterlingov, accused of laundering $336 million, is proclaiming his innocence—and challenging a key investigative tool.
Wikipedia Articles Sway Some Legal Judgments
An experiment shows that overworked judges turn to the crowdsourced encyclopedia for guidance when making legal decisions.
Y Combinator narrows its Summer cohort size by 40%, down from 414 in its Winter cohort, due to the economic downturn and changes to the VC funding environment (Natasha Mascarenhas/TechCrunch)
Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch: Y Combinator narrows its Summer cohort size by 40%, down from 414 in its Winter cohort, due to the economic downturn and changes to the VC funding environment — Technically, the accelerator is more exclusive now — Y Combinator says it has intentionally shrunk the number of startups within …
Court finds a former T-Mobile store owner guilty of hacking T-Mobile staff to access internal tools that he used to make ~$25M by unlocking customers’ phones (Michael Kan/PCMag)
Michael Kan / PCMag: Court finds a former T-Mobile store owner guilty of hacking T-Mobile staff to access internal tools that he used to make ~$25M by unlocking customers’ phones — Argishti Khudaverdyan was found guilty of various offenses after he stole login credentials from more than 50 different T-Mobile employees across the US.
Sources: Nancy Pelosi is set to meet with TSMC’s chairman Mark Liu to discuss implementation of the Chips and Science Act during her visit to Taiwan (Washington Post)
Washington Post: Sources: Nancy Pelosi is set to meet with TSMC’s chairman Mark Liu to discuss implementation of the Chips and Science Act during her visit to Taiwan — TSMC is building a chip factory in Arizona — and considering constructing several on the site — in a project seen as key to U.S. national […]
Robot unties knotted cables but can’t pick them up off the floor
A robot that can untangle long cables with just two simple grippers may be useful in aircraft and car manufacturing or as a household assistant
Material that changes colour as it stretches could be used in bandages
An obsolete photographic technique that won a Nobel prize over a century ago has been resurrected to create a novel material that changes colour when stretched
Why it’s a problem that pulse oximeters don’t work as well on patients of color
Pulse oximetry is a noninvasive test that measures the oxygen saturation level in a patient’s blood, and it has become an important tool for monitoring many patients, including those with Covid-19. But new research links faulty readings from pulse oximeters with racial disparities in health outcomes, potentially leading to higher rates of death and complications […]
How to Evaluate a Potential Employer in a Downturn
Don’t jump onto a sinking ship.
Is Cynicism Ruining Your Organization?
A conversation about increasing trust in the workplace and society.
A Simple Way to Introduce Yourself
Think: present, past, future.
2 Refugee Crises—and Their Dark Lessons for the Coming Famine
Disinformation caused one group of refugees to be welcomed with open arms, while another were dehumanized as a “demographic weapon.”
The Kia EV6 GT Swaps Range for Speed, Sadly
We loved the vanilla EV6 with the best charging tech around. But this new performance version makes a fundamental mistake.
This $400 Touchscreen Toaster Is a Waste of Your Dough
This toaster costs a small fortune and doesn’t even toast that well—a bad deal any way you slice it.
Volkswagen’s Cariad unit orders lidar sensors and software from Innoviz, worth around $4B, according to Innoviz’s CEO; Innoviz already has a deal with BMW (Gabrielle Coppola/Bloomberg)
Gabrielle Coppola / Bloomberg: Volkswagen’s Cariad unit orders lidar sensors and software from Innoviz, worth around $4B, according to Innoviz’s CEO; Innoviz already has a deal with BMW — Volkswagen AG is tapping Israeli lidar company Innoviz Technologies Ltd. to provide laser sensors and software for a push to outfit …
Uber reports Q2 revenue rose 105% YoY to $8.1B, above $7.39B estimates, and a $2.6B net loss; mobility gross bookings rose 57% YoY to $13.4B; stock jumps 10%+ (Sofia Pitt/CNBC)
Sofia Pitt / CNBC: Uber reports Q2 revenue rose 105% YoY to $8.1B, above $7.39B estimates, and a $2.6B net loss; mobility gross bookings rose 57% YoY to $13.4B; stock jumps 10%+ — – Uber reported a net loss of $2.6 billion for the second quarter, $1.7 billion of which was attributed to investments and […]
An interview with OnlyFans CEO Ami Gan on adapting to the role, addressing safety concerns, embracing adult creators, plans to grow the platform, and more (Raisa Bruner/TIME)
Raisa Bruner / TIME: An interview with OnlyFans CEO Ami Gan on adapting to the role, addressing safety concerns, embracing adult creators, plans to grow the platform, and more — When Amrapali “Ami” Gan became CEO of OnlyFans in December 2021, she wasn’t just stepping into a bigger job than her previous position …
Using artificial intelligence to control digital manufacturing
Scientists and engineers are constantly developing new materials with unique properties that can be used for 3D printing, but figuring out how to print with these materials can be a complex, costly conundrum. Often, an expert operator must use manual trial-and-error — possibly making thousands of prints — to determine ideal parameters that consistently print […]
Kenya’s Threat to Ban Facebook Could Backfire
Meta has allowed ads that include hate speech and calls for violence ahead of the country’s elections. But experts warn that a shutdown isn’t the answer.
Global Payments plans to acquire fintech peer EVO Payments for nearly $4B, a 24% premium on EVO’s last closing price, and expects the deal to close by Q1 2023 (Niket Nishant/Reuters)
Niket Nishant / Reuters: Global Payments plans to acquire fintech peer EVO Payments for nearly $4B, a 24% premium on EVO’s last closing price, and expects the deal to close by Q1 2023 — Global Payments Inc (GPN.N) said on Monday it would buy smaller peer EVO Payments Inc (EVOP.O) for nearly $4 billion including […]
Activision Blizzard Q2: revenue of $1.64B, down from $2.3B YoY, vs $1.57B est., net income of $280M, down from $876M YoY, and MAUs of 361M, down from 408M YoY (Wallace Witkowski/MarketWatch)
Wallace Witkowski / MarketWatch: Activision Blizzard Q2: revenue of $1.64B, down from $2.3B YoY, vs $1.57B est., net income of $280M, down from $876M YoY, and MAUs of 361M, down from 408M YoY — Ahead of earnings, Microsoft reportedly said Activision Blizzard has no ‘must have’ games — Activision Blizzard Inc. shares ticked higher …
Pinterest reports Q2 revenue up 9% YoY to $666M, vs $667M est., global MAUs down 5% YoY to 433M, vs 431M est., and a net loss of $43M; the stock jumps 21%+ (Jonathan Vanian/CNBC)
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC: Pinterest reports Q2 revenue up 9% YoY to $666M, vs $667M est., global MAUs down 5% YoY to 433M, vs 431M est., and a net loss of $43M; the stock jumps 21%+ — – Pinterest posted disappointing financial results and gave guidance that missed Wall Street expectations, but user numbers were […]
Stretchy material could make bandages change colour when getting loose
https://press.springernature.com/scalable-optical-manufacture-of-dynamic-structural-colour-in-str/23300254
Christopher Capozzola named senior associate dean for open learning
MIT Professor Christopher Capozzola has joined MIT Open Learning as senior associate dean, effective Aug. 1. Reporting to interim Vice President for Open Learning Eric Grimson, Capozzola will oversee open education offerings including OpenCourseWare, MITx, and MicroMasters, as well as the Digital Learning Lab, Digital Learning in Residential Education, and MIT Video Productions. Capozzola has […]
Engineers repurpose 19th-century photography technique to make stretchy, color-changing films
Imagine stretching a piece of film to reveal a hidden message. Or checking an arm band’s color to gauge muscle mass. Or sporting a swimsuit that changes hue as you do laps. Such chameleon-like, color-shifting materials could be on the horizon, thanks to a photographic technique that’s been resurrected and repurposed by MIT engineers. By […]
J-PAL North America launches two partnership opportunities to research social programs
J-PAL North America, a research center in the MIT Department of Economics, has opened two Evaluation Incubators: the Housing Stability Evaluation Incubator and State and Local Evaluation Incubator. J-PAL North America’s Evaluation Incubators equip partners to use randomized evaluations — the most scientifically rigorous method used to study program impact — in order to generate […]
It’s Time to Invest in Climate Adaptation
We need measures to help people, animals, and plants survive the climate crisis.
Stop Protecting “Good Guys”
The “good guy” defense gaslights women and enables offenders.
ESG Investing Isn’t Designed to Save the Planet
Counterintuitively, ESG ratings reward companies that are likely to profit in the climate crisis — not those who are doing the most to fight it.
I Never Want to Take Off the Garmin Instinct 2S Solar
Absurdly long battery life and an insane array of fitness features make this small outdoor watch my favorite fitness tracker.
NASA is Crowdsourcing Cloud Research—on Mars
Space fans around the world can help analyze data collected by the Mars Climate Sounder.
Gig Workers Are Losing Their Hard-Won Rights
A battle between unions and Just Eat France sets a troubling precedent for platform workers.
Bolt Mobility, co-founded by Usain Bolt, seems to have ceased operations and vanished from at least five US cities, leaving unusable e-bikes; Bolt raised $40.2M (Rebecca Bellan/TechCrunch)
Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch: Bolt Mobility, co-founded by Usain Bolt, seems to have ceased operations and vanished from at least five US cities, leaving unusable e-bikes; Bolt raised $40.2M — Bolt Mobility, the Miami-based micromobility startup co-founded by Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt, appears to have vanished without …
As the market downturn sees some US tech investors and startups hunkering down, others continue as normal; Q2 average investment deal sizes are at record levels (Heather Somerville/Wall Street Journal)
Heather Somerville / Wall Street Journal: As the market downturn sees some US tech investors and startups hunkering down, others continue as normal; Q2 average investment deal sizes are at record levels — Market correction leaves some startups in crisis as others take employees on vacation — Why a 2022 Recession Would Be Unlike Any […]
A look at Samsung’s mounting semiconductor problems: reportedly losing Qualcomm and Nvidia’s business to TSMC, Galaxy S22 lagging iPhone 13’s chips, and more (Financial Times)
Financial Times: A look at Samsung’s mounting semiconductor problems: reportedly losing Qualcomm and Nvidia’s business to TSMC, Galaxy S22 lagging iPhone 13’s chips, and more — Move follows warnings from investors, analysts and employees that chipmaker is losing its technological edge
5 Great Features You Only Get in Samsung’s Version of Android
When you buy a Samsung phone, you get a custom version of Google’s mobile operating system that comes with its own unique tools and perks.
Step Away From Screens With the 20 Best Family Board Games
From monsters to kittens to strategy games, these sets will liven things up on nights when everyone is tired of screens.