The Download: China’s energy throwback, and choosing between love and immortality
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.
A long-abandoned US nuclear technology is making a comeback in China
China has once again beat everyone else to a clean energy milestone—its new nuclear reactor is reportedly one of the first to use thorium instead of uranium as a fuel and the first of its kind that can be refueled while it’s running.
It’s an interesting (if decidedly experimental) development out of a country that’s edging toward becoming the world leader in nuclear energy. China has now surpassed France in terms of generation, though not capacity; it still lags behind the US in both categories. But one recurring theme in media coverage about the reactor struck me, because it’s so familiar: This technology was invented decades ago, and then abandoned.
And this one research reactor in China running with an alternative fuel says a lot about this moment for nuclear energy technology: Many groups are looking into the past for technologies, with a new appetite for building them. Read the full story.
—Casey Crownhart
This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here.
Love or immortality: A short story
In this short fiction story from the latest edition of our print magazine, writer Alexandra Chang imagines what might happen to a couple’s relationship when one person wants to live life to the fullest, while another wants to live forever. Read the full story and if you aren’t already a subscriber, sign up now to get the next edition of the print magazine.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 RFK Jr wants to change how new vaccines are tested
Medical experts are concerned the shift will curtail access to the jabs. (WP $)
+ He has also overseen the closure of a long-running diabetes study. (New Yorker $)
+ America’s public health crisis is worsening. (The Atlantic $)
2 Sam Altman’s biometric World project has launched in the US
It’s been dogged by privacy and security concerns in other countries. (FT $)
+ It bills its Orb devices as powerful identity-verification tools. (Bloomberg $)
+ In fact, it’s partnering with Match Group to verify users are who they say they are. (Wired $)
+ How the company recruited its first half a million test users. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Tesla was reportedly looking for a new CEO
A rough few months allegedly pushed the firm to search for Elon Musk’s successor. (WSJ $)
+ But the company was quick to deny the report. (The Guardian)
+ Meanwhile, Musk has insisted he’ll continue working on DOGE. (Semafor)
4 A judge has ordered Apple to loosen its grip on the App Store
The ruling spells the end of a five-year antitrust case. (NYT $)
+ As a result, Fortnite will return to the US iOS App Store. (Variety $)
5 Climate change is worsening our eye health
Common eye disorders are linked with heat and higher UV exposure. (Knowable Magazine)
6 Instagram’s AI chatbots are claiming to be licensed therapists
And will happily make up qualifications. (404 Media)
+ But the first trial of generative AI therapy shows it might help with depression. (MIT Technology Review)
7 US drug overdoses are finally declining
But the Trump administration threatens to undo that progress. (Vox)
+ How the federal government is tracking changes in the supply of street drugs. (MIT Technology Review)
8 Young Brazilians dream of becoming social media stars
But TikTok is being investigated for monetizing them when they don’t have the right to work. (Rest of World)
+ Meet the wannabe kidfluencers struggling for stardom. (MIT Technology Review)
9 Duolingo has launched 148 AI-powered language courses
Just days after announcing its plans to replace human workers. (TechCrunch)
10 The BBC created a deepfake of Agatha Christie
49 years after her death, the crime author is teaching online writing classes. (The Verge)
+ An AI startup made a hyperrealistic deepfake of me that’s so good it’s scary. (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“The sacrifice to research is immense.”
—Gigi Kwik Gronvall, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, explains the consequences of the Trump administration’s decision to force a health department focused on studying deadly infectious diseases to cease operating to Wired.
One more thing
The flawed logic of rushing out extreme climate solutionsEarly in 2022, entrepreneur Luke Iseman says, he released a pair of sulfur dioxide–filled weather balloons from Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, in the hope that they’d burst miles above Earth.
It was a trivial act in itself, effectively a tiny, DIY act of solar geoengineering, the controversial proposal that the world could counteract climate change by releasing particles that reflect more sunlight back into space.
Entrepreneurs like Iseman invoke the stark dangers of climate change to explain why they do what they do—even if they don’t know how effective their interventions are. But experts say that urgency doesn’t create a social license to ignore the underlying dangers or leapfrog the scientific process. Read the full story.
—James Temple
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.)
+ The oldest woman in the world, 115-year old Ethel May Caterham, is the last known surviving subject of Edward VII.
+ Great news for axolotl lovers: a captive-bred group of the little amphibians can thrive in the wild.
+ Thor Pedersen spent almost a decade travelling the world without flying.
+ The fifth annual European Gull Screeching Championship did not disappoint.
