The Download: planet hunting, and India’s e-scooters
Plus: The Trump administration has laid off thousands of federal health workers.
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.
An Earthling’s guide to planet hunting
The pendant on Rebecca Jensen-Clem’s necklace is composed of 36 silver hexagons entwined in a honeycomb mosaic. At the Keck Observatory, in Hawaii, just as many segments make up a mirror that spans 33 feet, reflecting images of uncharted worlds for her to study.
Jensen-Clem, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, works with the Keck Observatory to try to detect new planets without leaving our own. It’s a pursuit that faces a vast array of obstacles, for example wind, and fluctuations in atmospheric density and temperature.
At her lab among the redwoods, Jensen-Clem and her students experiment with new technologies and software to help overcome the challenges, and see into space more clearly. Read more about her and her work.
—Jenna Ahart
This story is from the forthcoming print issue of MIT Technology Review, which is all about the body. If you’re not already a subscriber, sign up now to receive issues as soon as they land.
2025 climate tech companies to watch: Ather Energy and its premium e-scooters
While sales of Tesla or BYD cars drove electric vehicle adoption elsewhere in the world, two-wheelers have led the green energy transition in India.
As one of the earliest “pure play” e-scooter makers, Ather Energy has helped drive micromobility EV penetration throughout India and boosted the shift away from carbon-emitting vehicles. Read the full story.
—Nilesh Christopher
Ather Energy is one of our 10 climate tech companies to watch—our annual list of some of the most promising climate tech firms on the planet. Check out the rest of the list here.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 The Trump administration has laid off thousands of federal health workers
It’s blaming the government shutdown—but labor unions are suing. (Reuters $)
+ The firings will decimate parts of the CDC that work on disease surveillance. (STAT)
2 AI videos of dead celebrities are upsetting their families
OpenAI is coming under mounting pressure to restrict what its video generator Sora 2 can create. (WP $)
+ Sora was downloaded over a million times in less than five days—a rate even faster than ChatGPT. (BBC)
3 The Dutch government has taken control of a Chinese-owned chipmaker
The move comes after Beijing tightened restrictions on the export of rare earth elements, which could hurt Europe’s car industry. (CNBC)
4 Why some developers reject AI coding tools
Even at their best, they introduce bugs into the code base that can be tricky to spot. (The Information $)
+ The second wave of AI coding is here. (MIT Technology Review)
5 Police are begging teens to stop pulling the AI homeless man prank
Kids are using AI to create images of a disheveled person in their home, then sending that to their parents. (The Verge)
6 How Elon Musk’s embrace of Trump continues to hurt Tesla
The result is that his cars are now more expensive and less desirable. (The Atlantic $)
+ China might force Tesla to redesign its door handles. (Wired $)
+ How did China come to dominate the world of electric cars? (MIT Technology Review)
7 What happened after schools in Australia banned phones?
Both students and staff say the impact has been overwhelmingly positive. (The Guardian)
8 AI is fantastic at detecting small earthquakes
But the really big prize is seeing if it can help with predicting them, too. (Ars Technica)
+ What we can learn from Japan’s “megaquake” preparations. (MIT Technology Review)
9 Climate change is creating new hybrid species
The “grue jay” is half-blue jay, half-green jay. It’s also a sign of the times we live in. (Nautilus)
+ How a breakthrough gene-editing tool will help the world cope with climate change. (MIT Technology Review)
10 How people gamify Hinge to get the dates they want
It puts people’s most promising matches behind a paywall—but they’re finding workarounds. (The Cut $)
+ There’s now a term for daters who use AI to boost their appeal : chatfishers. (The Guardian)
Quote of the day
“It’s as emotionally devastating as it is dangerous to the American public.”
—An employee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells STAT about the impact of the Trump administration’s decision to carry out mass layoffs at the agency.
One more thing
GETTY IMAGES
How the federal government is tracking changes in the supply of street drugs
In 2021, the Maryland Department of Health and the state police were confronting a crisis: Fatal drug overdoses in the state were at an all-time high, and authorities didn’t know why.
Seeking answers, Maryland officials turned to scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the national metrology institute for the United States, which defines and maintains standards of measurement essential to a wide range of industrial sectors and health and security applications.
There, a research chemist named Ed Sisco and his team had developed methods for detecting trace amounts of drugs, explosives, and other dangerous materials—techniques that could protect law enforcement officials and others who had to collect these samples. And a pilot uncovered new, critical information almost immediately. Read the full story.
—Adam Bluestein
We can still have nice things
A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)
+ This spicy tea is exactly what you need when you’re under the weather.
+ Just a man, jamming with his cat.
+ Empathy is not a fixed trait—you can grow it. Here’s how.
+ There’s something very soothing about João Bernardino’s photos of Portugal.
