The Obtain: recycling’s position, and tidying robots


That is in the present day’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a every day dose of what’s happening on the earth of expertise.

Why recycling alone can’t energy local weather tech

The potential to make use of outdated, discarded merchandise to make one thing new sounds a bit of bit like magic. This is the reason, in some circumstances at the least, recycling goes to be a vital device for local weather expertise.

However there are huge challenges forward in materials demand for local weather applied sciences, and sadly, recycling alone gained’t be sufficient to deal with them. Our local weather reporter Casey Crownhart has taken a take a look at why recycling isn’t at all times the reply—and what else would possibly assist as an alternative. Learn the complete story

This story is from The Spark, our weekly publication overlaying local weather expertise. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.

This robotic can tidy a room with none assist

The information: A brand new robotic system referred to as OK-Robotic might prepare robots to choose up and transfer objects in settings they haven’t encountered earlier than. A robotic operating the system, which makes use of publicly-available AI fashions, was in a position to decide up and transfer objects round a room with an 58.5% success charge—rising to 82% in rooms that had been much less cluttered.

Why it issues: Whereas robots could simply full duties like these in a laboratory, getting them to work in an unfamiliar surroundings is an actual problem. OK-Robotic might assist to plug the hole between quickly enhancing AI fashions and precise robotic capabilities, because it doesn’t require any extra coaching. Learn the complete story.

Rhiannon Williams

In the event you’re fascinating in studying extra about residence robots, why not try:

+
Right here’s why everybody’s getting enthusiastic about family robots once more.

+ This new system can train a robotic a easy family process inside 20 minutes. The Dobb-E home robotics system was skilled in actual individuals’s properties and will assist resolve the sector’s knowledge downside. Learn the complete story.

+ Watch this robotic prepare dinner shrimp and clear autonomously. Even low cost {hardware} can carry out advanced duties, and AI helps robots get smarter nonetheless. Learn the complete story.

Take a look at the brand new MIT Know-how Overview app

MIT Know-how Overview’s new app brings our trusted journalism and professional insights proper to your fingertips, making certain you’re at all times on the forefront of breakthrough improvements.

Our redesigned app gives a user-friendly interface with the power to avoid wasting favourite articles and search trending subjects—and discover all our unique expertise protection together with our trending every day newsletters. Test it out!

The must-reads

I’ve combed the web to seek out you in the present day’s most enjoyable/necessary/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.

1 Mark Zuckerberg apologized to households harmed by social media
Beneath some duress, throughout a Senate grilling. (WP $)
+ X boss Linda Yaccarino acknowledges that the platform wants extra moderators. (Wired $)
+ TikTok’s Singaporean CEO was grilled at size, however not about youngster security. (Motherboard)
+ Dramatic moments had been in plentiful provide in the course of the listening to. (NY Magazine $)
+ Baby on-line security legal guidelines will really harm children, critics say. (MIT Know-how Overview)

2 Autonomous automobile agency Cruise is hemorrhaging cash
To the tune of virtually $3.5 billion final 12 months alone. (WP $)
+ What’s subsequent for robotaxis in 2024. (MIT Know-how Overview)

3 Hackers spied on critics of Jordan utilizing NSO Group’s spy ware 
In a concerted marketing campaign focusing on journalists, activists, and attorneys. (Bloomberg $)

4 AI startups are placing themselves up on the market
They’re extremely costly to run, and elevated competitors has small companies clamoring to be acquired. (The Data $)
+ One rising startup has ambitions of difficult Google’s search dominance. (NYT $)
+ Make no mistake—AI is owned by Large Tech. (MIT Know-how Overview)

5 Amazon might quickly be chargeable for the security of third-party merchandise
A proposed US authorities order might reclassify it from a retailer to a distributor. (WSJ $)

6 Ovaries could provide clues on how one can lengthen our lifespans
Pay attention up, longevity bros. (FT $)
+ Contained in the billion-dollar assembly for the mega-rich who need to stay eternally. (MIT Know-how Overview)

7 Product placement is getting an AI-powered makeover
It’s a sneaky new manner of getting merchandise in entrance of eyeballs exterior of conventional adverts. (NYT $)
+ TikTok may very well be about to lose a significant chunk of its music catalog. (Wired $)

8 Life is imitating artwork for Ukraine’s online game makers
Apocalyptic survival sport Stalker 2: Coronary heart of Chernobyl has a brand new resonance for its creators. (The Guardian)

9 The Solar’s magnetic poles are about to reverse ☀
And communication satellites and our power grid again on Earth is prone to disruption. (Vox)
+ LED lights are contributing to an entire lot of sunshine air pollution. (The Atlantic $)

10 How you can inform if we’re residing in a simulation or not
Simulated and pretend usually are not the identical factor. (Ars Technica)

Quote of the day

“Your product is killing individuals.”

—US Senator Josh Hawley rounds on Fb boss Mark Zuckerberg throughout a Senate listening to on youngster security, the New York Occasions reviews.

The massive story

Authorities expertise is famously dangerous. It doesn’t must be.

October 2023

It’s a actuality of politics that’s usually neglected: as soon as a legislation is handed, it must evolve from an concept right into a plan with a finances and workers, and from there it wants to truly attain the lives of thousands and thousands of individuals. Transferring from coverage to implementation has at all times been a tough a part of governing. At present it’s simple to imagine expertise could make it simpler. However is that really true?

New York Metropolis is one thing of a check lab for methods to confront some large issues that plague the trendy state. And it’s discovering that typically the options are surprisingly low-tech. Learn the complete story.

—Tate Ryan-Mosley

We are able to 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.)

+ Crime Pays However Botany Doesn’t is a incredible identify for a YouTube channel.
+ It’s referred to as the world’s best stretch for a cause.
+ Highway tripping in Saudi Arabia appears suitably surreal.
+ Cease placing it off: right here’s how one can declutter your house, room by room.
+ What can’t The Bear actor Jeremy Allen White stay with out? Non permanent tattoos, apparently.



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