Doctors say the rise of fantasy sports apps has led to a spike in gambling addiction in India, where gambling is illegal but fantasy gaming has no clear laws (Adnan Bhat/Rest of World)

Adnan Bhat / Rest of World: Doctors say the rise of fantasy sports apps has led to a spike in gambling addiction in India, where gambling is illegal but fantasy gaming has no clear laws  —  All forms of gambling are illegal in India but there are no clear laws when it comes to fantasy […]

The state of crypto and the metaverse, as seen at SXSW, is underwhelming and pathetic, showing off only how rich its boosters are and little of social utility (Edward Ongweso Jr/VICE)

Edward Ongweso Jr / VICE: The state of crypto and the metaverse, as seen at SXSW, is underwhelming and pathetic, showing off only how rich its boosters are and little of social utility  —  The first SXSW in three years was taken over by crypto-mania fueled by marketing hype.  —  It did not really hit […]

A look at China-made hit fantasy RPG Genshin Impact, as China expands into the video game market once dominated by Japan by imitating its Japanese competitors (New York Times)

New York Times: A look at China-made hit fantasy RPG Genshin Impact, as China expands into the video game market once dominated by Japan by imitating its Japanese competitors  —  Genshin Impact, a nearly picture-perfect reproduction of Japanese fantasy role-playing games, has raked in billions of dollars …

Instacart plans to add a $0.40 fee to orders “over the next month” that goes to shoppers to help with gas prices, even if shopper’s cars are hybrid or electric (Kim Lyons/The Verge)

Kim Lyons / The Verge: Instacart plans to add a $0.40 fee to orders “over the next month” that goes to shoppers to help with gas prices, even if shopper’s cars are hybrid or electric  —  The move follows temporary surcharge announcements from Lyft and Uber  —  Grocery delivery platform Instacart announced Friday …

GM buys SoftBank Vision Fund 1’s stake in Cruise for $2.1B, increasing GM’s ownership to 80%, and says the company will invest another $1.35B in Cruise (David Welch/Bloomberg)

David Welch / Bloomberg: GM buys SoftBank Vision Fund 1’s stake in Cruise for $2.1B, increasing GM’s ownership to 80%, and says the company will invest another $1.35B in Cruise  —  General Motors Co. bought out the SoftBank Vision Fund 1’s stake in self-driving startup Cruise LLC for $2.1 billion …

Could we make cars out of petroleum residue?

As the world struggles to improve the efficiency of cars and other vehicles in order to curb greenhouse gas emissions and improve the range of electric vehicles, the search is on for ever-lighter materials that are strong enough to be used in the bodies of cars. Lightweight materials made from carbon fiber, similar to the […]

Microsoft Edge now automatically generates image labels for screen readers on Windows, macOS, and Linux, improving the experience for blind and low vision users (Tom Warren/The Verge)

Tom Warren / The Verge: Microsoft Edge now automatically generates image labels for screen readers on Windows, macOS, and Linux, improving the experience for blind and low vision users  —  Ideal for blind or low vision web users  —  More than half of the images on the web are missing alt text, according to Microsoft.

Russia’s disconnection from Western online services raises fears of a “splinternet”, networks with incompatible protocols diverging from today’s global internet (James Ball/MIT Technology Review)

James Ball / MIT Technology Review: Russia’s disconnection from Western online services raises fears of a “splinternet”, networks with incompatible protocols diverging from today’s global internet  —  If Russia disconnects from—or is booted from— the internet’s governing bodies, the internet may never be the same again for any of us.

PayPal expands its services to allow users to send money into Ukraine and temporarily waives fees for customers sending funds to Ukrainian PayPal accounts (Aisha Malik/TechCrunch)

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch: PayPal expands its services to allow users to send money into Ukraine and temporarily waives fees for customers sending funds to Ukrainian PayPal accounts  —  PayPal is expanding its services to allow its users to send money to Ukrainians, the company announced on Thursday.

Bored Ape Yacht Club’s $APE token hit a peak of $39.40 per token during its airdrop, but later sank as low as $7.50 (Andrew Hayward/Decrypt)

Andrew Hayward / Decrypt: Bored Ape Yacht Club’s $APE token hit a peak of $39.40 per token during its airdrop, but later sank as low as $7.50  —  ApeCoin, the Ethereum token built for the expanding Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT ecosystem, launched this morning and rapidly rose in value before shedding much of its […]

Q&A: Climate Grand Challenges finalists on accelerating reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions

This is the second article in a four-part interview series highlighting the work of the 27 MIT Climate Grand Challenges finalists, which received a total of $2.7 million in startup funding to advance their projects. In April, the Institute will name a subset of the finalists as multiyear flagship projects. Last month, the Intergovernmental Panel […]

Physicists find direct evidence of strong electron correlation in a 2D material for the first time

In recent years, physicists have discovered materials that are able to switch their electrical character from a metal to an insulator, and even to a superconductor, which is a material in a friction-free state that allows electrons to flow with zero resistance. These materials, which include “magic-angle” graphene and other synthesized two-dimensional materials, can shift […]

Investing in a stronger MIT

MIT plans to make significant investments in the next fiscal year to support the Institute community, strengthen its research enterprise, and enhance its digital and physical infrastructure. The Institute announced in October that its pooled investments recorded a return of 55.5 percent — the strongest annual performance in more than 20 years — bringing the […]

Tokyo-based mobile banking app Kyash raises a $41M Series D from Block, Greyhound, and others; report says it is Block’s first investment in Asia (Kate Park/TechCrunch)

Kate Park / TechCrunch: Tokyo-based mobile banking app Kyash raises a $41M Series D from Block, Greyhound, and others; report says it is Block’s first investment in Asia  —  Kyash, a Tokyo-based mobile financial app, has raised $41.2 million (4.9 billion JPY) Series D funding.  —  The round comes from a number …

French cloud service OVHcloud files an antitrust complaint about Microsoft with the European Commission; sources say complaint focuses on Microsoft’s licensing (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal: French cloud service OVHcloud files an antitrust complaint about Microsoft with the European Commission; sources say complaint focuses on Microsoft’s licensing  —  France’s OVHcloud has filed a complaint that Microsoft is abusing its position to hurt competition

Bored Ape Yacht Club launches ApeCoin, or the $APE token, with 1B in total supply, and forms the ApeCoin DAO, whose founding members include Alexis Ohanian (Lucas Matney/TechCrunch)

Lucas Matney / TechCrunch: Bored Ape Yacht Club launches ApeCoin, or the $APE token, with 1B in total supply, and forms the ApeCoin DAO, whose founding members include Alexis Ohanian  —  Even among the fastest-growing crypto startups, Yuga Labs has had a particularly explosive year.  —  The startup is behind …

A possible new Covid-19 vaccine could be accessible for more of the world

While many people in wealthier countries have been vaccinated against Covid-19, there is still a need for vaccination in much of the world. A new vaccine developed at MIT and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center may aid in those efforts, offering an inexpensive, easy-to-store, and effective alternative to RNA vaccines. In a new paper, the […]

A fabric that “hears” your heartbeat

Having trouble hearing? Just turn up your shirt. That’s the idea behind a new “acoustic fabric” developed by engineers at MIT and collaborators at Rhode Island School of Design. The team has designed a fabric that works like a microphone, converting sound first into mechanical vibrations, then into electrical signals, similarly to how our ears […]